I am still moving forward in planning a special community day (EARTH DAY!!) for April 22 at the local elementary school where I am working. I am developing ideas and identifying other stakeholders - maybe students in the wildlife/forestry major here? Maybe students at the local SFS Field Station that I was going to be a student of before I decided to go to EARTH? I identified some of the local "needs" in terms of natural resource awareness and hope to incorporate these into the plans.
Other than Earth Day plans, I helped out with several extension events this week. Let's review the week briefly, since I didn't reflect much on my activities in my last post.
Note: now that I am doing a lot more "planning" and "coordinating" than actual lesson execution, I will admit that my blog posts may not be nearly as exciting... but I will try to keep them spicy for you with some cool photos! I definitely have a lot from this week!
Monday:
I visited my Escuela and helped some 5th and 2nd grade students with their math and science work. This was where I learned that, for whatever reason, I may not be cut out to teach young Ticos. They stare at me like I am an alien when I try to explain something... #culturalbarrier? #overtheirheads? #whoknows
This was also where I was given permission by the principal to do whatever I want for Earth Day! WOHOO! I hope it all comes together and she doesn't change her mind... we shall see. Knowing Ticos, something is bound to change. But I remain hopeful. Note: this event will serve as my "Community Based Unit of Instruction" for my PSU student teaching internship.
In the afternoon, I worked in the office at UTN and met with the food tech staff member on a lesson plan/activity for today. We were asked to develop something to "apply" the concept of lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates to food technology. More about this later...
I also got to tune in to the weekly PSU Teach Ag Great Teacher Chat, featuring Mr. Craig Kohn, as he talked about STEM integration into Ag Education - it was a great talk, one that all of us in agricultural education could benefit from!
Tuesday:
I was at "school" again, this time with 3rd and 4th graders - and some adorable preschoolers! I loved seeing them interact and learn, but wasn't so happy when I learned about the food insecurity in the classroom. Some students only get food at school, so the meals are (thankfully) pretty nutritious and provided early in the day.
In the afternoon, I helped with a UTN basic chemistry lab for some Animal Production freshmen. They were learning about thermodynamics of reactions, so they did an acid-base reduction experiment and measured the energy/heat change. I was given more responsibility in the lab and helped several complete their lab notebook assignment... hmm, maybe I am cut out to be a chemistry teacher too? I once considered it! I love chemistry!
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| Pre-lab mini-lecture |
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| The boys, thinking hard... |
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| Making their mini bomb calorimeters! |
On Wednesday, a Dairy Production seminar was hosted at the University by the Costa Rican dairy industry master: Dos Pinos. The event was a collaborative effort of this massive company and the UTN extension office, as it hosted over 100 of the more local farmers who produce milk for the Dos Pinos dairy cooperative. This company is by far the leading power when it comes to Costa Rica's significant dairy industry - they process 85% of the nation's commercial milk and are the main provider of raw material for beef and dairy cattle feed (source). I found it very interesting that this company was the main supporter of extension programs, especially considering their already strong hold on the dairy industry. They, in all of their successes, provide nutritional information and products for their cooperative farmers and host these seminars to increase production. It is a very smart business tool, but it may not always be the best for these medium to small-scale farmers. However, due to the lack of noticeable success of University level extension programs, this event was encouraging to see, in order that at least some information is being disseminated to the local agricultural producers.
With that said, the events for the day were as follows:
- Registration and introductions
- Lecture by UCR (University of Costa Rica) researcher: "Strategic feed supplementation in crisis seasons"
- Tractor/wagon tour of the campus:
- Presentation, by UTN environmental management professor: "Biodigestors and alternative uses of manure"
- Presentation, by UTN animal/dairy production professor: "Alternative supplements produced on the farm"
- Demonstration and discussion, by UTN animal production researcher: "Evaluation of bovine features and their relation to yields in dairy production"
- Lunch!
- Mini-Rodeo: organized by animal production students (some of whom I was teaching chemistry to the day before!)
I served as an assistant for the event by helping with registration and I also was one of the University photographers for the day! Wohoo to using my camera for the first time since arriving! It was hot and exhausting running around campus all day, but it was fun and I learned a lot about how farmers are receiving information for improved production. The rodeo was hilarious - mainly because the students are still learning a lot - but definitely a good time!
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| I know, right, the nutritional needs of a seeded area is such exciting stuff! |
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| Tractor tour |
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| The UTN forage expert, speaking about making hay and silage on the farm |
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| One of the UTN Holsteins listening to the talk about feeding her |
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| The "bovine traits" evaluation talk - very interesting for those who show cattle (he mentioned us gringos and our cattle shows) |
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| A Latin American Rodeo event called Floreo - it is like color guard but with Lassos! and boys! |
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| Look at them cowboys. |
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| Of course we must have barrel racing. |
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| I have never seen this but it was amusing: relay race on bareback! |
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| Another amusing event: musical tires! When the music stops, you have to jump off and stick your boot in a tire first! |
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| And what would a Rodeo be without calf tying? #classy |
A group of about 60 high school students visited the university for a tour and a "talk" - a service put on by the extension programs. The talk that they requested was to be on carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins (verrryyyy broad request). So, one of the UTN professors did a 40 minute lecture on the basics of those three biocompounds, then I jumped in with the activity that I and a food technology staff member worked on. I was presenting all by myself to a group of 55 teenagers, in Spanish... it could have gone badly, but it went pretty well! The activity was to have them identify, in small groups, an unknown food based on the biocompound description/process on their papers. Some of the descriptions were a bit confusing for them, so I had to scaffold a bit, but the overall activity was cool. They got to get up, move around, and find groups, then they shared their paper when they thought it applied to the food on the projector. There was some chatter and quiet reading, but they were overall, pretty good for being such a large group. I learned that I still have that "presentation mode" in me from my state FFA officer days and that, even in Spanish, I can manage large groups! Wohoo!!
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| The high schoolers playing with the large buck at the goat barn |
Friday:
Today is a chill day - I am working at home and planning for the Earth day events, in addition to making contact with local supporters for this community event and hopefully visiting today or Monday.
I am also working on finalizing my honors thesis - what which I wrote based on observations and research on agricultural education in Turrialba when I was in Costa Rica 2 years ago! It's kind of strange to be back here, completing it... but since it's due next week, I should get going...
I am also super excited to leave town this afternoon to visit my dear friend, Gaby, in Guanacaste. She is a 3rd year student at EARTH from Mexico and she is spending part of her semester at the "dry tropics" campus of the university. She is one of my closer friends now and I am so thankful not only for the opportunity to have been at EARTH and met such great friends, but I am super grateful that I can see here now that I am here for my internship!! Don't worry, friends, I will be reading and working during the bus ride - it will be a productive trip :)
From Atenas, Costa Rica, I am signing off - I hope you have an awesome weekend!! Pura Vida!
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