Week 6: Short, Sweet and to the Point!

Week 6 here at Conneaut Area Senior High was a week like none other. We had a four day weekend which was a great break to recharge and prepare for some more awesome days in the classroom! This four day weekend meant that we had Monday off for Presidents' Day.  On Tuesday we braved the cold and got back into the swing of things in the classroom.

The  Ag. 1 classes continued working on their 5 board benches in the wood shop, Ag 2 and Ag 3/4 students got finished up with their Arc welding review and safety and the Agscience students continued our unit on plant systems!

Wednesday is creed day here at CASH! All three of the Ag 1 classes are learning the FFA creed and the older classes are working on memorizing the S.W.E.A.T Pledge. The S.W.E.A.T pledge ( Skill and Work Ethic Aren't Taboo) is an awesome pledge that was written my Mike Rowe. We are coming along well on the creed but realized the fourth paragraph was causing some problems. Therefore, before students are allowed to go into the shop, they must increase their creed score by at least 5 points.

The week was going along great but on Thursday I got to experience my first snow day after the temperature and wind chill fell to below negative 20! While it was nice to get a little break and get caught up on some school work, the snow day meant that our after school square dance demonstration for the local lions club was also cancelled. It also meant that this week was gonna be a 2 day week for me because on Friday I spent the day in Happy Valley with the rest of my student teaching cohort!

Getting back together with the other student teachers and the advisors at Penn State was great! We covered so much during our day together. We shared how our student teaching experiences were going, talked about interviewing for jobs and having our resume and cover letter ready to go and so much more.

While this week was very short it was still another week of great learning experiences! I'm looking forward to next week because we have a loaded schedule full of awesome FFA experiences in celebration of national FFA week!

"Teachers can change lives with just the right mix of chalk and challenges."

- Joyce Meyer

Checking out the Science Wing!

Last week I had the opportunity to observe a Science Class here at Conneuat Area Senior High! I sat in on an Environmental Ecology class made up of 14 freshmen. The objectives for the day focused around the vocabulary for the next chapter. 

They started the class by going over their weekly agenda. Next, the students took a daily quiz which was then graded by their peers. The rest of the class period was spent going over vocabulary words and their definitions on the over-head projector. All of the students took notes on their iPads however they did not seem to be fully interested in the lesson. 

The teacher tried to focus the students’ attention on the presentation by asking questions and getting them involved in the lecture. I feel the students would have been more likely to be interested if there was some variability to the lesson. Students spent the entire class in their seats either taking a quiz or taking notes. This may not be how every class goes but you can tell that the students were not fully engaged in what was going on that day. 

Even though the students were not super active, the teacher tried to capitalize on student interest or experiences by relating the subject matter to things that the students would know more about.  He also showed a lot of enthusiasm for the subject matter which helped to make the lecture more interesting. Also, the teacher had great clarity when discussing what he wanted each student to do. For example, he was also checking for understanding to make sure each student was following along and understood what they were doing before he moved on to the next item of business. 

Overall, observing this class has helped me to realize the importance of variability in the classroom. Getting the students up and moving or even switching up the way you are conducting class can keep the students interested and more engaged in the lesson. It was great to see another teacher at work!

The First SAE Visit!

On Wednesday, February 11th I had the chance to do my first SAE Visit of the semester! We went to visit TJ, a sophomore student who is doing an SAE project on his sows. TJ is an active Ag student who is also serving as an FFA officer this year. Our visit occurred at TJ’s home where we had the chance to meet his parents and brother while we were checking out the animals!

Before we went to visit we asked the student what dates worked best for them. We scheduled the visit and checked with both the student and parents to make sure it would work! We discussed what the student’s project was and about what we were going to look for while we were there. Some of the things that the students SAE would be evaluated on are the facilities, the animals and the future plans he has for his project and the success he has had so far. 

On Wednesday, my cooperating teacher Ms Aurand, the other FFA advisor Frank Bizjak and I loaded up in the FFA van and headed out to TJ’s home! We had the chance to talk to TJ and his family about the sows and the piglets and I even got to hold one of the cute little babies! One of the recommendations that were discussed during the visit was a suggestion to improve the facilities such as adding some more ventilation. We also had the chance to discuss TJ’s plans for all of the piglets once they are grown! 


Ms Aurand grades the students on their SAE projects through AET. Along with having at least one SAE visit, the students are required to keep records in AET. Each semester a portion of their class grade is based off of their daily records. All of the students are required to enter at least one entry per day throughout the entire school year. 

I truly enjoyed this SAE visit because it gave me the chance to see the students are work outside of the classroom. It was also great to get to meet some parents and get out into the community a little more! 

Week 5: A Week of Firsts!

This week may have been my fifth week of student teaching, but it was full of many firsts. My first parent conference, my first week of a full load of classes, my first SAE visit and even my first 2 hour delay! I was starting to think that didn’t believe in delays here in Crawford County even with the incredible amounts of snow we have gotten but we started out this week with one! 

I will admit it was nice to sleep in a little but the delay was also frustrating because I didn’t get to see some of my classes that day. Therefore all three of my Ag 1 classes ended up in different spots. On top of the delay, we had activity period this week which meant that one class of Ag 1 students got even more behind! This was just another example of how we need to be flexible in the classroom!

One of my other firsts for the week was having a parent conference after school. It was a great learning experience to see how these meeting can go! It was interesting to see many different teachers, the principal, the student and their parent come together to discuss what they can do to help the student succeed. It taught me how important parent communication can be for the teacher, the student and even the administration of the school.

On Wednesday night I also had the opportunity to do two different SAE visits. One student had a placement SAE at a local dairy farm and the other was raising sows and had some adorable piglets for us to check out too! I loved getting the chance to see the hard work the students were putting in outside of school. It also was great to see other parents and members of the local community. 

On top of all the awesome things I got to do this week, I also picked up the Ag Science classes which means this was my first week of teaching a full load. While it was exhausting, it was exciting to get the chance to work with every class throughout the day. 

The Ag 2 and Ag 3/4 classes began learning about Arc Welding safety, the Ag 1 students continued to work on their woodshop projects and learn about FFA history and the Ag Science students began a unit on plants! Throughout the week the different classes had the chance to plant in the greenhouse, try to weld ice cubes together and create different welding joints using graham crackers and icing! 

The classes on went pretty well but I have noticed that I need to work on getting the students to be more enthusiastic on the projects and lessons we are doing. I am going to try to relate the lessons to things in their lives or even talk about how the information can be beneficial to their future!

Overall, my student teaching experience at CASH is going great! Next week is going to be full of more fun projects, new experiences and I’ll get to be reunited with my Penn State student teacher family! I can’t wait!

“Don’t wait for the perfect moment, take the moment and make it perfect!”

Week 4: Now it's Getting Serious

It’s hard to believe that this is already the fourth week of student teaching! This week I continued with my Ag. 2 and Ag 3/4 class and I picked up Ag. 1 which is three different classes of freshmen! I was excited to work with this large group of younger students but was pretty nervous to take on all three classes at once!

In the Ag. 1 classes we began by getting to know each other and talking a little bit about my expectations for the next few months. We then began talking about the history of the FFA and have continued to work on memorizing the creed! In the Ag 2 class we continued discussing plants and soil and our peppers in the greenhouse finally came up! In Ag 3/4 we continued talking about genetics and even made some sweet DNA molecules out of licorice and marshmallows.

My favorite part of the week was having a guest speaker on Wednesday to talk to all of the classes. My dad, Ken Metrick, came to Conneaut and spent the day covering a variety of topics. He discussed his personal experiences with FFA in the freshmen classes, and talked about animal and vegetable production in the older classes. He even had the chance to talk to Ms. Aurand’s Ag-Science classes about business and food safety.

I have been able to work on a few things I have been struggling with especially wrapping up at the end of the lessons. I have been trying to go back and look at our objectives for the day and discuss how we accomplished each one. Also, if there is any time at the end of the class I have been able to move ahead to the next day's lesson or give students time to work on class related projects such as keeping their AET records up to date.

Everyday is a new experience and everyday I learn something valuable! As my schedule fills up more and more each week I am beginning to realize how important organization and planning is and just how crazy being an Ag. teacher can be! Next week I take on the Ag-Science classes which means I will have a full day of teaching! I'm sure I will have my struggles and things will get crazy, but I can't wait!

"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions."