Define the word "normal" and a week filled with spirit!

This week I finally had my first full week of school but it was anything but normal. What does the word "normal" even mean as teacher??

Last week a full week was a breath of fresh air. I felt like I finally had a chance to accomplish everything I wanted to. We started the week off in Ag 7 with finishing up our New Jersey Agriculture Products Project and What is Agriculture unit. On the day the students presented I randomly selected names to go, this worked out well but I could tell some students were on the edge of their seats waiting for that dreaded second for when their name was called. After all the students presented I was so proud of all the work that they had accomplished. Each of them looked up information on an agriculture product that is produced here in New Jersey. The students themselves seemed to really enjoy the project and found out a lot of interesting information like "cows can smell up to 6 miles away" even I did not know that one! After we presented we kicked off our FFA and Leadership unit. The students learned what a leader was and participated in a Who am I activity where they were only allowed to ask each other yes or no questions to find out which leader was taped to their back. My students also participated in a mock CDE event and a mock Opening Ceremonies competition (a CDE event specific to New Jersey!) My 8th graders enjoyed a golfing simulation that compared to the new US Farm Bill and a puzzle creation activity to show how all the pieces of the Farm Bill fit together as one whole solid piece of legislation, next time I do that activity I will make sure I give them a puzzle template because I think it will help them focus more on the content rather than what their puzzles look like which seemed to be what was happening. On the other hand my students were actually having fun and they were really engaged in the content and asked lots of questions about what we were learning.

(8th Grade Farm Bill Puzzles)

(7th Grade FFA Emblem Maps)

(7th Grade Who Am I Leadership Activity)

 As we rounded out the week I decided that this upcoming week I wanted to be more hands on with the students and more interactive. I wanted them to get up out of their seats, move around, and really experience what we were learning.

Monday we had yet another SNOW DAY!!!! I think I can speak for all of us when I say that I am sick of snow and I am ready for things to warm up! Hurry up spring! Tuesday we kicked things off with creating goals for ourselves. We talked about the importance of goal setting and then I had my students create a goal poster for themselves. They had to give me one goal that they had for Agriculture Class, one goal that they had for the remainder of the school year, and one goal that they had for their life. The only rules I gave them were: 1. you have to include the 3 goals I specified, 2. make it unique to reflect your personality, and 3. use COLOR! The students seemed to really relate and get into this project and were even more excited when I told them that I would hang them up in the classroom! In Ag 8 we talked about conservation and completed the Bear Survival Activity that the 2014 Student Teaching Cohort did with the PA Game Commission during our Orientation in January. The kids could not stop laughing and they all really got into their roles as well!

(7th Grade Goal Posters)

(8th Grade Bear Survival)

Wednesday was my first day flying solo, well almost. Dr. McLean was out and there was a sub but I took on my full course load and we dove head first into diversity by participating in Archie Bunker's Neighborhood (the Middle School version.) I decided that some of the content was very sensitive and needed to be eliminated so I created a version that still got the point across but was easier for the Middle Schoolers to digest. It was interesting to see the dynamics between each class. The first class noticed right away that the Purple group had a bigger space and were being treated "better" than everyone else. Statements like "this game is so unfair" and "is this to teach us about fairness" flooded the room. This turned into a great discussion after the activity was over. Some of my 7th graders even came up to me and said "Ms. Rigg can we do this again someday? I really liked it." In my AFNR class we began our Water World Unit and I kicked it off by doing the Project Aquatic Wild: How Wet is Our Planet Activity. Both classes seemed to enjoy this and it really helped to full the discussion that went along with our Nearpod powerpoint. This was only my second experience using Nearpod (an interactive way to create powerpoint presentations that allows students to take small quizzes, draw, and answer questions throughout the lecture) and I was proud of myself for the way I handled everything and thanks to my students for being so understanding and helping me with some of the glitches. Finally we rounded out the day with my Ag 8 class. We also were doing the water cycle in this class and they also enjoyed the How Wet is Our Planet activity and asked some really awesome questions to go along with the discussion as well. After school on Wednesday I also ran my first FFA Meeting! It went really well! I was proud of myself and the students were really awesome for it! Shout out to my officers and the other members for being so AWESOME!

(7th Grade participating in Archie Bunker)

Thursday,  the first day I was being observed by Mrs. Rice. I was so nervous but everything worked out way better than I expected. I was so thankful for Mrs. Rice's feedback on the questions I had for her and she also challenged me to think outside the box and try something that I normally would not try. I am not sure what that is going to be yet but in the words of Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus I really do want to "take chances, make mistakes, and get messy" because like Mrs. Rice and Dr. McLean keep saying this is the time to try new things because student teaching is all about learning. During Thursday's classes I conducted 3 activities with Ag 7 on communication. The first was called Captain on Deck where we focused on our listening skills, the second was Whisper Down the Lane (or Telephone as my students boldly informed me that Whisper Down the Lane was outdated) which not only built on our listening skills but also worked on our verbal communication skills. Finally we did the Human Spider Web which focused on listening, verbal, and non-verbal communication. The students really saw the value of verbal communication because I told them that they could not talk. I think that this worked so well for them because they asked lots of questions about it and even asked me (on Friday) if they could do it again because they really want to figure out how to get untangled! Ag 8 also had a fun day with learning about Habitats. We created Habitat ID Cards and I used them to challenge their thinking. I placed an animal up on the smart board and they had to agree as a group which habitat it belonged to! This went over well in both classes. I think that interactive activities are going to be the key for both of these classes. My first section is a class of 6 and it is like pulling teeth to get them to participate and answer questions. In my second class I have a student that shuts down when he is not doing a "fun activity" I know that we will not always be able to do activities but this is something to keep in mind as we move forward.

(7th Grade doing the Human Spider Web)

(8th Grade Habitat ID Cards)

Friday was our last day of spirit week. Blue Grey Day...and it was quiz day for my Ag 7 and Ag 8 classes. After they were done quizzing Dr. McLean created one of the coolest challenges for the students to compete and win points for their teams (Last names A-L was the Blue Team and M-Z was the Grey Team.) We used National Geographic's Weird But True Facts.We would ask the teams a question and whoever answered first correctly won a point for their team. The team with the most at the end of the game won points.

It was a very interesting last two weeks but I am super excited for the week ahead! We are going to be taking our FFA members to the Hort Expo on Friday at Mercer County Community College! (Lucky the Ducky might even come back and make an appearance or two?!)

Inspirational Quote of the Week: