My Advice to the Next Student Teacher

My 15 week student teaching experience is over (tomorrow)...

What?! How?!?

I feel like it was just yesterday when I thought that January would never end. Now I'm packing up my things and preparing to head back to Penn State to finish out and get my degree.

Here is my advice for those who come after me...

• When choosing your cooperating center visit as many places as possible! One of the things that lead me to choose Manheim Central High School was the way that it felt while I was there visiting. The connection between you and the teachers that make up the ag department will be vital for success. Believe me, by visiting you will be able to see if there is "chemistry" between you and the potential cooperating teacher. 
• Work like crazy in the Fall. Listening to your professors and completing every task that is asked of you will significantly make your life more simple during student teaching. 
• The SAME goes for while you are student teaching. It will be super hectic and the days will be a blur. Do the work. Write lessons BEFORE you teach them no matter how much of a pain that is. This will make you feel 3,000x better when you need to collect all of your plans to turn in when you head back to college. I feel successful because I started the binders when I started teaching and just kept throwing the lesson plans into the binders as I taught them. It was a great tactic to ensure success!
• ASK AS MANY QUESTIONS AS POSSIBLE. Your cooperating teacher will not get mad at you. They will not be annoyed at you. They will be so incredibly happy that you are interested in learning and taking the job seriously. You might even get an unexpected gem when they answer you! So please, for my sake and your sake and your students' sake...just ask the darn question.
• Do not be in a hurry to get home. Your cooperating teacher is investing their time into you and their students. You should do the same. Plus, cool things happen after the bell rings. This is the time where reflecting on the day and having "teacher talk" is a blessing. Students are there from bell to bell. Don't just be a student.
• Share a piece of yourself with your students. Obviously don't tell them the nitty-gritty details of your personal life but it is totally okay to share that you have siblings. That you have a dog, a car, parents, etc. This makes the students view you as a real human being that they can relate to and confide in. If you act like cold reserved individual then they will treat you as such. Trust me on this one.

May the force be with you while you start out in the classroom and may you always provide your students with information that will one day help them win Jeopardy. :)

-Angela (aka. Ms. Becker)

8: "Next Generation Day"

Our schedule for the day!

The Manheim FFA Chapter had the amazing opportunity this Friday (3/2) to take a great group of students to the Farm and Home Center for the county speaking contests and a few workshops and some speakers. This was awesome! 

I was a judge and interviewer for Red Rose "Star Awards" which was a great learning opportunity. I listened to five students share their hard work and growth over three years of a production SAE. My fellow judges were Deb Seibert and Stephen Geib who made the judging experience quite fun to say the least. I gained a sense of what interviewing looks like from the other side of the interview table which may be helpful to me in the upcoming weeks! After analyzing our scores we called the five competitors back in to give them our remarks and tell them who the winner and runner up were. We had all good things to say as these FFA members have clearly worked hard on their projects and are going to continue to do great things.

Manheim FFA Members "try" to take a non-serious photo

While we were judging Star Awards, the other students were listening to a great motivational speaker and heading in and out of rooms to compete in creed, senior prepared, junior prepared, and extemporaneous speeches. 

After lunch students had the option to pick one out of three workshops: Precision Ag, Plant Science, or Animal Science. I participated in the Precision Ag workshop where new ways of using technology to advance crop production were shared with the audience. 

Following our workshops, everyone was gathered back together so that we could hear the results of today's contests. I am proud to say that Miss Reilly, one of my students, won first place in the creed speaking contest and will be heading to regionals! It was a wonderful way to spend a Friday. 

My First Trip to ACES

Ms. Anderson poses our group of students for a quick photo

What a weekend. This was my first time attending ACES and one of my first trips on which I was taking students. There were a few highlights that I would like to share.

1) A heightened sense of connection with my students. This was the first time that I had spent time with many of them. Others I have in class and have seen at FFA meetings but did not know as well as I would like. This trip to ACES, our time spent there, and the trip back allowed me to get to know them better. We made jokes, laughed about eating habits, and reflected upon what they had learned. I am curious as I go back to school this upcoming week, how the relationships with them will change. I hope that they feel more comfortable talking to me about things and interacting more in class. Stay tuned!

Teachers learned about water samples
using the inquiry based approach

2) Professional Development that ROCKS! The workshop on Saturday for teachers was about the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. I LOVED IT. We learned some ways to connect watersheds around us into the curriculum we teach through MWEEs (Meaningful Watershed Education Experience). These experiences have a focus on environmental stewardship but don't have to specifically be about water or on the Chesapeake Bay. Although I am not from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed I recognized that I may be able to implement some of this during my time student teaching that pertains directly to this watershed. I also realize that no matter which watershed I get a job in, I will be able to tie meaningful lessons about ecological sustainability.

3) A chance to recharge my battery with other ag teachers. I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing the friendly faces of my fellow ag teacher colleagues. They are so supportive of us young teachers! I can not count how many times I was asked, "How is student teaching?" My confidence and warm feelings were heightened with each ask as I was reminded that other teachers really care. They are rooting for me and all of the other Penn State 2018 teacher candidates. If that doesn't make you smile then I don't know what will. Remember that there are many individuals out there who are praying for you to succeed and be the BEST YOU. I will never forget the kindness that has been extended from these great teachers and I will be quick to show that same compassion to the ag teachers that come after me.

5: The Lunch Bunch

In preparation for student teaching, I had heard that having lunch in the faculty room can lead to some "issues" when you are a new teacher. Sometimes a group lunch can bring negative conversation where complaints are scattered through the room like confetti and all teachers try to outdo each other with their horror stories.

Allow me to be the first to say that I am not encountering that scenario with my lunch buddies! I am lucky to have "A" lunch during third block with an amazing group of teachers. There are eight of us "regulars" that come to eat lunch together in the faculty lunch room. This includes myself, the three ag teachers, a photography/cinema teacher, two power and structure technology and engineering teachers, and one wood shop teacher. Some days are more lively than others but it is common to hear jokes and laughter every day. We swap stories, talk about what is happening around the county/community, and jest about what time lunch is over. It is from our time at lunch where I have learned a lot about the school district demographics and fun things to do while I am here in Lancaster County.

My takeaway from this week is to explore what you've been given. If I would have entered the lunchroom with a predetermined mindset that all conversation should be avoided for a fear of negativity then I would be missing out on some great stories from great teachers. My advice would be to scope it out! Don't miss out on a great connection or friendship because of one example that you heard. Have a great week!

1: Overwhelming to Start

If you read my blog earlier this week then you know that I spent my first day of student teaching at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. It was a great day!

Thinking about the rest of my first week, I made some interesting observations.

1) After seeing kids in class every day, you can begin to notice when something is "off."
So far I've been able to hear my cooperating teacher's observations of the students and how to tell when they might be having a bad day or something of the sort. I look forward to being able to recognize the changes in my students as time moves forward.

2) Planning is great but you will always stray a bit from your lesson plan. 
Repetition can help with this but in a lesson there will always be a few things that you forget to do or tell your students. This happened to me on Friday afternoon as I taught my first class. It was okay, no one died, and I just corrected by giving them the info a bit later in the lesson when I happened to remember it.

3) There is time to improve! 
No reason to fret because although I feel great that week one I know that there are fourteen more to go and that I can keep improving! Stay tuned to find out what I learn next week.

My First Mid Winter Convention

I'm back everyone! I had a very successful Christmas break where I spent some much needed time relaxing with my loved ones.

Snapped a photo with
Secretary Redding.

My very first day of student teaching I learned a lesson of flexibility and adaptability. Weather certainly played a role in our challenges as an early dismissal was called before our day could get started. For this reason we could not legally bring any students on the trip. My cooperating teacher and I left before the ice storm hit and made it to the complex!

Once at the Farm Show we networked with many sponsors and advisors at the FFA Recognition Reception where students who competed in an LDE or a CDE at the 2017 National FFA Convention. It was a short warm up for the rest of the day.

Having no responsibilities of watching students at Mid Winter Convention meant that I was privileged enough to work back stage! I lined up kids and parents for their awards and made sure that all of the degrees were in order. I also got to walk on the floor to retrieve the different awardees. It was great! I had a lot of fun with all of the ag teachers that I got to interact with.

My view while walking to retrieve award winners.

After the conclusion of the ceremony I spent the rest of the night working in the FFA Foundation Food Stand selling hot slices of pizza to hungry people!

Come and get your pizza from some
friendly faces!!

At the late hour of 10pm I arrived home and felt accomplished in the fact that I did many things, met many great people, and had an awesome first day.

De-Icing my car from the storm when
we made it back to the school
at the end of the day!

Let's Travel to Manheim!

In preparation for my student teaching experience I have been learning about my cooperating center. Below is my video, check it out and be sure to comment with questions!

Angela's Cooperating Center: Manheim Central High School

What will I see when visiting a SAE?

What is an SAE?
SAE is an acronym that stands for Supervised Agricultural Experience and is a key component of the three circle model. This is a program that agriscience students design enabling them to gain hands-on experience and real-world skills in an agricultural area of their choice. The skills learned and practiced in a student's SAE build upon skills that they are taught in the classroom. 

On June 28th I went on my first Supervised Agricultural Experience visits! I learned many tidbits about the community where I will be student teaching and met some students in the agriscience program.


Stephanie

Here Stephanie tells us about her heifer barn and the
heifers that are housed there.

Our first visit was at 11 am with Stephanie who has just graduated from Manheim Central. Stephane has an on farm dairy placement SAE as well as a paid placement at Hendricks' Flowers in Lititz, PA. Her placement at Hendricks' Flowers was a co-op she completed her senior year. During this visit our main focus was her farm to see where all of the dairy activity happens. She is currently milking 88 cows with her parents and takes very good care of all cows and calves on the premise. Mrs. Seibert asked how everything was with the operation and if there was anything new or exciting happening that Stephanie wanted to share. It was clear to see her passion and her go-getter attitude as we said goodbye and headed one direction to our next stop while she headed to work at the floral shop. 

Overhead view of Hendricks' Flowers.
https://www.hendricksflowershop.com/img/aerial-shot2.jpg

Megan

Megan showing off the white orchid
leis that she designed!

At 12pm our second stop was to visit Megan at the location of her paid placement SAE. She has the opportunity to complete a co-op with Floral Designs of Mount Joy because she will be a senior during the 2017-2018 school year. With the permission of her parents, boss, and agriscience teacher she can leave school at 10:45am and travel to work! This is a great experience that will allow her to gain knowledge and practice in the floral industry along with real time work skills. After explaining all of the paperwork that would need to be completed so that the co-op could get underway, Megan showed us some leis that she made by stringing white orchids together with floral wire. She's excited to learn and grow at Floral Designs of Mount Joy!  

Floral Designs of Mount Joy is located on Main Street. Soon they will be
moving to their new location on the other side of town. 

Jeremiah
 

Jeremiah petting his steer while explaining his feed schedule. 

Our third and final visit of the day was at 12:45pm to pick Jeremiah up from his house and take him a mile down the road to where his animals are located. This young man is a sophomore with a diversified livestock SAE and it was clear to see the diversity when stepping into the barn. He was proud to show us his lambs, hogs, sheep, goats, dairy heifers, dairy beef, and steer. He shared where his animals were purchased from and even some fun stories about their personalities. Mrs. Seibert asked if he was looking to make any changes soon and he mentioned some alterations that he wanted to make to the floor of his pig pen. I was glad to see how happy he was telling us all about his show stock and I hope that he keeps improving so that he can have a chance at winning the State Proficiency Award in Diversified Livestock!

The goats at Jeremiah's. They love to play with the
wooden wheel in their pen. 

This was a wonderful day. All three visits proved that young people are out here doing great things and learning each and every day. I can see the real life application that supervised agricultural experiences provide to students especially when these kids give 100%. I hope to be involved with all of these driven students in the year to come!