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!
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