Week 15: The Final Edition of the Tri-Valley Times

It's really here..the last day.

I can't believe how quickly 15 weeks has flown by. Looking back on the beginning of my student teaching internship I never believed that so much could happen in so little time. When I first came to Tri-Valley I hoped that I would walk away at the end of 15 weeks with my students having learned at least one thing from me; however, I never imagined just how much they would have taught me.

Over the course of this year I have taught 8 different classes, over 80 different students and spent countless hours and miles with my students, and it has been a roller-coaster of a time. There were ups and downs, yelling, crying, and laughing. There have been funny notes left on my desk, texts and tweets to ask about assignments or sometimes just to say hi. There have been group pictures and not-so-secret secret selfies, when I pass my phone out to take pictures of class. 

My students, and yes I will still claim all of them, taught me a lot about the kind of program I am looking for, the kind of ag. teacher I want to be, and also a lot about me as a person. They taught me how to stay patient, they taught me how to manage a shop, they taught me how to relax, and most of all they taught me how no matter where we live or where we come from, we're really not that different. 

I am really going to miss all of my students and all the great memories I made while at Tri-Valley and though I may have made it through the whole last school day without crying, as soon as that last bell rang and the classroom was officially empty save me, I sat at my desk and just let the waterfall pour. I'm sad knowing I had to leave and though I know I'll quite a few of them in just a few days at Eastern Region CDE's and then the majority of them when I return for FFA Banquet in a few weeks, I already miss them so much. I got used to their silly comments and jokes, and even their versions of what my personal life must have been growing up in Philly.

So it might be goodbye for now but I know I will see them again soon and I look forward to hearing about what they do in the future.

Oh, and yes if I start teaching somewhere where it's nice and warm, I'll let Mrs. D know..... ;)

Helping the Community: Teaching About Bats, Our Helpful Nocturnal Neighbors

Surrounding the Tri-Valley Jr./Sr. High School is over 100 acres of beautiful forestland. Almost half of this forest, approximately 48 acres, is preserved as the Tri-Valley Environmental Education Center, as part of the Tri-Valley School District. This property serves as a valuable resource for the students of Tri-Valley and the greater community, both human and animal alike. The Environmental Education Center is home to a diverse range of animal and plant species, including several species of bats. Bats can sometimes receive a negative reputation as a scary animal; however, bats are some of the most beneficial animals to have around – especially for agriculture! 

Bats serve a very important role as pollinators of agricultural crops and also assist in pest control as bats eat many of the insects that can harm agricultural crops and livestock. However, while bats are very helpful to us they are currently facing a huge problem. Almost 40% of all American bat species are in severe decline or already listed as endangered or threatened. This decline in the numbers of bats is due to many factors, but two of those are habitat loss and White Nose Syndrome.

This is where some of the students of the Tri-Valley Agricultural Education department have decided to step in to help, and you can too! Working with the local forester, the environmental science teacher, the agriculture teachers, and elementary teachers, the students created an informational bat display along with several bat boxes. The display includes educational information about bats, including power-points and resources on the habitat of bats and the their life spans. The students also found and/or created several activities and lessons to teach younger students about bats, along with some activities to teach about other nocturnal animals as well. In addition to creating these resources, the students used the stewardship plan for the Environmental Education Center to determine the best areas to create habitat for bats. After determining three specific areas in the plan that were suitable for bat habitat, several students created plans to build bat boxes, which can serve as man-made habitats for bats and encourage bats to live in areas suited for them, instead of in old barns. In addition to the bat boxes, the students also learned that dead standing trees, known as snags, could also serve as bat habitat.

The students will be displaying the information and some of the bat boxes at the Schuylkill County Fair. As an FFA activity, the students create a “Farming for a Day” tent display at the fair each year, focused on teaching the younger generations about agriculture and the impact it has on all our lives each day. This upcoming summer, one of the displays in the tent will be the Bat Display the students created this spring. The students are excited to teach their community about the great resource right in their backyards in the Environmental Education Center, and about the many amazing species that call it home, including our helpful nocturnal neighbors – the bats.

Does Instructional Time Length Impact Student Achievement?: Action Research Study

Students’ academic success is affected by many resource factors, not least of which is time. Time plays a major role in how students succeed, whether it’s time spent on instructional activities, time spent on test preparation, or time spent interacting face-to-face with classmates and teachers. Every year you can find headlines in the news and research articles showing how the U.S. is behind in academic achievement compared to other nations, with much of the focus on the length of the school year, week, or day. And while there are many different scheduling structures, with advantages and disadvantages to both, does instructional time really impact student-learning achievements in small time increments.

At my cooperating center I taught two sections of my Ag Sciences II-IV classes. This class was taught with the same course material in two different sections, the first being taught during 3^rd period, the standard 45-minute length, while the other is during 5^th period, a 60-minute length period to accommodate the two 30-minute lunch periods that overlap with it. There was no difference between which students were placed into which section other than whichever fit better into their overall class schedule.

To determine if time really does matter, I conducted my action research study by comparing the grades of the students in both sections against each other, using their second term grade as their starting point and their third term grade as their end point. I compared the overall change in grade, whether it was positive or negative, of each individual student and the average for the class. Each student also took a cumulative unit exam and the individual scores and class averages were also calculated and compared between the two sections. The only differences in class instruction for the two sections were that 5^th period, the second, longer section, received more in-class time to complete assignments, more opportunities to ask clarifying questions, and during certain lessons received additional examples to explain lesson objectives and content.

After collecting and analyzing my data the results I found showed that yes the students in the 5^th period section of the class did receive higher grades on the cumulative exam than the 3^rd period section, with an average grade of 84.79 in 3^rd period and 96.18 in 5^th period. The 5^th period students also had higher class grades than their peers with the average second term grade being 89.79 and average third term grade being 90.71, as compared to the 3^rd period students with an average second term grade of 80.13 and average third term grade of 84.6.  However, upon looking at the data further I find that while the 5^th period students did have the higher grades overall, it was the 3^rd period students who appeared the have the greatest change in grade from the second term to third term. The average change in grade for the 3^rd period class was an increase of 4.47 grade points, while the average change in grade for the 5^th period class only had an increase of 0.93 grade points.

Based on these results, I do not think that this study was able to show a correlation between longer class time and academic improvement, though I do believe that there were several other factors that impacted the study. The first is that in both 3^rd and 5^th period I have several students who, due to their personal class schedule constraints, are only able to attend class on either an A-day or a B-day, even though the class occurs on both schedule days. The second factor that I believe greatly impacted the study was the amount of instructional time lost due to weather. Over the course of my student teaching internship approximately 15 school days were impacted by winter weather conditions, either through early dismissals, late arrivals, or cancellations – which took away the majority of the instructional time.

Due to these factors my study wasn’t able to show if a difference in instructional time length impacted student achievement but it did make me more aware of the variety of factors that can impact instructional time, including seasonal weather.

Got Milk?!: On-Farm Employment SAE Visit

For me there was no better way to finish up student teaching than to go on one more SAE visit. This time I was heading over to the family farm of Ms. Emily Kahler. Emily is absolutely one of my favorite students and one I can't wait to see what she accomplishes once she leaves Tri-Valley in just a few months. Emily is a senior in my Ag Science class and is finishing up her term as the Chapter President. She was one of the first students I met when I began my journey with Tri-Valley last spring so I think it’s fitting that she gets to be one of the ones I finish it with.

Emily, along with her older brother, is the third generation on their family’s dairy farm. Currently milking approximately 90 Holstein dairy cows, the farm is solely operated by her parents and older brother, with Emily helping when she’s not in school and every now and then Granma comes down to help out.

Emily’s main job on the farm is caring for the calves and young heifers, responsible for the afternoon shift of watering and feeding all the calves in hutches and the younger heifers that have been moved into the end of the free-stall barn. It’s clear that Emily enjoys working with the young calves, and it’s easy to see why looking at the row of cute black and white calves lining the entrance to the farm.

Emily’s true passion is in graphic design, but while we worked alongside her taking care of the calves and touring the farm, we talk about the possibilities of using her graphic design experience in the agriculture field after she graduates from college.

Once the calves were fed and we met up with her brother to learn about the nutritional aspect of the farm, we headed down to the parlor led by our unofficial tour guide, King the family dog. Normally her parents handle all the milking by themselves, taking about three hours twice a day, but when Emily’s there she jumps right in, so we got to see Emily working along side her parents while her mom caught Mrs. D and I up on the town gossip.

It was a great, relaxing way to finish out student teaching and it was nice to spend a beautiful (but slightly chilly) day outside, enjoying the smell of cows and hay. I’ve really enjoyed getting to work with Emily all semester long, watching her receive her Keystone Degree in January and then working with her on her record-books, Proficiency and Scholarship Applications. I cant wait to see what great things she does next.

DIY - CDE Resources

One of the assignments during student teaching was to develop a DIY project (Do It Yourself) that would aid to our development as teachers but also benefit our cooperating centers. To figure out what I should do for this project I decided to go back to the three-circle model. I believe that student teaching in general will help me improve upon the circle of classroom & laboratory instruction, and that my experiences working with students throughout the semester would help with SAE, so now that leaves the circle of FFA.

As a student I was very involved in FFA in my local chapter and took part in several state and national activities, but my time in FFA was very focused – I picked one or two things and I worked on them again and again each year to improve. One such example is in the Career Development Events and that is where I got my idea for my DIY. I decided to develop “CDE’s-In-A-Box,” resource kits to help train and prepare students to compete in several different Career Development Events.

When I was a student I only competed in the Livestock Evaluation CDE, and while I have helped judge and facilitate a few different CDE’s during my college career, they have mostly been the public speaking contests and not technical skills, so that is where I decided to focus. I planned to compile resources for at least three different CDE’s to help serve as a starting point for ag. teachers when beginning to train a team.

Based on the preferences of the students at Tri-Valley the CDE’s I compiled resources for were: Livestock Evaluation, Poultry Evaluation, Veterinary Skills, and Wildlife. These resources were compiled from a variety of different sources including Communities of Practice, various State FFA Associations, the National FFA Association, and several state universities and extension services. My students were also involved in the process, as they complied resources for the Poultry Evaluation CDE through a group project.

The original idea for the project was to create boxes and/or binders of the various resources; however, after discussing it with my cooperating teacher we decided that digital versions would be much more helpful and easier to distribute amongst students. So before I left to head back to campus I left her a binder full of the physical hard copies of the resources the students had found for Poultry Evaluation, in addition to a USB drive full of digital versions of all of the resources found for the various CDE’s, among other helpful documents. 

Hopefully, the resources are helpful for the students and Mrs. D and they will be used quickly as some of the students will be competing in several of those CDE’s at the regional contests at the end of the month with state convention in less than two months. At the end of each school year the FFA members also host and participate in an Ag Field Day, a daylong Ag Olympics event and sometimes one of the events is a portion of a mock CDE, possibly one of the ones they now have training resources on.

Getting the 'Big Desk": Administrator Interview

One of the most nerve-wracking parts of the job search for me is the interview. I have a pretty good idea of what kind of program I am looking forward but I still really nervous every time I have to prove to someone that I am the kind of ag. teacher they are looking for. To try and help with this fear, one of our assignments was to have a mock interview with one of our administrators.

For my interview I met with Mr. Hall, the principal at Tri-Valley Jr./Sr. High School and we had a mock interview mixed with a discussion about interviews and hiring in general. Using some of the standard interview questions for hiring at Tri-Valley along with interview questions I had brought along to prepare for an upcoming interview I had, Mr. Hall and I went back and forth with the questions. First, he would ask me a question and I’d answer it as if it was a real interview, but then we’d talk through my responses and what he thought was good and what could be reworded or elaborated on.

When we would talk about a question involving “how would you react to the situation of…” whether it was about parent interaction or classroom management Mr. Hall said that you always have to remember one thing – you have the Big Desk. He said that when answering questions related to those scenarios and or responding to those scenarios in reality, he said always remember that you as the teacher have the Big Desk and you know what you are doing. He said part of having the Big Desk is having the confidence in what you are doing, relating back to having confidence when interviewing.

Mr. Hall also took the time to share with me stories of his own interview experiences, both as the interviewer but also the interviewee. Based on his experiences he said the major thing to remember about interviews is that they should always be a two-way street. The interviewer should be determining if the interviewee is the best candidate for the position while the interviewee should be determining if the placement is the best position for themselves. He said this is where the importance of good questions lies as the right question can sometimes tell the interviewee a lot about what the interviewer is not telling you about the position/placement.

Overall, I had a great time talking with Mr. Hall. We discussed how I was enjoying my time at Tri-Valley and how much he has learned and is still learning about agricultural education. Working in his school has been a joy this semester and I only hope that wherever I decide to teach that I am lucky enough to have administrators who are at least half as supportive of their ag. programs as he is of Tri-Valley’s.

Week 14: Testing, Testing, & More Testing

I've felt like this next to last week has brought a subtle but anxious feeling, almost like the calm before a storm. This is not meant in a negative way, but I think that's how some of my students and I felt knowing that soon the classroom would be one person less.

This week was the beginning of every student's and teacher's least favorite season of the year - standardized test season. With the 8th graders taking their PSSA tests and the preparation for the upcoming Keystones going into hyperdrive, many of the teachers, including Mrs. D, were proctoring exams so I got the chance to take over the Ag. Sciences II-IV classes a few times, of course just confusing the students again about when I was actually leaving.

By this point my Vet Science students were quickly finishing up the Anatomy & Physiology unit, giving us just enough time to complete the whole unit before I leave next week. This week we learned about the muscular system and I was excited to hear that for some of my older students in the class our class was lining up nicely with their Anatomy class, reinforcing some of the material. To learn and review some of the muscles of the dog my class played "Pin the Muscle on the Doggy," which I think my students really enjoyed.

In my Ag. Science I class my students are wrapping up their tool-box constructions and they are all looking great, with some a little more unique looking than others. A few hiccups the past few weeks with equipment not functioning properly, including the jigsaw and planer, delayed some of the students' progress but they all pushed through it, finding new ways to (safely!) complete tasks without (much) complaining.

I can't believe I only have one more week here...

Week 13: Back from Easter - Now Only 3... & PAAE Time

Having arrived back refreshed from a great four-day weekend at home for the holiday, it felt strange to come back and only be teaching three classes and I wasn't the only one who thought so. Now that student teaching was quickly coming to a close I had handed back the reins on most of the classes to Mrs. D but I was keeping the Ag Science I class, the Vet Science class, and our 8th graders up until the end. It felt strange but nice to be able to sit back and observe how Mrs. D taught again and see how she has adapted since some of the changes I enacted in the classroom. It also gave me the chance to talk more with other teachers in the building and learn from their experiences in education, regardless of the subject they taught.

This week was also the Eastern Region's PAAE spring meeting, so Wednesday night Mrs. D and I headed off to Lancaster to meet up with the other teachers in the region and talk about how we could continue to improve our profession. That night was spent focusing on topics such as the new NOCTI standards that are in progress to (hopefully) better align the NOCTI exams with the standard content taught with PA ag. education. We also discussed several upcoming or in the works ideas for professional development, including the XLR8 programs for experienced teachers, continuing efforts to strengthen advocacy for agricultural education, and professional development focused on technology use in the classroom and the importance of having an "AET Guru" to improve our state and local chapters' system of SAE's. While student members don't have the power to vote on any issues, it was still great to get to experience teachers taking control of their own professional development and working towards improving ag. education across that state as a whole.

Now to wrap up the week I am heading to Round #2 of Banquet Season - heading north to join Mrs. D for the Line Mountain FFA Banquet and I'm excited for another chance to pick up some new things about banquet planning and checking out another ag. program.

Week 12: Spring Break Arrives & Dr. Foster Visits

This week both flew by and dragged on at the same time...

This was the week right before spring break. Every day both the students and teachers could feel the spring fever sinking in as the weather finally became warmer and winter finally left us (fingers crossed). In Vet Science class we had finally moved onto my last unit, Anatomy & Physiology, and so this week we were finishing up learning about directional terminology with marshmallow bunny dissections (no gummi bears) and learning about skeletal anatomy and bone composition using edible bone models.

In my Ag. Sciences II-IV classes the students conducted debate presentations on issues within the poultry industry including housing structures and its impact on welfare, and urban backyard chickens. After our debate presentations, the students worked in groups to complete a Poultry Evaluation CDE Training Kit project, where the CDE was divided into five major components with each group of students in charge of a different component. The students were to find training resources for that section of the CDE as if they were practicing for it, but they also had to identify what skills were tested/utilized in that part of the contest and how that portion of the contest connected to the poultry industry. There were some difficulties with technology throughout the project and I wish that based on the schedule I could have given the students more time to complete the project, however based on the situations we had, some of the students did a really nice job on it and hopefully their resources can help the next time a team wants to compete in that CDE.

This week was also my second observational visit from Dr. Foster and his insight into my classroom and teaching ability was greatly needed. After a day full of encouraging "life-talks," discussions about employment prospects, and helpful tips to thrive during the last few weeks of student teaching, it was time to enjoy a much needed spring break.

Week 11: A Quick Week & Sweet Professional Development @ Shady Maple

The weeks are continuing to fly by. 

I have been teaching the full load of classes for a little while now but on Monday I had the gang all to myself as Mrs. D was out for the day. The students took some advantage of that, hiding in the shop when I didn't know they were there and we had one instance of students damaging another's project, but luckily it was all fixed and the students were back to getting along by the end of the day. 

Tuesday was another day out of the classroom as we had the chance to take four of our girls to the Area Public Speaking Career Development Event. We had students competing in the Sr. Prepared and Conservation speaking contests while Mrs. D and I, along with the other ag. teachers served as judges for the other contests. I got the chance to judge the Extemporaneous Speaking CDE where the students draw three topics, then choose one of those three to prepare a 6-8 minute speech with only 30-minutes preparation time. The topics can cover anything within the realm of agriculture and that day I got to hear about alternative energy, sustainability, urban agriculture, and biotechnology. For me this was a great experience as I not only got interact with other ag. teachers but also had the chance to listen to students and get a sense of what they are learning in their ag. programs, learning something new about agriculture with every speaker I judged. 

Wednesday and Thursday were normal days of teaching. My Ag. Science I 9th graders were finally all moving into the shop after completing all their safety tests and were now moving onto constructing their too-box projects, teaching me the important lesson of having eyes in the back of your head - especially when you have 16 students all use power tools and stationary machinery at once in the wood-shop. Yikes!

In addition to teaching, Wednesday night also made for a sweet reunion with several of my fellow student teachers for some professional development. That night was our areas's New & Beginning Teacher Workshop, a professional development opportunity offered by Penn State. Gathering together at the Shady Maple Smorgasbord in Lancaster, it was a night of sharing resources, and stories, and collaborating together to learn how to improve each of our individual programs while also forming contacts and connecting the newer generations of teachers with experienced teachers, all while over a delicious meal. I know that I walked away with several valuable resources, both digital and physical, and formed better connections with teachers. 

This was also another opportunity for me to get to interact with the newest ag. teacher in the area from Pine Grove. Pine Grove is one of the closest ag. programs to Tri-Valley and had just hired a new ag. teacher right before I began student teaching. As her closest neighbors, she has interacted with Mrs. D quite often, which allowed me to work with her as well and I think adds a nice element to my student teaching experience. The new teacher is originally from a more biology-focused background and is still learning about the wonderful world of FFA, so interacting with her has been greatly beneficial for me as she is able to trade notes with me on her teacher preparation program and her classroom teaching strategies while I, along with Mrs. D, am able to teach her about FFA and about the diverse possibilities within ag. education.

Overall, the week wrapped up nicely with another Friday back at Penn State for a day of mock interviews and peer review of lessons. Can't believe it's only a few weeks left!

Week 10: #SLLC15 & Full Load of Classes

This week was crazy busy!

My week actually started bright and early Sunday morning as Mrs. D and I took a group of four great girls down to Harrisburg for the three-day State Legislative Leadership Conference (SLLC). During this conference the students attend leadership workshops focused on developing them as aware and active citizens and teaching them about the legislative process. The students are even split up into the House and Senate and go through mock reviewing of current bills relevant to them, including safety features of school buses, hunting regulations, and standardized testing. This provides the students the chance to learn about the process and see how and why it takes so long for certain regulations to go into effect, giving them a greater appreciation of the process.

The students weren't the only ones in workshops developing themselves - teachers were too. The first day at the conference was spent reviewing and grading Proficiency Awards from across the state. As a student who never went through the process of actually completing a Proficiency myself, this was really helpful to se how the applications are put together and how teachers score them. It was also just really exciting to have a chance to "see" the variety of SAE projects across the state from livestock and crop production to agribusiness ventures to research projects.

The next round of professional development involved learning about how to advocate for yourself and your agricultural education program. The culminating piece of the conference is a breakfast meet-and-greet with our representatives at the capital building, so this workshop focused on the reasons advocating is important, the best ways to approach advocating, and how to create simple one-page documents that serve as physical value-added documentation of why someone should support you. Essentially a one-page, front and back handout that uses stats and pictures to show why your individual agricultural education program is awesome.

Once all the workshops were finished we got back together with our kids and enjoyed a wonderful day of community service. Everyone at the conference was split up at various locations to perform community service - we were located a nearby senior living center where we got to enjoy the wonderful weather while outside landscaping. My girls seemed to have a lot of fun and everyone was in high spirits all day. It was a great chance for me to get to interact with some of my younger students who I hadn't had the chance to interact with too much yet, while also allowing me to strengthen the bond with one of my older favorite students.

While I had a great time at SLLC there was the rest of the week to teach! Going back to school to teach the next few days was exhausting as both myself and my students hadn't yet recovered from our trip. The next few days went by without a hitch as I continues to teach a full load of classes. My students and I got to start our weekends a little earlier than normal as a freak snow storm caused us to have an early dismissal on Friday, and while no one wanted winter to return, everyone was very excited to start the weekend.

Week 9: Community Relations

This has been a hectic week to say the least. This was also a week that highlighted community relation and how it supports an agriculture program.

This week we were dissecting in my Ag Science II-IV classes so my week started with a trip to Bixler's meats, the local butcher, to pick up some reproductive and digestive tracts. Even though we were learning about poultry in this class, the butcher didn't handle any birds and I wasn't able to have any of my students bring in any birds (live or dead) due to biosecurity reasons, so instead I was able to get tracts from pigs. I picked up both types of tracts this week but we were only focusing on the digestive tracts this week and I actually think that using the pig tracts instead of birds' actually provided a greater learning opportunity.

My students seemed to enjoy the chance to get their hands dirty cutting apart the dissection tract and while some of them were a little grossed out, most seemed to really enjoy it. For me it gave the opportunity to compare and contrast digestive systems across species with the tracts, reviewing some of the material they had learned in past agriculture classes.



This week was also my first of a few FFA banquets I would be attending this spring. In this area, there are several other FFA chapters within an hour's drive of Tri-Valley so each chapter invites their neighboring chapters to send representatives to their banquets and some other social functions. This week was the Upper Dauphin FFA Banquet and I'll admit that at first I thought it was strange to attend another chapter's banquet. This was not something we ever did at home. Then while attending Upper Dauphin I realized how great of an opportunity this was - through the simple gesture of inviting a few extra guests, the chapters were ensuring a friendly community bond was built amongst the chapters.

I had a great time at the Upper Dauphin FFA Banquet. It was a great chance to see how another chapter performed their banquet and allowed Mrs. D and I the chance to compare ideas and think of ways to improve our own Tri-Valley Banquet coming up in May. One of the highlights we both really enjoyed at Upper Dauphin's was that it was the 60th anniversary of the original FFA chapters in that area, and so one of their officers gave a beautiful presentation on the chapter's history. While not everyone would be able to give a presentation like theirs, I do believe that celebrating your chapter's history is another great way to continue to build the community relations within your own local chapter.

Overall, this has been a great week and a great example of the value of community relations to a chapter's success.

Week 8: Short but Sweet

So this has been another short week (apparently I jinxed myself), with two snow days, two delays, and an early dismissal. This week was my first week with the new classroom set-up; instead of the usual seven separate long tables in rows which used to feel like a maze whenever I would try moving around the classroom, now I have three pods of two tables pushed together, angled in the classroom to (almost) resemble a horseshoe facing my desk, with my seventh table at the front the class pushed agains the board to serve as my materials table.

Everyone's reactions to the new classroom set-up have been pretty amusing, and for the most part positive. When the students arrived Monday morning they were stunned to see change as it appears it's been a very long time since the room has been changed. While there are some mixed reactions, I prefer this new set-up so far, it allows me to move around and interact with all of my students without feeling like I am cut off from others. So far it's also made grouping easier, so now I can have more group work and have easier student discussions without feeling like they are talking over each other.



While we weren't able to get a lot accomplished in the classroom so far this week because of our weather, we did get a chance to work together and accomplish one of the chapter fundraisers and get a sweet taste of summer in the process. A new fundraiser the FFA chapter tried out this year was a strawberry sale. The chapter already has a citrus sale in the fall, but they decided to try it out this year and I think it was a great success! We sold strawberries by the quart, half-flats (4 quarts) and full-flats (8 quarts), and while the strawberries had a long travel from Florida north to us, their taste could have fooled you. They were a hit and we spent our Friday unloading, sorting and checking on quality control while also enjoying the extra strawberries that weren't quite up to snuff to distribute to our customers. It was a really good thing we ordered extras too, because we had teachers calling or running down all day who had gotten a taste of some of them and wished they had bought some.

So its was a sweet day of bonding with the few students I had that day (it was the State Wrestling Event so we had multiple students wrestling and many more students absent to support the wrestlers).

Week 7: Finally a Full Week!!

So it's now the end of week seven, can't believe I'm practically halfway through student teaching already. This is the first week in a very long time where I've actually had five full regular school days yet I feel like this week has flown by faster than any other. This week was national FFA week so the hallways this week were filled with wonderfully bright yellow signs attached to each FFA member's locker, which with a chapter of over 120 members makes for a great view as you travel the hallways. 

This past week has also been my first full week co-teaching the electrical wiring class with Mrs. D, which has been a great learning experience and confidence booster for me. While parts of the shop still scare me., I do at least feel pretty confident in my electrical wiring knowledge and in helping the students figure out how to properly wire parallel and series circuits. It’s nice to know I can pick up things at least a day ahead of them. 

Traditional & Modern forms of Candling Eggs

This week was also my first visit from Dr. Foster, thanks to the weather constantly pushing it back. Overall, I think it went well and I picked up some great advice on how to increase my structure and rearrange my classroom to help make navigating it and keeping everyone engaged easier. Also getting to watch Dr. Foster geek out with my students when they whipped out their iPhones to candle the eggs before dissecting them was pretty cool. And they all seemed to enjoy “talking shop” with him as they wired together their circuits and put the finishing touches on some of their individual projects during Practicum class. 

My boys showing Dr. Foster how they do it

DDF12's snippets of Tri-Valley

The remainder of the week just flew by, between exams and quizzes in a few classes and taking advantage of the opportunity to check out another program down in Lancaster one day after school, by the time Friday rolled around, none of could keep track of what day or period it was. The school day has become much busier now, with me beginning and ending every day teaching a class since I just picked up my 8th period Ag Science I class where we are completing our safety tests before we move out into the Wood Shop to begin our tool-box project. 

And now it’s Friday. The day I would normally not rush home after school because I know I can sleep in the next day, but not this week. Tonight, to culminate National FFA Week, Line Mountain, one of my neighboring high schools, is hosting an FFA Ice Cream Social which some of my FFA Officers are attending, so I may swing by to check out the school and hang out with my officers. I also get to spend a long Saturday with them tomorrow as we will be taking a group on a long journey down to Delaware Valley College for the CDE Practice Event hosted by the DVC Collegiate FFA Chapter. I’m looking forward to another Saturday with my kids and also some CDE time, as that was always one of my favorite parts of FFA.

So I’ve just spent time after school today completely rearranging the classroom per Dr. Foster’s advice, so we’ll see how my students react when they come back Monday. It’s going to be an adjustment for sure but I think it might work out really well with the new pod set-up and if not, I can always change it again next week! Looking forward to another busy FFA weekend and the start of Week 8!

New Set-up! So much room for activities!

Short & Sweet: Week 6

It's hard to believe student teaching is already more than a third, almost halfway, over! (insert panicked face here...) This week has been a crazy short one and I think it's fair to say that amongst my cohort I think we are unofficially having a contest to see who can teach the least amount of regular-schedule school days, thanks to everyone's constant changing of schedules due to our winter weather.

This week has been short and sweet; with only two instructional days week 6 was still jam-packed, with one day spent observing another fellow student teacher at his placement center (check for a post about my experiences there), taking a group of students to the Schuylkill County Public Speaking Career Development Event, and another day of professional development with my cohort back in Happy Valley.

So while I only had two shortened days in the classroom this week (thanks record number of two-hour delays), a lot has gone on. First, the implementation of seating charts. As I am picking up the bulk of my classes part-way through their semester or year, and even with the two classes I picked up right from the beginning, at first I let the students continue to sit where they choose. For the most part this has worked fine as they haven't given me too many issues. However, some disruptions are starting to occur in my upperclassmen classes, and while the hectic schedule changes are not helping, it feels like it's the time to shake things up and change around the seating arrangement. Now since I didn't get to see all my students last week, not every class has received their new seating arrangements yet, but students talk and I can already hear grumblings about it through the hallways. But for now we're going to give it a try and see how it works out. Hopefully my students will figure out that I can always change it again and if they're good, they'll get the seats they want.

So that brings me to some of the main things I've learned in the classroom this week:
1) Students do not like change. While I have been here for awhile now, I'm still a change everyone is getting used to, and slowly but surely we'll all adjust to it.
2) Students like to push your buttons. My upperclassmen especially have been trying to find my buttons and figure out what they can do to get a reaction out of me. So far I think they've been unsuccessful but now with the new seating arrangements I think we can nip some of these issues in the bud soon.
3) Students want to see what they can get away with. Now I don't mean behavior, I mean work level and effort. Some of my students clearly work hard and put their effort into even the smallest of assignments while others need a little more pushing. Slowly they will hopefully start to realize this without having to rely on pushing from me, as grades are due soon.

So while those are three of the things I've learned in the classroom this week, I also got to spend some time with my students outside the classroom. First I got to take a group of four of my girls to compete at the Schuylkill County Public Speaking Career Development Event, hosted at the nearby Vo-Tech. Getting to spend this time with my students and other FFA Chapters was great, and definitely a much needed push to get through this section of student teaching. During the competition I served as the manuscript judge, reading the submitted speeches for all three chapters, while also serving as time-keeper, getting the chance to sit in while the students were presenting their speeches to the judges.

It was a great day of laughter, comaraderie, and great food thanks to the Vo-Tech, and a perfect way for me to witness some of my students' potential in a new light. All four of my girls did great, sweeping the Senior Prepared and Conservation Public Speaking CDE's, moving onto compete at the Area level competition in a few weeks. As I told my students after the placings were finished, getting to watch them speak and read their manuscripts was a huge plus for me, but maybe not for them because now that I know how well they write and present they can look forward to more of that in class.

Now after spending a weekend with another group of students at the ACES conference yesterday and today (see another post for reflection on that), while I am physically exhausted, I am looking forward to getting back in and hopefully having my first full week of regular classes since I came down to the Valley.

Looking forward to see what this week brings.

Trip to Twin Valley: The Other "TV"

One of our assignments during student teaching is to visit another student teacher at their cooperating center. This visit gives us the chance to see another program different than the one we're student teaching in and provides us the chance to see each other in action and pick up tips from one another, and personally I think it adds some extra support as it gives you the chance to go be the cheerleader for another member in your cohort for a day - something I think every student teacher needs every now and then.

Never-ending Humor @ Twin Valley

For my visit I decided to take a trip down to visit Toby at Twin Valley, also known as "the other TV."

I chose to visit Toby for several reasons:

1. My home program, Saul, is a 12+ teacher program and Tri-Valley is a 1 teacher program, so at Twin Valley I would get the chance to see the dynamics of a 2 teacher program
2. Tri-Valley operates on an 8-period schedule while Twin Valley utilizes block scheduling
3. At Twin Valley they have the use of an attached greenhouse
4. At Twin Valley some of their classes utilize the CASE curriculum

So Monday morning I headed into school with Toby bright and early...well not so bright and early as we received more winter weather, but after a two-hour delay we made it. 

What kind of equipment is this?...

The day started out with Toby's Introduction to Ag class, consisting of mostly 9th graders. This class utilizes the CASE curriculum and that day the students were completing an inquiry-based lab learning how to identify various scientific lab equipment that they would need to know how to use to conduct future labs. The lab was set up as a scavenger hunt, with the equipment laid out at different stations around the shop and the students had to complete a worksheet matching the identifying the equipment by matching the descriptions of the equipment's function with the chosen equipment based on appearance and prior knowledge alone. While this was an individual assignment, Toby encouraged the students to talk to one another and ask questions to determine the correct answers. Due to the shortened class period the students would be reviewing the equipment lists the next day. Overall, I think it was a fun lesson for all involved, and it was evident that the students had to really think about what they were seeing and reading to identify the equipment.

Not many of our bears would survive...

Toby's second class of the day was his Natural Resources class, and even if you did not know of Toby's background in environmental education, his passion was clearly evident in his teaching. The topic of the day was habitat requirements and learning how this can affect how well an animal survives. First we took some brief notes on the topic with Toby using his background experience to add perspective, then we played an activity where we role-played as bears and had to obtain enough resources to support ourselves throughout the year. This was a great activity and taught the students about carrying capacity and resource management.

Last class of the day was Horticulture. In this class there were a lot of different things going on. There was a group of students working in the greenhouse with Mrs. Weaver, helping to prepare it for the plants that would be arriving within the next week. In the classroom, there were also several students working on floral arrangements and some students catching up on past work due to weather-related absences. Toby worked back and forth between the students in the classroom and checking on the progress in the classroom. This class showcased Toby's ability to be flexible!

Overall I had a great visit with Toby and Mrs. Weaver and it was very evident that the students were enjoying learning from them and that he had a great rapport with his students. Visiting was a great day and left me refreshed to go back into my own classroom. I can't wait to see all the great things Toby continues to do.

ACES 2015: An Ag Teacher's Week does not end on Friday

A normal teacher's week may start early Monday morning and end late Friday afternoon, but such is not the life of an Ag Teacher. Their week may very well include six, if not all seven days of the week, multiple times throughout the year. This was one of those times.

Every spring the PA FFA hosts the Agricultural Cooperation Establishes Success Conference, better known as ACES. This was a conference I always enjoyed as a student as it was a night away from home, but this was my first attending in my "Advisor" role. Spending that Saturday and Sunday with 8 of my students was an event I had been looking forward to for awhile.

Being located not too far away from Harrisburg has its perks as our drive didn't start too early that morning, though with 8 students, 2 advisors and all our bags, we did need to take two suburbans, which meant some of my students were lucky enough to have me as their driver (good thing they knew the way).

Once we got to Harrisburg it was time to check in, put the bags in the rooms, and of course pass out the always important conference t-shirt before opening ceremonies. After opening ceremonies, it was time for the advisors and students to split up for a few hours. While the students headed off to workshops to engage in leadership development and SAE exploration, the advisors headed off to our teachers' workshops. This year the workshops focused on inquiry-based learning lead by several teachers who had participated in the DuPont AgriScience Ambassador trainings. Our lab activity focused on "fishing" snack fish out of a pond following specific limitations. This was a great activity and I could see it being used to teach a number of concepts, including carrying capacity, sustainability, the tragedy of the commons, ethics and much more. Engaging in this activity supported the saying "teachers make the worst students," as throughout the activity some teachers didn't read and/or follow the directions, leading them to make up their own rules, but everyone was fully engaged and all of us picked up something different from the activity, which I think highlights the diversity within agricultural education.

After the workshops it was time to meet back up with my students and enjoy a great meal together. This of course meant lots of teasing about desserts, and never-ending comments about the mashed potatoes that my students say they wait all year for, but first an impromptu lesson in how to tie a tie. Just goes to show that you don't need to be a boy to know how to tie a tie (guess I should learn soon).

After dinner was some time to catch up with fellow teachers and student teachers, and several of my students from home and Governor's School. After some quick catching up, now was time for the true social portion of the conference - the annual dance. All of my students were required to be at the dance for at least the first portion to check in and be social, but then were allowed to go to their rooms if they wanted. All of my students chose to stay though only a few actually danced. So what did the rest of us do? The timeless classic - played cards.

I got to spend the rest of the night talking with my students while playing cards, catching up some more with fellow student teachers, checking in on my students on the dance floor every so often to make sure everything was PG, and otherwise enjoyed a relaxing evening. Once the dance ended my students headed back to their rooms for lights out, while Mrs. D and I joined several other teachers on the nightly "courtesy corps," making a couple rounds and making sure all the students on our designated floors were quietly going to bed and not disturbing the other hotel guests.

The next morning we enjoyed another great meal, enjoyed some thoughtful reflections from the State FFA Officers, and participated in a simple community service project - writing letters thanking our nation's veterans, wounded warriors, and currently deployed service men and women. Overall, we had a great conference - I was able to interact with my students outside their comfort zones, stretching themselves to learn new things and meet new people. Everyone went home that day with great memories and new friends and while I was extra tired knowing tomorrow was Monday, it was a good refresher and boost for going back.

No Question About It - I'm Teaching Ag: Week 5

So here it is, week 5 of 15, a third of the student teaching experience down, and let me tell you I haven't had a better week yet. As bad as last week might have felt, this week has been equally good, maybe even better, even though it's been another short week.

First, my 8th graders are completely out of their shells now. They all talk in class and are willing, sometimes even jumping to share with the class or answer my questions. One of my boys, who at first was pretty shy and soft-spoken was even super excited to show me pictures of his longhorn cattle he raises that he hopes to show at next year's Farm Show (they figured out I'm a sucker for animals). I even get frantic waves and shouts of "Ms. F!" from a few if they see me walking down the hall. They really are the bright spot of my morning and they know it. I'll be a little sad when their rotation switches but I hope my next batch of 8th graders is just as enthusiastic!

Next, after what felt like a long hiatus from all the snow delays and cancellations, I got to see my Vet Science class again. They're a little behind on their research projects but we are getting them done and will hopefully be presenting them in the next few classes. Since I only got to see them once this week we did a Disease Transmission activity, where each of my "animal" students would interact with one another (swapping water) until our mysterious disease had spread throughout our herd. We were able to determine who had caught our contagious disease by utilizing our chemical test solution to see if any of the "animals" were showing symptoms (the water of sick animals turned a hot pink). Now that we documented who are infected "animals" were, next class the students will try figuring out who was our "patient zero" who spread the disease in the beginning, utilizing some inquiry-based learning.

This week I also picked up my 4th period A-day class: Electricity. Now I will admit being one of the shop classes, this is one of the classes I feel most anxious about but luckily I've been keeping up so far (I think). After two days of class, I've been able to help several students, can answer most questions on my own (though I do still double-check with Mrs. D. sometimes), and am now ready to start grading my students' wiring abilities on their plugs and parallel circuits!



And finally, my 3rd and 5th period Ag Science II-IV classes where we are learning about poultry. I will admit that being a class I teach twice a day, this was one of my rougher classes last week but I think I'm getting a handle on what seems to work well and what doesn't. So far we've had some great discussion on properties of eggs and differences among egg types thanks to a "naked, rubber" egg I made (google it, all it takes is a raw egg, some vinegar, and time!). We've also had some great discussion and short debates on which type of housing is "better" for laying hens, wire-cages or cage-free. Several of my students have worked in poultry operations either in the past or currently doing various jobs so I've been having a great time pulling in their expertise in class and seeing what they have actually seen or worked with firsthand. Now I just have to be careful to keep my lessons moving without telling them too much of what they already know.

This week was full of a lot of great things outside of the classroom also, including my first high school wrestling match, my first Ag Ed Advisory Board meeting, and my second SAE visit (first one was in the summer). Look for more blogs on those experiences!

Week 4: The week I was reminded that I have great friends...

This week has been the hardest so far...

While I have heard stories over the past few weeks of how some of my fellow student teachers have run into some obstacles, I have been pretty lucky so far. No real problems, both of my two classes behave well and follow the expectations I put in front of them, and other than trying to work around a constant changing schedule due to snow, I haven't had a bad week....

...Until this week, week 4.

To start off what could best be summed up as a "trying" week, my wonderful car Debi is no longer with me thanks to an encounter with black ice on the mountain last weekend.

Then I had a snow day Monday and a two-hour delay on Tuesday, which while it was very helpful after my adventures on Sunday, it also meant that Tuesday felt rushed all day as Ms. D. and I tried to catch up with one another and prepare for the next few weeks after an unexpected four-day weekend.
I did get to finally have my Vet Science class again and was able to complete my activity with them that I was excited for last week. While the activity did not go 100% as smoothly as I wanted it to, some of my students seemed really into it, and everyone had input on what the laundry detergent-covered, glowing, squeaky basketball dog toy had to do with vet science class. While some students were grossed out by the sticky dog toy, others gladly passed it around to their friends and enjoyed watching our hands glow under the black-light once I showed them how germs and diseases can be passed around on something as simple as a dog toy. Overall, I think it was a good interest approach activity to tie together the topic of the day, zoonotic diseases, with the overall unit of safety and sanitation.

Wednesday I picked up my 3rd class, which meant both 3rd and 5th period. I have already decided that this class is going to be my hardest points of the day. This is my Ag Science II-IV class, so 10th, 11th and 12th graders together and while we will be spending the majority of the rest of my time here learning about the poultry industry (our valley has a significant amount of poultry production, with several of my students completing SAE's in poultry-related employment), I wanted to start out the unit looking at the larger picture of global hunger and how animal agriculture can play a part.

While my new students were rowdy, they stayed mostly on topic, discussing why we have a global hunger issue and how it's not only the quantity and quality of food produced, but also the distribution of these foods and resources that play a part. And they were pretty excited about getting to eat cookies (except my wrestlers, I mistakenly brought food in on a weight cutting day).

While Wednesday was a hard day, picking up the new class, Thursday was the "trial by fire." Ms. D. and I had been preparing for the end of the week, as Friday we would both be at the state FFA record-book contest and our students would be with a substitute teacher, but Thursday Ms. D. would also be out and I would be teaching all the classes that day with the help of the substitute. To say that that day was tough would be an understatement, as some of my students took full advantage of only having me and attempting to run over me in the classroom (with their words, not equipment).

Thursday was a struggle and while it has definitely pointed out where I may run into classroom management problems and showed me where I need to improve when planning my lessons, this week has taught me some other great lessons:

1) I am student teaching at a great school with a wonderful and supportive staff and administration. Throughout my time here and this week especially, my fellow teachers have checked in with me and made sure I am surviving and enjoying my time in the valley.

2) While some of my students drive me up the wall almost every time I interact with them, I have others that I love. Many of my students, especially my girls and some of my 11th and 12th grade boys are wonderful students and are going to go onto great things after high school graduation and I look forward to learning more from them throughout the rest of my time here.

3) "Don't take it personal..." This is a piece of advice many of my fellow Tri Valley teachers and other teacher friends have told me throughout the past month, and while this is probably some of the hardest advice to follow I've received, I am trying to follow it.

4) I have an amazing support network of friends. Between my amazing cohort and the rest of my Penn State Teach Ag family, and the wonderful ag. teachers I call friends up and down the East Coast, I have had many people who were there for me this past week, with words of encouragement, laughter, tips/advice, and overall listening ears to allow me to laugh, cry, scream, praise and overall vent about my time here at Tri Valley so far. And while this week has been hard, I assure everyone that no, I have not been scared off, and I look forward to the next 11 weeks only going up from here (as long as it's not up a mountain...)