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!

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!

Spring Break {Teach} Not on the Block #week11

Not going to lie, this is going to be a short and sweet blog because Teach Ag! Fam, I am on...

SPRING BREAK!

A joyous time where I am learning that breaks are my best friend and I can use this time to catch up on my work!

So, what did I do Monday and how were the students? Let me tell you!

Preparing for leaving for a week and making sure that animals were ready to go was actually pretty tough! My 10th grade animal science students worked hard to prepare for animals for the break and make sure that everyone had food and water. After they were all checked off, the class flew by and they were off to their next classes!

My Environmental Class was a different story. As graduating seniors are, they were more than ready not to do anything and hangout the entire class period. There were also about 15 seniors missing because it was the day before Spring Break.

As a teacher, it is hard getting a class to concentrate on a topic any given day to begin with, but this was especially hard this week! I brought out the big guns and we played revew games like Kahoot and also worked on an assignment that only counted for them because they were the only ones there. It is nice recognizing students when they do care about school and show up!

I can't wait to get some hardcore work done this week and catch up on some Z's!

So long for now 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!