Over the Hill. #AFEE 5112

March 26. 2019
Over the Hill.

Over the hill, halfway done with my student teaching experience; it’s going as crazy as one might have thought. I just finished teaching my Animal Science course and received my feedback from my students. I have worked with those students from the start of my experience since animal science is my home base in terms of information and have taught them for just about 5 weeks (if you can count all of it with the snow days we had). I was able to move through some topics and complete two units as well as try some new activities and lessons, so I am grateful these students stuck with me through it and were in good spirits being the guinea pigs for me.

Some things I learned as I read through my student’s feedback were a couple things. Even though I spaced out my pacing and lesson plans there were a handful of students who still thought we could have slowed down and gained a better understanding of the content. I can understand how some might have felt that way. I had a small gap of time to get my content in before switching classes, so I wanted to make sure I left them on a rounded up note and not in the middle of a unit. This caused me to not go as in depth into the content which were different livestock breeds as we might have wanted. Student’s also commented on the atmosphere of the classroom and how I was perceived. Students said I was very welcoming and had a positive attitude in class, so they were excited to be in that class for the day. I know on my end there were those hard days where my head was elsewhere with other business that was bogging me down so it’s assuring to see that even though we as educators might be dealing with something we put the students ahead and not let it take away from their learning.

Going forward with the second half of my experience I plan to continue to build those student relationships and maintain a positive and exciting classroom. I will continue to create a place where students can’t wait to get to during their day or they don’t want to leave. Learning and growing with student relationships is fun, learning who is doing track and field, seeing students at trap practice, after school at robotics or play and just checking in on their busy and crazy lives. It has been a fun and busy couple weeks and I don’t plan for it to slow down. Below are some of the student works from a by-product assignment. Students found things they use that are made from animal by-products.

Experiences #AFEE5116

Feb 4. 2019

I don’t have experience planning or completing an SAE since I never went through an FFA program in high school. My experience with experiential learning is made up of my Boy Scout experience and working through my Eagle Scout Project. Through Boy Scouts I got to explore different activities through merit badges and working through all the requirements as I moved through the ranks. The eagle project is a milestone of service and is a marker of the highest rank in Boy Scouts. It consists of designing, planning, fundraising, and execution of the project which is a service project to benefit an organization of your choice.

              My project consisted of building 8 ten-foot wood benches for a local soccer complex. I chose this because I knew the complex needed new benches since the area was becoming more popular. Because of the scope of this project I needed to fundraise and find donors which was a new experience for high school me. I found a local carpenter who helped design the benches as well as did the metal fabrication. With his help I was able create a materials list as well as learn how much I need to fundraise to complete this project. That was my next task, fundraise enough money to get the material and complete the project. I went to local companies and talked with them about the project and having them donate to my cause. Through this whole project I had to keep records and receipts to show the progress at the end.

I learned many skills like networking, how to communicate with business leaders, leading a group, and wood working. Much of this was done on my own time when I wanted because I didn’t have a supervisor or someone to report to. My scoutmaster would check in early during the process to see how it’s going, but it was heavily on me to get it up and rolling. Once we had the materials and frames made it moved quicker because it was in the hands of the carpenter and we wanted to get them built and moved out to the complex for the community to enjoy, (and clear up space in his shop).

              Based on my experience I do want students to gain similar experience because it allows students to develop new skills and discover their talents. In my classroom I want students to complete SAE’s no matter if the are or are not part of FFA. It will hopefully just become part of the curriculum and will become part of the class that they will need to complete so if they want to use it in their FFA endeavors it will benefit them. There are many benefits that I see from experiences like this because it gets students out of the classroom and doing something they are interested in (hopefully) because it’s a project that they pick and devote time into. With high school students if they devote outside of school time it is something they invest in, so they can learn tools and tricks.

              I plan to learn many things from my spring placement with Larson and Hoefs in Medford. I know that SAE is part of their classes and is required of students, so I want to learn how they integrate it and how students who aren’t part of FFA (if there are any) complete it. I have much to learn about the formal behind the scenes of SAE like grants, placements, and any degrees or proficiencies that can relate to it because that is all new to me. Other educators around my area may have ideas or similar troubles so I plan to contact others in my area once I find my spot and build my network of similar professionals to learn and grow from. For those reading, what experience do you have with SAE or experiential learning? What was difficult about the process and what were some rewards as you completed it or moved through your experience?

Learn more about SAE from the National FFA website.