Student Teaching Adventures... Week 5!

Natural Resources studying pelts, sounds, and prints of PA wildlife

The fifth week of student teaching has come to an end (sort of!). I should really say the classroom part has ended for the week, but my week is longer this week because of the excitement of ACES weekend. I write this as I think about what I need to pack to prepare for a few more days with Grand Canyon FFA members in Harrisburg. There have been some fun highlights of the week that make me excited to see how the rest of my experience will go.

I paid special attention to the Natural Resources class this week since I will start taking that class over next week. The subject matter is especially interesting to me (you may or may not know that I interned at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center), but the class seems to be more of a handful than I'm used to. They are not bad students in any way, just a very lively group of gentlemen that are always moving around and talking. I'm excited to have a small class in a subject area I like, but I will have to really stretch myself to make sure I can entertain these students!

Plant Science students designing a heart arrangement

Intro to Ag students designing a single rose arrangement for V-day

Many of the agriculture teachers (and student teachers) see this weekend as another weekend of ACES, but tend to almost forget that this weekend is Valentine's Day! Although I haven't started teaching Intro to Ag or Plant Science just yet (they're the last 2 classes I pick up!), I paid extra attention to their activities this week. To celebrate Valentine's, Mrs. Berndtson taught both classes briefly about floral design and allowed the Intro to Ag students to design a single rose arrangement while the Plant Science students designed a biedermeier heart out of carnations and other filler flowers. I will be teaching the floral design unit in Plant Science in a few weeks and paid attention to these activities because my experiences with plants and florals are limited. Students designing these florals was not only fun, engaging, and creative for students, but also showed just how important agriculture is. Some students might not realize the role agriculture has in some of these holidays!

Week 4 was a hit!

Students practiced subcutaneous and intramuscular injections

Student teaching is flying by and I (and the rest of #psuaged16) am already over a quarter of the way done. I feel as though every time I blink another day goes by!

This week I have been teaching 3 of the class periods and am teaching Animal Sciences I & II. With animal science being my favorite and most knowledgable topic, it has been great picking up these classes first. I don't need to focus too much on ensuring my understanding of the content and can completely focus on how my lessons are put together.

My highlights of the week including most of my Friday. Animal Science students had learned about diseases, vaccines, and related topics all week and were able to put their knowledge to the test with injections on Friday! Students were able to practice on bananas and oranges and then perform a subcutaneous and intramuscular injection on a banana for credit. Even with instructions (multiple times) on proper handling of syringes I still had a student poke herself with the syringe and need a bandaid. There were over 40 students that performed the lab, so I tried to look at the silver lining and realize about 42 students didn't run into any issues! I really think that with a lab like this that the preparation is worth it. They couldn't remember the names of injection sites from the day before, but performing the injections on  fruit helped them realize exactly how injections work.

Another highlight this Friday was my "field trip" to another classroom - this time a Chemistry class. I wanted to share (especially for my #psuaged16 cohort!) about one of her assignments. Students are assigned to work on a song related to the topic at hand using a song people are familiar with. Students had so much fun with the assignment and so proud of what they had accomplished. Most importantly, they now have those topics memorized! Learning can exist in various forms, and seeing her approach opened new doors for me! Of course at Penn State we were encouraged to appeal to multiple intelligences of students. I do not excel with musical and I have been struggling to appeal to that modality for students that can benefit from it. I'm thinking involving an assignment (with reflection like this teacher implemented) can really get students learning and being creative! Check out her one class video below (not the one I saw in class, but a past assignment):

Third week has come to an end

Grand Canyon FFA participated in a mock hunger banquet

The third week of student teaching has come and gone quickly as I expected. This week I experienced my first Activity Day where students have shortened classes in order to make time (about 40 minutes) to meet for various organizations. This makes it easier for some students who can't stay after school. The FFA had time to conduct a mock hunger banquet with members since the Chapter President wants to have a Hunger Banquet later in the year. There hasn't been an opportunity to witness a Hunger Banquet by another chapter so this served as a practice run. Although my classes were shortened by a few minutes it was beneficial to see the different students that came to the meeting. It was eye opening to most students, in my opinion, especially since most of them didn't have a lot of rice krispies to eat. At a Hunger Banquet you are assigned a country (and maybe a name and story along with it!) and get your portions based off that countries resources and population. This frustrated students from Asia (pictured) that only had a small square to split 22 ways compared to the 3 students from  North America that had a whole plateful.

Animal Science students conducted a fecal analysis

This was my first full week of classes since students were wrapping up presentations of their SAE's from the week before. To end off my week students in my Animal Science I class conducted a fecal analysis on goat fecal samples in an attempt to understand parasites and their life cycles further. Students had been learning about parasites for most of the week and I thought it would be a great end to the week! Some students were mortified about working with fecal samples, but most students were engaging the way I had hoped.

Being my first full week of teaching experience I had a lot of ups and downs. Some students would talk while I was talking or not listen while other days/classes would be vibrant and engaged in activities. It gave me some time to reflect on exactly the types of things I need to work on.

Points of improvement:

First, I really want to add more detail to my prepared lesson plans so I can manage class time efficiently and better prepare transitions and questions. I found that some of my lessons seemed jumbled and students sometimes needed further clarification.

Second, I need to be more aware of the class dynamic. The 2 periods I'm teaching are rather large and I don't even have all the names down yet. I need to make sure I look closely at interactions of students so I can pinpoint where any issues are between students. This can make it easier for me to fix talking or other issues.

Third, I want to put more focus into the objectives I have set for the classes. I want to make students more aware of what they will be doing and make sure to check that they are obtaining the objectives I have for each class.


I really felt this week like I have more to work on improving than I thought. I'm trying to stay positive and realize that I can't be perfect in my first few weeks of student teaching. Just to stop on a positive note though, I think something I do well has everything to do with my passion for animal science. Since that is the only class right now I enjoy teaching students about the animals and bonding with students about their own experiences with animals. I'm sharing my love of animals with students and they are sharing with me so that is something I'm proud of!

Student Teaching... Week 2!

The principal's puppy visiting the Ag Room

It's crazy to think about how much happens in just one week as an Ag (student) Teacher! It was still just my second week so there are new experiences every day. This week (although it is the second week) was the first week I got to experience being the teacher. I picked up periods 3 and 4 this week - The Animal Science I classes. They are 2 separate classes, but the same lesson is done in both classes so it's still not too much work. Teaching the same class twice in a row is a new experience for me and it was interesting to see the differences in the flow of lessons. I started with this class since my background knowledge is heavily in animal science.

The very first day went well in my opinion, but it was also frustrating because I got everything done right on time for the 3rd period class, but had to cut out 2 different activities in the 4th period class. Yes, the periods are the same length. And no, I have no idea how I did perfectly in the first class, but messed up the second class! It still went well and I noticed time running out so I made sure to go through everything important (like expectations!). I need to be aware of timing for the duration of student teaching and I figured that might be a challenge for me. This is also a challenging class to start off in because both sections have 20-28 students enrolled. Having minimal experience in a "real" classroom makes it a little nerve-racking having to control, educate, and entertain that many students.

Committee Work at the Grand Canyon FFA monthly meeting

It is also worth noting that this week was the first Grand Canyon FFA meeting I was able to attend. Students run the meeting efficiently using parliamentary procedure (the best they can anyway!) and most of the time was spent diligently working in their committee groups. I'm excited to see how their planning pays off for the various events and activities such as the FFA Dance, FFA Week (where they have mini events everyday and themes to dress for), Farmers Breakfast, Hoss's Night, etc. The Farmer's Breakfast is especially exciting for me because my parents are going to be visiting to support the FFA and then explore Wellsboro!

Week 2 down and can't believe how fast it is already going!

Exploring other classes at Wellsboro

Today was the day to see what else Wellsboro High School has to offer! I spent the first period of the day observing the College Prep Biology class down the hall as they started their Genetics unit. It was very beneficial to see how other teachers do things and Mrs. Davis sure knows how to run an efficient Biology class!

Like I said, it was first period so business had to be done (like attendance). It's clear she has a consistent class where students know what they are to be doing at different points in time. For instance, she asked students where they were as far as assignments and everyone was at different points, but no one done with the chapter. She said, "Well that means...." and students finished her sentence without thinking "We all have something to do!". So students know what they are expected to do and spent the next few minutes quietly doing work while Mrs. Davis took attendance and quickly reviewed their vocabulary homework (Which they passed to the front in alphabetical order as instructed). When you have a great class it is clear in just the first few minutes!

I don't want it to sound like a military base either - Mrs. Davis has these expectations for students to follow, but does her best to have fun with her lessons and relate it to students. For instance, while learning about genetics she played a youtube video of the Gregor Mendel Song (to the right). I think having a song to reference will help students remember various content as well as lighten up the class environment.

Although I have observed some great teachers, Mrs. Davis was one of the best. It was clear that she balanced having expectations, consequences, and a comfortable environment for students to learn!

Student Teaching.... Week one complete!

Students presented SAE projects: raising
Pekin ducks and teaching a deaf, mostly blind dog basic tricks

I can't believe the first week of student teaching has flown by already! Since I've arrived Sunday, I've gotten to know so many great students (yes, I even saw students Sunday!) and have really gotten a feel for what it means to be an agricultural educator. Teaching Ag never has a dull moment and in one week I've had my fair share of animal encounters in the classroom (snakes, guinea pigs, dogs, ducks, etc.), attended my first faculty and department meeting, and tended student CDE practices for Parliamentary Procedure and Forestry. It was a busy week!

Forestry CDE practice: The guinea pig is learning too!

Although it is only week one and I haven't been put in charge of any courses yet, this week has been eye-opening for me. I'm seeing first hand how much an ag teacher does for the students. I even told my cooperating teacher, Melanie Berndtson, tonight that I respected agricultural educators before, but now it's a whole new level! It's funny how you believe some things, but it is taken to a whole new level when you see or experience it yourself.

This week I became aware of how passionate some students can be. Although I was tired this week, I thoroughly enjoyed the time after school spent with students who wanted to learn more about their subjects to excel at CDE's. Having never attended an ag program while I was in school, it was refreshing to see these students. I am so envious of them since I haven't had the same opportunities they have, but I am so grateful that I can be a part of this process on the advisor side. Observing the Parliamentary Procedure and Forestry practice was the highlight of my week and I am looking forward to coaching my own team. I may even assist the Parlia Pro team!

My week in school is over... but I get to go back to farm show tomorrow with students for the second time this week!

Mid-Winter FFA Convention at the PA Farm Show

As many of you know, I had my very first day of student teaching on Monday, January 11! I'm uber excited to to get to know all the Wellsboro students and Grand Canyon FFA members throughout this student teaching journey. Monday was a great start to this journey of becoming a teacher for many reasons.

First: I had the opportunity to get to know some of "my" students (still so weird to say!) in a context that is different from the typical classroom. Having a trip to the PA Farm Show provided an environment where students felt comfortable getting to know their new student teacher.

Second: The Mid-Winter Convention at the Farm Show was a new and exciting experience for me. It was heart-warming to watch some new Grand Canyon FFA members receive their first FFA Jackets as well as support the students receiving their Keystone Degree.

Third: Who doesn't love visiting the PA Farm Show?! Starting this journey with a trip to the 100th PA Farm show is just so appropriate.

As I start this 15 week (or lifetime depending on how you look at it) Ag Ed journey, I think now is a great time to set some goals for myself to maximize student teaching. There are a lot of little goals I have including getting assignments done early in the semester, eating healthy, getting lots of sleep, and various other all, though important, goals.

Students shared their knowledge of White-Nose in bats

 FFA members presented on the 6175R

Jacket recipients

My most critical goals, though, pertain to the students I will see everyday. My goal is to challenge the students to do their best without frustrating them. I want them to realize how great they are through the work they do in and out of the classroom. I also want to show students how much I care about each one of them. I really want to know of the students names within the next few weeks and show them respect by grading assignments quickly and putting 100% of my energy into this experience. I believe that if they see how much I put into their educational experience that they will be more likely to put effort into their work.


Basically, this is the start of a very difficult journey for me. I will be challenged to get out of my comfort zone and keep moving even when it seems like I have nothing left, emotionally and physically. For the next 15 weeks I will be putting everything I have into this experience for myself and for the wonderful students I am getting to know. My hope is that I will be rewarded with how much I put in by students who will appreciate all I will do and realize their potential in the real-world after high school. Bring on the next 15 weeks!

Grand Canyon FFA Members in their new jackets!