Saying Goodbye.

"Life's a dance you learn as you go, sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow"

-John Michael Montgomery

     The quote above is from a popular country song that was released the year before I was born. I grew up singing to it but never thought it would be one of the few things in my life that still hold true from way back then. The older I get the more I realize how much I don't know. I keep thinking I have it all figured out and then all of the sudden it hits me that I'm not even close.
     I decided when I was in high school that I wanted to be an agriculture teacher. I was one of those kids that was in the ag room every free minute I had. Mrs. Sparks was a wonderful teacher, and I wanted to be just like her. She encouraged me to become an agriculture teacher but warned me it was hard work. That hadn't stopped me before so I kept going.  My options were to go to Penn State or Delaware Valley, but when I visited PSU I knew it was the place for me. Before long I had 2 years of college under my belt and was packing up to come to State College where the real fun began. Dr. Ewing, Dr. Foster and Mrs. Rice were my three greatest influences at Penn State. I am still amazed at how much they do every day to prepare teacher candidates to be teachers. Each one puts so much time into help the student teachers and soon to be student teachers that it's amazing. This brings me to the Fall 2014 semester. I had been told that semester in particular would be difficult, that may have been an understatement. That semester was the hardest time of my entire life and I am glad I made it through, but I didn't make it easy on myself. However, I know I had to go though it because it began to change my perspective immensely. It wasn't just my knowledge of how to be a teacher that grew, it was my perspective of life. Finally, on this journey we arrive at the whole reason for this blog post, student teaching.

 

     After making it though the Fall semester I had decided I wasn't going to be a teacher. I was going to make it through student teaching, try to learn and have fun but there was a huge disconnect for me. I call it the storm before the calm. When I arrived at Juniata Valley I was like a fawn that didn't know how to walk and I was nervous, a lot. I began teaching a 7th and 8th grade rotational class and an animal science class that had mainly seniors. I was not a great teacher by any standards but after about two weeks I began to feel comfortable with daily routines. I realized was getting better at managing a class and adding in different questions to prompt students. I then became a little braver and would throw out an e-moment. Some worked wonderfully and others made the students stare at me funny but it was okay because tomorrow was a new day. My influence at Juniata Valley was Mrs. Russell. She amazed me at how easily she could control a class, get along with students and still manage to respond to the hundreds of emails she got in one day.

     The thing I struggled internally with was how some students acted and their lack of motivation. I was able to get along with most of them but some students made it very difficult. I know just look at it as a learning experience. Everything can't be wonderful all of the time. Motivating students who are difficult is something I hope to constantly work towards in my teaching career. I really enjoyed my time a Juniata Valley and I realize now that I want to be a teacher. I had a moment about half way through student teaching where it hit me that this is what I am supposed to do. Yeah, it was hard but I truly love teaching and look forward to what the future brings. It was really hard to leave on Friday. I had to say goodbye to many students and staff, and Mrs. Russell. All of which I have grown so close with, I really felt like a part of the school even for that short time. There are so many experiences and people I will never forget.

Finally in the shop!

With my second to last week wrapping up we are finally getting in the shop! This is an exciting time for the students and myself as well! Today also happens to be our banquet. Center piece making, present wrapping and certificate printing is in full swing. It still amazes me how one teacher could get all of this done and still teach!

Something I have noticed about my teaching is that I need to do better at setting up for my classes. Since we've started in the shop I have one class working on small gas engines and another doing welding, soldering and cutting. I had done some prep work to get the shop ready, but I didn't do enough. Most of the students who started with soldering had never done it before so I spend a long time giving a demonstration to them. I had to spend a good bit of time in class just getting materials ready. The way to combat this will be for me to think through exactly how the class is going to go and what they will need.

I think the students were impressed with how much I could help them with the engines. There were quite a bit of students who knew a lot about engines from previous experiences,  but still needed some assistance. I was originally worried about how well I knew the engines and whether I would be able to answer their questions or not. It turned out really well and I feel much more confident about my abilities.

Lost Hollow Farm

"Lost Hollow Farm - Where the cows are red and the tractors are green."

  

 

My second SAE visit with a student was with Delaney Musser. Delaney is a 7th grader who hasn't started an SAE record book yet, but is extremely involved in agriculture. Her older siblings have all been through the FFA program and have record books. Delaney is very active in the day to day activities of the farm. She is already used to being in the show ring with her heifer, calves and dairy beef.

 

Delaney and I talked about the possibilities of her SAE project. It is looking like she will have an entrepreneurship SAE with one of the animals she shows. She was working with her dairy beef when I arrived at the farm. Delaney and her sister Stacey showed me around the rest of the farm and I had the opportunity to learn a lot about how a dairy farm works.

 

First we fed calves and I learned about hutches. The girls explained that every cow, calf, and heifer had a name and a number. They were known by their name though. Whenever a cow has a calf the calf's name will start with the first 2 letters their mother's name did. It was so amazing to see how everyone knew each cows name. Stacey then explained how each of the younger kids had a job that they did everyday. The kids rotated everyday so they wouldn't have to do the same thing 2 days in a row. The kids who were still in school had evening chores throughout the week, but not during the mornings because of the early school day.

After finishing the feeding we went to the milking parlor where I learned about how they milk their cows. This was an extremely foreign concept to me. Each person on the farm has one main area that they cover. Delaney and Stacie care for the younger calves. Mark and his Mom do most of the milking. Mitchell makes feed, handles the crops and fixes machinery with his Dad. The farm is a first generation dairy farm and they are extremely proud of that. It wasn't hard to see how dedicated each and every person was to the farm. Thank you for reading!







Beef, Turkeys, and Bunnies. Oh My!

My very first SAE visit! As I pulled up the driveway for my first SAE visit with a student I was extremely nervous. I had a visit with Brooke Emery who is a senior at my cooperating center. She has had long standing SAE record books on a variety of animals. She really enjoys showing her multitude of animals, and so does her brother. She has plans to go to college in the Philadelphia area. She hopes to one day become a coordinator for an elderly home focusing on different kinesthetic activities. My visit was conducted on March 2nd.

Brooke's family owns a small, but very busy farm. They have a large variety of animals mostly because of showing. Their beautiful home is tucked back off from the main road on a little hill. To prepare for the visit I printed out different SAE materials with information and a worksheet for her to fill out. The worksheet asked about what her SAE was, what her goals were for her SAE, and what her goals were for her personally in the next couple of years of her life. I really enjoyed talking to her about her future and how much she's been doing with her animals.

Brooke's current SAE is on her market lambs. She also shows beef cattle, rabbits and pigs. It was extremely evident that her whole family cares very much about all of the animals they have. It was really wonderful getting to meet and talk with her whole family. Brooke works with her market lambs really often to get them show ready. She is very passionate about her market lambs and all other animals she shows. Even though the day was a bit dreary, it was great to see her lamb and how she works with her. Thanks for reading!

What drives you?

What gets you out of bed in the morning? I'm not talking about your alarm that wakes you from your slumber. I mean what gets your butt out of those warm covers and crevice you've created? What motivates you to fix your bed head, brush your teeth, and get out of your hobo at home clothes?

For most college students, in their senior year like I am,  it's a grade to pass a class. I, however, consider myself an exception to that stereotype. I get out of bed for 4 main reasons: students, agriculture, horses and now cows. Only within the last week, have cows been added to the list of reasons I jump out of my bed.

First, the students. I get out of bed in the morning so I can be a teacher or do something to support my teaching done at Juniata Valley High School. Whether it be lessons, professional development, grading, or most importantly teaching 5 days a week, I strive to make my teaching the best it can be at the current time. I still have so many years before I begin to prefect my teaching regime, however, everyday I am getting just a little better with everyday teaching. At this point I know my classes well and know what to expect. I know what works well with some classes and not so well with others. All of this I have found out through trial and error.

My favorite lessons are the ones that I can make hands on in some way. For example, welding with crackers and peanut butter. It was good to go over different welding positions and joints with the students. However, it was great to give them crackers and have them practice the joints and welding positions with a partner. It was fun, reviewed the material, and got a little food in everyone belly.

Second, agriculture. I have found a strong advocate for agriculture inside of myself that I didn't always know was there. I believe it is one thing to teach agriculture everyday, and another thing to  live and advocate for agriculture every day. My middle school students helped me realize how much I loved agriculture as a whole when we talked through the FFA creed. We popcorn read around the room and then went through each paragraph and broke down some of the difficult sections. We stopped at the second paragraph to discuss inborn fondness and the equivalent word we used was a passion. As I talked to the students through examples of inborn fondness that they could relate to I realized that agriculture was one of my passions.

I also had this feeling when I saw a PETA advertisement on the internet. The advertisement was picture of a man holding a bloody sheep and it said "Here's the rest of your wool coat." This upset me very much because the part of the public that doesn't know about sheep sheering won't understand the sheep doesn't actually look like that when they are shorn properly. It was such a powerful advertisement but gave off such an uneducated message that will in turn give agriculture a bad name. I saw this advertisement on Facebook and thought about sharing it and writing out just how I felt. But, I gave it a minute and decided that I was just going to educate people for the next 40 years of my life. I know that the education is the best way to combat incorrect adds such as that one.

Horses have been a life long passion of mine. Within 5 minutes of meeting me people tend to pick up on my love of horses. The reason I took my very first agriculture class in high school was because I loved horses and I could learn more about them there.

My most recent addition to the reasons I get out of bed is dairy cows. Last Thursday I did an 2 SAE visits. The second SAE visit was to a dairy farm and every since them I have been extremely interested in the dairy industry. My blog to follow will be about my entire experience there.

Thank you for reading and here are some additional pictures from the week!

7th Graders reading through the FFA opening ceremonies.

2 teams raced to dress their welder.









A homemade reticulum.

A homemade rumen.

A homemade abomasum.

A homemade omasum.

Trying to determine what part of a ruminant stomach he's touching.



We have... how many weeks left?!?!

Once again time has amazed me. With my forth week concluding, I can't help but wonder where the time has gone? How did I go from a junior that was scared out of my mind at the thought of teaching kids to now teaching a full week by myself?! I have fallen into a routine, but I continue to push myself to find ways to engage the students more and more.

This week I have been looking at different ways to get students to review information that we have covered in class. After introducing new information to students I always do some type of review, practice or extended thinking within the lesson. I have been using a kahoot game, flash cards, student written stories, songs or poems, video clips and worksheets to complete this task. I don't feel as though these are getting stale but I want to do more. I have this awesome sheet that has different ways to check for understanding and I often find myself referring to it for new ideas. I also like doing review games. One thing I have noticed in group review is the students who pick up information quickly can be over-powering. I have tried to ofset this by making these games more individually based but I am not sure I have mastered this yet. I plan to look for new ways and refine the ways I have to review material.

Obviously, classes are all very different. One thing I didn't focus on until this week is making each class tailored to what works best. 3 of the 4 classes I teach are taught for 2 separate periods a day. I noticed that one class does really well with group work while the other does not. My one class in particular are a very great class. They listen contently, do what I ask of them and complete their work. We have learned about different systems of the body previously and it was a very teacher centered classroom. This week for the digestive system I made it a student centered classroom and it worked out very well. However, when I did this with another class it didn't go well at all! It's more work for me to plan differently for 2 classes that I am teaching the same material. However, I find it to be a much better use of class time which makes it more than worth it.

Do you have what it takes?

"I am enough of a realist to understand that I can't reach every child, but I am more of an

optimist to get up every morning and try" - Preston Morgan.

What do 80's soundtrack music, squealing baby pigs, dirty horse tack, bingo, and auction strips have in common? That's part of what is going on at Juanita Valley! As we jam out to some 80's rock the auction slips and money are being counted from the past Saturday. With sales up into the thousands there is a lot of checks to cut! We are also baby sitting two piglets! This is perfect for 2 reasons. The first being the swine unit we just finished in 2 of my classes. The other being the fetal pig dissection that we will being doing next week. It may be a tad morbid to think of pig dissections when the cute little piglets go running around the shop. However, a major part of agriculture is animal production. The majority of our nations consumes meat products. Granted, we don't dissect pigs for the production aspect. We dissect pigs to exam the bones, muscles, and other systems of the body. I want my students to see first hand how what we are leaning on paper is applied in real animals. By better understand the inside of the pig we can create better pigs for agricultural production and in turn the nation.

This week I reflected a lot on involving the community and the support it provides. The community can really help blossom an agriculture program. It gives it that step above and support that a program needs to be truly successful. What are some ways to get the community's support? When you want something from someone you need to make it worth their while. They have to get something in return, it's just good business sense.

A perfect example of how the community and the program mutually benefit is from the FFA's auction that happens this past Saturday. The community brought their unwanted items to the fair grounds. When they arrived they got their number, bought a breakfast bowl and perused the items to be sold that morning. There was a large turn out of over 200 bidders alone. The FFA had 2 picnic tables, corn hole boards, and a saw for sale. The auction went straight from 9am to 1 pm. Most days I teach the kids in my class. However, last Saturday they were teaching me. Being from a horse farm I was very unfamiliar with a lot of the equipment that was there. I had my students and other members of the community educating me about what everything was! It was such a great day.