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!

Final Presentation!

As the #psuaged16 student teaching cohort prepared throughout the semester we all knew it would come down to final presentation. Students pursuing a degree in Agricultural and Extension Education at Penn State finally get to present on how we are ready for student teaching and how we got there. With the support of passionate faculty, a strong bond with my cohort members, and my fantastic family I successfully presented during finals week on how I'm ready to student teach at Wellsboro in January!

If you want to spend some time seeing what I am all about (and maybe what it's like to be a student pursuing Agricultural Education!), check out the recorded presentation I presented.

Final Lab Reflection

It feels like I just set this blog up and had my first lab experience only a few weeks ago. It's amazing to think that student teaching is closer than that first lab already. A lot has been running through my mind as we wrapped up the AEE 412 course this week.

Mostly, I've been thinking about my progression throughout the semester. With all the labs, micro teaching, and then the Life Knowledge lesson I have really racked up some experience in the classroom. I'm more excited to switch from student to teacher now than I ever have ben. I realize that it can be a "culture shock" to switch sides of the desk, but I feel prepared to do so.

I think through my AEE 412 experiences I've developed my enthusiasm (although still not my best characteristic), but I think I'm pretty good at variability. Basically, Rosenshine and Furst identified these 5 characteristics of effective teaching that are business-like, enthusiasm, clarity, opportunity to learn, and variability. I think that my variability isn't my most-improved, but I think it's my strongest. In my lessons I strive for variability because I feel that if I don't have variability I'm not excited about the lesson and the students certainly aren't either.

The video below is about 5 minutes mashed together of various experiences I've had with teaching. I wanted to share it on the blog just to see how I've developed throughout the semester. Not all of the scenes show variability, but they are definitely highlights from the semester. Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

How to conquer classroom management struggles

Dear educator struggling with classroom management,

There is no simple solution to effective management of a classroom. There are so many variables that go into the workings of a classroom to make the environment positive or negative. Although there is no definitive answer to running a classroom effectively, there are some tips you can follow to encourage a positive environment.

First, my tip would be to stay consistent. I strongly believe that if you are too lenient and you notice students taking advantage that it will be almost impossible to change your tune to the strict respectable teacher. It would be much easier to start out strong with clear (and concise) rules and expectations to follow. Students should clearly understand what is expected of them on a daily basis and what the consequences will be if they do not meet those expectations. And most importantly, follow through! If students notice that you are not giving out that promised detention on their third offense, they (and possibly the other students) will likely not feel that they are required to follow those rules. The less consistent you are with expectations and consequences, the more push-back you will receive on those few times you decide to follow through with consequences. Basically, know what you want from students, make sure they know what you want from them, and demand that they uphold their end of the bargain on a daily basis.

My second tip for you would be to keep your game face on! No matter the situation, do not let students think they have gotten to you. Students will make inappropriate comments and they will make some poor decisions here and there, mostly because they are only human. If students know they can throw you off topic or make you uncomfortable they may take advantage of that situation. At all times students should at least think that you are prepared, motivated, dedicated, and ready to conquer anything in the classroom. Basically, expect the unexpected that students may throw at you and handle it with grace.

My third tip for anyone struggling with classroom management is to practice what you preach. You most like expect your students to show you and their classmates respect and it probably is on your list of expectations. You need to remember to also respect your students. You have to walk that fine line of being a "friend" and being a drill sergeant. You don't want students to take advantage, but you need to make it clear you respect them as people, and as students. You can still be a good teacher and be a mentor to students in need. It is difficult to find the sweet spot, but you must remember that they won't respect you unless you show them a certain level as respect. I whole-heartedly believe that a lot of classroom management problem can be avoided with encouragement of a positive classroom environment. When students feel comfortable in your room, they will be less likely to disrespect you and act out. Basically, monkey see, monkey do!

I hope these tips can assist you in conquering any obstacles related to classroom management!

Bringing it all together... My first teaching experience at Wellsboro!

Shortly after my teaching experiences for 3 days at Williamsburg I had the opportunity to teach a lesson at my cooperating center, Wellsboro. This was my first time (of many) teaching at Wellsboro and gave me a "taste" of what to expect when I start teaching there in January!

Here is a little about what lesson I taught.... Using FFA.org I selected a LifeKnowledge lesson that had to do with meetings. I selected this lesson to teach to the FFA/Ag Leadership students so they could learn about what makes a meeting effective and a little about the order of business for meetings based on Roberts Rules of Order. They worked in groups to identify the proper order of Order of Business using prepared post-its with the titles on them. I also had them perform the opening ceremonies (getting up and moving to the appropriate spots around the room) reading from the FFA Official Manual. With limited amount of time in a class, we had time for these 2 activities, introductions, and of course feedback of my performance as a teacher!

Leading discussion on effective meetings

For being the last class of the day right before Thanksgiving break, I think it went great! I asked the students to anonymously give me feedback on the lesson and received almost completely positive reviews. From the student reviews and the evaluation of Mrs. Berndtson I came to a few conclusions on my points of improvement.

First, it was difficult for me to engage all students since I only knew the names of a few students and the ones I had not met before were apprehensive about participating. I think with time this will improve once I am familiar with students' names, personalities, and abilities. This class was a bit difficult to manage since there are freshmen who have no previous knowledge on the content (and therefore even more apprehensive about participation), but also seniors and FFA Officers (who I had the pleasure of meeting before) with a wealth of knowledge on meetings because of their extensive experience. In the future I have to be more aware of that so the same students aren't consistently answering and I can challenge the less experienced students to think about answers.

Assisting students in identifying the order of business

I really didn't get negative feedback, and I really do think it went well. Although engagement was tough at some points, they expressed that they enjoyed the activities (especially opening ceremonies). The last class of the day right before Thanksgiving break is bound to be difficult for engagement though! I was also very pleased with timing of this lesson within the period. During micro teaching I ran out of time to finish my lesson appropriately the first 2 days. During this lesson at Wellsboro I was pleased that I had the time to conclude, review objectives, and have students give feedback without rushing through anything. Definitely some positives and some points of improvement to think about as student teaching quickly approaches in January!

My cooperating teacher, Mrs. Berndtson (right) and myself

Thanks for reading and special thanks to Mrs. Berndtson for allowing me to take over the FFA/Ag Leadership class for the day to talk about effective meetings!

Micro teaching adventure!

Before we go out into the world of student teaching, one assignment for #psuaged16 is to micro teach. Essentially we spend three days teaching a mini unit to a class not at our cooperating center. This gives us the practice of teaching more than one day, but at a place we don't have to return to in case it goes badly.

Luckily, my micro teaching experience did not go badly, and it makes me sad that I will not be returning. Myself and 2 of my cohort members had our micro teaching experience at Williamsburg and I taught the Animal Science class of about 10 students for 3 days in a row. I taught a mini unit on anatomy where they learned basic terminology/planes of the body, types of bones and joints, and some basic bones in a horse skeleton. I planned my 42 minute lessons to contain content, but to drive home their new knowledge with activities. Day 1 consisted of worksheets and then dissecting gummy bears to show the terminology. Day 2 consisted of building types of bones out of Play-doh and sharing with their classmates. The last day they guessed the parts of a horse skeleton, received a brief PowerPoint on the bones in the body, created a sentence using the first letter of bones to remember the order, then relabeled the skeleton as a class.

It was a pretty new experience to me, since before this experience I've only taught workshops and other experiences where I only teach the students once and never see them again. My biggest struggle with this experience was trying to teach everything I wanted in only 42 minutes. It seems like a decent amount of time, but when I actually tried to teach I ran out of time the first 2 days. With only 10 students, I had ample time to get to know all of their names and some of their interests which made the experience very rewarding.

On the last day the students filled out a learner satisfaction form so I could gauge what students thought about my teaching. I encouraged them to be honest and had them tell me what constructive criticism was. I wanted to introduce it that way because I told students if they didn't like something about the lessons then I expected them to tell me how it could be better. I guess this conversation didn't matter though because I got positive feedback from all ten students. The only question that I would consider it negative feedback were about my timing. Out of 10, 2 students did circle an answer saying at times the class went a little fast. I could definitely see where they were coming from since I ended up rushing through some material for days 1 & 2 when I realized how quickly class time was passing.

This experience was very helpful. First, I can better gauge my lessons for student teaching since Wellsboro class periods are also 42 minutes long (or should I say short!). I had experience with preparing lessons from day-to-day to use which will help while student teaching. This micro teaching is designed to be a super mini taste of student teaching. It really helps you get the idea of what to expect in student teaching. I am more excited than ever to continue my journey by jumping into Wellsboro for student teaching. Thanks Williamsburg for allowing me to micro teach! In the words of a Williamsburg student, "It's been real. It's been fun. It's been real fun!"

A Penny for your thoughts.. My IBI experience

For those of you that are blanking on what IBI stands for: Inquiry Based Instruction. It is basically allowing students to be responsible for their own learning by identifying a problem, determining their own hypotheses and procedures, collecting data, and sharing their evidence and findings. It can be very difficult to facilitate (in my opinion) but can have great rewards for students. Students tend to be used to a lot of guidance and inquiry encourages critical thinking and independent students.

This week I attempted to present an inquiry based instruction. I struggled with the planning process which wasn't surprising to me. I struggled to plan for a problems-based lesson (which is similar) so I expected to be challenged by inquiry. The main difference between problems-based and inquiry is generally that problems-based has an actual solution that the teacher expects students to arrive at while inquiry has less guidance and the teacher may not be sure where students will go with the activity.

For my IBI I wanted to introduce an animal science class to an Industry Standards, Breed Improvements, and Selection unit. My lesson was designed to put students in a certain way of thinking. My lesson didn't directly relate to animal science, but I wanted the students to be in the mindset that they had to observe and analyze what is around them. In a nutshell the lesson involved an ancient artifact (actually just a penny). Students had to analyze the artifacts given water, pipettes, petri dishes, dictionary, and worksheets along the way when student momentum seemed to slow. Students made observations of the penny (learning things along the way they never knew before) and what assumptions could be made about this mysterious civilization based on what is seen.

I used this to introduce this particular unit because I wanted the students to understand how little they have observed about an item we probably see every day. Students didn't realize the Lincoln memorial was on the penny or that there was latin on the coin. After observations and hypotheses about the civilization were shared, we got into the nitty gritty of why this is important. With some probing, the students (my awesome cohort members sitting in on my lab!) were able to articulate how important it is to make observations and determine what they mean in the animal industry. Students will have to think what industry standards are in place and why. For instance, What makes an Angus cow different from a Simmental? Students will have to think about differences that exist in the industry and what those differences mean to that animal. We briefly discussed breed improvements as well. An example was, Holstein cattle have great milk production in quantity while Jerseys are ideal for butter fat. How are these breeds improved over time and how can we improve them in the future? It is also important for students to enhance their observational skills for the selection section of the unit. Students recognized the importance of observing selection on a micro level saying, "You would select goats with a certain body confirmation to ensure they and their offspring are healthy and aesthetically pleasing, since looking nice and producing effectively is ideal."

I would say that as a first time instructor using inquiry that it went really well! I'm excited to use it while student teaching at Wellsboro. My "students" (classmates) responded well to the lab. I think that I gave enough instruction to guide them, but didn't give away answers or let them struggle to the point of frustration. I also let them think on their own before giving them worksheets to help their thinking process. This is the first week that I was told I had great energy!! So I thought the lab went well and then I was told I brought more enthusiasm this time which really made me feel like I'm improving. I can't wait to try out this lesson and many more with Wellsboro students!