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.

Snow Days, Weight Days, & Beefstick Days, Oh My! (Week 2 Cont...)

Sounds like our students

In addition to getting used to my teaching schedule this week I also learned that A-days, B-days, and 9^th period Club days are not the only things that affect my students and their schedule. We also have snow days, “weight days,” and beefstick days. Snow days seem really obvious at how they affect your schedule, but it’s not just the time difference; the students also act different. The teachers joke that you can predict the weather based on how rowdy the students get, and sure enough, today about the time that the students upped their rowdiness level was about the time our weather forecast upgraded from a “weather advisory alert” to a “winter storm warning.”

Don't wanna mess with the Dawgs

The weather is only one factor, the next is “weight days.” Many of the students in my ag. classes are athletes, predominantly wrestlers. Since we are in prime wrestling season, my students moods and behaviors shift based on their “weight days” where they make sure that they are within their weight range to compete. So for instance some days these past weeks some of my boys have been grumpy because they have to shed weight before a competition; other days they are stuffing their faces because a meet has been rescheduled due to weather.

The Coveted Beefstick Cabinet

This brings me to the next kind of days – beefstick days, or really beefstick week. One of the fundraisers for the FFA chapter is the sale of beefsticks in the ag. class. We can sell before and after school everyday, but because of school nutrition requirements we can only sell during the school day for one week per month, hence beefstick days. Students are very motivated by food, and even when they have to pay for it, they will work (a little) harder if they can buy a beefstick.

This is just some of the fun things I’m becoming a part of here at Tri Valley, including attending my first FFA meeting this afternoon. While I may be from the largest chapter, I’ve never attended an FFA meeting with over 20 students and thanks to Tri Valley’s 9^th period club schedule, every Friday we hold FFA meetings in the auditorium with at least 50 students. Today after moving through our agenda, introducing myself and advertising some of the FFA activities coming up over the next few weeks we watched part of Nick Vujicic’s keynote address from this past fall’s National FFA Convention. Even watching it on youTube, after seeing it in person I still enjoy his message and hope that the students are pulling something of it too. Hopefully, his message of accepting others and loving yourself and pushing yourself further to accomplish great things can be a message to theme my semester with Tri Valley.

Mid-Winter Convention, Come Icy Rain or Shine

Attending the PA State Farm Show has been a tradition for me for the past nine years; it’s how I mark my birthday each year. Usually this involves a multi-day trip chaperoning Saul livestock kids, but this year was a little different. While I did manage to visit the Farm Show Sunday to catch up with Saul and watch my kids show their market lambs (4 sale lambs and a Master Showman!), the big difference was knowing that I would be chaperoning a new bus full of Tri Valley students that Monday to attend the Mid-winter FFA Convention. At least that’s how Monday was supposed to go.

Instead of chaperoning a full bus load of Tri Valley FFA members I spent my Monday morning first preparing for a two hour delay, and then finding out that because of the rain coating our area’s roads with ice that I would be experiencing my first official “snow day.” While my school and many others faced school cancellations there was one common theme amongst my cooperating teacher and other FFA Advisors across the area – come rain or shine they will celebrate their students’ achievements at Mid-winter. So while the majority of my students enjoyed their day off, Mrs. Dingman and I loaded up in her car and headed south towards the Farm Show Complex. Tri Valley had one first year student receiving their own FFA jacket thanks to the state alumni association’s jacket campaign, and while she couldn’t make it due to the weather, we were able to pick up her jacket for her and bring it back. We were also there to recognize two of our seniors receive their Keystone FFA Degrees, and while only one of them was able to make it, it was really cool to watch her walk across stage and help take dozens of pictures for her obviously very proud parents.

Attending this year’s Mid-winter Convention was very similar to each of the past year’s I’ve attended as a chaperone, except it felt more official this year; now that I’m officially the chapter advisor (in-training) those are “my kids” and I felt different to be down on the arena floor and watch as the hundreds of students went across stage. Watching the students receive their Keystones or zip up their first personal jacket was a little nostalgic, reminding me how much I love my own blue corduroy hanging in my closet.

This Farm Show was also extra special to me because I got to bring all three of my groups of “kids” together – as I got to celebrate my hometown kids showing over the weekend and then congratulating them as they earned their Keystones, and then was able to introduce some of students from Governor’s School to my Tri Valley FFA member so that they already know each other before running into each other at FFA conferences this spring. I’m really proud of all of my “kids” and can’t wait to enjoy their interactions together at future FFA events. Hopefully, by mixing my three groups together I can help them form some friendships across the state. At the very least I have multiple chapters I’ll be cheering for at this year’s state convention.

Here’s to a successful Farm Show (complete with milk shake) and the beginning of the next fifteen weeks, feeling like an official “big kid.”