AEE 412 Lab

This semester I participated in  a teaching lab through AEE 412. This lab was created to given all of us the change to gain some teaching skills.
     I believe this lab was very beneficial to me. I really hadn't found my inner teacher yet. I think this gave me a safe way to gain to some new skills without it being at the expense of some high school kids. I really enjoyed being able to teach and get instant feedback. When you are teaching you can feel how it is going. At the end suggestions for how to make you teaching better and smoother are extremely welcome. I also believe that getting teacher feedback instantly for your lesson and lesson plan are invaluable. I learned so much from  this type of lab. I think it has prepared me to be a better student teacher.
   I think to improve upon this lab I would somehow figure out a way to a lot more time between learning a teaching strategy and using it. Sometimes it was difficult to grasp a concept before  it had to be used. I also think that having it in a room where utilization of the board is a bit easier would make this lab go smoother.
    I believe that I have gained so much from this lab. This is basically how we learned to teach. It was not feasible to be in front of a real class so many times. The chance to try out a new lesson and technique with other people in your situation created a very conducive learning environment for teaching. I learned how be a better speaker, how to adapt on my feet, and how to handle some unruly students. I believe it has helped me lay the foundation for my teaching skills.
    I think through this lab that I have definitely become a more reflective teacher. it was set up as part of the lab to do reflective blogs and read peer feedback. I think that after you do that a few times you realize how valuable it is to really sit down and think bout how that day or lesson went. We cannot improve what we don't internalize. it has caused me to evaluated every aspect of my lesson.
    I believe that daily reflection will help me build that teacher skill scaffolding while I am student teaching.. Reflection can you evaluate what you are doing and how to make it better. I believe it will help me make more engaging, well rounded lessons. I will likely reflect on every lesson, everyday in order to become the teacher I want to be.  From agriculture student to agriculture teacher had really brought me full circle.
    I think realizing how real this lab could be would be beneficial to the next cohort. It was hard to assimilate a real class to the lab. For example the time, materials, and activities. It was difficult to make it as real as I think it could have been.