It is Contagious {SLLC Blog}

Bunch of goofballs

Let's break it down. The State Legislator Leadership Conference (SLLC) is another for students to get pumped about being the next generation to impact our country and industry, agriculture teachers to get work done, share ideas, and build relationships, and for students and teachers to enjoy three delicious meals with unlimited coffee. The energy and passion that students and teachers bring to the SLLC conference is the same felt energy at every other FFA event that is held at the local, state, and national levels.

SLLC was another first for me, and it did not disappoint. I was assigned by my cooperating teachers to plan this conference. Here are some of the take-ways from planning a trip and specifically SLLC.

- Your students are a valuable resource. In deciding on an after conference activity on Tuesday, I was researching and brainstorming for awhile until I simply asked the 8 girls we took what they wanted to do. They gave me ideas and then we decided on what to do together.

Representing the Blue and Gold well!

- Be prepared for anything. We had two of our girls get sick at the conference. One was sent home and the other was able to push through. I did not have any medicine or first aid kit with me to help. I learned to call the parent first for permission, and then give the students the medicine.

- Be a team player. We are preached the importance of being apart of professional organizations and the PA Ag Ed family. Being apart of this family means you have a role. During SLLC that role was to grade proficiencies. As a new teacher this was helpful in learning how they should be filled out and what is being looked for in the grading process. Also as a young teacher I hope I reread this post and remember, no matter how old I get, I will participate in everything that is offered. Many hands make little work.

Happy grams from my students

- Even when you are having fun and have a good group of students, you always need to be a few steps ahead. What time do they need to meet next? What do they need to wear? What do they need to bring?

- Getting a table for meals is similar to the Hunger Games... may the odds be in your favor.

- Conferences are not a time that you will catch up on sleep Be prepared to lose it. This is important to note because the SLLC conference ends on a Tuesday and there are still 3 days in the week to teach.

- Students struggle with packing... teach them how to pack.

Until next year SLLC!

Wise Words from Morrie {Weekly Blog}

During fourth period at Big Spring students and teachers participate in Silent Sustained Reading (SSR). This week the topic that was being discussed in my book was "How Love Goes On". The character Morrie says to his friend Mitch, " I believe in being fully present. Morrie defines that as being with the person you're with."

If you are not familiar with the book, it is called Tuesdays with Morrie written by Mitch Albom. The book describes the relationship between a professor, Morrie and student, Mitch and then flash forwards to when Mitch becomes an adult and Morrie is diagnosed with ASL. Mitch returns to visit Morrie after many years without contact, and Morrie and Mitch pick-up their friendship from where it left off. With Morrie dying though, Mitch wants to know everything Morrie thinks about certain topics. The ladder part of the book breaks down their conversations on these topics.

As I read these chapters on the various topics, I find myself learning from Morrie as well. This week the topic was about being fully present. Some of the quotes Morrie uses to describe being fully present  are:

• "I try to keep focused only on what is going on between us"
• "I am not thinking about something we said last week"
• "I am not thinking of what's coming up this Friday"
• "I am not thinking about doing another Koppel show"
• "What medications I'm taking"
• "I am talking to you, I am thinking about you."

This message was important to remind me to be in the moment of what I am doing with a student. Build a relationship with them, that when they are talking I am dialed in and focused on their question, comment, or concern. On the flip side I ask myself, how can I successfully do this with 24 students in a class?

I challenged myself to implement Morrie's teaching this week. This was not easy. My mind wonders easily with concern, thoughts, reminders, to-dos, and emotions. To be fully invested in a conversation, listening to a 6 minute speech I have heard over five times, or students sharing a funny story with me, is challenging.

After an evaluation this week, I realized that I did not know my students as well as I thought in one of my classes. The attention I gave each of them was on the surface because of how large the class was. After my evaluation and debrief I felt bad because I was not investing time into learning more about my students than what I knew through observation. I started making the change Friday and telling students who needed me that I will come to them when I was done with the student I was working with. My goal to to continue to carry this mentality into the rest of my weeks at Big Spring and into my own classroom.

Tractor Supply Company {SAE Visit}

This past Thursday, February 25th I visited one of my students at Tractor Supply Company (TSC) at the Shippensburg, PA location. It was a great time to visit a Tractor Supply due to it being National FFA week.

Courtney has worked their since October 2015. Courtney decided that she wanted a job to start saving for a car and college. Her prior Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) was with her cats and chickens. Courtney is nervous and excited to start her SAE because she has never had a placement SAE before. Prior to the visit I reviewed Courtney's past SAE books to see what her experiences, leadership roles, and earned degrees were.

Starting the visit I walked into the store and Courtney was placing price tags on candles at the front register. As she worked we discussed her goals for her SAE, career, and degrees/awards. She would like to apply for a State Star award in Placement and wants to achieve her Keystone Degree. Her apprehensions are not knowing about the Placement SAE book and what the requirements are and how to apply for the State Star award.

She walked me around the store and discussed the operations and responsibilities she has, showed me the management system on the computer, and we walked down the welding isle discussing some of the products, since she is in my welding class. Courtney works 2-3 nights per week from 4-8:30pm and one 8 hour shift on the weekends. From having Courtney as a student and listening to her as an employee of TSC, her diligent work ethic and willingness to complete any task helps her succeed at her job.

To conclude the visit Courtney and I setup two times to meet in the upcoming week where we will setup her placement SAE book. I assigned her to go in and complete her student profile and bring her check stubs into class and we will start her book. Courtney is in my Advanced Leadership class where I have an upcoming random AET record book check for all my students.  Courtney will be prepared to receive full credit for the first random check.

This SAE visit was my first placement and it was great to step into the student role and have Courtney be the teacher. I was able to observe her confidence in her project, her understanding of the systems and operations or the store, and interactions with customers. In looking forward to work with her in the upcoming week, this visit will allow me to understand and ask appropriate questions to ensure Courtney is on track to meet her goals.

I've Got the Power {Weekly Blog}

We make decisions everyday. What sandwich do I want to take today for lunch? Which dress pants match with this sweater? What shoes won't hurt my feet? These decisions have their own difficulties but they only affect me.

Being a student teacher, my decisions affect my students. No, this is not the first time I am realizing this, but this week I had a challenge of making a decision to pick 5 of the 6 junior prepared public speakers to compete at the local area CDE competition. On Thursday, we had a "speak off" where each junior prepared speech student came into a room and gave their speech. My cooperating teacher and I were hoping this would give us clear indication on what 5 would compete. Unfortunately, the speak off did not provide as much clarity as we needed. After the speak off, my cooperating teacher and I deciphered the options. I appreciated my cooperating teacher trusting in me as the teacher of the class to make decision. She gave me her insight after I talked through my thoughts and even though we did not agree on all the students placings, we did agree on the one student who unfortunately will not be competing.

This learning experience happened all within 3 hours of each other, but I was mentored well and learned a lot from it. First, you must always be fair and give each student the same opportunity, consistency is key. Forecasting what work ethic and quality of work a student may have up to the contest in is not a fair way to choose students. Looking at work ethic, attitude, and quality of work up to this point is. As the teacher, you have to make the decision... and be able to justify it. Telling a student they cannot compete is not a glorified part of the job. In preparing to tell the student that I wrote down exactly why they did not make it and so it was clearly explained to that student.
Another real experience happened this week and I credit my cooperating teachers for mentoring me through the process. It was not fun. It was not easy. It had to be done. It is was hard not giving a student an opportunity who would have done well.

This power we are given as teachers to make decisions is constant. Can I go to the bathroom, Ms. Andrews? Can I run to my locker? Can you print this for me? My first response is, I do not know, can you go to the bathroom? The students chuckle and say, "May I go to the bathroom?" This may seem simple but  when multiple students are asking, you are ensuring one student is out at a time or if you are about to do something they cannot miss in class, these decisions are cognitively challenging. My decisions can change a student mood/attitude, experience, or mindset so being purposeful and explicit in what I decide is going to make a difference.

I am relating my quote above to decision-making because you may not always be liked after a decision is made. I always want to be that Fruit Loop because I maybe won't always make all the favorable decisions, but I want to always make the right and fair ones.

In the Thick of It {Weekly Blog}

If you have not picked up by reading my blogs yet I like quotes. They are a constant motivation and reminder to me. Sometimes I will just Google quotes on a certain topic to read through to be re-inspired and motivated. It might sound cheesy, or maybe a little lame, but the power of words is never ceases for me.

I have two quotes posted on this blog, one about glowsticks and one about dancing. This week I was only in school for 2 days and it was overwhelming. I am a person who likes to be 100% prepared for everything because that is when I feel confident and I want to give my 100% to everyone. This I have found challenging as a teacher, especially as a new one. There are processes, procedures, and consistencies for different activities and responsibilities that become the "norm" after working through a few times. Well there was a lot of them this week for me outside of the "regular" routine. I lead my first committee through the teacher dinner the FFA held, contacted parents on parent-teacher night through phone and email, met with a parent during the parent-teacher conference times, graded speech manuscripts for the first time, and have been working through high number absences.

The glowstick quote reminds me that even though I am a student teacher that is always going to give 100% effort, I will break during the process. Once these breaks happen, there will be shining moments. These breaks are in forms of over looking details as a first timer, not planning sufficient time to complete something, students not caring, assignments or projects not understood, concepts you are teaching not being understood, and the list goes on. These breaks can be big or small but once the light bulb goes off and the assignment becomes fun and not frustrating, that is when the when the glow occurs.

The second quote I have is referencing not getting through but enjoying and loving the moment you are in. There is a lot going on. A lot of new. This week has been a challenge to take time to sit and reflect a lot on the positive because there is so much room for improvement. There are many aspects of the art of teaching that I want to improve to increase student learning. After being at our first seminar there are also a lot of areas of the three-circle model that I want to work increase my understanding and involvement in.

In saying that though it is good to state the positives because I know they were there. So here are a few:
1. The teacher dinner was a success. The students worked diligently and had fun serving the faculty at Big Spring High School
2. I developed a new cognitively high level assignment and implemented it in my horticulture class. We are still have some questions to work through, but I am very excited about it.
3. I overcame anxiety of calling and emailing parents which resulted in understanding the power in parent-teacher conversations. I set a goal to contact parents again for both positive and negative behavior.

Living to Serve {Weekly Blog}

Learning to Do, Doing to Learn

Earning to Live, Living to Serve

                                      

As Penn Stater's we have the opportunity to participate and be apart of the largest student ran organization, Penn State's Dance Marathon. The Four Diamonds Fund and Dance Marathon is recognized throughout the state because of Penn State's efforts and many school contribute through hosting their own mini-THONs. Big Spring High School holds a bi-annual min-THON but our FFA chapter also contributes to the cause through a community service activity each year. Through a partnership with the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, Farmers Care Day was celebrated at the several Ronald McDonald houses throughout Pennsylvania. 

On Thursday, the Big Spring FFA took our food and gift cards items collected to the Hershey, Ronald McDonald House. Speaking at the event was Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Representatives, a Farm Bureau family with a daughter fighting leukemia, and a representative from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Our FFA members unloaded papers, newspapers, and magazines and help unload and unpack all the food items donated. The students look forward to this event every year because of the partnership with PFB and the opportunity to learn about and see the Ronald McDonald house. 

So why did I just tell you about my "field trip"? In the FFA motto it says "Living to Serve" and this is where I feel the most pride in my chapter. Each of the students, the ones on the trip and the ones that contributed to the event, have hearts to serve. They look forward to giving back and, even more so, putting in the hands on work. I hope you can hear the pride while reading my words. I want to have students with servant hearts as big as these Big Spring students. It does not go unnoticed that their community instills this quality in them, but also their advisors.  Giving, being selfless, and being relentless while doing it is not something forced upon students, but something modeled and emphasized as important. This was a call to action for me. How will I be that role model? What ways will I give back to my community? How will I instill servant hearts in my students? Always thinking, always reflecting, and oo... mentoring tip #86 noted.

The Complexity of the Camera {Weekly Blog}

Life is like a Camera...
This week was my first 5-day week with my full load of classes. Like a camera, I had to charge the battery the night before, change my settings for each class for each day, and then plug in at the end of the each each to recharge. 

A camera captures a moment in time or a live video of a moment in time. This idea of time and what I am doing with my time this semester was a thought that weighed heavy on me this week. My roommate in college is a gifted photographer and she shared the quote to the left with me prior to this semester. I enjoy photography and capturing the PERFECT picture, but do not know all the settings and capabilities of my camera even though I have the manual. I correlate this to my position as a student teacher. I am the camera, equipped and ready for 15 weeks of teaching. What each minute of this 15 week experience is dedicated to is my choice, but each minute is extremely valuable.   

You Focus on What's Important
My mindset coming into this semester was, "I have 15 weeks and what I putting everything else in my life on pause and giving everything I have to student teaching". I realized I have had the wrong lens on my camera for these 4 weeks. I need to put my macro lens on and see student teaching is a time to give 100% to what I am doing but also start learning work-life balance. So starting week number five I am going to be editing what I am capturing my time with. 

Capture the Good Times
Good times come in all shapes and sizes. Right now, a good time is when I can have conversation outside of content with students where we can laugh and learn about each other. The good feeling you get when they want to know about you or want you to answer their questions. Another good time I had this week was the trust my students have in me. I had students ask to come down to my class so they can work and have me guide them through their work. Other good times captured are pulling selfie videos of my students up on the big screen and laughing through the video with everyone. 

Develop from the Negatives
The negatives are inevitable because I am consistently learning with every class, everyday. The negatives from a camera are an already captured picture that is saved for later. As I am learning through my mistakes, I am capturing them and saving them for later. This week I was fortunate to have feedback and evaluation not only from my cooperating teacher, but my university supervisor. Two negatives that were captured and that I will be re-shooting the rest of the semester are improving my interest approach and summarizing strategies at the beginning and end of the lesson. 

If Things Don't Work Out, Take Another Shot
How many pictures do you take before you capture the one you like? The answer is more than probably necessary. Well this week I had to take another shot. I took the advice from Laura Kennedy, from our pre-internship seminar, "If you did not teach the lesson well the day before, tell the students that and go back and re-teach it better the next day." This week I taught the soil triangle because the soil triangle I handed out was off centered so I had some frustrated students. After discussing it with my cooperating teacher, I realized I needed to admit I did not give them a functional resource and we need to go over this again the next day. The next day I told students to crumple up their soil triangle papers as I stood at the front of the classroom with the recycle bin they aimed, they shot, and some made and some missed. I then handed out the right triangle and re-explained it and the light bulbs went off. A common quote said is, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take". What is great about a camera is you can take another shot, just like I was able to this week.