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.