The Chronicles of Becoming an Ag Educator

This week has been a true whirlwind, as we have some major events and deadlines approaching. Due to a couple snow days, and in-service days this was my first official full week in the classroom and my schedule is filling up for the weeks to come. Some big moments from this week include picking up my first class, visiting the mobile ag lab, and supporting some of my students at the varsity basketball game. I am still getting used to the whole feeling of being the "teacher" in the classroom but it become more "real" this week as I picked up my very first class. I started teaching an agriculture careers unit in my Ag 1 class. As I reflect back on the week I have come to realize I may need to make a couple changes in my lesson plans for this specific unit. After getting to know my students a little better I have come to realize that what I thought was a class of freshman due to it being "Ag 1" is actually a mixed group of freshmen, a junior, and a senior, oo...

What a week it has been! I have gained some really great insight into what it is like to be a "real" teacher, snow days and all! We started the week with an in-service day completing API training with the entire school district. Meanwhile on Tuesday I experienced my first snow day as an educator, followed up by yet another snow day on Wednesday. I learned that snow days look a whole lot different on the educator side of things. Which lead to my first obstacle of student teaching, learning to go with the flow as our schedule was pushed back two days. The API training was eye opening in some aspects! I made a realization while I was there that Ag Ed at Penn State has truly prepared us for what was ahead. While some of the ideas that were brought to the table were new to veteran teachers, we have been learning them all along. For example I could not believe that only 4% of educators post their objectives for their students to visualize . It's incredibly important for...

Date: January 11, 2018 Class: Introduction to Chemistry Lesson Title: What are characteristics of light? Lesson Objectives: 1.        Define a quantum of energy, and explain how it is related to an energy change of matter. 2.        Using Planck's equation, calculate the energy of a quantum of light from the frequency or wavelength. 3.        Compare the wave and particle natures of light. Never being a huge fan of chemistry myself, I was skeptical as to how my visit to Kaitlyn Thursby’s chemistry class would go. I had already heard great things about her teaching style from various teachers and students in the building, which intrigued me to go observe her in the first place. Ms. Thursby was one of the first teachers in the building to utilize Google classroom and incorporate a some what of an inquiry based approach for her teaching method.  As the studen...

How is it possible that the moment I waited for my entire college career has come so quickly. The first week of student teaching has come and gone. As I reflect back on this week, I can confidently say Central Columbia is undeniably the perfect fit to complete my student teaching experience. There's one word that continuously comes to mind when I reflect on my first week becoming apart of this community, home . Both in and out of the classroom I felt that I truly belong here. Not a single day has gone by that someone hasn't checked in to make sure I had everything I needed, made sure I knew where something was in the community, or checking that things are going well in my new home. I continuously found myself meeting new people who continued to tell me to reach out to them if I would ever need anything. I was greeted everyday this week by a student or a new teacher in the hallways at school with a "hello," "how's your day going," or "i hope your d...

Pennsylvania Farm Show 2018 was one for the books to say the least! For those of you who know me outside of the classroom, you might find it hard to believe when I say the excitement of this years' Farm Show took place outside the show ring... well kinda. Farm Show looked a little different this year and sounded a little different too as I often heard the words Ms. Kuhlman (i'm still getting used to that).  Farm Show this year was my VERY first day of student teaching! I was reliving my glory days of being an FFA members with my students as we attended mid- winter convention. I watched as 10 Central Columbia Students received their keystone degrees and add the golden charm to their jackets, 1 member zip up their very own FFA jacket for the very first time, 1 member receive a full scholarship to the Washington Leadership Conference, and 1 member receive the state star in Agriculture Placement. The numbers are insignificant to the excitement I was able to share with each and ev...