Week 2 - Warming up to Wellsboro

It may seem silly to consider warming up in Wellsboro right now, as the average temperatures over the past several days have lingered around 10 degrees, with sub-zero wind chills (leading to my first ever cold-induced 2 hour delay on Tuesday). Nonetheless, it's been a great second week of student teaching so far! There are a few interesting things happening this week, so I figured I would split it into 2 blog posts.

Monday brought something new in the ag classroom - SAE mini presentations! Mrs. Berndtson allowed students in all classes to take 1-2 minutes for sharing the scope of their SAE and she prompted some with questions to keep the flow. It was a new concept but nonetheless a great idea to keep the students accountable for their projects and allow them a chance to share with others the diversity of their work. Some of the most interesting ones that I heard were: turtle breeding, old shed clean up, and a raising a long-haired hamster. Tuesday brought some additional 4-legged creatures to the ag classroom, in addition to a 2-hour delay. One student brought one of her Nubian cross meat goat kids to class - Luther is just a week old (born a day after MLK Jr day) and just about as cute as a button!

One of my students presenting her SAE - raising meat goats!

Another student, who is in 8th period Animal Science 3/4, brought her English shepherd puppy to class to have Mrs. Berndtson clip its toenails - so Dixie the puppy was running around the classroom for most of the day as well. She was pretty cute, and wanted desperately to play with the baby goat, but was restrained for most of the time due to her high activity level.

She really is a wonderful ag teacher... all that's missing in this photo is an owl on her shoulder!

After a little practice, he got used to the slick floor and was leaping around

Quite the amusing classroom accessory

After school on Tuesday, a few of the FFA boys stayed for the first Forestry CDE practice session with Mrs. B. Grand Canyon FFA earned National Gold in the 2009 Forestry competition and earned 2nd place at the state level the past 2 years. The boys want to bring home gold this year and it is encouraging (and somewhat intimidating) to see them so motivated and knowledgeable of forestry science and tree ID.

Back at my super awesome Wellsboro home, I hooked up to the internet and tuned in for our first faculty/student teacher web meeting where I was able to hear the lovely voices of all my #PSUaged14 cohort family members!! Then, after the meeting, I was invited over to my wonderful cooperating teacher's home for a nice warm winter dinner.

Wednesday seems to have flown by (while, ironically, the 2 hour delay Tuesday seemed to drag on) and was filled with various odds and ends. I helped check notebooks in most classes as Mrs. Berndtson reviewed for the mid-term exams all the classes have tomorrow. I also was able to meet with the school principal to have a "mock teacher interview" as an AEE 495 assignment. The "interview" went well, especially since it wasn't much of an interview and more of a discussion about the interview process. I was also able to see into the bureaucracy of the education system, as we discussed curriculum changes over the years and potential changes for the future of career and technical education. Now off to a teacher LFS (Learning Focused School) seminar about "What Moves You." We'll just have to see how moving it is...

Keep in touch via my Twitter (@allihoov) and my cooperating center's feed (@Wellsboroag) as we continue on this adventure!! Cheers to another day and another chance to make a difference...

and to a super cute goat :)

Some of the perks of teaching ag - holding cute baby goats for entire class periods!