Week Two: Time to wake up!

This week I picked up my first class: Ag Mechanics. With the start of the new semester at L-S, the students began their first day with me in first period. After homeroom we jumped right into some introductions and took the rest of the period to complete a fun inquiry lab. I thought it would be a good idea to have the students moving around and working with each other, instead of simply reading through the syllabus on day one. 

Overall, I am very happy with my first week, however there are definitely some areas I would like to improve on moving forward. This weeks peaks and pits are as follows:

Peaks: 

1. During our "Batteries that Make Cents" lab students were able to troubleshoot and get some amazing results. (Much better than my cohorts results lol)  I was so impressed by the students ability to work through problems, adjust and persevere. They also seemed to really get into the spirit of inquiry and started testing different models to answer their own questions of what could make their battery even stronger. 

Students worked through the "Batteries that Make Cents" lab using household items to create their own batteries! Students were able to reach up to 2 Volts! 

2. I am normally not very good at remembering names, however I am very proud to say that I already have a pretty good sense of who's who and some of their interests. I  know that it can really make a difference when a teacher is able to show their students that they care by saying their name in class and creating a good rapport with them. I plan to continue to form these important relationships with my students over the next few weeks and hopefully that will help with some of my engagement issues as well. 

3. I also had the opportunity to tag along on an SAE visit this week! The students we visited were raising dairy beef steers for the fair (That was my SAE in high school). I helped Mrs. Oberholtzer show the students how to give the steers vaccines, place ear tags, weight their animals and talked about the importance of a good feed as well as just a few general pointers. It was so fun to see the students so excited to be working on something they were passionate about. I was also impressed by the students willingness to try new things and take charge in the care of their animals. 

Students took charge and successfully gave their Dairy Beef SAE projects vaccines with a little help from their student teacher :)

Pits: 

1. While students seemed to be engaged once we moved into each lesson's major activities, I found it very hard to get them to answer questions and excited during our discussions. This was a little discouraging at points, and I want to be able to find a way to get each student just as excited in class as I am. While some of this problem may be due to it being 7:30am, I feel like there is something I can do. I am going to try to give students a little more time to think after asking questions and try calling on them by name more instead of asking for volunteers for answers. 

2. I am still getting adjusted to block scheduling and the pace at which each of my student groups work. One day I ended my lesson with almost 15 minutes left in class, and then the next I was rushing to get everything done before the bell. I've learned the importance of flex activities and next week I will be working on managing class time a little better. 

One other noteworthy activity from week one was the creation of a classroom jam board that outlines what our classroom expectations for the semester will look like. I really liked allowing the students to think about what each expectation I had actually looked like in our classroom. 

Questions: 

1. How do I motivate and excite students at 7:30 am (or in general) so they are ready to participate in class discussion/activities?

2. What is the best way to motivate students to complete work outside of class time (online days) ?