We are students too!

I was nervous about my first day teaching. It quickly dissipated, and I had a great day. The next day I quickly realized that every day of teaching is unique. Third grade is much different from First. Every age has its challenges, and utilizing different techniques for every age is important to engage their attention. I have some much to learn about all the tools that can be engaged. This weekend at the EEAI conference, I heard participants sharing tips for engaging attention. There are always things to learn! One technique that I am interested in trying sometime, may not work with farm craft, but is to ask kids to spend a couple minutes noticing the sounds, smells, colors around them. I really like the idea of having kids spend some time using their senses to observe nature. The person talking about this, stated that kids are more calm afterwards and are excited to engage. I look forward to learning and trying out various tools. I know that adjusting on my feet to the differences in groups is important, and the more experience I get, I am sure that this will be easier. I think this is what keeps teaching more interesting that working in a lab. There different results usually meant that something had gone wrong, and the boss wouldn't be happy. In teaching, it is a learning experience, and the important thing is to have the kids excited about being outside, learning new things, and enjoying the experience, not every group is the same, and that is perfectly okay. That means we get to try out different things, adjust as the day progresses, and keep learning ourselves.