Technology HATES Me....but I'm trying

This week was another crazy week that house a snow day, two 90 minute delays and two "normal" days, one of which internet was none existent in the school!

I will say that I am happy that I have improved a little bit on my classroom management skills and I know they will continue to get better each day.

This week was the first time I was flying solo. I picked up both sections of 7th grade and I thought things ran fairly smooth...until Friday. I was all set to finish a mini project that we started the day before. The students were to survey 10 other people on what they thought the top 10 most important agriculture products were. We had the computer lab booked and I had everything prepared. We were going to do the class results together to get them familiar with how the website worked and then they were going to finish up class/for homework graphing their results. Everything was all fine and dandy until we found out there was no internet at the school. I will admit I panicked slightly but Dr. McLean and I had the discussion the day before about what we would do should that happen. I am so glad she asked that because had she not I think a panic attack would have started. My back up plan was to have them graph on paper. After we discussed it for a few minutes on Friday morning we decided to reschedule the computer lab for Monday because they students would get more out of the lesson by seeing all the resources available to them and by practicing using edmodo (a way we stay connected with our students and they can stay connected to class!) We then decided to show a video that talked about some of the work that goes into the production of milk, cranberries, and vegetables in the state of New Jersey. We also had a discussion on what shocked the students and what they found interesting in the video.

8th Grade AFNR was a lot of fun this week. We finished our unit on Classification with a project that had the students classify and create a flow chart to display their classifications. It was really interesting to see how the students react with each other in a group for a longer project and how each group classified the tools differently. (I wish I had pictures this week but forgot to take some, I will have double next week!)

My main focus on improvement for this upcoming week is with my direction giving. I have my directions written out well, but when I verbally give them they tend to be unclear. I am not sure if this is because I am trying to make sure I am being thorough and I am just over thinking it and complicating them with lots of words. I am working very hard to improve this skill and I know that like my classroom management it will come with time.

Another fun addition to the week was attending my first official FFA meeting. I got to read the adviser's part and give a small presentation to the FFA members so they could learn a little bit more about me. I am also going to be in charge of the showcase that we will be making for National FFA Week. I am so excited to work with the students, they are already coming up with some really great ideas.

I also received a "Retired Racing Duck" which was named Lucky the Ducky...thanks to the two little boys that I live with. Each week I will taking Lucky around with me and posting a picture of our adventures together, here on my blog. This week Lucky will be joining me at Penn State on Friday. Stay tuned!

Inspirational Quote of the Week: