Ag Teacher ARE Superheros

I am currently in my second week of superhero training, and I am being completely serious when I say this. While I have never had experience in an agricultural program before, I am now truly experiencing what ALL goes into a complete agricultural program. The dedication I am seeing from both my cooperating teachers is unbelievable, and I am working my hardest to just try and keep up! I know this will get easier and easier as my student teaching experience continues. From preparing students for the Public Speaking and Interview CDEs to filling out forms for field trips and guest speakers(in addition to preparing lessons), the three of us are moving non-stop!

 This week, I began teaching the two 9th grade sessions of Agricultural Environmental CP. While I felt that I did the best I could to be prepared, I have a lot of improvements to be made. My perfectionist personality also is kicking in, so I'm trying my best to not get down when things do not end up running as smoothly as I thought they would. The support system from my cooperating teachers and other school staff has been awesome, and I am so appreciative of that!

Things I feel that are going well: 
-enthusiasm
-organization system
-learning student names (although I still have A LOT to learn)

Things to work on:
-taking my time in lessons to go through more detail, rather than jumping from activity to activity
-transitions between activities or topics

I'm looking forward to starting my Equine Science Unit next week in Animal Science, and to continue working with administration to figure out if we can bring a horse (or other animals in the future) to campus! Time will tell!

Happy Friday everyone!  

Week 1 at Oley Valley!

Martin Luther King weekend turned into almost a week for everyone in southeast PA. Two snow days later, I was dying in anticipation to start school! Thursday began with a two hour delay...but at least we had school! While this school week was short, it has been exciting meeting faculty and staff, getting to know the students, and learning sooo much more about the program in general.

Left to Right: Mr. Deysher, Ms. Urban (me), and Mrs. Rice 

This week has been observations, and I have taken every opportunity to jump right in where ever I could. My first class that I will be teaching next week is 9th grade Ag Environmental. In these past two days, in both sessions, students have been presenting their FFA Public Speaking CDE speeches. It has been an awesome experience grading the student's speeches and manuscripts along side my cooperating teacher, Mr. Deysher, to get a better idea of how to grade these type of things! I'm really excited to start teaching this class next week as soon as we finish up the speeches (Yes, the snow days messed up the schedule a little bit).

Today, Friday, I got the opportunity to observe Mrs. Rice in the middle school for the first two Intro to Ag classes. While I will not be teaching these classes, it was great getting a chance to see this end of the program. Mrs. Rice was also being observed by the middle school principal, which was a great experience to be a part of today.

While this week was short and sweet, I'm looking forward to a refreshing weekend to soak everything in and to jump back into it Monday! 

First-Time Attendee- MidWinter FFA Convention

Wow, what an exciting event hosted by the PA FFA! Because I did not have the opportunity to be a member of the FFA as a high school student, I have been pursuing my own type of 'FFA crash-course' to help me to fully grasp the excitement and involvement around FFA at the chapter, state, and national levels. It has been exciting as I continually learn more and more about the FFA and the pride and work involved by the members, supporters, sponsors, and parents, and the MidWinter Convention at the 2014 PA Farm Show was no exception!!

As I joined the Oley Valley group, the day began with a banquet recognizing the PA teams' achievements at this year's National Convention. It was wonderful seeing members of the Oley Valley Food Science CDE team that I had spent so much time with at National Convention, and who placed an impressive 3rd place overall, and also had the top placed individual! Awesome job ladies!!

Member ready to zip up their jackets for the first time

Among the busy students filling the Farm Show Complex throughout the day,  volunteers worked hard to prepare the large arena for the MidWinter Convention in the afternoon. The attendance and impressive amount of energy that the convention brought is something I find incredibly impressive about the FFA. With dedicated members awaiting their Keystone Degrees (Oley had 6 members) and new members eagerly waiting to see how their new jackets fit, it was a great experience for everyone.

Two things moved me in particular: 

1.) It was really powerful seeing all the new members circle the arena and zip their jacket all at one time, remembering that someday they may outgrow the jacket but they will never outgrow the experience!  

2.) It was amazing to see the parents who supported three or more of their children as they achieved their Keystone Degrees. It goes to show how important parents are and as an FFA advisor, the necessity of gaining the support and getting to know the parents!