2016 Student Teaching Reflections

Over the last 4 months, I have been student teaching at West Perry High School along side of Mrs. Ayla Miller, and Mr. John Hines. Throughout my time with them I have learned so many new skills and content that I never imagined I would know this much about. I have had difficult parts of the semester, extremely busy times, but most of all, days where I couldn't imagine doing anything else with my life. 

Mr. Hines, Mrs. Miller, I (right to left) 

This semester, I taught a total of 7 classes, Small Animal Science, 2 Agri-science and Technology classes, Large Animal Science, FFA and Leadership, Wildlife Fisheries and Forestry, and Small Gas Engines. Each class taught me somethings completely different, each had its own purpose. 

Small Animal Science was a class that I picked up from the very beginning and took right up until the end of the semester. This class was one that pushed me to really develop my skills in project based learning and teaching content that was very new to me. Because of this class, I believe I will be comfortable preparing for and actually teaching material that I do not know nearly as well. I spent several hours preparing and developing lesson plans for this class. The biggest project in this class was an ongoing one. We bred, and raised rabbits. Each day 2 or 3 students had to take care of the rabbits, feeding, watering, and changing the pans. This gave me an introduction into having animal in the classroom. 

The other class that I really got the most out of was my 6th period Agri-science and Technology class. This class was one that was nothing but 9th grade students, right after lunch. This class was not one that pushed my content knowledge all that much, but one that tested my classroom management skills the most. Even though they pushed me harder than another other class, I would not have traded that class for anything. The amount of growth that I experienced from them was beyond that of any of my other classes. 

The final topic I wanted to discuss was the extra experience I have gotten this semester through my Community Based Unit and the FFA. I spent several hours working with the wildlife class, planning and finally implementing this community based unit on mammals and I gained a lot of experience in the process. I had to organize the workshop, work with the students to prepare a presentation for the workshop, work with Mr. Hines to select and purchase the required materials, contact the Elk center to speak to the class about mammals, develop an advertisement for the workshop, teach the students about mammals, and finally facilitate the workshop with my students. each step of the way I was constantly learning and developing my skills. 

Overall, this semester was one of the best ones I have had at college. I would not trade my time at West Perry for anything else. The skills, content knowledge, and connections I have developed with the community and my students, had made an impact on my life that I could have never imagined. I can honestly say I am finally ready and confident that I can be a full fledged teacher now.