Week 15: Last Time for Everything

My first blog of this experience was titled First Time for Everything. It is hard to believe that 15 weeks have passed, and I am writing my FINAL reflection with the title Last Time for Everything.

This week I submitted my LAST set of lesson plans, inputted the last of graded assignments into the gradebook, and taught my last lesson as a student teacher.

Some of my many awesome students that helped me celebrate
my last week of student teaching!

Although this experience is over, I'm counting myself really blessed to have had this opportunity to serve these students for the last 60+ days. Additionally, I am blessed to have had the privilege of working alongside of two amazing mentors, Mrs. Rippole and Mr. Campbell.

It upsets me that this experience has ended, and my days with my students at Derry are over. However, I am feeling relieved because I made it. I made it through the most challenging and testing semesters of them all. I feel like I have finally made it to the top of Mt. Everest! 

This student teaching internship has taught me an immense amount of lessons in 15 short weeks. Here are my Top 5 take-aways from this experience...

1. Be Passionate … Passion drives learning. It's the why we're doing what we're doing; the where we're going, where we've been conversations that help establish rapport and aid in student success and motivation. Don’t shy away from sharing your FFA or Ag related experiences.
2. Be Purposeful … Along with passion, make sure that learning is purposeful. Always hit the ‘why’ in your lesson. Additionally, build curiosity and wonder! The experiential learning that uniquely happens in the agriculture education classroom is so powerful and helps add to this continual learning.
3. Be Prepared … The diversity of this job is crazy. Be prepared to have long nights and very early mornings. Additionally, be prepared for the unknown. Although you can plan for multiple different outcomes, know that it will not always go as planned. Flexibility and adaptability are key to success (& deep breathing).
4. Be Inclusive….Every student deserves a champion. Every single one, regardless of their background, regardless of their ability level. As my cooperating teacher shared, “When you graduate with a degree in education, you also graduate with a minor in cheerleading.”
5. Be Innovative … Technology integration is important and is changing the way we can deliver content. Sometimes it doesn't work, and sometimes students don't want to utilize it. However, do not shy away from utilizing new innovative technology in the classroom because you are preparing your students to be 21^st century contributing members of society.

Smile of determination. Ready to take
 on my own Ag Program!

Obviously I have learned much more than just five things. This has been the most challenging, growing, and amazing semester. However, the largest lesson I have learned this semester is that I am ready to start my journey as an Agriculture Educator. As I mentioned before, there were plenty of days in this journey where I questioned if I really had what it takes to serve students as their agriculture educator. Some days I left Derry exhausted and overwhelmed, but most days I left smiling because I love what I do. It is true when they say, when you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. This profession and all the things that come with it are completely WORTH IT!

Overall, I really do consider myself blessed to have had this opportunity to watch and contribute to these students' growth and success. Additionally, I count myself privileged to be joining a profession with a nationwide network of passionate agriculture educators to help provide mentorship along the way.

Administrator Interview: Learning from the Experts

I was blown away with the willingness and preparedness the Principle and Vice Principle at Derry Area High School had while sharing advice, tips, and mock interview questions during my administrator interview. Leaving the interview I felt confident and ready to take on another. My two interviewers setup the interview as a combination of formal and informal. When I first sat down they explained the process that was about to happen and discussed my portfolio, which I was clinging to when I walked in.

Tip #1: Portfolio - Do not hand it out, use it and the materials within as a reference. Then pass around individual items, but not the entire binder. Or simplify everything into a ‘one pager’ that can be passed out to everyone. Once we established the proper use of the portfolio, they had a list of mock interview questions that they would ask, I would respond and they would give me feedback.

The topics were as follows:

Never sell yourself short!

• Background information
• Desire for position
• Classroom Management and Organization
• Planning for Instruction
• Implementing Instruction – Engaging students with ‘why’
• Implementing Instruction - Difficult for students to understand and how do you teach it/activity
• Integration of technology – Creating 21^st century learners and leaders 
• Candidate as a person - Strengths and weaknesses

Tip #2: Drive your agriculture experiences home.  After looking at my resume and portfolio, they said it is evident that I have a strong agriculture background, and could bring many relevant perspectives to the agriculture classroom. All those experiences from growing up on a farm, to being active in FFA, to having industry internships are what will set me apart from another candidate. Therefore, I needed to drive that home, so I could effectively share that I can teach from experience rather than a textbook.

Tip #3: A tip that was repeated multiple times was to make sure I knew the district and the community well and integrate that into the conversation and my answers. In turn, another take-away was length of answers. Give appropriate length answers to ensure that I do not "lose" anyone. It’s nice to show that you know what you are talking about, but keep it clear and concise.

When asking questions, I asked two (due to time):

• What are your goals for the program with the new agriculture educator?
• What are your teaching philosophies?

Some general tips they gave with this was to ask questions that are not normally asked. Be specific and genuine in your questions and hope to engage in a conversation that goes further.

If either the Principle or Vice Principle ever read this blog, I would like to thank you for taking the time out of your day to prepare me for all the interviews in my near future.

Week 14: Not Ready for Goodbye

I would be lying if I said I was not ready for the end of this semester. It's not because I'm tired of this experience. It's just that I'm ready. Like actually ready for graduation, and to have a classroom of my own. I'm ready to continue on the passionate pursuit of contributing to the future for agriculture through today's youth.

As always, I will share a HIGH (some of the best #UndeniablyDerry and other dynamite moments), a LOW (something I wish was better, but can’t change so I learn to grow from the experience), and a TIP (something that encouraged me to continue to grow my roots in agriculture education).

High: This week, I finished up units in two courses. Therefore, Mr. Campbell has started instructing these courses again. Each day of this experience reminds me of how fortunate I am to have the opportunity to serve these students as their teacher for a period of time. I am incredibly thankful for all that they have taught me, the laughs that we've shared, the challenges we've overcome and the growth I've gotten to witness in myself and them.

Morning sunrise in the greenhouse

Low: This week was very positive, so it was really hard to pin-point a low. Therefore, I would truly not count this as a low. Somehow this week was packed full of labs and projects as I finish off units of instruction. In turn, this had me running around the Derry Ag/Hort Complex like a hot mess every morning and afternoon prepping for the next day’s activities. Whether it was the animal center, greenhouse, CASE lab, shop, or food science lab - you name it; my students and I were probably utilizing it as a learning space. However, I think I can finally say that I have mastered managing multiple laboratories throughout my student teaching experience.

Tip: I am constantly reminded by Dr. Ewing, Mr. Campbell and Mrs. Rippole to finish strong, and I keep sharing with #psuaged18 to do the same. Somehow, we got ourselves to our last week of student teaching. It doesn't quite seem possible. With the countdown on my whiteboard, I have regular daily conversations with students about leaving next week. To say the least these are sad conversations to have, but a good reminder of how blessed I am to be here. I am not quite ready to say goodbye to these amazing students.

Weekly Unique Moments:

Area LDE Contest – Weeks of preparation has led to this day. My entire freshman and senior classes had mastered the Creed, or had a polished Jr. (or) Sr. Prepared Speech that was ready to be presented at the Area LDE. After the results were shared, pride and joy was expressed when my students were announced as 1^st Creed, 3^rd Jr. Prepared, 1^st Sr. Prepared, 3^rd Sr. Prepared, 1^st Job Interview, 2^nd Job Interview, and 3^rd Job Interview. Others that competed still placed in the top 5! Definitely a proud teacher moment!

Team 1 working on their wool display

Alumni Meeting –I attended my last Alumni meeting on Wednesday. It was awesome to hear about the efforts the alumni is putting forth for the future of the agriculture program. Although, I am leaving I look forward to hearing and seeing successes of the Derry Agriculture/Horticulture Program.

Community Based Project – As my mother says, “It’s not like you to not put a big project off till last minute.” Although this happened unintentionally, my Community Based Project got put on the back burner for a while, but we have finally started building our wool displays for the Derry Township Fair. I firmly believe that they will be done constructing them by next Wednesday.

Community Based Unit: From Sheep to Shelf

No this is not an advertisement for clothing made from wool. However, the title could make you perceive  that. 


Instead, I want to share about the amazing opportunity I had to coordinate my first Community Based Unit of Instruction. Although, I have shared in pervious blogs about the development and progression of this project, I wanted to provide full details behind the WHY.


How was the project recognized?
Westmoreland County is ranked 2nd in Pennsylvania for Wool production, and is home to over 4,000 head of sheep and lambs that contribute to that number. Unfortunately for the past 30 years, Derry Township Fair has not provided the opportunity to showcase or educate about this large industry to the county.  The fact that it represents a large part of the county’s agricultural presence makes it the missing piece the fair needs to truly highlight all the things the local agricultural community has to offer.  

How was the project developed?
After a Livestock Committee Meeting, Derry Township Fair Sheep & Wool Superintendent - Chuck Penich approached Derry FFA advisor Roy Campbell, asking if the program would be interested in designing and constructing Wool Display cases and creating an exhibit to showcase and represent Westmoreland County’s sheep and wool grower. Therefore after Mr. Campbell was approached by Chuck Penich, he approached me and asked if would be interested in taking on this project on during my student teaching experience. Once I agreed Mr. Campbell presented the project to the FFA members.  There were three potential community projects presented at a regular business meeting and FFA members voted to complete the wool display case project.  They felt this project had the greatest opportunity to educate the local community about a large segment of the local agricultural community. Therefore, the decision was made to develop instructions for this project as my community based unit. I contacted Chuck Penich about his expectations for this project and worked out a plan for the unit of instruction. 

How was the project integrated in instruction?
Since, I was able to integrate this community based unit of instruction into the Agricultural Construction course; I tasked students to utilize their acquired knowledge and skills to create a positive impact on the community. I made effort to have the Derry Township Fair Sheep and Wool Superintendent, Chuck Penich, to come in as a guest speaker to introduce students to the project and the project need. Once this was recognized, the students were tasked to draw out a blueprint of a design that includes a bill/materials outline. The blueprints was then shared with the community partners, the partners then chose the top two designs that they felt best fit the project’s needs. After the design was chosen, students constructed the display cases, and delivered them to the Derry Township Fairgrounds. Overall this experience created opportunity for me to instruct students in the Ag Construction course to apply their knowledge and skills, which they acquired in the classroom, to solve a real-life issue. 

Proud students with their finished displays for the 
Derry Township Fair. They are excited to see them
on exhibit in July!

Week 13: Goals & Grit

Week 13 made me realize how goals and grit can ensure I finish strong in my student teaching experience.

To share how goals and grit helped me survive Week 13, I will share a HIGH (some of the best #UndeniablyDerry and other dynamite moments), a LOW (something I wish was better, but can’t change so I learn to grow from the experience), and a TIP (something that encouraged me to continue to grow my roots in agriculture education).

High: On Thursday (4/5) I survived the most exciting, crazy, and stressful day of my student teaching experience! Below, I highlighted and summarized the most exhausting day EVER:

8AM-2PM: Final observation/evaluation by Dr. Ewing

A great summary of my thoughts!

• Excitement hit me as I unlocked the door to my classroom. Today was my FINAL observation/evaluation. Today was the day that proved I have the ability to be a positive change agent. Although I was excited, nerves and stress settled in when Dr. Ewing walked through the door at 7:30AM. However passion and preparation helped drive me throughout the day, and presented an awesome outcome with positive observation/evaluation scores and comments.  

3PM: Online Interview for a teaching position

• After dismissing my students out of the classroom at 2:50PM, I abruptly grabbed my suit jacket and logged into Google Hangout to interview for my dream job. A few deep breaths and a mindset of determination allowed me to present myself personally and professionally.

5PM: PAAE Western Region Meeting

• As the bags under my eyes became more apparent and the need for a nap was growing, I finished out this exciting and stressful day at the PAAE Western Region Meeting.  Not only did this give me an opportunity to be reminded of the power of an expansive professional network, but it reminds me of the reasons why I chose this profession. Check out my reflection from this experience on another blog.

Low: As I shared last week, I worked to clear my desk from the stacks of papers to input final third marking period grades. To greet me Tuesday, I was informed of an email received from a concerned parent about their child’s final third marking period grade in the class. This is super frustrating. Frustrating because I presented so many opportunities for this student to come work with me, and even made effort to send work to their learning support teacher. Due to the student having an IEP, I am required to pass him with a 60%. He rightfully earned a 64%, due to lack of effort. However I realized that some people will believe the grade earned is from the lack of effort from the teacher not the student. I was reassured by my cooperating teacher that I took all the appropriate actions, but it is still frustrating to be informed about this thought.

Tip: I often share my weekly reflection with a high and low because I truly believe in developing and growing from the positives and negatives from every experience to help me reach my future goals. Thursday truly proved to me what goals and grit will allow you to achieve. Although exhaustion hit me hard, I persevered and continued to run the marathon of student teaching. I did not let myself give up or give in to anything, this day was one of the biggest days that I had worked for in my educational journey. It was evident how goals and grit provided me the passion, perseverance and stamina to successfully achieve and survive the most exciting, crazy and stressful days.

Weekly Unique Moments:

Final Round: I was more than excited to receive a phone call Friday that informed me I was one of two candidates that would be moving forward to the FINAL round of interviews for my dream job!

My favorite learning lab!

Course Schedule: Friday my emotions hit me a little as my cooperating teacher took back over my Ag Leadership course. Then next week, I give back my Greenhouse Production class to Mr. Campbell. Through a few moments of reflection, I believe that this class challenged me the most. Not only did I grow my content knowledge of plant science, but I advanced my knowledge of the application of greenhouse production and management. I can say I am more confident, and I am excited to potentially have a future program with a greenhouse! 

PAAE Western Region Meeting

I always enjoy being in the presence of mastery agriculture educators. Not only does it give me an opportunity to be reminded of the power of an expansive professional network, but it reminds me of the reasons why I chose this profession.

I have a strong appreciation for both the National Associations of Agriculture Educators and the Pennsylvania Association of Agriculture Educators.  Each organization has a great willingness to accept the pre-service teachers of the profession. Each time I have been given the opportunity to participate in a PAAE or NAAE event, I have grown to appreciate the network of teachers, mentors and friends that I have been able to establish there.

Therefore, I had no hesitation in joining Mr. Campbell and Mrs. Rippole Thursday (4/5) at the Western Region PAAE meeting. I was able to enjoy a meal around the table of fellow teachers and discuss upcoming professional events. Here were a few highlights from the evening: 

Some light reading on
amazing opportunities

• PAAE – We were fortunate to have the President of PAAE, Neil Fellenbaum, join us and share updates on committee development and growth. Additionally, reminding everyone of upcoming dates and deadlines to participate in PAAE functions.
• PA FFA – After Mr. Brammer began the program for the State Officer Candidacy School (S.O.C.S.) participants, he joined us to share an update on changes to applications and competitions for FFA.  
• Center for Professional & Personnel Development – Following PAAE and PA FFA updates, the Center for Professional & Personnel Development shared about the many opportunities of professional development workshops and conferences that they are hosting for pre-service teacher, new & beginning teachers, and experienced teachers.
• Western Region Updates – Mr. Campbell shared upcoming area LDE and CDE dates, as well as deadlines for Regional contest.

Enjoying an Ag 'family' dinner

It was amazing to hear and learn about the abundant opportunities to grow professionally as an educator, and provide similar opportunities to students through FFA. Overall, there is an immense value in paying dues and being an active participant in professional organizations. In an unique industry like agriculture, it is important to actively seek out these organizations to ensure that we are the most relevant educators possible. 

As I shared in my Week 13 blog, Thursday was an exhausting day. However, I could not imagine a better way to end the day than at the Western Region PAAE meeting.

Week 12: Thrive and Remember WHY!

And then it hit me…. I only have a total of 13 instructional days left to bring my best foot forward for the benefit of my students. It hardly seems real that this semester is quickly coming to a close. In fact, I'm quite certain that just a few days ago, we were all piling in a school bus headed to the Farm Show Complex for Mid-Winter Convention.

With Easter Break knocking at the door, it made things a little easier to look at week 12 and these last 13 days with my students in a positive light. As my feet hit the floor on Monday morning this week I told myself "remember why you started." I may have only had three days spent in the classroom instructing and facilitating, but Week 12 reminded me to continue to thrive and finish strong.

As always, I will share a HIGH (some of the best #UndeniablyDerry and other dynamite moments), a LOW (something I wish was better, but can’t change so I learn to grow from the experience), and a TIP (something that encouraged me to continue to grow my roots in agriculture education).

Nothing is more exciting than seeing
motivated students complete
projects before break!

High:  I was super worried about coming back to the classroom after being absent for a week. However, I was greeted by smiling and happy faces that were glad to see that Ms. Wasson was back! Additionally, it was easy to bring my students back to my daily routine. This is why I am thankful for motivated students that are well adapted to my classroom procedures and expectations. In all honesty, when I first began my student teaching internship, it was difficult for me to implement bellworks, interest approaches and ticket-outs. This is because these were not regular procedures that were used in lessons from my cooperating teacher. However after 11 weeks of teaching, my students have defiantly become adjusted to these new teaching techniques and share often how they enjoy the variability and differentiation within the lessons. It is awesome to have this positive feedback because it reinforces to me that I am putting my best foot forward (thriving) in instructing and facilitating engaging lessons … And I just might be leaving an impact.

Low: Substitutes are great. However, coming back to a classroom after a full week with a substitute can be a challenge. Although I left sub plans with detailed instructions, I found that activities and worksheets were not completed. I was truly confused and somewhat frustrated when I noticed this. I read the notes left from the substitute, and I was shocked with what I was informed about. To begin, some of my students were resistant to the substitute and were not respectful. Second, some of my students convinced the substitute that they had not learned about a topic, so they could not do the project assigned. Therefore, Ms. Wasson decided to assign an apology letter to the substitute as Bellwork on Monday. To say the least, I was highly disappointed in my students. However, I realize that I cannot expect things to go ‘perfect’ while I am not there to facilitate the actions of my students.

Tip: Thrive and remember WHY you started! As the weeks quickly go by, it would be easy to get caught up in counting down the days until the end, but that does not mean you give up before the finish line. I encourage #psuaged18 to continue to thrive and remember why you started before this experience comes to an end. Don’t just wake up every day with the mindset of crossing another day off the calendar. Wake up ready to own the last few lessons, and leave an impact. So you can say that this experience not only impacted you, but you impacted your students.

Unique Weekly Moments:

Watching the other
Ms. Wasson in action!

FFA Benefit Auction - On Tuesday the Derry FFA held their Benefit Auction. For the past two months FFA officers and members have been contacting local businesses for donations of items to be sold in the auction. At 6PM the high school Cafeteria was filled to maximum capacity with 133 bidders and 155 auction items.

Birthday Celebration – I celebrated my 22^nd birthday on Wednesday. This was my first birthday  

celebration that I was not surrounded by family or friends. However, my students showered me in well wishes, off key signing and an abundant amount of goodies!

Cowanesque Valley Visit – On Thursday, I spent the first day of my Spring Recess observing a fellow cohort member - Ms. Wasson at Cowanesque Valley High School in Tioga County, PA.  It was exciting to watch my sister in action instructing and facilitating students, while utilizing multiple laboratories within the Agriculture program. Check out my blog about the visit!