Life Knowledge

For one of my lab requirements I went to my cooperating center, Juanita Valley, and taught a life knowledge lesson. These lessons are found on The National FFA Organization website. They are completed lessons about FFA, SAE, Leadership, and there are many other topics. Since the class I was to teach just had a week on FFA I choose to teach the FFA accomplishment lesson. Students think about things they have accomplished in life, things they can accomplish through FFA and things they can accomplish in their future.

The lesson was quite a bomb, and by bomb I mean bad. It was difficult to complete some of the lesson worksheets together because I thought the students knew more than they did. When reviewing the lesson I didn't take into account that these students were freshman and had barely heard of FFA until last week. They had a very basic knowledge of what it was and I was trying to build off concepts that an upper classman might have. Therefore, I had to improvise throughout the lesson. As a class we focuses more on what the students were good at and where they needed improvement on. I had them draw out areas they felt accomplished in and areas they thought they could use work. They all shared their creations with the class. Next, we worked on how will the continue to improve. We talked about and defined accomplishment and reflected on what makes us feel accomplished. I think it was a good lesson, just not the one I had walked in prepared to teach.

I also got another experience on this day at my cooperating center, one that I wasn't quite prepared for. That day was also the fruit delivery day. Most FFA's in Pennsylvania do a citrus sale as their main fundraiser. My high school had a citrus sale but it wasn't as large as Juanita Valleys. Other than teaching, I spend the day unloading, sorting and stacking boxes upon boxes of fruit. I loved getting to see how they organized everything and got a few ideas of how I would like to do it in the future at my own school. It was a really great bonding experience with the kids. I really enjoyed meeting new students and seeing the students I spend time with in Kentucky for the National Convention. I was beyond tired when I got home but I was really glad it was such a productive day. Thanks for reading!!