Week 9: Trouble in Paradise

Wow! Week 9 had so many positive experiences to reflect upon. The beginning of the week could easily be described as Paradise with an advisory committee meeting, Superintendents tour, and dirty hands after some seeding and transplanting. However, time in paradise came to an end at the end of the week.

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).

Our greenhouse is filled with growth!

High: Greenhouse Production was the last course I took over, for multiple reasons. However it was

mainly because I did not feel ready to take it over. Not only was this a large class, but a large responsibility. The greenhouse encompasses more than 5,000 square feet and is full of various flower and vegetable plants. All the plants grown in the greenhouse are sold to local churches, or during the plant sale that takes place at the beginning of May. The students in the Greenhouse Production course are challenged with problem and project based learning to maintain a commercial greenhouse. Additionally, I am challenged to balance classroom and laboratory time. After teaching this class for two weeks, I can say I feel successful in balancing this. Each week I dedicate two days to laboratory days that have the students seeding, transplanting, and applying fertilizer to their plants. The other days are spent in the classroom for 30 minutes, with the last 10 minutes in the greenhouse to water and check pest traps.

Low: This week was full of so many positive experiences, I was so pumped to end the week on a high note and reflect on how Week 9 was the best week yet. However, trouble hit paradise fifth period on Friday … Trouble with a capital ‘T’ that resulted in 3 students serving suspensions next week, while 1 student is serving a detention too. If you have not guessed it yet, there was a fight that broke out during my Ag Construction class in the shop. However this was not just a verbal fight, things got physical. As teachers, we are reminded that the actions of our students in our classroom reflect our classroom management. Therefore this is an ultimate blow and low of my student teaching experience. Even though everyone shared with me that I took appropriate actions, I felt I did not do enough … In all honesty, I am still pretty shaken from this because I think so highly of my students and never would have expected this action to occur.  I may be reading too much into this, but I truly care for my students and their safety.

 A good reminder to myself

Tip:  As I shared in my low for the week, this incident is something I have really reflected on. I keep getting reminded to not beat myself up for this incident occurring in my classroom because I am supposed to learn and grow from experiences like these.

Unique Weekly Moments:

Advisory Committee Meeting – Not only do I get to attend faculty meetings, department meetings and alumni meetings, but I also get to attend advisory committee meetings to add to the authenticity of this experience! Derry was able to welcome 3 new members to the advisory committee, in addition to multiple community stakeholders and school administrators. I was amazed with the investment from everyone to continue building upon the strong agriculture traditions at Derry.

Superintendents Tour – Derry Area High School hosted a meeting for Superintendents in districts across Westmoreland County. Therefore, after the meeting was over the Superintendents were invited on a tour. Not only did they tour the school, but they toured the Agriculture/Horticulture Building. This was a unique experience for us and them because Derry is the only school district in Westmoreland County that has an agriculture education program.  Therefore, we had great conversations about our curriculum and program.

Job Interviews – As I shared, this week started out strong. To begin the week, I was contacted by a school to schedule my first interview. To add to this excitement, I was contacted Thursday by a school board member and principle about a position that just opened. I am truly excited for both these opportunities, and ready to determine where I will grow my roots as an agricultural educator.