It's Just Not My Forte

Well once again this week, was filled with not one but two snow days! Therefore, I only taught two 'normal days' of class. I feel confident in my ability to bounce back and adapt to many changes and challenges that occur. And to be honest, the craziness of schedule changes actually drives me and really makes my adrenaline run and I love it!

But one thing I realized I did not like as much this week, was teaching a unit on small gas engines. For this unit of instruction, I am co-teaching with Ms. Smith's co-teacher, Mr. Treager. Because I am not teaching with Ms. Smith, I already feel off going into the unit. For the 52 minutes that I am teaching period 3 with Mr. Traeger, I just feel lost without my mentor.

Agriculture mechanics is not my forte however, I feel able to teach my students the importance and fundamentals about small gas engines. As I have spent time preparing to teach, this week I felt confident in my ability to educate my students on the fundamentals of small gas engines.

As I reflect on this unit of small gas engines, I feel as though I was able to serve my students and provide them with new knowledge. I am glad that this week of small gas engines is over, for many reasons. This week challenged me and made me feel very uncomfortable, but I feel more confident as a teacher as a result of my challenges this week.

I had no intentions of teaching a unit on small gas engines. I was trying to steer clear of that agricultural aspect, however Ms. Smith thought it would be best for me and my future to have that experience. And as I look back, she was right!! This week showed me that sometimes the best thing to do, is take a risk and just go with it.

This past week also offered another new course for me to begin teaching. I am now teaching Ms. Smith's period 2 Veterinary Science class. This class makes me slightly nervous but I also find it as a good challenge. Most of our students in this class excel greatly through their academics and that makes me nervous in which I want to continue to provide for them. I don't want to let them down, so I am striving to make sure they are challenged as well as enjoy their learning.

In Veterinary Science this week, we began learning about the skeletal system. To get my students thinking of the purpose of the skeletal system, we constructed our own class skeletal system. I asked each of my students to put their name on a popsicle stick and then we arranged them so we all were touch. This represents our class framework, our support system. And this allowed us to then transition to the framework and support system that the skeletal system provides to many animals.

I enjoyed this exercise with our students and I felt that this was a great way for them to correlate the purpose of the skeletal system and make it meaningful to them.

Looking forward, I am excited for another week of teaching our students at Kennard-Dale and working with Ms. Smith to become the best teacher I can be. Also I am looking forward to another round of snow and all that it entails :)

-Ms. Timmons

"It's not what you have in your pocket that makes you feel thankful but what you have in your heart."-Anonymous