Sister Success

I have been blessed with multiple opportunities to experience a diverse range of secondary agriculture education programs across Pennsylvania and the United States throughout my time as an Agricultural Education major. Those experiences have impacted me as a future agriculture educator because I was always presented new perspective and innovative ideas each time I stepped foot into a new program.

Therefore it was no surprise how awesome my day went on March 29^th! I took my first day off from my Spring Recess, and headed north to Cowanesque Valley High School in Tioga County, Pennsylvania where I spent the day with my #psuaged18 team mate and sister, Ms. Heather Wasson and her cooperating teachers Mr. Heyler and Mr. Boyer. 

As sisters, Heather and I have always been each other’s biggest cheerleader and critic. But of course, we do this out of love because we want to see each other succeed. I was super excited to observe how my sister has grown as an educator from our freshman year to our senior year. Although we are similar, I have always admired Heather’s upbeat and passionate demeanor. Therefore, it was no surprise the great rapport she builds with her students. In fact it was evident as she presented praise and encouragement to her students throughout each class. 

Heather was teaching a wide range of classes during my visit, ranging from Intro to Agriculture Science, Horticulture, Metal I and Ag Mechanics II. This allowed me to watch her teach a diverse selection of students and content. To say the least, I am amazed with the content knowledge and skills my sister has developed throughout her time student teaching, and I may be a little jealous of how confident she is in the shop as she instructs and manages students in the laboratory space.

Additionally, the class sizes at Cowanesque Valley are much larger than those at Derry, but I appreciated seeing the many differences in classroom management and organization between my classroom and my sister’s. It is evident the effort she puts in to ensure variability is implemented throughout all lessons to include all learners.  

Overall, it was great to see how my sister is succeeding at student teaching! My visit definitely has me brainstorming ideas on how to communicate more efficiently in praising and encouraging my students, and ‘owning’ my confidence in the shop like my sister. It is exciting to think about how far we have come, and how far we will each go in our future with our own successes as agriculture educators.