Student Teaching Week 14!

Wow, it's hard to believe I only have one week left at Penn Manor. It's such a bittersweet feeling. I'm so excited to graduate because it's something I've been working towards for the past 4 years, but I'm not looking forward to leaving this community and all of the wonderful people I've gotten to know over the past 15 weeks. Thankfully I still have one more week to enjoy, so here are some highlights from this past week! Also, check out my other blogs from this week on the PAAE meeting I went to, my most recent SAE visit, and my visit with Macy at the Selinsgrove ag ed program!

1. Plants galore!

Two of my students modeling their flowers!

We are in the middle of our Plant Science unit in Intro to AFNR, and I have to say, I'm really enjoying teaching plant science! Students learned about the parts of a plant and flower, as well as how they all function together to make the plant grow. Now we're conducting experiments on germination!  I was really pleased with how my lesson on the parts of a flower went this week. Awesome questions were asked, everyone was engaged, and I knew at the end of the lesson the students had met the learning goals for the day. I definitely want to grow in my knowledge of plant science and horticulture and hopefully have a greenhouse learning laboratory for students someday!

2. Intake, Compression, Power, Exhaust - and repeat!

You guessed it! In Intro to Ag Mechanics I'm teaching a Small Gas Engines unit and I've really enjoyed the challenge of teaching something out of my comfort zone. I've learned a lot and I'm starting to feel more comfortable with the content! Ms. Slates has stayed after school with me a few times to go over parts and systems on the engine, which has been super helpful. This unit really helps students develop critical thinking and problem solving skills because students have to use their engine manual to find the answers to their questions. It has been interesting to see how each student handles that challenge. My goal is to continue to encourage growth mindsets and discuss how the skills they are gaining now are necessary for careers in mechanics.

3. Manor FFA students are AWESOME.

Today (Saturday) was the Manor FFA Car Show, an event organized by the FFA members to raise money for the Central PA Food Bank. What a beautiful day it was! We had over 120 vehicles enter the show and the money raised will provide 18,000 meals for the Central PA Food Bank. Talk about an amazing day. 

Thanks for following my journey thus far, stay tuned for my blog post on my final week student teaching!

Student Teaching Week 11

While I only had one day in the classroom, this week was very busy! On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we were at SLLC, Wednesday was a snow day, Thursday was the Manor FFA banquet (on a two hour delay schedule mind you!), and on Friday I had a student teaching seminar with my fellow #psuaged18 cohort members. Here are some highlights from the week:

1. SLLC - fun, community service, and leadership growth!

I had an awesome time at my first State Legislative Leadership Conference! FFA members spent much of their time at SLLC using those parli pro skills to experience how bills move through our legislative system. They debated and amended real bills, which brought a real-life context to the experience. We also served the local community for an afternoon. We helped residents at a retirement community prepare their garden plots for spring, and we had a ton of fun doing it! It was a beautiful day, so it was perfect for working in a garden. The residents were so excited to have us, and I know I really enjoyed having conversations with the residents while we worked. There were 7 junior and senior Manor FFA members on the trip, and they are my students in the last class I started teaching this semester. It was a great opportunity to connect with them and get to know them better! 

2. Teamwork makes the dream work!

Especially when you have a snow day the day before your banquet and a two hour delay the day of the banquet. What a busy day! Everyone was in full FFA banquet mode, and it was awesome to see it all come together throughout the day. I truly enjoyed my evening at the banquet. The students did a wonderful job hosting the banquet and I loved seeing the community come together to celebrate the accomplishments of the Manor FFA members. I was honored to receive an Honorary Chapter Degree at the banquet. I'm truly thankful to be spending the semester at Penn Manor.

The FFA motto painted by a very talented FFA Member!

Goals for next week:

1. Give students more ownership of their learning by giving them the chance to decide how they will "show what they know" from a lesson!
2. Utilize e-moments more in my lessons, especially when structuring discussions and review!
3. Continue to grow in my content knowledge of small gas engines and be confident while teaching it!

Student Teaching Week 9!

From our snow-less snow day to the Manor FFA Officer Selection night, this week was full of excitement! Teaching a full load of classes is keeping me busy, and I'm learning so much along the way! Here are some of the highlights from this week:

1. Officer Interview Nights!

This week I had the honor of serving on the interview committee for both the Lampeter-Strasburg and Penn Manor Ag Ed Program. I was blown away by the students' interviewing skills and enjoyed learning about how they're using FFA to grow themselves as leaders. It was also neat to see how the two schools differed in their officer selection process, and think about how I might do it when I'm an ag teacher at my own school. How do you conduct FFA Officer selection at your program?

2. Adult Pest Ed Program

On Tuesday evening Penn Manor Ag Ed Department hosted a Pest Ed workshop for community members who already had their pest ed certification. It was a great way to meet some more community members as well as learn about pesticides, water quality management, and the Spotted Lantern Fly problem from Penn State Extension agents.

Getting ready to debate the ethics of cloning!

3. Soil, Welding, and Cloning - Oh My!

I really enjoyed teaching all three blocks this week, and I think part of that had to do with the fact that I'm really interested all of the topics my students are learning about! I enjoyed discussing with my students in AFNR that soil was, in fact, not dirt; why cloning is controversial in the Biotech class; and how to continue to improve in welding.

Goals for Improvement:

• Try a new learning activity this week.
• Continue to improve on making my directions clear and concise.
• Include more student self-evaluation in my lessons.
• Give students more autonomy in some of their classwork.

Week Two: I am officially teaching!

Hello everyone! Week two is officially complete! It's hard to believe how quickly time is passing. This week was a bit abnormal for a few reasons. First, students only had a two-day week. Students had Monday off for MLK day and Tuesday was an inservice day. Then we had a snow day on Wednesday. So Thursday was the first school day of the week and my first day teaching a class (Intro to AFNR). Also, students are in the middle of state testing, so that means block length is shortened from 90 minutes to about 50. Even though there were only two days of school this week, there was a lot to learn an experience! Here are my lessons learned/questions from week 2:

Community is required for a successful ag program.

This week I had the opportunity to attend Penn Manor's FFA Alumni meeting. I enjoyed the meeting because it gave me a chance to meet some more community members as well as see how invested the ag ed program and community members are in each other. There were alumni members from different generations as well as the current FFA President. I always think it's neat to see people serve something larger than themselves, not for personal gain, but because they believe in the purpose of whatever it is they're serving. The alumni take charge of various events throughout the year to help/benefit the Penn Manor ag ed program, and once again it just goes to show how important it is for an ag ed program to be a part of their community. I'm really looking forward to becoming even more involved with the Penn Manor community during my time student teaching.

Agricultural Experience Tracker.

On Thursday at the county FFA meeting, I helped the other ag teachers judge AET records at the county level. I have had a similar experience judging proficiency award applications at the national level in one of my Ag Ed classes. The experience is really valuable for me as a future ag teacher because it teaches you how to fill out AET records correctly so that you can teach your students correctly. Record keeping is an important skill to have and it provides opportunities for awards and such through FFA, but sometimes I sense that it's hard to motivate students to take their record keeping seriously. For all of you experiences Ag teachers out there: How do you promote intrinsic motivation in students to maintain a quality record book?

It's the little things.

Penn Manor just started spring semester this week, and since we have block scheduling that means students start all new classes. I'm teaching an Intro to AFNR class comprised of mostly freshman.  I've been working on learning the names of everyone in the classes I am/will be teaching, and I'm getting pretty close. I also have to keep reminding myself that not all of these students know each other because of how big the school is (whereas in my high school everyone knew everyone). The students in the Intro to AFNR class have been very reluctant to engage and answer questions the past two days - I think it's mostly due to it being the first week of the semester. Towards the end of class while everyone was putting their stuff away I started asking kids what they had planned for the weekend. It was really neat to see their faces light up as they began talking to me about things they had planned and things they were interested in. They also seemed more relaxed and comfortable. I'm looking forward to seeing what next week brings!