Week 12, Here's to Short & Sweet

Lucky, our pygmy goat guest

It hardly seems real that we're this close to wrapping things up here. Week 12 was a short one, Easter break took up a few days as did another trip to State College to meet back with the cohort "fam" and work on refining our interview skills.

The two day week was no less crazy then any others. Mrs. Gouger (fellow #psuaged16 member) came by to visit, pygmy goats wondered through the class and the marking period came to a close.

Just like normal, I'll be sharing a high (some of the top notch, #thebestofmiddwest and other dynamite moments), a low (the not so glorious, wish it couldn't been better or those "you'll have that" kind of moments) and a tip (something of the Teac{HERR} Way that I learned or heard that should be shared with #psuaged16 and friends).

High: I can now say I have successfully completed my first course. Our Agriculture Education 8 (entry level course for eighth graders) runs on a marking period calendar, I had the privilege to pick up the third marking period section on day one and spend the whole marking period with them. This class in particular taught me SO much. Not only about social dynamics of middle schoolers (yikes!), but about diverse learners, differentiation strategies, importance of variability and much more.

In honor of Dr. Ewing, the four cycles of an engine dance!

Low: The end of the marking period brought a crazy tall pile of grading for Ms. Herr. In the midst of teaching a full load of classes, navigating through meetings and Easter break and a long list of other items I allowed for the grading pile to get way out of control. Every waking moment this week was surely spent evaluating students, adding grades to the gradebook to make the end of the marking period deadline. Lesson learned! I surely won't be letting the stack get that tall in the future!

Tip: Here's my tip for #psuaged16 this week, as we near the last 20-some days of our student teaching internship and we prepared to continually wrap up units and classes to pass back to our cooperating teachers, enjoy the bittersweet-ness of the moment. Enjoy the fact that there's a few extra minutes to catch up on other assignments and tall grading piles. But also enjoy the moment to celebrate student success that was accomplished in the time that you "owned the class."

Simply put, this two day week has been a short, but a sweet one. I'm thankful for the uniqueness of the week and of course the chance to dine with fellow Northern regional agriculture teachers and acquire new resources. 

Simply put, here's to the last 20-some days of this crazy experience. May they be full of celebratory moments of accomplishment, student success and progress. 

Until Next Week, K. Janae