November 1. 2018
Today was my first day at Stillwater for my fall placement site. I am with Mr. Boettcher who is in his third decade of teaching, (30 years if you didn't catch that). He has a range of classes from small animal management, food science, and fisheries and wildlife with students from 9-12 grade. The day started for me at 7am and I didn't leave until 8:30pm so I got quite a fill of excitement throughout the day.
1st period: Small Animals.
It was the last day of the quarter so many of the classes were catching up on assignments and prepping for upcoming tests. Students here take care of a small aquarium of a few fish by checking the water for pH, temp, and different water elements. It was good responsibility for the students and let them evaluate the water conditions for the fish.
2nd & 3rd period: Food Chemistry.
I was never good at chemistry, but I jumped in during the lab to help the students where I was able. We were review orbitals in the lab so students had a worksheet and visuals to show different elements. Other students were working on quizzes and study sheets so I was able to observe their online quizzes and Mr. Boettcher showed me his online portal to manage all of the assessments.
4th - 6th period: Fish & Wildlife
FIELD TRIP! Our last part of the day we took his last two classes on a field trip to Browns Creek to meet with a gentleman from the watershed to help collect water samples and macro invertebrates. It was really cool to see the students be fired up about going out and collecting samples. I enjoyed seeing what the students were finding and also talking to our professional who works for the watershed to hear about what they are doing and how it helps his work. This also allowed me to observe Mr. B's relationship and management of his students as we went our for lunch and allowed the students to a place of their choice.
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Students Sampling Browns Creek.
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| Mayfly Larva |
Conferences:
I had the opportunity this day to see some of the other responsibilities of teachers by observing conferences. It was set up in the gym and was buffet style, parents come if they choose so you didn't know who is coming or how to prepare. Since Mr. B is an elective he didn't have many families come in so I was lucky to bounce between different teachers of different focus areas and years of experience to see how each handles conferences, what they talk about, and their thoughts & experiences. I observed one Math teacher of 33 years, a World Language teacher of 22 years, and two first year math teachers; all of which shared great experience and tricks. I saw passion, differences in technology, and great relationships being built. Overall a long but great first day at Stillwater.
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