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!

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!

Proud to be the New {Teach} on the Block! #ShadyMaple

Not going to lie, one of the reasons I choose agriculture education is the people, the education of agriculture knowledge, and of course the FOOD! Yes, I admitted it I am a “foodie.” What is one way that I can put my passion of agriculture and food together was at the annual meeting of “New and First Year Teachers” hosted by the Center for Professional Personnel Development at Penn State. Where was the meeting at? One of the best buffets on the East Coast, Shady Maple!

Under the direction of the famous Mr. Ron Fredrick, new and beginning teachers came together for a night of collaboration, information sharing, and the delicious Lancaster food. I also enjoyed the chance to see Mr. Mason Tate at the meeting and we were able to catch up on life and our own teaching journeys together!

As our empty plates were taken away from us, we began our meting by sharing out who we were and what activities we brought to share out with the group! Surprisingly, I got a lot of cool materials from the group and “steal” the ideas of the local teachers that I have known since I was a student! I also was able to get a AWESOME Bee book that my students took from me as soon as I got it in their hands upon returning to the school that next day! Upon papers on papers, ideas, and collaborations that were gathered that night, I left with a bag full of stuff and a tummy full ready for bed!

Before leaving, Mr. Fredrick targeted Mason and I to ask a question that we had for the new teachers that we may be teaching with in the future! I mean this truly, I am glad that I have a network of teachers that I can now call friends.

At the end of the night, I drove back to Philadelphia with a bag full of Wilbur Chocolates and educational materials for days.

Until next time Ag Ed Fam!

Buzzed about Bees {Teach} on the Block! #week10

Wow. 10 weeks down and 5 more to go. Can you say crazy?! Being in Philadelphia with my students has been one crazy journey and I love that there is still more time to be creative and have a great time with them!

Without further ado, let’s break down this week’s pros and cons in each class shall we?

Pros: This week, I was pushed to get out of my comfort zone and research things that I had never had any interest in at Penn State.

Animals Science: In animal science this week, I have challenged my students to the max by having a test and a project due in one week… (seems easy right? Not for these kids!). My students kept telling me that I was being “unfair” or challenging them when they had other work to do in other classes, but I stuck to my guns this week and told them honestly: My class matters too. A lot of students were baffled when I didn’t move assignments or I didn’t bend my will for them, but it was nice to see that when I stuck to my guns, my students did awesome work even though they were all in a time crunch! Although I was tough on them this week, I made sure to reiterate to them that they CAN do it, they just have to be willing to put the hard work in.

Environmental Science: Outside work is tough on any
person; however, it is a new sort of “dying” when it comes to making my senior work in our local CSA (community garden). Seriously, you would think that I was asking my students to jump through hoops and juggle fire when it came to working outside. What was the first thing that came to my mind then you may ask: An amazing teaching opportunity. At Saul, your major that you choose in agriculture becomes your job. You are expected to show up on time and do your work no matter what. If you are not there, it is like you are skipping work. It is a great concept that I designed to help shape my class and make sure that my students did the work that was asked of them.

Beginning every class when I knew we had jobs to do outside, there was a list of things that needed done and there were preselected groups that were already determined. You show up on time, you wear your work boots, and you get the job accomplished in the time asked of you. Easy concept. The first day that we did this, I simply watched to see what they would do, and if it was effective. Turns out, it was! Yes, there were still the reminders that they had to stay on task but for the most part my seniors did great and I enjoyed working with them!

One last Pro: This week, I have started working with some of my senior boys on a bee project. Now, if you know me, I am not a huge fan of bees, AT ALL. However, this was some of my student’s passions and they wanted MY help (out of all people though, come on kids!) So, I dug up some old bee suits, we went out and we looked at the hives that we already had in hopes of creating our own in the future. My student’s passions in agriculture made me get out of my comfort zone and I am so glad that I did!

Cons: As for the cons this week, nothing too dramatic happened. My students have been working as hard as they can even though spring break is right around the corner! Maybe there will be some event that will happen next week, but for now, it is all good here!

Overall, this week has taught me a lot. I need to get out of my zone more and meet my students needs because I am here for them! Although next week we only have one day (sorry #psuaged16 cohort!) I am excited for Monday and the awesome time we are going to have tomorrow!

Thanks for reading Ag Ed Fam!  

Good Weather and Vibes {Teach} on the Block #week9

As a student I loved field trips! Meeting new friends, exploring a different area, learning a subject matter that I had never heard about was always a lot of fun for me! This week I relived that same passion when I chaperoned a trip to Student Legislative Leadership Conference, also known as SLLC. Although it was a great trip, I hit reality hard when I realized that the week was not over and I still had to teach when I got back that week. After those three days of not being at school, you can bet that I was not ready to go back to reality.

Let’s break down the week, shall we?

Pros: This week was nice because I got a break to go to SLLC and spend some great quality time with some quality students! The students that I hung out with weren’t in any of my classes so it was nice to talk to new students and get to know them!

When I returned back to school, I had to prepare for the week and get my brain back on track to get into “teacher mode” which honestly was very hard because the weather this week was absolutely beautiful! Beautiful weather = Henry’s Got Crops is in full swing of motion! What is that you may ask? Saul has a unique opportunity that allows the student to see crops be grown in large amounts, knowledge on how to harvest the crops that are grown, and what happens to waste and how it is turned into compost! Pretty cool stuff!

When I saw what was happening, I honestly had an Ag-Attack and geeked out! Seriously people, I can’t make this stuff up! My students were learning firsthand how to plant rows of crops by hand and how to harvest the crops that were planted! After they harvested, they had a process of cleaning, drying and storing the lettuce that we were harvesting that day AND they did it as a team! Literal mind explosion!

Cons: The good vibes from the weather made it hard to create a positive learning environment for activities outside! The moment the students stepped out of the class into the sunlight, school was the last thing from their mind for my group of seniors. At one point I had to realize that I had a lesson to accomplish but how can I turn it around to have my students want to do the lesson while enjoying their time outside. Seeing that this could have been a losing battle, I brought out the big guns and decided to let the students walk around with their friends BUT they had to post pictures of what we were learning in class to our class InstAGram account! Everything from water erosion to conventional till was shared over our social media site under the @WBSaulEnviro account (shameless plug to check it out!) Turning a bad situation to something better made me realize that I might be getting this teaching thing down!

Overall it was a fantastic week that pushed me enough to continue making this experience a positive one for me and my students! Let’s bring on the double digits for week numero 10!

Endurance driven {Teach} on the Block #week8

Some may not know this about me, but I love running. You get lost in the motion and even though it is not fun in the moment, the feeling after is like no other. You feel confident and you feel ready for the day because your endurance and pain tolerance to push yourself is getting stronger. Now, I know not all teachers are runners however they have an endurance that I wish I had! Teaching classes, staying late a running clubs, organizing events, and still having a personal life is hard! This week, I have been pushed to my professional breaking point, I tried new things in class with a webinar, and unfortunately I had to deal with my honeymoon phase being over in my classes.

Are you ready to hear about the week? We are going to break it down into two parts (per usual) into our pros and cons BUT I am making sure to get the full picture, I will include both of my classes in these categories.

Pros: This week I was stretched to the limit by creating different lesson plans that helped students get the “big picture.”

Animal Science: I have loved Play-Doh since I was a kid, so why not incorporate it in lessons? I decided to create a lesson that incorporated my love of a kid activities into my reproductive lesson. Although this was a weird lesson for me to teach because I had never done it before, by incorporating that fun activity with Play-Doh it was comfortable to a talk about and the students relaxed as well!

Environmental Science: This week I did something different and decided to incorporate a webinar in cooperation with my class. The Peace Corps was doing a webinar about foods around the world! To bring that in to my class, I decided to intertwine my soil unit with a food activity that taught my students how to cook healthy foods with on a cheap budget. This activity was a great time for me to work on how I structured a hands on activity that the class could participate in and then wrap it all together.

One last fun activity that we all did was go to the Philadelphia Zoo all day on Friday! It was a great time for me to see some more parts of the city and hangout with my students outside of the classroom with of course an assignment attached to the trip!

Cons: This week, was a little stressful with all of the activities that I had planned and added on top of that my university supervisor was visiting. Can you say stress overload to the max? I had to breathe and get through this week to make sure that I could keep my sanity in check. Even on the day where my professor was visiting my lesson was a complete flop! It made me realize that you can plan all you want, but sometimes lessons don’t go as well as you would think.

Moral of the story this week? Smile and wave. Some days you need to fake it till you make it, where others your lessons go just as you planned. Teaching is a certain type of training that will put your teaching endurance to the test. All you have to do is keep training for that dream job, perfect lesson, and know that you are making a difference in the lives of your students everyday.

Thanks for reading Ag Ed Fam! Bring on week 9!

Half Way There {Teach} On the Block! #Week7

Students creating the Digestion System

When I was in high school I loved half days and teacher in service days. No school, no pressure... Or so I thought! Now that the tables have turned and I am on the other side of the desk, these days put my lesson plans and scheduled plans on stress overload. This week I had two half days because of parent teacher conferences and no school on Friday due to professional development workshops for teachers. Side note: We did NOT celebrate FFA week this week due to the fact that Saul does their own celebrations later on in the month of March!

Without further ado, lets break down week 7!

Pros: Even though the days were short and there was still work that needed to be done, I am proud of my accomplishments getting the class on track to reach my personal goals for the week. I am going to break up my pros this week by class!

Animal Science: Although the week was short, it was perfect time for me to try out an inquiry based lab for my 10^th graders about the digestion system. We were working on the monogastric system for the past week and I thought to tie it all together they could show me the system with simple items such as crackers, soda, bowls, spoons, a plastic baggie and a pair of nylons. I am SO happy that it worked out and it pushed me as a teacher to ask those questions to make my students dig deep and think about the answers without me giving it to them!

Environmental Science: My students used to hate going outside. They would whine, complain, and sometimes not even participate. This week however, they wanted to go outside. Thoughts: What was in the water?! When they all told me they wanted to go outside, I was able to get really creative with my lessons and do some hands on activities to tie in my soil lessons with actual...soil! A lot of fun and a lot of learning this week!

Cons: This week was a great learning experience for me to get my head in the game and focus on teaching with limited amounts of time. The only con that I have this week is the limited time that I wasted due to getting students on track on those half days. Focus and attention activities needed to be adopted on those days to get my students on track!

Overall, this week was nothing to complain over! In the teaching world you will always have those good and bad days, but focusing on the good has been keeping me in check!

Student teaching is half way done and I can’t wait to see what is going to happen in week 8!

Rabbits and Rats and Dogs, Oh My! #firstSAEvisit

At Walter Biddle Saul High School, students have the unique opportunity to have different SAE projects to complete while they are in school. An SAE is a Supervised Agricultural Experience that combines classroom knowledge and FFA into one project for students getting them ready for graduation and career success. One student in particular has been working since the summer to complete her On-Farm Placement SAE. As an 11^th grader, Stephanie is making huge strides to her career goal.

As a student farmer at Saul High School, there are a lot of chores and duties that need to be completed on a daily basis. Working for almost an hour to 2 hours every day, Stephanie had to clean out several mouse, rat, guinea pig, gerbil, hamster, and rabbit cages, as well as a dog kennel that hold three beagles. These chores can take up some time, however Stephanie doesn’t see it that way. After being here at Saul, she has had plenty of time taking care of animals and having hands on applications at school. This job even helped her determine that she wants to be a Veterinary Surgeon in the future after hopefully attending Governor School in the summer at Penn State.

Although this job seemed “easy” in Stephanie’s mind, she did run into some issues on the job which she says has prepared her to handle different scenarios with a cool and collected head on her shoulders. Take for instance one time there were a batch of mice that were just born and she had to make sure that there was enough food and water to take care of the animals AFTER she informed her boss Ms. Turrentine who is the Small Animal Science teacher.

From her SAE, Stephanie is excited for the future and hopes to learn more about working in a lab, DNA, and genetics.

The dreams and hope of these students are ever changing and growing due to the awesome facilities that this school provides for their students. As Stephanie continues her time here at Saul, I personally know she is going to do great things in her future and in the animal industry!

Advice Seeking {Teach} on the Block! #weekfive

“Adventure is out there!” One of my favorite quotes from the famous movie “Up!” was an inspiration to me this week. This week I was able to represent my school at a meeting with a student, start teaching my Animal Science class, initiate our classroom instruction in a greenhouse, and attend ACES 2016 with some stellar students.

With all those activities you would think that it was a relaxing week and I had everything together huh? Well yes and no is the answer to that! Let’s break down week….5!

Pros:

Listen, I consider myself to be an animal lover don’t get me wrong. However, rodents and other small animals intimidate me especially in a teaching scenario. This week was the first week I was teaching my Small Animal Science class. These students are expected to know how to handle, clean, and care for these animals that we have at the school. This week I was a student, a teacher, and an observer (talk about a lot of roles!). In high school I was involved in agriculture classes but I never learned how to handle rodents, rabbits, and dogs in a classroom setting. Teaching the students but still making sure I was watching the entire classro

om was a great learning process that I am glad I was able to take on this week!

The next thing that happened this week was this suburb girl went into the big city of Philadelphia to attend the Philadelphia Urban Horticulture Societies quarterly meeting with an FFA student. This was a role that I haven’t played before because typically I was always the one in the FFA jacket! My student and I learned a lot about how urban agriculture plays a role in the city and we were also able to share out with others what we were doing as well at Saul High School! Talk about an awesome night!

Although the week was over, I wasn’t done yet! I was able to hang out with my students this past weekend at the ACES conference in Harrisburg! If you want to know about that experience, read the next blog that is going to follow!

Cons:

This week wasn’t as crazy as last week and I honestly feel that it was one of my top weeks since being here at Walter Biddle Saul High School and for that I am certainly grateful. However, I have noticed a “con” that I think will affect me in coming weeks.

In my Environmental Science class, we teach students about urban agriculture and implement it with our land and greenhouses that we have available. As awesome as it is to have all of the resources and accessibility to a working farm, my students are less than pleased to go outside during classroom time (crazy right?!). My students do not like going outside and some will sneak off and not present for the remainder of class until we go back inside.

 So agriculture educators, here is the question that I am going to pose to you: 

“What are ways that I can make my students accountable without threatening the grades? 

and.... 

“How can I make them see the value of what we are doing to show that it is relevant in their futures?”

I hope to not have this as a “con” in later weeks, so I would appreciate some input from all of you!

Reflection for the week: As much as I hate to quote TSwizzle “Shake it off!” This week was a great week and although there were some classroom management problems that I dealt with, I am now seeing that I have been changed from this experience. No longer am I letting these down days get the best of me. I have challenged myself to push through obstacles and not get worked up over the tiny things. As well as I am now starting to think like a teacher and notice problems before they happen and address them!

I can’t wait for next week to come and I look forward to reading your responses to my questions listed above!