A Blessed {Teach} on the Block! #15weeks

When I came home this past weekend, my sister asked me a question for her homework: “If you were to describe in one word how you feel right now, what would it be?” Blessed.

For the past 15 weeks I have been blessed to be a student teacher at a great school called Walter Biddle High School in Philadelphia. For 15 weeks I have gotten to know over 50 students in my classes, several student leaders, amazing agriculture and non-agriculture teachers, all the while working as a Penn State student teacher with a graduation date that is quickly approaching whether I want it to or not.

I am blessed because for the past 15 weeks:

-          I have taught classes in Enviornmental Science and Small Animal Science

-         Attended several field trips to aid in my classes

-         Handled over 5 different rodents, rabbits and dogs

-         Planted over 5,000 plants at a local CSA

All while teaching full time, coaching a Cross Country team, and organizing a Scrapbook club for the FFA chapter.

I am blessed because I have been able to teach some the most unique and special individuals I have ever met and help make a difference in each of their lives whether I knew it or not. Although this chapter of my life is coming to a close, I am excited for the new doors that are opening for me. After graduation I will be leaving to go to Senegal to serve as a Peace Corps Sustainable Agriculture Agent. Scary thought to be leaving the country and my kiddos behind. However, as much as an impact people say that I did at Saul, Saul changed me as well. I learned from them that:

-         I can make a difference no matter how tired the job makes me. My job is important no matter how much I want to binge watch Netflix, get frustrated because I feel defeated, or because I didn’t get enough sleep the night before because I was worried about them. I can make a difference because of them.

-         Agriculture is great way to connect people. The CSA (Community Supported Agriculture Program) at Saul brought together farmers and a school to guide them through this process of Farm to Fork.

-         Diversity of student demographics is important to know. Although the job can be “Drawn” (lame/tiring/crazy/Philly Talk), getting to know my student made for a better lesson that they would understand and be able to relate too. Gucci?

-         Being transparent with my students and parents will always be important no matter if I am a teacher or not. I need to let people know who I am and what I am doing for support in a program.

My 15 weeks at Saul High School has made me grow as an individual, a teacher, and a friend. I realize now that I choose the right job and I will continue to have a passion for agriculture education no matter if I am in the United States or Senegal. It has been surreal that this student teaching experience is over, however my life is entering into an important time for me to bring my agriculture education knowledge to a global level.

I am blessed because I have gotten to know great people at Walter Biddle Saul High School and grow to be the teacher I am today.

I am blessed because Penn State has allowed me the opportunity to have life skills and agriculture education knowledge for me to share with Senegal and the world.

Cheers to this experience and many more that are to come. Until my next Oh So Sweet Mission, thank you for reading!

Evaluations and Animals...Action Based Research

Research is something that I have come to love ever since I did it this past summer. I like looking at situations and finding solutions or looking at a problem from a different perspective. Penn State Ag Ed challenged me to look at something that Walter Biddle Saul does, observe it, and make it better.

Side Note: I am not doing this project because I am a “master teacher,” quite honestly I am far from it. However, coming to this school and looking at a class from a different perspective of what they currently do is nice to offer suggestions to make it even better!

Teaching alongside my cooperating teacher, Ms. Turrentine, we decided that we wanted to look at areas of improvement of the Animal Science department when teaching of handling and restraining animals. This directly worked with the SLO that Ms. Turrentine submitted for the beginning of the year which was nice to work with what directly she wanted to improve. Let’s break down what the SLO/Action based research looked like:

1.       Who: The SLO worked with the 10^th graders enrolled in Small Animal Science. The class is a 110-minute class that met every day! (Lots of time to work on this project)

2.       How: The students will be compared from last semester to this semester in the handling and restraining of small animals. We will analyze a project that was completed by the spring students and not the fall students and see how they compare.

3.       Expectations: The students that took the spring class will be more comfortable handling and restraining animals than the fall students.

RESULTS: As the project completed, the data was in and I was actually shocked. The students were driven by finding out the answers on their own and figuring out their own problems. 100% of the students in the spring semester that I taught were 100% comfortable handling and restraining animals compared to the fall semester. Super cool research and super cool data that showed me that the SLO was working.

Overall, this project changed my perspective about SLO’s and Action Based Research. I didn’t believe that this project would be beneficial, but seeing it work and actually helping out my students see things from a different perspective was great watching the light bulb go off! I look forward to more SLO’s and Action Based Research in the future!

Thanks for reading Ag Ed Fam!

From Student to future Scientist! #SAE2

I believe that a good agriculture teacher should embrace science in every lesson that they decide to teach no matter where they are. Regardless if they believe it or not, science and agriculture go hand in hand. Integrating your classroom instruction with an SAE project that blends science and agriculture is even better! A student that is doing that is an 11^th grade Food Science major by the name of Earl Gocking. Earl has initiated a research SAE project after he completed his internship at the USDA last summer and his project is MOO-tastic!

Although Earl is not one for many words, it was nice getting to know him more and walking around with him at the dairy barn to hear about his project. The research that he is doing is to determine if the feed that we feed out dairy cattle affects the production of casein in milk in different breeds.... PAUSE! This student is an 11^th grade student who is working hand and hand with professors from Temple and workers from the USDA to do this project (insert Teach Ag Awesomeness!)

Before I met with Earl to go over this project, I made sure that I got the full story from the teachers first about how they were helping him with it. The teachers make each student accountable if they are doing research to be fully aware and schedule their interactions to record data for their project. Basically like a real research job. After talking with the teachers about how they worked with Earl, I then went to get his perspective on his project. He mentioned to me that some interesting things he has learned was how to do self-research and making educational hypotheses along with procedures to complete this project. Earl is also not alone in this research. Alongside Earl is Dr. Diane VanHekken from the USDA, Ms. Tiffany Turrentine, Mr. Greg Smith, and the farmers at the high school to help in milking the cows! A great supportive team for a great student!

After Earl’s research concludes, he wants to present his research at a science fair and hopefully attend Cornell University to major in Food Science (trust me, I did the Penn State speech and he didn’t budge!)

Earl is off to great things in the future. By him recording his data in his AET, working with the teachers at Saul and workers at the USDA, and a future in agriculture, Earl will be set for any life challenge that comes his way!

If you would like to reach out to Earl, please contact jmnaugle@philasd.org for more information or advice that you can give for his project!

#Nervous {Teach} on the Block! #interview #crunchtime

After participating in the second student teaching seminar, I was able to gain a lot of practice and develop a new set of skills to directly apply to this assignment. Interviewing with a school administrator. I was fortunate enough to take time out of our fearless leader’s day. Not only does she serve as our school principal, educator, and “ag”vocate, she runs our school every day and her name is Ms. Conaway.

Every school has a system set in place to make sure it runs efficiently. To make sure that this process continues, school administrators plan ahead to make sure that they are hiring great teachers through the interview process. As I met with Ms. Conaway, she taught me a lot about the do’s and don’ts of an interview as we talked through it together.

Beginning with the interview, right out of the gate she stared with, “Tell me about yourself and why you want to come to teach at Saul High School.” Woah. As easy as a question as this is, it requires a lot of thinking and details to make sure that the answer is adequate for a response. As the interview continued there were questions about my “area of expertise”, what are my classroom management and teaching philosophies, and what were some great and not so great lessons that I have done so far. Questions again that were easy, but loaded enough that you need to make sure to show off who you are and what you are capable of bringing to the table in the future at the school.

As our interview concluded and wrapped up, she made it a point to have clear questions that show that you are interested about the school and the staff that you will be working with in the future. She stated, “Ask questions that make the interviewing committee show off the school and what they have to offer. Ask about what attracted them to an inner city school, opportunities that will be available for growth and improvement at the school, and if you are at a CTE school ask how academic and CTE mix together as a full functioning program.” VERY interesting and VERY helpful!

In the end she had so last bits of advice for me:

-          Be Yourself

-          Show off what you have done in the past

-          Tell a storyline of how you got to where you are today

-          Talk about student teaching

Great opportunities for me to take this advice and grow on it in the future as well as share out with my peers! I am glad that I had this opportunity to show who I was and get to know my administration a little better before leaving Saul! I can’t wait to take this advice in the future to use to my advantage!

Community Based Unit of Instruction #AgLearning

I knew that I always wanted to be a teacher because I enjoy seeing the light bulb moment go off for every student that is in my classroom. For my Community Based Unit of Instruction, we were challenged with creating a lesson plan that would involve the community in a unit that we were teaching in the classroom. What better way to do that than to teach 4^th and 5^th graders about Animal Safety and Handling at Saul High School with my 10^th grade Animal Science students!

For the introduction period when the new 10^th graders arrive in Small Animal Science, there is a pressure to understand how to properly handle an animal and the procedures that go with it. After introducing each of the animals to all the students (Gerbils, Guinea Pigs, Rabbits, Hamsters, Rats, Mice, and Dogs), they had to meet with me and show me all of the procedures for handling and taking care of the animals by themselves. This was no easy task for these students because along with proving to me that they understood it, they had to write a “How To” book and complete it for points in my class.

After I knew that they were all pro’s with handling and understanding all of the steps, a unique opportunity presented itself where a Philadelphia school called Jenks Elementary was looking at working with the Environmental Science students about planting and taking a look at our CSA. After talking with all of the teachers involved with the process, I was able to get the students in the morning and then they could do the environmental portion in the afternoon!

So what did we do you may be thinking? As the students started to pile in, I separated my students into the different rooms of the Animal Science building for the elementary students to see. With one day of all 4^th graders and then the next day with all 5^th graders, my students became experts on what we were doing this day and did it without a problem or hesitation!

Overall, this day was awesome. I wandered around and watched my students teach younger ones about animal handling and the procedures that they do every Tuesday and Thursday when they come to the lab during class time. It was even funny to hear that they were using the same words that I used to teach them and they were all very patient. My work was completed when teaching these students about these procedures and I am excited to see what they remember when they are seniors in Ms. Turrentine's classroom in the future! 

Feelin’ Pretty Super {Teach} on the Block! #weeklyblog #psuaged16

This week was the second to last week here at Walter Biddle Saul High School (insert crying emoji here). Although my emotions certainly caught up with me realizing that this is it, I am excited that I have one more week left at Saul and I am going to make it count!

Usually I give you the Pros and Cons of me week on this blog, but this week I wanted to shake it up and do a picture blog about what happened this week followed by notes about what was happening in the pictures.

Beginning with Saturday, Saul hosted some fantastic National FFA 360 conference facilitators to lead Saul students and Midd West students about “Lasting Impressions.” Due to the snow that some schools faced, we had a small turn out BUT the facilitators enjoyed actually talking to the students one on one and getting to know them! Why the capes you may ask? Just because there weren’t a lot of students does not mean we couldn’t play a prank on the facilitators! 

BEFORE we planted some tomatoes this is what the green house looked like! 

The "crew" that did an awesome job planting and working together as a team! 

BEFORE we planted all the basil, the students had to line up
the rows to make it even for all of the plants to fit 

Right before we plant, we drop all of the basil to make it even
by alternating the plants for infinite growth and space for
each bed. 

Oh yeah the hospital... This girl can not walk and talk at the same time.
Me falling on concrete = a swollen knee, an MRI, crutches, and a smile! 

As we continue on with the week, planting, planting, and more planting had to be done to prepare or greenhouses at Saul for some tomatoes and basil to sell this summer. My students and I all worked together to plant all of this and even some lettuce in the field to help our CSA and tie together our Root and Germination units that we were working on in class! OH and there was a hospital run between all of this happening. Talk about super busy. 

FFA week breakfast and super power capes for all of the teachers!
Not pictured: Bacon and Pancakes (SO GOOD!)

Ms. T and I dressed up as twins for "Twin Day" at Saul

Start of the Color War! 

As the week continues, we say HELLO its FFA week! Wow, what a super cool experience it is to be apart of a school with over 500 FFA members! This week was filled with awesome moments like: Color Wars, Teacher Appreciation Breakfast, Capes for all of the teachers, and so many more fun activities! As a future FFA adviser and agriculture teacher, I was able to gather some awesome ideas from the students and from this awesome week! 

Overall Thoughts for the Week: 

This week was filled with its ups  and downs and I am so happy to be a part of a school that celebrates agriculture in a unique way. Not only did I have to balance teaching, planting, FFA Week help, and "run" around on crutches all week, I got to feel what an actual agriculture teacher is like with a full schedule. Next week, will be the same except I will be saying "good-bye" to some students who have made an amazing impact on me as a teacher and as a person. I cannot wait for the activities and events that are going on next week INCLUDING a special secret Pancake Breakfast that I am hosting for my students as a treat! 

Stay tuned for next week Ag Ed Fam! 

Not Ready to Leave {Teach} on the Block! #week13 #psuaged16

Working in the Greenhouse at the CSA

Can we just take a second and realize that it is the end of week 13? Like holy guacamole, this is real. My student teaching experience has two weeks left and I don’t know if I am ready to let go just yet!

Moving on from my pity party, let’s talk about this past week. Per usual we are going to break down the week with the pros and the cons from what I did in my Animal Science and my Environmental Science classes.

Pros

Animal Science: This week I really challenged my students and brought them around Philadelphia and around Saul’s campus. What was going on you may ask? TONS of fun stuff! At Saul, our lamb herd was ready to start having their lambs which occurred ALL week and is still going on (Check out Saul’s EWEtube here). I was able to tie in what we were learning in class with some of the Animal Science students to look at different situations that could happen with these young lambs. On Thursday, the USDA was hosting a career day that my students were able to attend for half the day. They were able to explore different industries in the USDA and potentially see themselves working with this organization. Last but not least, my students still had their original chores that they all completed and we even had room to start discussing our next project which is an animal welfare debate... more to come!

Tuesday Night Lambs!

Environmental Science: The week got even more extreme for theses seniors in my class! From our class visitor from Morris Arboretum, working at our local CSA, and then mixing their love of basketball with environmental education, my students were all over the place! After my visit with the famous Dr. Foster, it really stuck out to me that I need to start pushing my students and myself in doing different lesson plans that get me out of my comfort zone. What better than having this week to practice my teaching and my lesson plans?! So that is exactly what I did. Of course it was a lot of fun and games, there was still work that needed to be done. My students had to transplant over 2,100 plants of lettuce at the CSA and were responsible for different parts of the area from broad-forking our greenhouse to planting rows of peas, my students were busy!

Cons: For this week, as much as I don’t like to admit it I was pushed a lot out of my comfort zone. There were classroom management issues, my school went into crisis mode, and I was pushed from lack of sleep from volunteering to check on the lambs every night at 11pm and 2 am. I was getting into the swing of things and it really caught up with me.

Overall thought: I am lucky to be at a school that has challenged me as a teacher and a person. Although there were the stresses from the field trip, the animal lab being broken into, a school in crisis mode, and work that still needed to be completed at the CSA, it made me realize that THIS is what agriculture teachers do. They bounce back and adjust their auto-pilots because there is still a job to do and that is to TEACH. We are responsible for these students and we have a job to be the best agriculture teacher that these kids have.

Bring on Week 4 and the lambs that are not born yet! I am ready for you!

Thanks for reading Ag Ed Fam!

Eastern Region PAAE Meeting #LetsChat

Ah, the smell of spring and Ag teachers are in the air as I went to the Eastern Region PAAE Meeting at Garden Spot High School. Not only did I have an awesome drive through Lancaster County, I was able to hang out with some awesome teachers for the night to remind me how crucial it is to join our teacher organization. Every time I walk into these meetings I have been given a chance to participate and share out to feel what it is like to be an actual teacher (it’s right around the corner!)

As Mr. Ruvarac and I made it to the meeting, we walked into a room that was filled with over 25 Ag teachers and guests present to participate in the meeting. Here were the highlights that I gathered from the meeting:

-          The summer conference that PAAE is hosting by the famous DBitty, is kind of a big deal. Although I am not teaching right after graduation, I know that this conference will teach me so much about myself, development of my teaching/lessons, and also I can check out where Ms. Herr was teaching for her student teaching experience.

-          State Workforce Development Initiatives have been forming between the Department of Agriculture and Education, PAAE, and Penn State Agriculture Education. Although this might not seem like a big deal, it can change how we work in the future and it is a pretty big deal!

-          Last but not least, I was able to catch up with a friend of mine who actually works for the Center of Dairy Excellence in the education programming department. Her and I planned her next trip to Saul which is awesome for us because I can brag about how great my school truly is!

As the night concluded, I recognized that these meetings are crucial to be a part of because we are all one big family of agriculture educators! It is a unique industry that provides us with the professional development we need to bring to the classroom for our students!

Talk to you next time Ag Ed Fam!

I’m not in Philly anymore! #visitingTate #psuaged16

Lampeter-Strasburg Senior High School is a welcoming school in the middle of Lancaster, Pennsylvania that has an exceptional agriculture program with of course an exceptional agriculture student teacher that goes by the name of the one and only Mr. Mason Tate. On March 22^nd I had the opportunity to get out of the city and explore a high school that was different than mine that offered their students a unique opportunity in agriculture.

When I first arrived and got out of my car, there was farms everywhere so my expectations were high about what was to come when touring their agriculture program. As I walked through the school there was an entire side of the school that showed off their FFA accomplishments and projects in the windows at the school to show off their FFA pride. When I arrived at Mr. Tate’s classroom, he was in the middle of introducing the class to the Dairy Science unit that they were just beginning.

Continuing on with his day, he had a break to prepare for his shop class that he taught with seven high school boys in attendance. Boy, was that fun watching Mason get into his element! I am not one for Agriculture Mechanics (I’m trying, I swear!) but the way that Mason explained certain welds to students or helped coach them up on whatever project they were working on, it was great to see his perspective on how we handled his wild high school boys.

After the Ag Mech class, we then moved onto his Veterinary 2 class that actually got Mason out of his comfort zone from what I noticed! It was nice to see Mason being pushed into this class of (yes all of them were girls with one boy!) and seeing him go over materials to deliver an awesome lesson for his students! Watching Mr. Tate teach was a real treat!

One big take away that I noticed from his class was the way that his white board was set up! It is not something that I implement in my class but it is an objective/assignment board to keep him on task and ready to go. It was nice to see that it helped him and his students for what was going on that day!

Overall, I had a fantastic time at Lampeter- Strasburg. It is awesome watching Mason develop since knowing him at Penn State to where he is now today at the student teaching level! I am confident that Mason will do great things in and out of the classroom for his students and I know he will make a FANTASTIC teacher in the future.


Keep up the awesome work Mason! I will see you soon!

Travelin’ {Teach} on the Block! #week12 #weeklyblog

This week flew by as fast as my car did down the Pennsylvania Turnpike (seriously people it was like NASCAR). Not only did I travel to Lancaster Country for a PAAE meeting, I traveled to State College twice in one week, in one car, all by my lonesome! So without further ado, wave the green flag and let’s break down the week with our Pros and Cons.

Pros

Animal Science: Wow what a week that was had here in this class! From learning about diseases to completing our Community Based Unit of Instruction, my students were busy! Now, I am not one to know a lot about diseases and how they affect animals. A part from what I learned at Penn State I was clueless. So what do you do in this situation? Let my students teach me! My students worked hard on creating zoonosis projects and PowerPoints that they were supposed to complete and then present them in front of the class. Not only have I been student teaching, but now my students have been able to see what it is like to be a teacher for a change!

Environmental Education: My students got their green thumb on this week! After hanging out with our Jenks students (4^th-5^th grade students) and teaching them how to plant and transplant.... my students were asked to create a daring task of transplanting over 1,860 kale plants in our community CSA! What an experience that was! Planting the CSA was hard work and it was challenging on my students as well but thanks to my Penn State education on handling students and using the rapport that I had  built with them already, it was nice to see an impact that we were making on the CSA to support the next harvest.

Cons:

I really pushed my students this week as well as myself. After traveling to State College twice in one week and traveling to Lancaster for the PAAE meeting, I was tired! It is amazing to see that the amount of energy I could have used in my lesson was spent driving the car up and down the turnpike. Although there weren’t any major cons in my teaching this past week, I wish I could have had a couple of more hours of sleep to put that in my lessons that could have been stellar!

Overall, this internship is FLYING by! I cannot wait to see what this week has to offer, including seeing the famous Dr. Foster back here at Saul High School!

Thanks for reading AG Ed Fam!