ACES 2018

I was able to attend ACES the last weekend with Fort Cherry, Trinity, and McGuffey! Even though I was in FFA in high school, I had never been to ACES before and it was a really great experience!

After getting the students checked in, they were ready to go and excited to be there! The first night, we talked with the students about what they learned for the day. There were workshops they really liked and some they didn't care for too much. However, all in all, the students really enjoyed themselves.

Following the AWESOME dinner, the students got ready for the dance that evening. It was nice to sit with the teachers from my region while chaperoning the dance and talk with them and get to know them better, while they also got to know me. I also felt like I was able to get to know my students better. Sharing a meal with someone I think leads to a different level of bonding.

Katie and I were on courtesy corps together too! We were able to talk and catch up while walking the halls. We lucked out with a pretty easy hall and not too much noise, however we did have to knock on a couple of doors.

Also, sometimes hems and rip and you have to sing - just roll with the punches and keep on going!

Overall, I think that this is a great event for all students and especially freshman and sophomore students! They learn a lot and also get to have fun all while meeting new people from across the state early in their FFA journey.  

Week 7: National FFA Week

This week was full of experienced based learning for the Fort Cherry agricultural and innovation lab students! The past few weeks students have been working on projects based on the 3-circle model for Agricultural Education. Some students were working on projects based from Classroom Instruction, others in Supervised Agricultural Experience and lastly, some were on FFA.

On Tuesday, we invited over the elementary school students to see the projects and high school students presented to them. Students had handouts for the elementary students to take with them and activities especially picked out for them. I cannot count the  number of time I heard, "This is SO cool!"

Thursday was the staff open house. Students brought in covered dishes for the staff and the staff and administration came down to see all of their hard work. Students would present their projects to them as well and answer questions as necessary. Also, 7th and 8th graders were able to come down and see what the department is all about. Many students mentioned that they may like to take these classes in the future.

To sum up the week, we hosted a community open house on Friday night where parents were able to come in and see their kids' projects along with other community members and Chapter supporters. There was also a potluck for attendees to eat dinner while they visited. It was very nice to meet students' parents and for the students to want to introduce me to their parents.

All in all, the week went really well and I am looking forward to doing something similar to this in the future in my program. 

Week 6 - Finding my Voice

I think that it is safe to say that this week I found my teacher voice, now I just need to practice it a little more! In general this week was pretty much organized chaos as all classes were working on starting/finishing their FFA Week project board (pictures to come next week!). My teacher voice was necessary to ensure that the chaos stayed organized.

Dr. Ewing was also able to come and visit this week! The weather was nice for him to do so. He was able to see some of the students projects and helped some of them with ideas! We were also in the middle of Valentine's Day flower madness. I think he should be able to go home and make his wife a  beautiful flower arrangement for any occasion.

As the week went on Mrs. Hoover and myself caught ourselves running around more and more often - cleaning things up, printing things for students' boards, helping students with their boards, and finalizing things for next week. Needless to say, we slept well when we got home and the alarm came way too early in the morning.

A little of the chaos leftover at the end of the
day on Valentine's Day. I finally found my
phone and thought I should at least get
one picture. 

The Floral Design classes sold these etched vases for arrangements
as well. The Fort Cherry Innovation Lab did them! 

Next week, I will not be teaching which will give me time to get ready to teach 5 classes after National FFA Week. I am excited for what that week brings as I am going to be teaching the most classes I have taught thus far at one time.

Last week, Mrs. Hoover and I also were able to visit a local farm - Rivendale Farms. They are looking to work with the local FFA students and hire several students during the summer. The farm raises world class dairy cattle as well as milking nearly 160 additional cattle. Furthermore, everything is state of the art. They use two robotic milkers and a robotic feeder to care for their cattle.

They also have an approximately 13,000 square foot cold greenhouse where they keep the temperature just above freezing and grow everything in the ground. Everything in the greenhouse is programed and controlled with computers. They also have about 500 laying hens.

The majority of their products are sold to local Pittsburgh restaurants, including the Chefs of the Pittsburgh sports teams - Pirates, Penguins, and the Steelers. Their goal is to be the best at everything they do. They are also looking to double the size of their greenhouse. I only was able to take a few pictures and they don't quite capture the impressiveness of this farm.  

This is a snapshot of Rivendale's calf barn. 

This is their Elite Cattle barn where they keep
their winning cattle. 

This is the main dairy barn. The cattle are fed with a robotic feeder that mixes their feed, pushes, and measures their feed every 45 minutes. I would like to live like these cows. 

These pictures don't capture the massiveness of this greenhouse and I am still trying to figure out how they are growing plants in these cold temperatures. They don't measure the temperature of the soil at all - my mind is blown.  

My Second, 1st SAE Visit

This week I was able to complete my first Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) visit as a student teacher! I went to see Cassie. She has goats and laying chickens that she keeps in a fenced in area on her family's property. She is currently working on expanding the area where she keeps her projects as well. This young lady sells eggs in the community as well as at school to help offset/pay for the costs of her operation.

Recently, she received a new chicken coop that her chickens are loving. She also bought a metal shed for her goats. They are currently working on fixing the shed because the goats decided it would be a good idea to smash and bend it with their horns so the shed buckled.

Please also see the answers to the questions below:

1. Who did you visit?
1. This week Mrs. Hoover and I visited Cassie.
2. Where did the visit occur?
1. Cassie's SAE visit took place at her house where she does all of her SAE work. Specifically, her animals are housed in her backyard.
3. What preparations did you make prior to the visit?
1. Mrs. Hoover and I looked at Cassie's AET book before our visit as well as talked about her projects and progress.
4. What was this student's SAE program?
1. She has entrepreneurship books in both Boer Goats and Laying Hens.
5. How would you evaluate or rate the program? On what criteria?
1. Cassie's books are up-to-date and she is works hard with her project. She is always looking to grow and get better, while improving her herd and flock. I believe this is an excellent program.
6. What recommendations were made for improvement?
1. Cassie has two whether goats that were her first babies and she has kept them as pets. Mrs. Hoover and I suggested that she may want to consider doing something with them instead of feeding them with no income possibility.
7. What record books were being used?
1. Cassie keeps her record books in AET.
8. How does the cooperating teacher "grades" the SAE program?
1. Mrs. Hoover has an SAE "class" during homeroom. She grades them based on the quality and accuracy of their books.

  

Week 5: Making Adjustments

                 I really felt for my ability to adapt thi week. We had one delay and one cancellation this week, but we are on a tight schedule to get project done for National FFA Week. In Horticulture, we started an erosion project last Friday that ran over into Monday/Tuesday because of the delay. However, we were anticipating the cancellation on Wednesday, Therefore, I put the erosion projects on hold and introduced students to their land use projects. I am really glad a did this because it allowed the class to be flexible the rest of the week for cancellations and a planned junior class field trip on Thursday. 

I continued to be flexible with my introduction to agriculture class and get them started on their projects earlier as well because we were doing Creed projects. This allowed me to be able to have the students work on their Career projects when they finished. I think my general "go with the flow" demeanor and ability to look and think ahead (most of the time), I think really helps with flexibility in the classroom. 

                 I think I really need to work on my summarizing techniques and doing more ticket outs to help with that. I think this has to do with my organization of the classroom - starting class with information then going to a lab or activity. I frequently start too loos kids towards the end of class when they are checking on their animals and finishing assignments for the day. I need to get better at this management aspect. Maybe stop class a few minutes sooner to have them check on animals and then have them come back to the room at a specific time to wrap up and summarize. 

                 I think I am finding my "angry" voice, but it still needs work. A lot of work. I just need to get angry when students aren't following directions. When I am angry, my voice works; however, generally I am not angry and it takes a lot to get me there. If you have suggestions, I am open to your opinions because I truly think this is my biggest downfall right now.  

                 In general, this week was busy and a blur - but I am looking forward to next week and always getting better! 

Week 4: Learning on the Go

I have learned so much this week - about myself and my teaching style.

I have learned that while I thought having all my lesson plans for my first 6 weeks done ahead of time was super nice - and it is - it also means I have forgotten what materials I have and pretty much have to redo them anyway. I have also had to adjust a lot. Things have taken way longer than I have planned. I really need to work on timing. Mrs. Hoover and I have also had to rework some things to ensure plenty of time for students to get their FFA Week projects done. This has resulted in me cutting out some lessons I had planned.

This week students worked on posters for the 1st paragraph of the Creed!

After FFA week, I think I will be able to reset and make some more adjustments when I do my planning week by week. I also need to get better at interest approaches. This is something I struggled with last semester and still do. Coming up with them is really hard for me and ones that I think are really good, my students hate. If they do like it, it takes way longer then I had planned for which pushed things over. 

Its really hard to learn about soil horizons sitting in the classroom - it reached 40 degrees so we went outside instead!

Furthermore, I have one class that I have twice a day that I think I will need to plan for separately. Just two complete opposite classes and I think one of those two classes needs push more than the second. At the very least I need to build in extra “flex time” activities for them to help them grow more. 

There was a great Twitter tip I saw this weekend too about using google calendar to organize your materials for your lessons. I cannot wait to start trying it!!

I think these things are all fixable and I need to be aware of them, reflect on them, and act on them. I am looking forward to the next few weeks!

When its your prep period and there are baby guinea pigs!