Half way through this marathon!

First off! I'm half way there!!! YEAH!!!!!

So last week, phew. I'll tell you what, I'm glad to see it in the past. Not only was it:

1. FFA Week
2. A 3 day week

3. I was also extremely ill with the flu. Yuk! (No worries, I'm happily on the uphill recovery!)

So unfortunately, I don't have much to say on the classroom front. I only missed a day and a half, but the rest is honestly a blur.

However, don't fret! I still have something of interest, so keep reading! Haha!

On Friday, we celebrated and thanked other teachers and staff for their continued support of our ag program with a very delicious breakfast! And yes, there was pancakes with some good old fashioned maple syrup! Yum!

Julie & Josh cooking up some sausage!

Let's dig in folks!

Last,but certainly not least! I end my week with supporting some of my kid's in there drama play! They were amazing! And funny! I love a good laugh, and these kid's pulled off some fantastic one liners and parodies! They did a 3 part mini series, with my personal favorite being the one called "The Actor Games". Imagine the hunger games, but with different styles of theater being the "tributes". With of course, high school drama coming out on top! Sorry Musical and Shakespearean, but she got you beat! And yes, even you Silent Movie...

One heck of a busy week & ACES weekend

Just give me one second to catch my breath..... phew.... ok. 

So I'm teaching all classes but two now. Unfortunately no real exciting updates on the classroom front. My horticulture students have continued observing there lab and completing other tasks in between. My freshman continue along with learning animal science. We played a review game of breed jeopardy on species we've learned so far and it went pretty well. I think the students will ace animal science. My first week with ENR went pretty well. The student's seem interested and willing to learn the content. My landscape class and I are chugging along with pesticide certification.

On Friday, It was time for our Mock Interview Seminar with PSU. It was great to have these test runs to learn what to expect. I learned so many interviewing, resume and cover letter skills. We also had the opportunity to talk to a school from Maryland who came to pitch there job position to us. I fell in love with the job and I will continue to talk to them and hopefully get the job! Wish me luck!




Last but certainly not least, it was our chance for ACES weekend. We took 5 underclassmen down to Harrisburg, not far from my hometown. I think it gave them some insight of how far I truly am from home. Haha. Unfortunately, 1 of our girls got really sick on Saturday and Mr. Honeycutt had to drive her back home. It gave me however time to really bond with the student's. The teacher workshop on the Chesapeake was cool and was perfectly matched with one of my passions. I wish it however would have been a little better organized and more informative. The student's and I met up for dinner and shared a delicious meal. It never disappoints. After dinner was the dance, I was so surprised to see my shy underclassman girls jump right in the crowd. I even convinced 1 of my boys to join them on the floor. I joined my cohort mates to people watch and monitor on the sidelines. We came to the conclusion however that even thou we couldn't join the students on the floor, who said we couldn't have our own dance crew. We got down to many line dances and joined in the fun from our sidelined position. It was nice to have a little fun. Afterwards was reflections, and I had to comfort one of my student's who it hit really close to home. I understand her pain, and we talked it out for a little afterwards. I hope maybe seeing that I am human with a really caring soul will continue to help my bond with the students.

Craig & Kasey

Hailey & Summer

Holy Smokes, it's been a month!

Wow! It's already almost the middle of February! Time sure flies when your having fun (and/or really busy)!

This past week, I tried new things with some of my classes. With my freshman, I tried having them make flashcards instead of filling in charts or notes with breed characteristics. They seemed to enjoy it so much better! Of course there was those few students that didn't care to participate, but it is there loss. The freshman have continued to teach me this lesson, and I still struggle with it sometimes, but I now know it is not my fault. As long as I put in my best effort and do everything in my power to reach these kids, that is all I can do. If they choose to still be arrogant and defiant, the best method is to just to pay them no mind. Sometimes they thrive on fighting back, so as long as they aren't bothering other students, I don't feed that attention.

Freshman making their poultry flashcards!

Landscape had there first Fun Friday this past week. Hopefully now they'll be more attentive during the week. This Pesticide Certification has become quite a drag for all of us, so I enjoyed the break on Friday as well. The next section is PPE, which since it is something I'm more familiar with, I'm comfortable in adapting the material quite a lot while still being sure there getting the stuff they need for there exam. This hopefully will make the week go better as well.

Horticulture has been going along quite well. Besides the lessons taking a lot longer then I initially planned, the class has been great. The student's are very cooperative and social and just makes the environment so comfortable, even though it's a subject I'm not so strong in.

I look forward to starting my ENR class this week. We swapped units so instead of starting with Bio-fuels were starting with Wildlife! While I looked forward to Bio-fuels as it involved lot's of labs, I'm excited to start Wildlife! I'm very passionate about Wildlife and I might even help coach some of the student's for the Wilflife CDE! I also plan to utilize my Project Wild curriculum and I look forward to seeing it in action!

Me & my buddy Cookie! She's a Barred Owl!

Classroom Management Win!

One more week down! I picked up another class this week, Horticulture. We hoped right into doing some germination labs and will start another one tomorrow. We have 2 types of seed, corn and soybean, from 2 different farms. We will have the opportunity to do some great comparisons between the two. 

My two sections of freshman were my highlight this week. We watched the Temple Grandin movie, which if you haven't seen, I highly suggest you do. Great movie! But besides the movie itself, I implemented a new classroom policy, and it worked perfectly! I bought a small wooden crate from Walmart and told students that anyone that gave me there phone, would get 2 bonus points. So they could either miss 2 questions on the movie sheet or if they got the questions, it was straight up bonus. I also put my phone in the crate, to make it fair between the student's and I. I would say I easily collected almost every student's phone.  I will definitely implement this in my future classroom. 

My last class of the day... Landscape. Still trying to figure them out. Teaching Pesticide Certification is not the most enthralling thing and I know that, but I'm running out of idea's. As a kinda last ditch effort to encourage student's to participate is by making every Friday a Fun Friday. Meaning we won't do Pest Cert  on those days. But rather a 21st century skills based lesson, either using a game or Life-knowledge lesson. Hope it works. Wish me luck.

Also, the groundhog saw his shadow.... so hope I don't get buried in anymore snow!

Freshman Initiation!

Another week under my belt! Things are chugging right along! The freshman classes are getting better! We have moved into a topic that I am way more comfortable in, which is making my teaching much more natural, and the student's definitely seem to be enjoying it much more as well. We have moved from Career Prep to Animal Science! I am getting better at managing both the freshman classes. I have noticed that each class has their very own unique dynamic. The first class is more behaved, but not as social. Trying to have group discussions and an interactive class with them is difficult. The second section is almost reversed. They tend to be quite rowdy, but when able to successfully manage and direct the energy, the class discussions are fantastic and they are very willing to participate! I look forward to the more lessons these two classes will teach me.

We all know that each chapter does things there own way. Coming from my own ag program, I already have my own views of how I've seen things done. My home chapter gave out there Greenhand degree's at our Chapter Banquet at the end of the school year. Here in Albion, they give them out now at there own Greenhand Meeting. I was looking forward to this meeting, and it was quite nice! Definitely something to consider in my own future program. It gave me a chance to be social with parents and other local supporters! I also got to say the Adviser part of opening ceremonies, so check that off my list!

Folks, we're not in college anymore (kinda)

I have completed my first week of actually teaching! Besides a few minor kinks working themselves out, it couldn't have gone better! As some of you know, technology and I are working on being friends, and I'm slowly learning the benefits of google classroom. I have two sections of an intro class, and we completed resumes and cover letters with google classroom. I really liked not having to worry about losing student papers and the simple convenience of it. Also it was nice to be able to monitor student progress. Another thing these (mostly) freshman will teach me is classroom management. Let's just say, it's gonna be good. Haha.

Another class I started teaching this week was Landscaping, where we are covering Pesticide Certification. I have been looking forward to this class. It requires covering a lot of content in a short period of time, but that activities that go with it are fantastic! The activities help make difficult topics much easier for students to grasp. This past week we completed a Bio-magnification activity, and it really seemed to benefit the students, the light bulbs went off! This coming week, there is a pheromone activity and I really think the students will get a kick out of it!

One last thing Id like to say. I really enjoy having my own space in our classroom. I decorated and organized my desk to suit my needs and organization style. I have a quote box, where everyday a new inspirational quote is shared. I also have a little easel where I either post a daily riddle or the "holiday of the day." I thought these things were more for my benefit, but I have had many students stop to read the quote or ask me the answer to the riddle. It has created a great opportunity for a fun and open conversation between me and my student's.

Thursday's Riddle: A slender body, a tiny eye, no matter what happens, I never cry. What am I?

A needle

Ready or Not... It's Time to Teach!

Week 1 is already over! Between the flurry of Farm Show and moving to Erie from across the state, it went by so fast! This week gave me the opportunity to get a jump start on my various responsibilities as a student teacher, as I was not yet teaching this week. I got to start building some fantastic bonds with students and fellow teachers and administrators! I had applied for a $500 grant back in October from CHS for Albion's new Sugar Shack, and I won! I met with Business Manager Melanie Floyd and Yvonne Teed, our Director of Curriculum. They were so pleased to receive the check and were grateful to see such enthusiasm in helping to improve the program.

Pictured Left to Right:
Melanie Floyd, Katie Smith, Yvonne Teed

This was a great way to end Week 1. I look forward to the many more weeks to come!