Visiting another student teacher is just a few (tiny) towns away

Mr. Michael Petrun is student teaching at Cowanesque Valley High School in the Northern Tioga School District - about 40 minutes from Wellsboro. So basically, he is my neighbor! Even so, his cooperating center is quite different from my own. Let's compare the two:

Wellsboro - 1 teacher, plant and animal science focus, heavy FFA involvement, 8 - 42 minute periods

Cowanesque - 2 teachers, forestry, horticulture, and ag mechanics focus, large ag mech shop and work area, broken block and 40 minute periods

While I had been to the little school in Westfield, PA during my time as a state FFA officer, I did not really have the ability to reflect on that visit from the perspective of a soon-to-graduate Ag Ed major. So I was excited to see 1) how Mike was holding up after almost 2 weeks of full load teaching and 2) how the programs were actually different.

One of the first major differences I noted for the day was (you won't believe that I am about to mention the weather again) how much colder it was only 20 minutes north of Wellsboro! Seriously, this is the coldest I have ever seen my car thermometer that I had to take a photo of it...

Fred (my car) was pretty chilly.

But seriously, I had a good day. Mike and I discussed the differences in how our student teaching experience is starting - and we convened on the fact that both of our experiences are pretty different than the rest (Mike will also only be in the north for 7 weeks, as he is spending the rest of his semester internship in environmental education at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center).

Mike arrived a little early to school to prepare for the day. His daily schedule includes 2 sections of an Ag Sci 1 class, a block period (80 min) of Hort 1, and a block period of Metalworking 1 in the shop! 

Getting ready for the day!

Both the Ag Sci classes and the Hort class were covering propagation techniques (a new topic to me!) and he wanted to bring the students out into the greenhouse to demonstrate some techniques, but didn't get to due to students' work time on a worksheet. It was interesting, however, to watch the Hort class "debate" the benefits of asexual versus sexual reproduction in plants. 

Another interesting experience I had was talking with one of Mike's students, and the chapter FFA president, about her independent study project of designing the landscape around her home using a super cool landscape design software. The ag classroom has 4 nice desktop computers and a 2 foot printer for printing drafting layouts - something that Wellsboro could definitely use for its horticulture program!

Debate in the hort class, comparing asexual/sexual reproduction in plants

During the first 10 minutes of his metalworking class, Mike had to take some students to the auditorium for the FFA yearbook photo! While I nonchalantly talked about photography and $2000+ photo lenses with the photographer, Mike was watching the 80+ FFA members file into lines for the picture. 

Mike didn't come from an FFA background, so it is good to see him excited about it :)

Metalworking was neat to see, especially since I will not be teaching any mechanics classes during my time at Wellsboro (but I will be observing/co-teaching some woodworking!). Mike was actually doing his $15 project with the students (AEE 350 shout out!) of making a tool gauge, so they were integrating angles, protractors, and other mathematical concepts in the shop as they cut their metal pieces. He did a pretty good job and seemed to be growing comfortable for not having much shop experience either! 

Mike demonstrating proper tool gauge metal cuts

All in all, it was a great time to see my dear fellow cohort-er, Mr. Petrun, and his comfort level as he experiences lots of new things in this teaching placement. I appreciated the way in which all the career/technical shops were close together and the teachers were very connected. I also appreciated seeing the pros/cons of an 80 minute period over a 40 minute period for agricultural science instruction. This was a great experience and one that I think will help me reflect more on my experiences (especially seeing Mike journal in his little daily journal) that will soon come. I hope to be adapting to a new situation as well as Mike, and taking advantage of every opportunity this short 7 weeks will give me!