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."

Week 3: The third times a charm!

This was my third week student teaching at Conneaut Area Senior High. The first week I was excited, the second week I just wasn’t feeling it but this week I think it all clicked. This week I felt more confident in my lessons and more comfortable in the classroom.

In my Ag 2 class we continued to discuss plant structures and then began talking about soil. We did some fun activities including using Play dough to create parts of a flower and making our very own edible soil profiles. Also, the geraniums that we planted last week have come up and are looking great. It has been fun to watch them grow in the greenhouse while we are talking about the parts of plants in the classroom.

On Tuesday I began teaching my Ag 3/4 class which is made up of Juniors and Seniors. We began by doing some introductions then got right into our lesson on Genetics. Throughout the week we did activities figuring out which traits we have that are dominant or recessive such as eye color and whether or not we had curly hair, practiced Punnett squares and did the Easter Egg lab. I really enjoyed getting to do the Easter Egg lab because it was one I had done in the Fall during our 412 lab. I made some adjustments and the activity went so much better this time around.

This week I also got to attend my first FFA meeting. It was exciting because this was my first FFA meeting ever! We discussed fundraisers, upcoming activities and National FFA Week. I am really looking forward to all the fun activities and events that I am going to get to do with the FFA Chapter while I’m here!

On Thursday, I also had my first observation with Mrs. Rice. It was awesome to get some feedback on my teaching and discuss my plans for my rest of the semester.

After these first three weeks I have noticed a few things that I need to work on during my lessons. The first is my questioning. I am working on being able to ask higher level of thinking questions but

to also perfect my wait time. The second is my lesson wrap up. I need to do a better job of summarizing at the end of each lesson and making sure I am using all of my class time.

“If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.”

Week 2: And so it begins!

Everyday is becoming a new experience for me here at Conneaut Area Senior High. This week we had Monday off and an in-service day on Tuesday. During the in-service day I had the chance to attend a staff meeting, meet more of the administration and talk to Ms Aurand about future plans for my upcoming classes.

On Wednesday I finally got to teach my first group of students! I began my Plant Science unit with my Agriculture Education 2 class. We began with some introductions and talked about my expectations for the class. We talked about what experiences they have had with plants in the past and what they wanted to learn about. To finish out the class we talked about the importance of plants by listing all of the plants and plant products that we come in contact with on a daily basis. 

Thursday was a lot of fun because we got to be in the greenhouse! We discussed the proper way to plant seeds and what materials we needed. Then we got work planting geraniums! The goal is to be able to use these flowers at the FFA Banquet this spring! 

Friday we were back in the classroom discussing parts of plants. We specifically focused on roots and stems and their functions within plants. I have really enjoyed being in the classroom with the students this week. I am looking forward to adding another class next week and getting to work with more students! 

"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot."

Week 1: Welcome to C.A.S.H.

I cannot believe that this was my first official week as a student teacher. The past 7 semesters of college have lead up to this moment and it’s finally here. This week was a little different due to the fact that we were on a trip to the Farm Show for four days. However, I was both excited and nervous
to spend Thursday and Friday in the classroom.

This week was an observation week for me so I spent the majority of my time observing Ms. Aurand teach and trying to learn student’s names. At the beginning of each class we went around the room and each student shared their name and three things about them. This was a fun activity that really helped me get to know the students a little more but also helped the students get to know me.

Another exciting part of this past week was getting to meet other faculty members and the administration at Conneaut Area Senior High. It was great to put a face with the names of principals and other teachers throughout the school!

This week also gave me time to make sure I was ready to officially teach next week! I was able to get my lesson plans ready and get the materials lined up to pant geraniums in the greenhouse next week. I am looking forward to being in the front of the classroom starting Wednesday!

"Wake up with determination. Go to sleep with satisfaction"

My first Mid-Winter Convention!

I have attended the Pennsylvania State Farm Show every year since I was born, but this trip was different than any other. After spending a few days at the show with my cousins, I took on a new role Sunday night. I met up with Ms. Aurand, Mr. Bizjak and over twenty members of the Conneaut Area FFA. I was officially a student teacher.

Sunday night we spent time eating dinner, doing homework and most importantly practicing square dancing! Early Monday morning the students were lined up in the hall with their official dress on ready for the big day! We headed to the farm show complex and I was ready for my first Mid-Winter Convention ever.

It was not only an exciting day for me, it was a big day for the whole Conneaut Area FFA Chapter. 11 students got to put on their own FFA jacket for the first time, 3 students received their Keystone Degree and we even had 1 student who was an Agri-Business Star Finalist.

That evening 17 students from the FFA Chapter competed in the square dance competition. Students have been practicing the past few months and had the chance to demonstrate 5 dances Monday night. We walked away with two red ribbons!

We also participated in the #todaysFFA Social Media contest. This was my first official student teaching assignment! Our students told their Farm Show story on Facebook and Twitter with pictures and the hashtag #todaysFFA. Our chapter had the most views and post which means that we won the contest! We are looking forward to our pizza party with the State Officers!

Tuesday we spent the day traveling around doing tours of industries in the area. We started at Kreider Farms in Lancaster County. We saw the facilities where they raise 6 million chickens and milk over 1500 dairy cows on a carousel parlor. We then went to Zimmermans, a corporation that is made up of three businesses; Keystone Coating, PBZ Cattle Equipment and Crop Care. After this we toured Uncle Henry’s Pretzels and stopped at Cabelas. Wednesday we loaded up the bus and headed to Hershey to tour Chocolate World. After spending some time there we began the 5 hour bus ride home.

Overall, my first Mid-Winter Convention was a great one and a great way to kick off my student teaching experience.

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."