This morning, I made the travel to Derry, PA to teach an FFA Life Knowledge lesson to the students. Being that I was to teach two classes of freshmen students, I decided to not go into the advanced Life Knowledge choices; however, I stuck with some introducing knowledge. The lesson I chose to teach today was titled "
Defining Leadership" and I felt it was most appropriate to teach to two classes of Introduction to Agriculture/Horticulture freshmen.
I was nervous when I stood in front of the class that seated the 12 students in 1st period at 7:50 in the morning. It was a crisp morning and an early-dismissal day for students to start their Thanksgiving break, so you can say that their minds were thinking of mashed potatoes, turkey, and other festivities.
After morning announcements, the students went to the barn to care for their chickens for the first ten minutes of class. I could already tell that this class would be like pulling teeth. Mr. Campbell ended his class announcements with "...and now, Ms. Sessamen is going to teach you about life." I smiled when the students sighed at the thoughts of some random student coming into their class for the day to teach them about life. Well, I directed them to the board where I had the Bellwork written for them to complete on scratch paper. What was the Bellwork?
List 2 opportunities you recently had to influence someone in a positive manner.
They were given three minutes to complete it.
After the three minutes ran out, I explained that I did not know anyone there, so we are each going to share our names and one of our influences we captured on our sheet to the Bellwork. I introduced myself and gave an example, then I let them go around the room with introduction. Grant it, I am no good at memorizing names, but I had about 3-4 of 1st period down in my head.
We went on about the class by separating into 4 groups, and each group was now stranded on an island. Each group was given a list of terms that are typically used to describe leaders and they had to select five terms that they believe will help them in being a successful leader. They had to select a representative from each group and present their case/argument to the Ultimate Leader. The Ultimate Leader (me) then decides if their case is strong enough to let them off the island and back to civilization. Now, 1st period acted as though they never got their morning coffee, so it was hard having them getting started with the activity. But once I made my way around the different groups, they started to get the hang of things.
After the groups made it back to civilization, we defined leadership. I told the class that leadership comes in many shapes and sizes and forms and it does not have to be someone famous. I had a few volunteers share who their ideas of good leaders were and their answers were:
- Parents
- Teachers
- Siblings
- Family
- Presidents
Exactly! Leadership is an influence-- the ability to gain followers. Their examples were right on the money!
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The view right across from Derry Area High School |
Being that class was coming to a close, we ended with a worksheet listing examples of leadership challenges. The students needed to list 5 different events where someone has influenced them, how they were influenced, and what the results of the influence were. This was the students "Ticket Out" and they ended getting full credit for their worksheets.
Now, 2nd period was a group of 18 students and they were a much more lively group. Certainly, this group tested my classroom management skills, but they certainly were fun to teach! They took a bit longer on the activities, but that is because they kept asking questions. I loved how they kept coming up with questions where we ended up collaborating as a class.
I actually ended up enjoying this Life Knowledge Lesson to two classes of Introduction to Ag/Hort. Talking with Mr. Campbell after the classes, we came to the conclusion that I handled the classes we. I had a presence in front of the classroom and seemed to enjoy just being there, and my clarity of instruction has certainly improved.