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..... ;)

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.

The Day I Learned to Hate #SnowDays...: Week 3

So this week has been crazy, not because a lot has been going on, but because not much has been going on. Thanks to our current stream of overhyped snow storms, this past week has really only been 2.5 days. First, a snow day on Monday and a 2-hour delay on Tuesday, both of which did not seem to bring the heavy snowfall we were expecting (though you do have to be extra pre-cautious when some of your students and staff have to travel over or around the mountain to get to school). And now to end our week, we now have a three-day weekend thanks to another snow day today (though I think this weekend we may actually get a snow storm, so if my kids get their wish we may have a four-day weekend).

So after this short week where I was only able to see my 8th graders for three classes and my Vet Science class once, I have come to a conclusion: I hate snow days. As a student I remember loving days off, late arrivals, and early dismissals due to weather conditions, no matter how I had to travel, but now as a teacher I hate them.

So current and past teachers I ask you - how do/did you ever get anything accomplished in class?!

Thanks to our most recent schedules I am about two days behind in my class schedule, and instead of picking up my next class Monday I may have to start mid-week, but that's assuming the incoming snow storm bypasses us and we're able to have class Monday. Now on the one hand, some people may look at it this way, I have an extra day to my weekend and some extra time to prepare, and that's true, my snowy weekend will be filled with lesson planning and pushing ahead.

Hopefully they think this is as cool as I do...

But picture this, you stay late at school Thursday night because you are super excited for the lesson you have planned the next day for your Vet Science class. You have all the materials ready, you've planned out your lesson, and you are getting excited just thinking about how your students will react when they figure out what's going on. Friday morning comes, you get the phone call at 5:30am, schools will be on a 2-hour delay. Slight panic, you look out your window then check your bell schedule. Wooosh, it'll be ok, based on that day's delay schedule you won't get to see your 8th graders which is a little sad but you get your Vet Science class first period of the day. So you're getting pumped, hoping they think it's as cool as you do and not corny. You take advantage of your extra time that morning, clean up the apartment, figure out your outfit for the day and get ready. But then it happens, you get the second phone call, school's canceled. And now you're bummed, and that's when it hits you and you leave your old student-mindset -  you hate snow days.

Now while I am bummed that I didn't get to see my students react to my (hopefully) awesome Vet Science lesson, I won't ruin the surprise for you and will instead wait to explain more about the lesson next week after my students get to experience it (whatever day that may be now). Though I will share a picture sneak peak of some of the materials I prepped for class.

So I again ask, current and past teachers - how do/did you ever get anything accomplished in class?!
The weather continues to throw off the schedule and as I look ahead to the many days Mrs. D. and/or I will be out of the classroom due to pre-service and/or FFA requirements I don't know how teachers are able to accomplish what they do. Looking ahead to every day I have to plan for a substitute to be watching my students, I'm anxious about what I'll be able to accomplish as I'll be restricted to certain types of media and a lack of shop utilization for those lessons. With all the extra responsibilities of an FFA Advisor, I'm not sure how any teacher, let alone ag. teachers, are able to accomplish much during the winter months (or whenever their location has extreme weather).

Now amidst all this snowy madness I still had quite a few highlights this week. First, my 8th graders continue to be the highlight of my mornings. They continue to let more of their personalities show, and their career interests range from agricultural to law enforcement! One of my favorite moments of the week was when I was questioning them and getting them to name the 8 career clusters within the agricultural industry (which according to National FFA are animal systems, plant systems, agribusiness, food products and processing, biotechnology, environmental systems, natural resources, and power, technical, and structure systems.)

The last system they had to guess was food products and processing, so I asked them what they do at least two or three times a day and one of my boys threw his hand excitedly in the air and shouted "learning!" It was that moment where I got that warm and fuzzy feeling and I told him I loved his answer and that I hoped they were learning more than that in a day. Now yes, they did figure out that I was referring to food but I loved his answer! I can't wait to see what my students come up with next week.

Looks like an Assignment Throne!

Now my 8th graders were already my favorites, but it was my senior shop boys who really surprised me this week. Of all the students I was most worried about reaching it was them; they tend to lead the behavior of the classes and are much more proficient in the shop than I'll be in a long time. But this week I think a core group of them finally accepted me. The past few weeks I have been using a box lid as my "turn-in" box; I hadn't had a chance to pick a tray up yet and it was functional. This week some of the boys were looking for projects to complete in the shop, so among some other things on the to-do list Mrs. D. asked them if they could build me a box; simple, three-sided with a lip at one end, just so it could hold assignments. Two of these boys willingly accepted and decided to build me a three-level box. Now while I appreciated their effort, the box was thrown together and while I was willing to accept the very un-pretty box, she thought they could do better.

Well some of their classmates agreed. A different group of boys picked it up the next period, looked it over and said "we can do better," and better they did. I now have a three-level, open-topped box, sanded and clear-coated drying in the shop to use next week to start collecting assignments. The students took a lot of pride in making it, continuing to fix it when something wasn't to their liking (some of them are perfectionists), and asking if it met my liking. This gave me a chance to talk to them in the shop and get to know them better, learning what they're doing after graduation and even catch them dancing and singing while cleaning up when they thought Mrs. D. and I weren't watching.


This week, even though it's been short, I've really been able to see the sweet side of my normally, loud and tough "shop" boys, from the dancing and pride in their work I mentioned earlier, to a moment I witnessed in the hallway in between classes. The teachers stand in the hallways during class changes, and one day as I was watching some of my boys walking down the hall towards ag. class, one of the younger special needs students was walking farther away down the hall holding his aide's hand. Suddenly he let go of her hand and rushed ahead to grab my student's hand and walk with down the hall. Now some students may not have reacted positively to this sudden grabbing and this situation could have gone downhill fast. Instead, my student acted wonderfully, not even batting an eye as he held onto the younger boy's hand, continuing to walk down the hall with him until the aide caught up and took the boy to their original destination.

This may not mean anything. But both Mrs. D. and I saw it and to us it was one brief moment of sweetness, and as she put it - "sometimes they can be real sweethearts." So as I go into the next twelve weeks of student teaching at this place I have grown attached to, with students I willingly claim as mine, I'm remembering this - even during those moments in class when they can be knuckleheads, acting up and sometimes just getting under your skin, these students are not just great kids, they're my great kids.

Looking forward to the next twelve weeks, more classes to teach, and hopefully less snow!

Exactly what my students were probably saying... Should have listened to them.