Student Teaching Week 8: Team Teaching

This week really showed me how great the team of teachers is here at Mifflinburg, especially in the ag department. We had a super busy week with meetings, SAE visits, CDE practices, and area public speaking competitions. Mr. Kessler has told me before that having a multiple teacher department can be a beautiful thing. However, it can also be miserable. In our talks he has stressed the importance of being a team player and doing your fair share. Mr. Kessler and Ms. Spurrier have a great dynamic going and has helped propel their students success.

https://www.fotolia.com/tag/teamwork

When teachers work together to hold students accountable from class to class great things can happen. This week we had public speaking competitions. While we were away I had my students complete Edpuzzle videos. Edpuzzle is a handy new tool that is compatible with youtube and other popular video sites. Several of my students decided that they were not going to complete the assignment, thinking their would be no consequences. Mr. Kessler then educated them on the fact that they could not work on a shop project in his class until they complete their assignments in my class. This has provided some motivation for those students who are not motivated by grades.

http://barkleypd.com/blog/impact-teachers-showing-belief-students/

It is important that our students see the importance in their assignments, even when the teacher is not present. We do things for a reason. Their should not be a such thing as busy work. We need to show the importance of those less exciting assignments and explain specific ways they might help the students future. Show that you genuinely care about your students and their future and you will see better participation and performance from your students.