Final Lab Reflection

Wow! I am so happy to say that I have completed my AEE 412 Lab experience. This course has taught me so much about becoming the best agricultural teacher I can possibly be. The knowledge and experiences I have gained from this course are life long lessons that I will carry into my future classroom.

Three take-away's from AEE 412 Lab:

• Preparation is Key- This is one of the most important skills I have learned throughout this semester. If I desire to be successful I must be willing to put time and effort into my lesson and my students. I feel that throughout the semester, I increased my preparations skills and dedicated more time to being prepared with content for each lesson.
• Go for It- Throughout this semester I feel I have grown in my confidence and my ability to be a go-getter, and my own leader. I believe I have developed my self advocating skills in which I do not need to rely on others to be successful.
• Make it real- My goal for each lab that I taught to my students was to make it real and applicable to them. As an educator I want my students to enjoy learning and find value in agriculture education.  

Things to Improve On:

• Operational lab- I think since we had to write an operational lesson plan it would be nice to have had to teach an operational lesson as well.
• Eliminate busy work!- I am so glad we did not have to complete the Genius hour or the Creativity challenge. I just feel that some of the things that are created in this course are wasted time pieces.
• Mix up the lab groups- I feel that to be fair to all of our peers labs should be assigned and not chosen. For example I do not think one lab should have all the favorite students in it. Also I think by mixing up the labs students with different strengths and weaknesses will be able to work together and learn from each other.

Overall, I felt this was a great course and very beneficial to my growth as an agricultural educator. I have learned many things from this course. Particularly, I have learn Roshenshine and Furst's characteristics of an effective teacher and I feel that I possess their variability characteristic. Below is a video which illustrates my variability in instruction.

I proudly, leave this course knowing I have the knowledge and skill set to be a great leader of inspiration, a great leader of change, and a great agriculture.

Ms. Timmons
"Be the light" -Matthew 5:14