Week Five: 1/3 of the Way Already?!

             I started off Monday feeling refreshed and excited for another week at Elizabethtown! I made copies and got everything prepped for the week during my prep period. I supervised students as they welded during agricultural mechanics in second block. For aquatics today, I wanted to try something new and work in a water debate in the class. I created a scenario about a town having to decide who gets access to the water in the local river. I broke students up into four groups: farmers, outdoor recreationists, water company workers, and power plant employees. I also had a four person group who acted as state congressmen and had to make the final decision. The students had to work in their groups to come up with arguments, present the arguments, answer questions from the congressmen, and then provide a rebuttal. Students seemed a little hesitant at first but once the rebuttal started, the students became much more outspoken and wanted to keep going. I think my directions weren’t as clear as they should have been in the beginning but overall I think the debate worked well! Class ended by cleaning the fish tanks in the aquatics lab.

            On Tuesday, I gave students a quiz in aquatics. I got the chorus of groans and “why’s” on Monday when I informed my students that they would be having a quiz. After the quiz, I asked students how they thought the quiz went and the most common response was that it wasn’t actually that bad. After the quiz, students finished putting together the wetlands display that they have been working on the last few days. The final product looks pretty awesome and I am pleased with my students’ work. To finish up class, I gave my students a pretest with four questions related to calculating water volume. The students were not happy with math and it seems like as a class overall, they struggle with math. The rest of this unit will be fun!

            Wednesday was the day I had scheduled to weigh and measure fish. Class started off with a page and a half of notes highlighting why we weigh and measure fish, its importance, as well as the procedure students would be following for the day. Students seemed to enjoy weighing and measuring fish, although I can’t say the same thing for the fish. I rotated several students for the actual weighing and measuring part; it required them to actually hold the fish. I think it was a combination of the students having a fear of the fish, the fishes’ slimy scales, and the fishes’ continual flopping but most of the 46 fish we weighed and measured ended up on the floor at some point. I wanted students to chart fish growth by tank as well as overall by averaging the growth in length and weight. Students became easily frustrated, partly because of my unclear directions and partly because they didn’t want to graph any results. Class ended with everyone frustrated and I felt a little defeated. After talking with Mr. Anderson, I had a solid plan for Thursday and was ready for a brand new day!

            On Thursday, I stated off class by apologizing for my unclear directions Wednesday, thanked students for their patience, and for being flexible through the whole process. I felt much better about class on Thursday and students seemed to feel better as well. I gave students class time to make their graphs. For the record, handing students a paper with clear, explicit directions and your expectations works much better than just a verbal explanation! I will remember this for the future. We finished up class with notes and a worksheet. Friday was a half day and we took notes on calculating water volume, as well as started practice problems. I quickly realized that I must be very specific and detailed, especially when it comes to mathematical problems. As I look ahead to next week, aquatics will continue with water calculations and complete two mini calculation projects. I will begin teaching ag mechanics next week as well! I’m a little nervous for this but more so excited! I will begin teaching about welding electrodes and plan to complete the Lincoln Electric edible electrodes lab! Here’s to an awesome week 6!