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!

Hyper Active {Teach} on the Block #week6

"What do you mean you won't be here Friday?"

Beautiful Saul Campus!

I am over a third of the way done with my student teaching experience. *Insert stressed out, overly laughing/crying emoji here*

This past week I had a lot of firsts in my book. I was able to prepare sub plans, facilitate students outside to prepare for a middle school tour, and.... not be there on a school day with my students. I have never felt more like a helicopter teacher wanting to know the exact details of that day I missed in my entire life.

So let’s break down the pros and cons of the week!

Pros: Outside is the best side. Literally letting my students get fresh air and walk around the school while doing an activity was great for them and for me to get work done. Although students had the occasional moments where
they were distracted by the scenery, we had a great time preparing for a school that was visiting for a tour. This was the first real time I walked all of Saul and was able to see what our students do all around the campus ALL day! A horse barn with real live horses that students get to interact with every day.... what?!? Super cool stuff!

Field Trip to Morris!

Cons: I had to leave my students. Who would do that to a student teacher like myself huh? Thanks Penn State. Honestly, although it wasn’t that bad of a con, stressing out about sub plans and wondering what my students were doing really impacted the way I felt about my student teaching. I wanted to teach MY lesson and I wanted to be the one to turn the light bulb on for a student. I felt like the kindergartener having to share for the first time.

Overall Reflection: Although I had separation anxiety missing my students, I realized that I am doing a great job and well, my job! I am constantly finding new ways to engage my students and be the best (student) teacher I can be. This next week, I am going to push myself for maximum engagement seeing as we have two half days due to Parent Teacher Conferences. This week should fly by just like the rest!

Bring it on Week 7!

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!

The 6th ACES #studentteaching

Agricultural Cooperation Establishes Success. What a mouthful, but what a powerful event that impacts the lives of our high school students through agriculture leadership activities and learning.

This year was my 6^th year attending this conference, but it was different to me in a HUGE way. This year, instead of being a student in the blue jacket or being a facilitator for the workshops, I was an advisor of 43 amazing Walter Biddle Saul students.

The theme this year was “Past, Present, and Future. Telling Our Story.” What a great theme to educate our students about FFA, agriculture, and leadership.

We started off the week arriving at the Harrisburg Sheraton in a sea of Blue and Gold jackets with the hope of a great weekend. Even though it was Valentines weekend, my students were excited to be there and meet new people.

While my students were in the workshop, I had a great opportunity to learn about drones and GPS systems that we can use on our agriculture fields. Although it was a very interesting workshop, I was anxious to get back to my students and see how their days were going. As I snuck out, I took a couple of pictures of their experiences in the workshops which are down below!

As the day concluded and the students enjoyed an awesome dinner followed by a dance, I had to step up my advisor game and scope out the hallway after curfew. Luckily I was with my fellow student teachers as we scoped out the halls and let students know that curfew meant lights out. It was funny to reminisce about when I was a student and I was on the other side of the door. Folks, it was ironic that I was the enforcer and not the instigator!

The following day as ACES, we all concluded with a community service workshop and wrote letters to kids and students at Penn State for THON this weekend.

Overall, this trip was an incredible experience and I am so happy that I was able to spend time with my students outside of the classroom. I feel as a teacher we forget that our students have personalities outside of the classroom and they can be kinda fun to hang out with in a relaxed setting. Being a part of the transition from student to facilitator to student teacher/advisor has been a great way for me to see how I have grown at the same conference that I have always loved!

I look forward to many more journeys as an Ag teacher and I look forward to SLLC next month!

Thank you for reading!

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!