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.