Friday, January 23, 2015

A Black-Tie Affair

As my second week comes to a close, I would say it was a little less than elegant... but stellar nonetheless!! Though I'm still working to find my stride with all my classes, I believe its begun to click with my first period Plant Science crew.

This week we started digging into hydroponics (well, not literally... there's no dirt in hydroponics!  See what I did there...) and were having a blast doing it!  On the second day of class we had the Hydroponics Challenge, where students were asked to take some items that I collected and develop their own system that they believed would support plant life.  We had some great ideas!  I was throughly impressed at the ingenuity of these students; though I was a little shocked when I turned around to find a group using a large piece of spouting that I definitely did not provide.  They say they got it from the greenhouse, but I have my doubts...

We ended the week by hosting our very own black-tie event.  Well, a little less black tie and a little more drawstring hoodie type event, but it was still mighty classy!  Our class became a brand new Hydroponic Corporation that wanted to promote their product, so we hosted a Hydroponic Dinner Party!  The task was for the "dinner committee" and the "dessert committee" to create a dish to serve at the dinner party that was comprised completely of fruits and veggies that could be grown hydroponically.  The committees did a fine job and provided us some scrumptious dishes, that made finishing our guided note packets a little easier.

Weighing fish with Bob,
my favorite custodian
All in all, my week was great, but let's be real, it can't all be fun and fancy parties.  There were some challenges too.  I made it through my first in-service.  The most exciting thing do to on an in-service day, you ask?  Well, we weigh the fish of course!  I'm sure that contributed to professional development... in one way or another...

However, the challenges really fell with the snow.  I experienced my first early dismissal and 2 hour delay, back to back.  It posed a little bit of a problem because the project we are working on in our FFA Leadership class has an outside deadline, but we are flexible and making do.

I look forward to starting my 3rd class next week with the industrial arts instructor.  I will be beginning a metal fabrication unit with his students... his two 4th period students.  I was nervous at first to be in front of only two students but the more I think about it, I'm ready for another set of challenges, so look out Greenwood, Ms. Bisquick is ready to get her weld on!

2 comments:

  1. Janae, great post! Sounds like you are developing the flexibility of any great ag teacher. I loved hearing of your successful, and creative, lessons! Sounds like your students are experiencing some great variability! How will you maximize the learning experience of the 2 students in your 4th period class? How will you create unique, individualized opportunities for the students?

    Keep doing great things!

    See you on the 2nd!

    LR

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  2. Janae, you are just so darn creative! I am really glad to see its going great for you! Can't wait to hear all the stories when we see each other again! Keep doing great things!!

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