The Many Roles of an Ag Teacher

This week has been a fun crazy week diving into all the roles of an ag teacher. I have spent countless hours in the classroom as well as outside the classroom at meetings. Throughout this week I have been in many different roles that have gratified my appreciation for my high school ag teachers. 

During this week I was a student teacher, hired Agriculture Teacher at Solanco High School, substitute, Lancaster County ag teacher, and back to student-teacher. All these roles made me realize that an ag teacher does more than teach 6 classes a day, 5 days a week. All that they do is for the betterment of their students regardless of the sleep they lose or time away from family. 

Student Teacher
I had enjoyed my student teacher role this week as I had made connections with students that normally get overlooked in the crowd. I felt a sense of purpose as I moved through this week. Instead of just being a teacher, I stepped into the role of being a mentor to those that need someone to talk to. Even though a mentor role is a little nerve-racking at first, I believe that it is impactful for any student. Moving back into the day to day teaching, I had a great week teaching Power Machinery, Welding, and Ag Business. I am definitely not a professional, but I am making progress in my methods of teaching.

Hired Agriculture Teacher
On Monday night I had attended the Solanco School District Board meeting. During this meeting, they had voted on the approval of new employees. Since I was offered the Agriculture Teacher position, I was on the list of new employees. As of Monday, January 27, 2020, I will be a teacher at Solanco High School contingent upon receiving my certification after graduation in May. I am excited to continue my journey after student teaching at the district I student taught.

Substitute 
On Tuesday, I stepped into the role of a substitute teacher for Ms. Andrews. I had taught a full schedule of courses, and I enjoyed the pace of the day rather than just observing or writing lessons. I had the chance to get a preview of what my day will be like in a couple of weeks as I start building up to a full teaching schedule. 

Lancaster County Ag Teacher
Thursday evening I had attended the Lancaster County Ag Teachers meeting as a guest. At first, I wasn't sure what the meeting was going to be about, but as the night went I understood that it was intended for all county ag teachers to come together to bring updates. The meeting covered the Lancaster County FFA events, PAAE information, PA FFA information from the board meeting, and record book grading at the end of the meeting. As I enter my new role in the fall as a Lancaster County Ag Teacher, I am excited to be a part of the group.

Rounding Out the Week
This week has been crazy, mind-bending, shell shocking, and one of the best I have had so far! I am learning more about my students as well as how to manage/maintain an agricultural mechanics laboratory. I am looking forward to week 5!

Questions

• How do you handle the work-life balance to meet the needs of both your family and your students?
• What are some strategies to keep students engaged in the laboratory (ag mech lab) if they are ahead of the class?

Roller Coaster - The Crazy Scheduled Week

This week was an odd week at Solanco. We had started off with an in-service day for MLK Day, then school on Tuesday, in-service again Wednesday, and finally Thursday and Friday were normal. I taught each day the students were in school, but I have not had a normal week yet. Throughout this week I have had some wins and losses.

Wins
Throughout my time here I have been getting to know not only students but teachers as well so I am starting to feel a sense of community within the building. I am enjoying the courses and I am learning a lot about managing a classroom and laboratory in order to keep students engaged with the task at hand. I've also had a few wins in the classroom. On Friday, I had created a Shop Safety CSI crime scene where students had to find the safety hazards spread across the shop. They all were excited and found more hazards than I created. 

Losses
I am struggling to reach every student. I don't think that I am engaging each student every day, and it really bothers me. On Friday I even called a student by the wrong name and I felt terrible. I know how it feels when someone doesn't say your name right or calls you by the wrong name. The last loss I would like to mention is also a question I would like to pose for an educator reading this blog. I have a student that refuses to participate in class. How would you go about getting that student engaged in the class before it is too late? What would be a good strategy to keep that student's interest?

I am learning a lot here at Solanco, and I am excited to see where my future leads. 

Week One of Teaching

This week I started to take over the reins for my first class of the semester. I think my two lessons went well this week however, there is room for improvement as expected. Throughout this week I have had several wins but also a few losses. 

Wins

Even though I only taught two classes this week, I was still working with the students throughout the day. In my Small Engines class, my students were accepting of me teaching the course as they have so far been attentive in class. During my first day of teaching, I had connected with quite a few of them since the majority enjoy cars, dirt bikes, and engines. Another win for the week was during the time of an exam. Students that finished their midterm were allowed to go to the shop in order to finish their projects for the semester. Mr. Kalupson had asked me to observe and assist the students in the shop as needed. I had worked with one of the students that wanted to give up on his project to encourage him to stick with it. It took some time, but through working with him I got him to nearly finish the project.

Losses

My second day teaching engines was rough. My method of delivering material was not satisfactory in my opinion. I am sure I still reached the students, but my performance was not at its best. I have spent this week re-evaluating how to deliver carburetor components effectively for the next class. 

Moving Forward

As I move into next week, I am finding new ways to teach myself content as well as ways to teach it to my students.

Questions

Mentors: What are some teaching strategies you use to introduce parts ID or identification of plant or animal parts?

Observations Observations Observations: The Process of Learning from Seeing

This past week I had observed a full week of courses to help me prepare for my student teaching internship. I had a lot of fun watching Mr. Kalupson, Mrs. Balmer, and Mrs. Lichtley working with students. The things that I have learned this week alone have helped me shape how I want to structure my classes in the coming weeks.

Throughout this week I have been working with the FFA chapter officers in preparing for their upcoming meeting. Getting the opportunity to work with the students makes me excited for the coming weeks as I start teaching and mentoring more. One thing that I have really taken away from this week was that students need someone who empathic in their lives in order to drive inspiration and motivation. I am excited for next week.

Eggshells in Vinegar: How a Chemistry Teacher Uses Agriculture

Agriculture is involved in everything including chemistry. In the science class that I had observed, the teacher had presented a demonstration of an eggshell in vinegar to hook her students into the lesson. I observed the entire class period, and her teaching methods were very successful in getting the students to reach the goal of the period.

The teacher had asked her students questions to get them to figure out the chemical reaction of the eggshell in vinegar. While they were engaged in the lesson, she had further explained what will happen to the eggshell in the coming hours of the experiment. To wrap up that part of the lesson she had them determine the products of the reaction as well as why there were bubbles at the edge of the eggshell. The rest of the class period they had group work on a previous assignment.

Evaluating her effectiveness of teaching, I had observed her facilitation of learning, business-like behavior, enthusiasm, clarity, opportunity to learn, and variability (BECOV). She did not give any information away, rather she had continued to ask questions to answer the first question she asked. Her use of BECOV are as follows;

• B – She presented herself well in front of the classroom as a professional. She also demonstrated by doing, how to be business-like with group work.
• E – She was excited about the chemical reaction as well as helping the students. Each student felt a part of the group as well as encouraged to work harder.
• C – She was on top of helping students with group work as well as making sure students were on track. She also provided further explanation into the chemical reaction to help students understand the idea behind reactants and products.
• O – Students were probed with questions to show what they know about chemical reactions and stoichiometry
• V – She had presented an idea through demonstration, then talked about the demonstration, and finally wrote out the chemical reaction that had occurred probing students to give the answers of the elements involved.

She had done a great job of facilitating learning and keeping students on track with her objectives for the day. I am grateful I had the opportunity to observe her teaching a class.

Dairy Beef SAE Visit

Supervised Agricultural Experiences are an important component in an Agriculture Program. I had the opportunity to assist Mr. Kalupson on an SAE visit to a Dairy Beef Finishing project. We visited a student that has been in the program for several years and his father had also gone through the program with Mr. Kalupson as his teacher. We visited this student at his property where they house their animals. 

Prior to our visit, Mr. Kalupson had checked record book status to see if entries were up to date. Based on the criteria of record book completion and handling of the animal, I would rate the program as proficient. He had his entries up to date in AET and he could handle the dairy beef well. Recommendations that I would give are to keep feeding it as much as possible to meet weight criteria. Mr. Kalupson gives students grades based upon their record book status and project checks at visits to see if the records match the progress.

Interview Time

As graduation thoughts arise, I have been finding ways to get experience interviewing for positions in a school district. Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with a few administrators to have a semi-informal interview. 

I had visited that school for the duration of the morning talking to the current agricultural teachers and other teachers in the building. I was able to get a feel for the school culture and environment through those experiences. After visiting with a few teachers in the building, I had the opportunity to sit down with the administration.

During our conversation, I was asked a few questions which are below;

• What are your hobbies?
• Would you be interested in working in this district?
• What drew you to this position/place?
• What other interests do you have besides agriculture?

They had also given me time to ask a few questions which are below;

• Where do you see this program in five years?
• What opportunities would I have here?

I had asked other questions to the teachers I had met with as well throughout the morning. One thing that I took away from my visit to the school is that the administration cares about the success of not only their students but also their teachers. The school is a close-knit community that thrives on collaboration.

Looking into the future, I would research more about the school as well as have conversations with the teachers in the school before having an interview with the administration.