Being the New Kid on the Block: Week 1

Maybe that's why there's a "donut rule"...

This has been an interesting first week to say the least. Monday was my first school cancellation due to icy rain, but that couldn’t stop the advisors’ trip to the Farm Show and Mid-winter FFA Convention. Next, Tuesday brought my first two-hour delay and also my official initiation as the “new kid on the block.” At Tri Valley there is an unofficial rule that a each new staff member must bring in enough donuts/treats for the rest of the school staff. Lucky for me, Mrs. Dingman had warned me about this rule that morning as a new secretary had been caught with it, so when I was bombarded at lunch in the faculty lunchroom, I was already prepared to know that she voted me exempt from the “donut rule” since I was only temporary (and a poor college student).

After narrowly escaping the “donut rule” now came the hard part – learning names. Wednesday through Friday has become a blur of trying to learn the names of both my coworkers and students; (un)fortunately the names I’ve picked up so far tend to be (good) students I interacted with earlier in the year, or students who need some help focusing on their work in the classroom. Though the students’ reactions are quite funny the first time they hear me say their names.

It's official now...

Most of this week has been spent observing Mrs. Dingman teach, learning names, some of her “unwritten rules” and generally how the students typically interact with each other in the classroom. The current grading quarter ends this upcoming Tuesday, so the majority of the students in her classes right now I will have once I start teaching next week, though the section of 8^th graders will rotate and some of the upperclassmen will attend the vo-tech school instead of our agriculture classes.

In addition to learning names, this week has also been learning the general layout of the school; now I can find my way around the building without getting (too) lost. With my new ID badge and internet account I am officially part of the school staff, complete with my first faculty meeting Thursday afternoon and my first experience jamming and un-jamming the copier. Overall, the week is wrapping up nicely, slowly becoming acclimated and pushing through assignments and planning for upcoming lessons. To finish off my first week I will be observing one of the biology teachers Friday afternoon and getting ready for my first in-service day this Monday while my students enjoy another three-day weekend.

Week 1 down, 14 to go!

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.”

2015: A Year of Milestones

A new year is now here, and looking back over the end of this past year I’ve realized how many great experiences I had in 2014 and how 2015 is/will be a year of milestones for me.

Meet Debi

Looking back at 2014: Finally a driver’s license! No longer am I the eternal passenger in the car thanks to my new PA license and my new partner in crime (credit-card maxing) Debi (my lovely Hyundai Santa Fe).

Seoul Sunset

2014 marks my first and second times traveling abroad. Getting to travel to Trinidad & Tobago for a week and then a month to the Republic of Korea over the summer exposed me to the big global world of agriculture and agricultural education and in more ways than one has helped make this great big world feel a little smaller.

2014 also helped me continue to increase my agricultural education network, so I can now say that I have at least one agricultural educator I can call a friend from Connecticut down to Florida and Washington to Texas.

Looking forward to this upcoming year: 2015 marks the 10-year anniversary since I first became involved in agriculture. I know that at first this statement may sound strange, but for this city girl this spring marks ten years since I interviewed for an enrollment slot at WB Saul High School, which is where my agricultural journey began.

My 2nd Farm Show & 1st time showing
with my Duroc market gilt Sausage Linx

2015 also marks my 24^th birthday officially making me the old lady in my student teaching cohort, at six years older than my oldest student and ten years older than my youngest student (aah!). My birthday each year is not complete until a visit to the Pennsylvania State Farm Show and this year's 99^th Farm Show marks nine years since I first heard of and attended the Farm Show with Saul and I’ve been hooked and attending every year since. If I leave the state, the Farm Show will be right at the top of the list for what I’ll miss most about PA.

That brings me to the biggest milestone (so far) of 2015 – the semester I finally student teach (again aaahhh!!)! This semester I will be spending 15 weeks at Tri Valley Jr./Sr. High School where I will be teaching eight different classes to 8^th through 12^th grade. Student teaching is going to be a new adventure for me, culminating my past six years of college education to get into the classroom.

Students weeding a strawberry field in a
middle school Ag class in Florida in December

These next 15 weeks are going to be the most exciting and most terrifying semester so far, but looking past this semester 2015 also marks a lot more. It marks me becoming the first person in my immediate family to earn my graduate degree (sometime this year). It also marks a year of moving – first moving to Hegins, PA, my small town home during student teaching, and after May – who knows! I’m looking forward to getting my first teaching job this spring and spending my summer moving to my new home, wherever that may be!
(PA? NY? Down south? Florida is looking pretty nice right now)!

Here’s to a year full of challenges, milestones, and a lot of mileage and gas.

"Follow your arrow wherever it points..."