Conducting SAE Visits... Weigh-In Day

On Wednesday, January 25th, I got to experience SAE visits. My home chapter never conducted SAE visits to my knowledge, and my SAEs never really needed visited. Needless to say, the idea of teachers going to students' homes is still a little outside the norm for me, but I really do like the idea of home visits and SAE visits. I see many benefits and will make sure to try and do them with my future students.

Mr. Clark and Mrs. Pontius reviewing rate of gain with Mallory for her steer

We visited with 5 different students on a beautiful Wednesday evening after school hours. Each of these students had steer that they were raising to show at the county fair. They had Beef Finishing-Entrepreneurship SAE programs. My cooperating teachers and I went to do weigh-ins and check the rate of gain to make sure they were on the right track.

 

Mitchell weighing his steer with help from his pap

Mallory, Mitchell's sister, weighing her steer with help from their pap

 

We visited each of the students' farms and got to meet the parents and even grandparents and other farm hands.. oh, not to mention the farm dogs and kitties!

Wyatt holding his steer on the scale

In the fall, Mrs. Pontius and Mr. Clark had sign-ups for weigh ins because they couldn't show unless they had the initial weigh in. They would schedule the visits and collect the weights. They save this information to use for future visits as well. This was how they prepared prior to this day's visit.

This time, Mrs. Pontius and Mr. Clark began with weighing the steer. They would calculate the rate of gain and show the students. They would talk about if that was good or not and whether the student should continue with the feed amounts or increase or decrease them. They also would observe the facilities and barns to make sure that the environment was clean and comfortable for the animals and that they had plenty of water and other needs were met. They would then ask if the student had any questions or concerns about their steer and what more they needed to prepare. They would give advice if needed, however these students were pretty advanced as far as understanding how to raise animals and showing animals.

Brooke with her steer, Donald, and Mrs. Pontius observing the steer

The records used were AET. Students completed all of their work in there. They brought with them a folder with previous weights. They added the new weights and the rate of gain for each students' steer. When it comes closer to the fair, they give out a checklist of what is needed in preparation for the fair. My cooperating teachers then grade the SAEs simply by reviewing the AET records and making sure that they are complete.

 

Ethan's sow with day old piglet litter

Ethan with his pigs

I really benefitted from seeing how visits work, but it makes me nervous for when I have to do my own in the future. I've never shown animals and don't know if I could provide great advice for that. While I have worked on a farm and certainly have some knowledge of farming facilities and practices, I don't know if I could easily identify issues or come up with ways to solve problems. Especially for animals which I have never worked with.



Ethan's steer

One student asked my cooperating teachers before we left if they could look at their gilt and determine if she was pregnant. We all went and looked but none of us could give answers to that question. It's neat to see that collaboration and also good to see that even veteran ag teachers may not know everything. It reminds me that I shouldn't be worried as much about not knowing everything about showing and raising animals. However, I feel it is my duty as the educator to know this information so even if I don't know then, I think it's important to learn for myself as well as guide that student to resources and provide the pathway for learning.

SAEs can be tedious and a lot of work, but I think it's experiences like the potentially pregnant gilt which can generate further learning.

Science Teacher Visit: Biology and Chemistry

I got to visit two different science teachers for this assignment. I visited with Mrs. Novinger's class, a freshman biology course, and Mr. Tomko's class, a chemistry course. Mrs. Novinger was teaching the students about photosynthesis and cellular respiration and Mr. Tomko was performing demonstrations on chemical reactions.

Mrs. Novinger Reflection

 Mrs. Novinger did not post objectives, however she did have posted the essential question which was: How is energy used and transformed in living things?


She also posted two vocabulary words: photosynthesis and cellular respiration. I think she used these similarly to objectives so that students know that today, they will be able to describe those two terms.


I think the students were interested in the lesson. It was mainly a discussion with a worksheet that they worked on in partners. Mrs. Novinger did a great job at facilitating the instruction and asking a lot of questions to get students' gears going. She also drew out some of the explanations on the board to help students visualize the information. She used choral response to help the students pick up on additional vocabulary throughout the lesson. I would say she was helping students facilitate the learning. It was evident that she used a lot of personal experiences and connections throughout the lesson.

Mrs. Novinger hit many of the teaching characteristics. I think more specifically she reached the clarity of instruction and enthusiasm about the subject. She also provided some variability as far as discussing the information, visually presenting the information, and having students fill out a worksheet. There were times where they were listening and there were other times where they were sharing with their partners.

By providing that variability, I think she was able to better focus the students' attention on the lesson. She got their interest by relating things they are familiar with. For example she related aerobics with cellular respiration and use of energy or she related a previous lab experiment to talk about cells. The structure or framework was apparent in providing the concrete application in the form of a worksheet. She clarified goals by simply posting the vocabulary words that stemmed the discussion on the topic.

Mr. Tomko Reflection

I so wish I took pictures the day I visited Mr. Tomko's class. It was a chemistry class of only five students so it was nice to have more of that one-on-one instruction. As I mentioned, he was doing his lesson on chemical reactions and spent the class period creating all of these neat chemical compounds and explaining what was happening in each reaction. He did not post objectives, but as he went through the reactions, he would write the type on the board. It was almost like he was posting the objectives as he performed the lab.

I know I was very interested in the lesson and I believe the students were too. It definitely takes interest approach to a whole new level! Students wore their goggles and got to see, smell, touch, and even taste some of the chemical reactions. I think the use of the senses is what helped make it effective.

I think the Mr. Tomko was facilitating learning as well. He was the one doing all of the experiments, but would have students participate whether it was holding something or pouring something. He would ask questions about what was going on and what they observed rather than just telling them everything that was happening. He allowed them to come to their own conclusions. Mr. Tomko also did well with clarity and business-like behavior. This was important for his class because even though there were five students, they were jokesters and could get distracted easily, so he had to ensure that they were constantly engaged in the lab.

Mr. Tomko focused their attention and capitalize on their interests by simply keeping them physically as well as mentally engaged in the demonstrations. One thing that was really neat that he did was he essentially created alka seltzer. The students smelled it and were curious as to what it made. Mr. Tomko mentioned that the substance was something that people consume. They still couldn't figure it out so he grabbed some cups and remade the alka seltzer in clean beakers and then had the students try it. They had never had alka seltzer so they couldn't quite figure it out, but they not only learned about that chemical reaction, they now know what that tastes like. I just enjoyed the spur of the moment application which I'm sure they won't forget.

The structure he provided wasn't in the form of a worksheet or anything specific like Mrs. Novinger had. Instead, I think the structure came from writing the types of reactions on the board and reviewing them at the end of the class. This review also helped him clarify the goals he had in the class.

Visits were an A+

I really enjoyed seeing other teachers in their element. Each teacher has a different style not only compared to one another, but from my own. I may not teach exactly the same as them, but I hope to keep in mind some of their strategies and apply them in my own classes. It will be especially good to keep these in mind because I could see both topics applying to ag education!

Getting Situated: Week #3

There's a bug going around the school and it's not the kind we're learning about in my Pest Management unit! Everyone is catching the nasty cold and flu this week so we've had to be diligent about hand washing and personal space. Many were out sick, and I definitely caught it too... gah! Despite all of this, I was able to push through the week and make the best out of it. The students are real troopers!

I'm really starting to feel situated in my placement now. While I don't have a full class load yet, I am comfortable with my students. I am starting to find that flow as well, and I think the students can feel more comfortable because they see that I am a little more relaxed as well.

Students in Mrs. Pontius' Food Science class doing an experiment

Time savers

One of my issues is that everything takes much longer than anticipated to complete. I don't mind going at the pace the students need, but I worry sometimes that the application or the "fun stuff" is also getting pushed to a later time. In some cases, they cannot move on until they understand the content, so it's challenging for me make it more interesting. For example, today I wanted students to go through a powerpoint and take some notes about weed characteristics about specific weeds. Following this, I was going to try a party host moment with them where they would pretend to be a weed. They would introduce themselves as the pest and would ask questions about the other. For example they might ask, so do you come here annually, biennially, or perennially? It was supposed to be kind of cheesy but kind of fun!

The issue is that we didn't even get through the whole powerpoint today. We did do something else before hand but if I didn't do that, that would have meant we would have spent the whole class period on just the powerpoint.. a big no no!

One suggestion for me was to have guided notes for them where they could fill in the blanks instead of recording all of the notes. Mrs. Pontius said that even though I told them several times that they didn't have to write everything word for word, there are still some of those high achieving students that will do that. Writing everything down from the powerpoint takes a lot of time. Guided notes would have saved that time while still addressing my concern of making sure they were engaged while I was presenting. 

I need to begin thinking of more ways to save time and work for students so they aren't worrying so much about writing everything down, and rather, just practicing, identifying, and otherwise learning. 

Discipline and management

I really truly enjoy my students, however kids will be kids! I haven't really had too many discipline issues, but this week I did start seeing some really minor things. In plant science, I had given students a little research activity on insect pests and they were to present their insect to the rest of the class. We didn't finish the research portion the first day, so I gave them about 5 minutes the next day to work on it and then present. There was one group that had finished it the day before, but their friend who was absent that day had their packets. So they couldn't present that day. 

Classroom Expectations, Procedures, and Consequences

I should have done a better job walking around and making sure students were prepared, but they also didn't care to address this issue with me before hand nor did they attempt to re-look up any information to help solve the situation. It was a pretty informal presentation, but still certainly not fair to the other students who put in the effort. There wasn't much I could do except wait until the next day for them to present. I realized afterwards that it would have been such a great time to point to my expectations posters behind me and remind them of the preparedness expectation! But I thought about it after the class was over so it was an opportunity missed, unfortunately. Either way, I now know to be more diligent with that and to not pair certain students together if they cannot complete that assignment. 

Wrapping up this week

Overall, I think there was a lot of learning for both myself and the students! Another hurdle I will need to tackle is catching up students who have missed two or three days! That's going to be a challenge, however I'm hoping that I can work through this and get them back on track soon.

In other news, I guest taught in the Spanish class today. I spoke about my experience in Mexico (because I can never talk enough about that!). I even used a little bit of Spanish and had them practice some key vocab words. While it is not teaching in the formal sense, I enjoyed getting in front of students and sharing my knowledge. It was really a confidence booster and now hopefully I've made a connection to those students who are in my other courses. I think it goes to show that teaching doesn't always need to be formal.. they can learn through experiences of others. Learning can happen by simply sharing the wealth and engagin in discussion. 

Going forward

Going forward from here, my goals next week are to work on grades and putting grades in the grade book. In this, I plan to sit down with my cooperating teachers and have them show me how they do it and have a conversation about assessment, etc. 

Another goal is to catch up students who have been behind. Hopefully they will all be healthy and back in class by Monday so we can start from there. 

Next week in plant science I will be finishing up with weed pests and do a hopefully brief lesson about diseases. Then I will assess students with their pest ID quiz. Following this, I will get into pesticide application and usage. 

In small engines, they are just wrapping up on tool identification and they will move on to talking about what small gas engines are and then into parts identification.

In welding, students will be talking about safety and will make a safety poster presentation. My hope is to complete the safety portion next week, but they meet every other day, so I will need to be adamant about connecting concepts from two days before!

Leaving Thought

"Your mind is a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds" -- Unknown 

Keyword: Flexibility: Week #2

I started this week with probably one of the neatest in-service days I'll ever have. There was a program for those teachers in the district who wanted to be certified to instruct archery. My cooperating teachers and I signed up for this course and spent the majority of the day learning about archery, safety, and shooting techniques.

Not only was it a great experience to get to know other teachers around the school, but it built my confidence in my abilities to perform something I once thought I wasn't good at. Once I learned the technique, I was constantly hitting bulls eyes! I won't get all deep and sappy, but I think that is the perfect metaphorical experience to compare to student teaching. I had been so nervous leading up until Tuesday (when I began teaching) but once I started teaching, I was fine. It felt great teaching and felt completely in my element. Sure there are things I still have to iron out, and I know I still need to develop my flow in the classroom, but I think just like archery, I just need to follow what I've been taught, try my best, and keep practicing until I hit that bulls eye. 


This week was the first week I started picking up Plant Science and Small Gas Engines. On Friday I also began teaching Welding as well. 

Lesson plans

I thought I would be holding onto my lesson plans like a crutch the entire week, but as it turns out, I didn't even touch them during instructional time. There are a few reasons why this happened. One, like I said, I felt good teaching. Normally when I get nervous I forget what I'm supposed to teach and I need to look at my plan. But running through it before the start of class and perhaps growing in my confidence allowed me to remember what I needed to do. 

For another thing, I reached a small crisis the night before when I realized that I needed to move around some of my activities. I realized it didn't make sense for them to learn one thing before they learn the next. I still taught the same things I was planning, just in a different order. So my lesson plans ended up being all out of order anyway. 

I do really like writing my lessons out beforehand because I like to think through what I will be presenting. But I feel that at least for now, I don't need to use them during class. I know there will be a handful of times throughout the semester where I will have to reference them in class simply because I put specific instructions or reminders in my plans. But other than that, I tend to write down my bellwork, interest approach, and the one or two activities we are doing on a sticky note and I'm good to go. 

Time flies...

One of my concerns going into student teaching was being able to accomplish my objectives and thus my activities within the 42 minute time period as I planned out in my lesson plans. This concern is now a reality, though it is certainly not the worst thing to happen. I tend to teach only one objective and get through about one activity. I still need to learn how to gauge how quickly students work which is part of the struggle. But I think we all agree that it is better to over-plan than to not plan enough.
 

I'm sure that there might be small things I can do classroom management-wise to get more done in one class period, but I think that more than anything, I realize how important it is for teachers to really think about what they need to teach vs. what they want to teach. I plan on removing a few lessons that I wanted to teach so my three-week unit wouldn't turn into a six-week unit. The lessons that I wanted to teach certainly relate to the unit, but aren't essential to understanding the core concepts. I considered having them do some of the work for homework, but I would want to spend some class time talking it over, which defeats the idea. Teachers need to be purposeful in what they teach!

Flexibility

Mr. Clark gave me a vocab word for the week which will probably hold firm for the entire semester; Flexibility. As I learn to adjust and I learn what my students need to thrive, I must be flexible. For example, Thursday I took charge of the freshman agriscience course so Mr. Clark and the shop students could work on the baseball dugout project. It wasn't planned, but I was able to take charge of the class and get them to finish what they needed to finish. 

Another example was that Mrs. Pontius was out on Friday. They had a substitute come in her absence. I was teaching plant science and had my powerpoint up and ready to go, but for some reason, the sub and I couldn't figure out how to hook it up to the projector. Instead of having the students sit there and do nothing, I quickly adjusted and had them work on the activity they were originally going to do at the end of the class period. Luckily it worked in my favor because they didn't need the powerpoint to do the activity (though it would have really helped with their understanding), and the activity ended up taking the whole class period (there's that time factor again). Had I presented the powerpoint as planned, they might have had to stop mid activity and pick it up again on Monday. Now I can just present the powerpoint and not worry about finishing the activity. I don't think it will always work like that but being flexible certainly helps get through that!

Looking ahead to next week

I learned a lot just in this first week, and I am eager to continue growing. I didn't talk about welding too much in this blog, but my goal there is to get my students motivated to want to participate. I sense a lack of will-power in my small class that I want to really crank up. Their class is also only every other day so I know it is even more important to build that rapport with my students.

In plant science, I will be teaching them about insect mouth parts. Then we will be identifying specific insects. Next, we will get into identification and classification of weed pests. 

In small gas engines, we will finish up our safety discussion and they will take their exam. Then we will start talking about what small gas engines are, and finish the week with tool identification and a little quiz on that.

In welding, I will only meet with them twice, so on Tuesday, I plan on going over my expectations and procedures. I just did getting-to-know-you activities with them on Friday so I could get them used to me and build that rapport. I will most likely have time to begin introducing arc welding as well. Thursday I will start getting into the safety.

Leaving Thought

"She stood in the storm, and when the wind did not blow her way, she adjusted her sails" -- Elizabeth Edwards

Observation and Integration: Week #1

First week of student teaching... here and gone!

The time has finally arrived where I can say that I am at Greenwood for good. I have made it to student teaching! And what a journey it has been to get here. Despite the fact that I have not started teaching yet, I feel affirmed that Greenwood is the best placement for me. There are so many excellent ag teachers and ag programs across the state, but little old Millerstown is where I belong.

 

That is not to say that this week wasn't met with some difficulties. I observed many challenges and saw first hand the collaboration of teachers in the school.

The roller coaster of week #1

Monday was Farm Show day! You can read more about that experience in my previous blog. 

Tuesday was my first official observation day. Despite some of those first day jitters, I feel it went fairly smoothly.

Later that day, I was informed of a tragedy in the Greenwood School District. Out of respect to the privacy of the situation and those involved, I will simply say that I was able to observe the position the administration and teachers have in helping the students and the community deal with a tragedy. However, I wasn't able to see this fully play out until the week was over.

Wednesday, the icy conditions meant school was cancelled, but that doesn't mean the ag teachers stop working! Mr. Clark had a meeting with the Farm Safety and Occupational Health Advisory Board on which he serves. This was in the morning at Farm Show, so I joined him for this. I had a glimpse of the many hats teachers wear in their community. Later that night, I returned to farm show with students and Mrs. Pontius this time. These students worked in the FFA Foundation Pizza Booth for a shift. I enjoyed using this time to get to know my students more and truly assume the advisor's role as I helped with the stand. 

Thursday and Friday were both similar to Tuesday in that I simply observed for these two days. 

Overall this week went really well! I feel pretty comfortable with my students and my cooperating center. I am still extremely nervous to take over teaching next week, but I know once I start I will be just fine. And I know I have wonderful cooperating teachers who will be there every step of the way. I've been sitting comfortable so far, but I know I need to push myself to get over my fears and start teaching!

Next week, I will be taking on two classes: Plant Science and Small Gas Engines. 

In Plant Science, I will be starting on my Prevention and Control of Agronomic Pests unit where we will be identifying insect pests, listing the anatomical features of insects, discussing beneficial insects, and identifying weed pests. 

I will be picking up Small Gas Engines from the very beginning of the topic so I will be starting out with Safety and Tools identification unit. Students in this class have been in the shop all year, so I will be doing safety more specific to small engines rather than general safety components, and they have already begun discussing tools for other topics, so some will carry over into this unit. 

In addition, Monday is an in-service day for teachers. Mrs. Pontius and Mr. Clark and I are taking advantage of an archery training session where we will walk away certified to instruct archery. Don't know if I'll ever use that training but certainly something to add to the résumé! 

Keep an eye on my blogs to see how next week goes!

Leaving Thought

"Believe you can and you're halfway there" -- Theodore Roosevelt 

Mid Winter FFA Convention: An Ag Teacher's First Steps

Mid Winter FFA Convention Reflection

Just like a baby taking their first steps or a young child learning to ride a bike, I got to finally step into my role as an ag teacher and advisor. I am now officially a student teacher!

And what better way to begin this journey than a real test! Mr. Clark and Mrs. Pontius both had to arrive at the Farm Show early with students for contests they were competing in. Myself and a teacher aid were in charge of bringing the remaining twenty-four students to the Farm Show. 

Despite some first day jitters, I was fairly confident after travelling to the National FFA Convention with the students and having been to the Farm Show as many times as I have. So there were no issues getting these students where they needed to be.

Upon arrival, some students helped to setup for Mid Winter by organizing chairs and jackets. It never ceases to amaze me how willing the students are to help out and it brings me great joy to see them do so without complaint even though it wasn't their responsibility and they were in official dress hauling chairs around the arena!

Afterwards they got to walk around for a little until the convention started. 

Greenwood is proud to say that we had students succeeding in many areas including:

10 Keystone Degree Recipients

13 Freshman Jacket Award Recipients

1 WLC Scholarship Recipient
1 Ag Issues Team
19 Agriscience Project Participants
1 Chapter Agricultural Display

and 1 student performing the National Anthem

My students are something special! And they work hard to get to where they are too! While winning isn't everything, I hope I can one day cultivate motivated and active leaders in my own FFA chapter. If only it was as easy as Mr. Clark and Mrs. Pontius make it look! 

Big Picture: Farm Show is the perfect way to ease a new teacher in. I feel it starts the experience at something common and comfortable for both the students and myself since we have both attended before. It was a positive experience with zero issues. 

My goal for the next trip is to make sure I write every instruction given to me down! I thought I could remember everything my CTs told me before they left but I forgot to do something before I left. Fortunately it wasn't a big deal, but I now know that even when you think you can remember something, the hustle and bustle of getting students where they need to be can sometimes make you forget things! I learning already!