The final student teaching blog post.

What? That doesn't seem possible? With over 20 blog posts in just 14 weeks, how can it be ending so quickly? Well, my flight leaves in the morning and I will come home to 2 weeks of seminars before graduating from The Pennsylvania State University. That's insane. But don't let me digress too much - it's time to reflect on student teaching.

This blog post could very easily come in two distinct parts – one of which I had already written 7 weeks ago. I could, out of simplicity, reflect on my two student teaching experiences: one in Pennsylvania and the other in Costa Rica. However, I won’t let myself off that easily. This is meant to be a deeper, more pensive reflection. For that, I choose to reflect on my student teaching experience in its entirety – regardless of how incredibly different my two placements were.

Several years ago, when I thought of “student teaching” as the final building block of my academic career and experiences, I thought of it with a very closed mind. I imagined myself, who at the time did not have much interest in teaching in the classroom, not enjoying the work needed to plan, execute, and assess formal learning. I imagined it would be a bit of a hardship, but that I would endure and benefit from it. I, as many people often find themselves, enjoy being “unique” and not conforming to the norm (some call this transcendentalism). When I first thought of completing student teaching abroad, I was more excited – mainly because this meant I would get to leave the “norm,” be “different,” and explore the world. The box I put student teaching in began to morph into a new shape, but one I could not quite distinguish.

When we selected our cooperating centers over a year ago and I began to plan for my international experience, I still had a somewhat closed mind... and I didn’t really know what the “box” would end up becoming since I had no idea what to expect from the international aspect of my student teaching. It was still novel: something nobody had done and something that I would get to help plan. The whole “domestic” aspect of my student teaching didn’t seem as zesty and fresh, but I was still getting excited about it – but only because I loved the region and town where I would be going. It’s a pretty shallow reason for getting excited about student teaching somewhere, but as I mentioned previously, I didn’t think I would like teaching. Meanwhile, my Costa Rica experience was developing very slowly, with little noticeable progress to latch on to... so I began to focus on Wellsboro a bit more.

Two cooperating center visits, a national convention trip, seven instructional units, over a hundred lesson plans, and one incredibly chaotic academic semester later, I found myself in the blustery cold of Wellsboro, PA. Having had the chance to get to know some of my Wellsboro students on the National FFA Convention trip, I was excited to spend time with those ten and get to know them more. But how could I have thought that these were the only good kids at Wellsboro? Within the first few weeks at my PA cooperating center, I began to fall in love with the agriculture classroom and the chance to see those kids every day.

Some of my Wellsboro students when I gave a LifeKnowledge lesson in the fall

A rough winter caused enough snow days to push back the marking period a whole week – one week less than what I had prepared for in the fall. Due to my short time at Wellsboro, I was required to complete all unit and lesson plans for my 7 weeks at Wellsboro prior to arriving (as opposed to the first 3 weeks of instruction expected by other student teachers – another “novelty” that I selfishly clung to). By the time I really got the hang of teaching and investing myself in my Wellsboro kids, I had to pack my student teaching life into 2 suitcases (with much fewer jackets and scarves) and head south. It was a bittersweet goodbye if I had ever had one. I learned that I loved teaching agriculture, and that I can make an impact on so many lives as a teacher. But I was still anticipating the “unique” box that I opened upon arrival to Costa Rica.

Learning in the barn back in PA

The day of all days - middle school recruitment! I got to really see how awesome my kids are - they pulled it all together.

When I arrived, however, that box didn’t seem nearly as exciting as I had expected. I suppose one could say that I received my due wage for always wanting more non-conformist experiences. The “normal” student teaching experience was by far the more beautiful and rewarding of the two. But this doesn’t mean that my time in Costa Rica has been wasted. The 7 week experience, though my 3^rd (and almost non-novel) time in Costa Rica, has definitely presented several new opportunities and challenges that I would have not have received in Pennsylvania. Student teaching here, however, has almost nothing in common with my student teaching in Wellsboro.

Again, my Costa Rica experience was not a negative one. In fact, I am sure the challenges and discomforts will be extremely beneficial to my future life and career. Having to practically organize my own internship experience brought me a lot of stress but also gave me the chance to develop responsibility and accountability for my life experiences. I didn’t really have a supervisor or mentor here, but rather appreciated greatly the ability to communicate globally with my support team at Penn State. My Costa Rica experience, which was to involve teaching college students, dramatically changed within the first two weeks of being here. Yet I still maintained a positive attitude as I refocused on the goals of the student teaching internship.

UTN chemistry lab - I was a teacher's aid!

Assistant and photographer at UTN extension events - this was the dairy production seminar

Practically serving as an “intern” to the extension and social action office at the university, I was given various small tasks (and sought out my own larger ones) to maximize my time and investments. I helped with several tours and high school events, observed agricultural classes, and assisted in a chemistry lab. I did get to teach students – high schoolers – about agriculture. Yet I didn’t feel as though I was leaving an impact or nearly closely working as diligently as I had at Wellsboro.

Upon request, I was able to work with a local rural primary school and, therefore, interact with youth in another capacity. After just 4 weeks of simply volunteering in the classroom and planning a community event for these kids, I found that they were quite fond of me. I received several letters and notes, in addition to hugs and “don’t leave”s when I said goodbye this morning; there arose again that feeling of achievement of being a “teacher” and positively impacting the lives of students, even if I didn’t formally teach much of anything to these kids. I am continuing to learn about the impact that educators have on youth.

Lesson about agriculture for 5th/6th graders!

Public community event - Earth day - with the kiddos: A successful culmination of many efforts!

The entire school! Escuela La Balsa will always have a place in my heart

Here, at the end of my two-part student teaching experience, I reflect and can state that there have been several unique opportunities, many challenges, and countless revelations of what I desire to do with my life. Student teaching is about testing the waters to see if we are meant to be educators. It is also an internship in which, given the chance, we can experiment with other career opportunities. But student teaching, above all, is just another life opportunity to love and serve others. I pray that my student teaching experience was as much of a reflection of this life task as I had hoped. I pray that the students I encountered feel just a little bit more valued and maybe, just maybe, that they learned something about agriculture. After all, I have the best job in the world: being an agricultural educator.

Secondary Agricultural Education in Costa Rica: my research

As an agricultural and extension education major and international agriculture minor, I find much interest in global agricultural education. Having been given the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica for three separate educational experiences during my undergraduate education, I am fortunate to have been able to collect information about global agricultural education in the country. This blog post is devoted to describing secondary agricultural education in Costa Rica - specifically, I will reflect upon the data collected from my case study investigation of secondary agricultural education in the Central Valley county (canton) of Turrialba, Costa Rica.

Introduction, purpose, objectives
The investigation of secondary ag ed in Costa Rica began over 2 years ago, when I received a grant to conduct undergraduate honors thesis research abroad. So, in addition to my Spanish for the Ag Sciences immersion experience in May of 2012, I remained in Costa Rica for 2 weeks of June 2012 to spend time in and collect data from local schools that have ag ed programs. What follows is a summary of my entire undergraduate honors college thesis, which completely lays out a thorough description of Turrialba ag ed programs, specifically with focus on the following purpose and objectives:

The purpose of the study is to describe secondary agricultural education programs in the Central Valley canton of Turrialba, Costa Rica. The following research objectives guided the study:

1. Describe secondary education in Turrialba, Costa Rica
2. Describe agricultural education provided in secondary education in Turrialba, Costa Rica
3. Describe perceptions of administrators, teachers, and students of agricultural education in Turrialba, Costa Rica. 

Background information

Education is of major importance in Costa Rica, reflected by over 6% of GDP expenditures and almost a 100% school attendance rate. The agricultural industry is of vital significance to the economy of many rural towns of Costa Rica, especially in the fertile Central Valley - where almost half of the labor force is involved in agriculture. Evaluation and discussion of secondary agricultural education in Costa Rica, however, is not extensively recorded. 

An agriculture classroom with the instructor lecturing from a book

Case studies are developed, using multiple data sources, on populations not commonly analyzed. The purpose of this case study was to compile a general description of secondary agricultural education programs in the Central Valley town of Turrialba, Costa Rica. 

Data collection

Data was collected to: describe the scope of the schools; discuss curriculum standards and courses; and assess perceptions of agricultural education by administrators, teachers, and students. Data collection methods included interviewing (informal, semi-structured, unstructured), observations (simple and participant), physical artifact collection (student statistics, curriculum standards), and photographs (of school structures and student work environments). 

Results

Of the many secondary schools in Turrialba, two offer agricultural education courses. The Liceo Experimental Bilingüe de Turrialba (LEB) which directly translates to “Experimental Bilingual High School of Turrialba,” is a 5-year semi-public school with emphasis on English courses. Students graduate with a general high school diploma (bachillerato) and proficiency in the English language. The agricultural education program is a secondary focus of LEB instruction and includes mandatory agriculture courses for students’ first three years. The one agricultural teacher at LEB does not have mandated curriculum because the option to have an agricultural program is under the discretion of the principal, not the government. In addition to lacking curricular resources from the government, LEB agricultural education is limited by a lack of resources and space for experiential learning in agricultural education.

The only agricultural facilities present at the time of study in LEB - some planting beds and work areas (not much in use)

The Colegio Técnico Profesional Agropecuario de La Suiza (CTP), which directly translates to “Professional Technical Agricultural High School of La Suiza,” is a 6-year public school that offers a specialty technical degree to graduates in addition to the 5-year bachillerato. Students take electives for the first three years before selecting a specialty area for the final three years. Three of the five specialty degree areas offered at CTP relate to agricultural science. There are twelve teachers of agricultural education at CTP, dispersed evenly within the three agricultural specialty areas: agroecology, agricultural production, and food processing (agroindustry). Teacher backgrounds vary with regard to universities and past experience but generally reflect the teachers’ instructional area. Agricultural curriculum at CTP is mandated by the government’s education ministry (MEP) because of the school’s national technical affiliation. Curriculum standards exist for both the exploratory years (1-3) and technical years (4-6) of CTP. Agricultural facilities at CTP are expansive and include: a large farm with gardens, dairy, poultry, and goats; a forest farm; and a small farm with rabbits and poultry processing areas. The following photos are all of CTP students and facilities. 

Several animal husbandry facilities allow students at CTP to have much experiential learning opportunities

The CTP facilities are diverse and include a large organic garden

8th grade students in a plant science elective work outside to plant plantain cultivars

Students of the agroindustry specialty area prepare foods for their practical exam

Students in a 7th grade exploratory elective class are butchering chickens they raised

Summary and recommendations 

Perceptions of agricultural education are positive, yet enrollment is a concern. Generally, people recognized agriculture as being important to the community and nation, but were not as knowledgeable of the connection between agricultural education and workforce growth. There was, however, a noticeable lack of interest of students who are taking agricultural courses to pursue agricultural studies or careers. Additionally, retention in agriculture programs and school in general seemed to be of concern. Therefore, recommendations are as follows:

Local Turrialba students who are interested in a career related to agricultural sciences should pursue study at CTP due to its strong agricultural education program and resources. Recruitment programs in secondary agricultural education should be better identified and established in order to make aware the secondary educational opportunities of agricultural science in the Turrialba region. The economics and career opportunities in agriculture should also be exposed to students who are selecting their secondary education experience. Proposed improvements of the education system therefore include: strengthened recruitment and retention programs, promoting agricultural job markets to students entering secondary education, and greater resource provision for agricultural experiential learning.

Further study

Many areas of further study may be pursued to strengthen and expand upon this descriptive research study:

• Data should be collected at the national level (MEP) with respect to local educational programming: specifically, how local data (needs, economy, etc.) are reflected in secondary education programing.
• Further studies, similar to this in nature, should be conducted in Costa Rican secondary agricultural education programs in order to develop a greater picture of nation-wide agricultural education. 
• A study should be developed to more clearly define national-level goals and regulations of agricultural education curriculum and successes. This would be conducted by visiting the Ministry of Public Education, especially the professional technical sector, and gathering data through interviews with national administrators. 
• In relating occupational opportunities and agricultural education, research should be conducted to identify the career or post-secondary decisions of Turrialba agricultural education graduates. These decisions will better develop an understanding of the preparatory nature of secondary agricultural education in Turrialba. 
• A descriptive study of recruitment and retention in agricultural education programs should be developed to understand perceptions of students who either decide to enroll in agricultural education or drop out from current programs. 
• Perspectives of secondary agricultural education should be gathered from the following parties: 
• Parents and families of students involved in the educational programs 
• Individuals in the local agricultural industry 
• Individuals in higher agricultural education. For example: professors, researchers, administrators at post-secondary institutions of agriculture in Costa Rica. 
• Recent graduates of the agricultural education programs in the study, both in post-secondary education and the workforce, to qualitatively measure the successes of the programs in the study. 
• Third party community members who are not directly connected to secondary agricultural education or the agricultural industry to develop a greater understanding of the community’s awareness and value of agricultural education. 

Summary and reflection
While I only have been able to capture a snapshot of secondary agricultural education in the world, I still have a broader view of its diversity. More importantly, I am thankful for the ability to see how education can and should reflect industry and workforce needs. I appreciated the chance to work with the students and hear from them, a potential indicator of the superb student teaching experience I had while teaching students in Wellsboro. While I sadly could not complete my Costa Rica student teaching experience at the CTP school, I know I will always remember it as one to be admired when it comes to experiential learning in agricultural education. 

There are still a hopeful amount of individuals interested in agricultural sciences in Costa Rica - at least from what I have observed and come to know during my 3 agriculturally-related experiences here. I now have visited 2 primary schools, 3 secondary schools, and 3 universities in Costa Rica and have grasped a bigger picture of education in the nation. From these experiences, I have developed an increased interest in how educational systems and agricultural education functions around the world and hope to continue to build on to my experiences in Costa Rica to contribute to the global definition of agricultural education.

El Día de la Tierra!!!

That means... you guessed it: 

EARTH DAY!

Yesterday was that special day where we talk about recycling and how we love the planet and so much more!

Happy Earth Day everyone - I hope you reflected on how well you treat your earth and environment. We are all responsible for caring for this beautiful place in which we reside, we are all stewards given the task to keep clean and well maintained the place that the Lord formed for us. Let us celebrate Earth Day everyday!

In Spanish, Earth = Tierra. And while I haven't been saying it much in English lately, I have been talking a lot about Earth Day lately. Why? Well, for my student teaching experience here in Costa Rica, I have been really investing the majority of my time these last few weeks in planning and implementing this community-based event. See previous blogs for some of the thoughts associated with this process...

Needless to say, I am relieved to have the chance to reflect on this long-awaited event, especially since it went SO WELL!! Praise the Lord - really, I was praying, and He was faithful!

"Welcome to Earth Day"

But before I get too into the details of what happened and I show you pictures, let me reflect a little bit on community event planning. First reflection: it's not easy. Coordinating with over 20 stakeholders via every communication method possible in my non-native language isn't always the easiest. However, the language didn't prove to be much of a barrier. I do believe, however, that culture was a major limiting factor. If you want to learn more about the career values of Ticos, see an earlier blog post (in the "reflection" section). The laid-back atmosphere of the workforce and schooling here makes it difficult, at times, to get information from people in a timely manner and coordinate activities. Let's add in the week of national holiday last week (Holy Week - all of my stakeholders were on vacation) and we will find that Alli was kind of stressed out until yesterday... when she just decided to go with the flow and let whatever happens happen. And it happened! But still, trying to meet with or communicate ideas and plans with the stakeholders certainly took the majority of my time when it comes to planning.

So what did we do? Well, I guess I can show you with photos :)

Giving a welcome to the kids and guests - I estimated around 50 kids and 50 other guests, volunteers, and speakers!

The University loaned us a really nice tent for the day - super helpful in the hot sun

Ladies from the school "PTA" who made food to raise funds for the school!

There were 3 major areas or activities for the day - informative talks, (recycled) crafts, and interactive booths or stands. The mission for the day was:
To promote environmental education, specifically, the importance of maintaining natural resources in order to meet the needs of the local community, nation, and world. In order to respect and promote positive decisions within local natural resource management, this event is intended to make students, families, and community members aware of local environmental concerns and propose ways in which the community can become part of solutions.

Focusing on the students and how to empower them with knowledge, I also really wanted to empower the community members and their parents to begin to make better environmental decisions now. Although there weren't too many community members that came to the event, we did have at least 15 parents show up to participate in talks and activities with their kids. I estimated about 100 people to be present for the event and I believe that is almost exactly as many people that came!

The director of the Wildlife and Forestry program at UTN speaks about the importance of forests and forest resources in Costa Rica - here he has a seed from a Costa Rican tree, commonly known as a "monkey's cooking pot"

Another speaker, UTN professor and environmental management expert, shows students and guests the vermiculture compost (worms) that they can easily prepare and maintain in their homes

After hearing about the basics of recycling, students had a recycling race!

Another UTN biologist gave a small talk about global warming and how we can prevent it locally, then the students played a "penguins and ice" game where they had to race to get back to the decreasing "ice cap" after collecting food.

On Monday, I had all the students draw what Earth day meant to them and they made a "promise" for the event. We showcased their "environmental art" at Earth day. Andres promises not to litter!

One of my awesome volunteers talking about water pollution (see bread slices and food dye - it moves through bread more easily when the bread is wet) and other concerns with water at the water booth

Kids at the "forest booth" learn about different Costa Rican trees, seed carriers, and were given a seed packet to plant in their house and record the growth of the trees. The booth was run by UTN Forestry and Wildlife students!

The dean of UTN showed up, even if for a few minutes, to see the event! #publicity

A personal excitement of mine - having an "agriculture booth" for Earth day to discus the sustainable options of an integrated farm: compost, biodigestor, integrated and diverse crops and animals, etc. Another UTN Wildlife/Forestry volunteer helped to run this booth!

I was honestly surprised with how well the event went - maybe I am better at event planning than I thought! I believe the students learned a lot, especially since there was so much EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING going on!! Hopefully this, too, was transferred to the school teachers and they may have more resources for instruction in the future. I also am thankful that we were able to bring together the university, school, and public - the Dean of the university said he was thankful for the event because they lately haven't had much time to focus on the community in their actions.

Students played some other games as well, like this one that represents teamwork in order to lift the cup of water.

I was super thankful for these ladies - other student teachers working with Global Gateway student teaching abroad - who came to help out with various activities! 

Overall, it was an awesome day. I am so thankful for everyone who came and helped pull it together. I had fun and believe the students and families did too! PLUS, LEARNING OCCURRED!

I will be leaving to come home in 2 days and know that, while I am ready to be back and graduate, I will certainly miss this community and the true focus of the Earth Day event - the students. Let us never forget that, whether in educational settings, community events, or a combination of the two, we must always invest in the next generation. Let us love and live for these kids who will carry this earth into many more Earth Days!

Planning and prepping. Important, but not that photo-worthy.

No, I don't think there will be many pictures in this week's blog - but it was a good week of work!
This week included a lot of the "bureaucracy" that goes into planning an event and working with several stakeholders.

I also am happy to say that I completed and turned in my Schreyer Honors thesis on Tuesday and am ALL DONE with honors college requirements! Wohoo! One step closer to graduation! That did take some of my work time this week, but I am thankful that it is completed.

Other than thesis work, I've been visiting the primary school and coordinating activities for Earth Day (11 days away!). I made flyers to hang around town, campus, and hand out to the kids.

Black and white flyer for Earth Day! Let me know if you want it translated to use for your next Earth Day event ;) 

I formally met with at least 10 different stakeholders and volunteers, and informally discussed aspects of the event with several others. I am realizing that event planning does take a lot of work and a lot of hands to bring it together... now I just hope it really comes together! I am hoping that this event really leaves an impact on the community in terms of environmental stewardship and that the students carry the knowledge ahead with them as they make daily decisions and become their community's leaders.

One other thing I am learning about planning events, especially in another country, is that people who aren't directly invested in the activity may not have that much enthusiasm for the event and, therefore, may not be as dedicated to its success. I am hoping to instill a high level of ownership into the various volunteers and stakeholders so that everything goes well. Timeliness has a completely different definition in Costa Rica than it does in the US and I am learning to be more patient and not freak out when people don't respond right away. Things work out here, even with Tico time being a little "atrasado" (delayed) - things may not be as efficient and effective, but they still work out. I am trying to live with this cultural truth and, at the same time, exert a bit more "timeliness" and "dedication" to something so that its success may be seen as a result of that dedicated and timely work. I get frustrated when I hear that previous extension events or "community" events had almost zero participation, yet nothing seems to have been done to change programming to improve attendance and success in the future. I don't know everything and I certainly was not present for all the planning of those events, so I may be ignorant to other factors, but I guess I am hoping that a successful Earth Day event can show the potential of strong planning and cooperation.

What else happened this week? I am thankful that I am getting along well with my roommate and fellow CR student teacher - she is the only other Global Gateway student teacher in CR from PSU and she just happens to live with the same host family as me! We got to spend some time and learn about each other and our teaching experiences this week and I've enjoyed having a regular friend to go to or see. I also was slightly jealous of her "lesson prep" of reading child books in Spanish - she is teaching a kindergarten class! Teachers unite!

Yesterday was a crazy meeting day, but I got to help out one of my favorite classes/groups by watching some 2nd year Animal Production students at UTN give final presentations for their animal feeding and nutrition course (the one I have been following along with/observing/touring with). The professor handed me a "presentation evaluation" for the second group I watched... so I graded some college student presentations! It was interesting to see their work on a project as simple as observing feed intake in goats, but recognizing how important it is to know these basics in order to maximize production.

Students giving a production about calf feed consumption

The evaluation rubric... power in my hands... 

This weekend I am visiting some friends at EARTH University (look at blogs from last summer for more info). I nonetheless am taking advantage of international relations and internet, as I got to give a "lesson" to a PA high school ag class this morning! While it may not have been as interactive of a lesson as I would have liked, I still got to speak to Jeanne Case's Leadership class about global hunger and what hunger looks like in the countries I've visited. Her class (follow tweets at #dlead4hunger) is learning about global and local hunger - they had a guest speaker from the food bank earlier this week. On the "global" side of things, I differentiated hunger and malnutrition, showed them pictures of agriculture and "hunger" in the countries I have visited (CR, Thailand, Cambodia), and contrasted the reasons for hunger in those countries. It's the first time I have spoken to high school ag students in English since I left PA 5 weeks ago... and it made me miss BEING there and SEEING my kids in Wellsboro!

I am attempting to enjoy every moment here and influence every life I can. I was happy to meet the mother of three kids that I normally ride the bus with in the morning - they take the public bus to the school I am working with and I often get off with them and sit with them. They are wonderful souls, and their mom was a sweet lady. I hope she can come to Earth day so I can make another connection with her. I will miss her children when I leave in two weeks.

TWO WEEKS! #crazy #liveitup #makeadifference #global

The Fourth Friday: Water, fires, kiddos, and job offers...

Four weeks done and three remain. Who knows what tomorrow may bring?

While the reference to job offers is not really a reference to job offers, I do want to mention a few interesting things that have happened in the last 24 hours - so follow along :)

Water
Today it RAINED! Okay, maybe it drizzled for 5 minutes, but still - this is a big deal (at least for me). I am currently living in the "dry tropics" region of Costa Rica - here there are only 2 seasons: dry and wet (they call them summer and winter, respectively). From May to November, it rains... a lot. Everything is green and lovely and there are no forest fires or water shortages. Then, from December to the end of April, its dry. Like, no rain, at all. I was surprised to hear that it hasn't really rained since December. 4 months without any precipitation seems pretty insane, but that's how it is in certain parts of the world.

Look at at beautiful brown grass... 

Did I mention yet that my host family home does not have water during the day? Since I arrived (and I don't know how many months prior), the municipality of Los Angeles de Atenas (my neighborhood) shuts off the public water during the day: the WHOLE day. When I first arrived, it got turned off around 10 PM and would shut off around 7 AM. Nowadays, its not coming on until after Midnight and is turning off closer to 6 AM. Imagine this: you're a stay at home mom, maybe with a baby in tow, and you don't have access to water between 6 AM and 12 Midnight each day.

The tropical soil in this part of campus is very expansive - high clay content causes great fissures about 2 feet deep

While there are much worse cases than this (i.e. 770 million people without improved water sources), I never thought I would experience or witness such a case in Central America, so close to home. Costa Rica is the most developed country in Central America, yet still struggles with issues such as this.

Thankfully, my host family has a 80 gallon storage tank that they fill each night and are able to have some low pressure water during the day (a good thing for my host "sister" who just had a baby, and lives next door).
Nonetheless, it's been a good experience to occasionally bathe with a bucket in the middle of the day and not have all the water pressure I am so used to. This, as I explained to my new roommate, is part of developing "Global Competency."

Fire
In addition to lacking water, this year's especially hot/dry "summer" has caused several brush and forest fires nearby. I was shocked at first to see smoke rising from the valleys and mountainsides nearby, but after several consecutive days of small smokey areas arising in different places, it began to be normal. These fires are mostly of the grassy, dry canopy floor and do not burn a lot of woody material - but there was a significantly large fire up the mountain from the University campus and small town where I am working. This fire did burn several hectares of trees and can cause severe damage to the local watershed and aquifer for the community. Several students and faculty of UTN's forestry/wildlife program helped to put the fire out - something I would be afraid to do, especially in this already scorching heat.

Water and fire - two contrasting but complimentary topics right now in Atenas. Hopefully the little bit of rain today will at least dampen the forest floors and prevent more forest fires... I am not so hopeful that the sprinkle will replenish the city water and allow it to be turned back on. Oh well, here's to more bucket showers!

Kiddos
Today was an exiting day - I got to teach some of my primary school kiddos about agriculture!! While my original plan for student teaching here was to work with college students, plans have changed a little (as they continue to do) and I have been focusing more on helping with classes here at the elementary school. So, on Monday, when I noticed that their upcoming Social Studies exam would include some agricultural and environmental topics (to compliment Costa Rica geography), I jumped on the ball. I was given permission to have some time to give them a (value-added) lesson, expanding on these topics! Between thesis work sessions, I developed a lesson that focused on: a) the definition of agriculture and its importance in Costa Rica, b) identifying major agricultural products in CR, and c) discussing common ecological problems in Costa Rica (relating some back to ag). My students are in either 5th or 6th grade, ages 9-13ish, and there were 17 of them today. With about 50 minutes or so, I got to surprise them with a "naked, skinny, and homeless" interest approach, define agriculture and jobs that it offers, and then we colored in "maps" of Costa Rica. The maps were a 10 x 10 grid, representing the entire land mass of the country (which happens to equate to the size of West Virginia, btw) - I then shared with them the % of each land type: agricultural (37%), forest (52%) and urban (11%). They had to outline the number of blocks that represented each one, then - when we did a "go get it" E-moment and they found agricultural products (pictures) around the room, they colored in their "maps" with agricultural products that they learned.

Oh yeah, check out that definition of agriculture. #agliteracy

Then, we broke into groups for a "detective" case study - I had developed some situations or conditions that they had to imagine themselves in, then work as a group to identify the major ecological problem it represents (i.e. you notice the water coming from the sink smells funny and you've been getting sick lately from drinking it -- water pollution). They developed 1-2 solutions to combat their group's problem and someone from each group shared with the class. It went really well! I think the kids liked it too :)

I was able to have my "university supervisor" present for the lesson (photo credit to him for the pics) - he is a Tico English professor for a national teaching institution who has various roles and jobs, one of which observing Spanish-speaking student teachers in the Global Gateway program. He and I talked about the lesson and he said that it went super well. Some key points that I thought I would share are that he was surprised and pleased to see so much opportunity given to the students to think critically throughout the lesson. Apparently, critical thinking is not a strength in the Tico public education system - I think the country is still stuck at the first two levels of Bloom's taxonomy of knowing and understanding.

Some additional scaffolding was needed at times - my Spanish instructions aren't perfect :)
But then again, neither were my English instructions! 

He also loved that I greeted the kids (I love it too - they're great! and I am glad I've had time to get to know them beforehand) and was able to manage the whole class and individual needs (especially during the math segment - it got a little confusing for some). I was surprised that I did so well teaching to their level - as this is usually a problem for me - but he thought it went well (although he never really observed someone teaching at the primary level).

When it came to suggestions, I got the suggestion that I already knew I deserved - cognitive connect. The lesson went a little long and it was getting super hot and I was losing some steam, so when we came close to an hour of what should have been a 45 minute lesson, I cut them short of really reviewing and testing their knowledge of the learning objectives. My Tico supervisor talked about the importance of this time and I felt like I was experiencing Deja Vu back to the days of my PSU supervisor discussing the same thing upon my evaluation. Hey, this is still "student" teaching - excellence takes time and dedication - and I am dedicated to improving any area that needs it in order to give those students the best possible learning experience.

It was incredibly hot today, and I was up pretty late the last few nights - so I was pooped after teaching that one lesson today (it makes me wonder if I could have possibly survived a full student teaching load, like at Wellsboro, in constant 90 degree heat). But I got to take a walk back to campus and, with my camera, capture some shots of the ag facilities. Stay tuned for a special "campus look" blog post.

As I was planning to head home on an afternoon bus, I was called into the office of one of the UTN extension employees. He is director of small livestock species on campus and extension programming for them: goats, sheep, hogs, poultry. He usually gives lectures/talks/presentations to adult farmers in the region, but he was asked (yesterday) to prepare a 1 hour "talk" for a bunch of farmers' kids... for tomorrow! The poor guy had no idea how to plan something for kids (ages 7-14, approx 10 of them) so I was recommended by someone else to come in and help him out! We developed (more or less) a lesson that involved some more hands-on and student centered activities rather than him just using a PowerPoint, as he was planning to do. The kids are part of an inter generational farming program that allows them to take care of their family's farm animals for a year - the goal is to encourage them to take over the farm when their parents retire. This UTN employee was asked to help prepare them for this year - specifically for sheep and goat production. So we planned a bit about: products, nutrition, general care, and milking.

As I sat there and gave ideas or talked him through some of the needs of these kids, I began to realize that I am actually a budding "expert" in my own area - AG EDUCATION! Specifically, for youth! Now now, I know you're thinking "what the heck, Allison, that's your major - shouldn't you be an expert?" But I will tell you that, for several years, I have doubted what my true "forte" was when it came to careers - agricultural education is really diverse - we learn a little bit about everything when it comes to content, then pair it with pedagogy (teaching methodology). However, since I thought, for so long, that I wasn't going to use my major to be an in-class teacher (at least not right away), I never thought of myself as an expert in ag education. But today it dawned on me that maybe I do have a specialty area... it reflects my major (duh)!!

Job offers
The cherry on top of this realization was that this man, who I was helping, finally said to me, as I was leaving, that UTN should hire me to help organize the youth-oriented events that the University offers... (hence the "job offers" in the title). That was even more encouraging to hear, and I kindly informed him that I already was doing this with the high school groups that have visited while I was here. Nonetheless, it was an exciting opportunity to use my "specialty" to train someone else :)

Okay, so I'll let you see one sheep picture since I mentioned my tour of campus and I helped plan a lesson about sheep... enjoy!

Yes they're sheep, yes there are multiple breeds, yes they still have their tails. I'll tell you more later... 

Que cansada... not a fan of computer work

Que cansada = how tiring.

My back is not a fan of all of my computer work this week, especially considering the less-than-deal seats I have been working in... But hey, there are exciting things happening!

I am going to turn in my undergraduate thesis (for the Schreyer Honors College) this weekend... just a few more revisions and additions and that baby is gonna be all done! Wohoo! The irony of the whole thing is easy to forget at times when I'm sitting at a computer for hours at a time, trying to figure out how to format "fields" and tables in Word.

What is so ironic about it? Well, my thesis is titled: "Describing Secondary Agricultural Education in the Central Valley Canton of Turrialba, Costa Rica: A Case Study." This, of course, is where I lived 2 years ago (2012) when I first came - I visited local high schools that offer agriculture courses and collected a LOT of data (in just 2 weeks). That data was transformed into a superfluously (note: word of the week) long description of local agricultural education. I didn't have much time to work with the data until last spring (2013) and I really didn't get my first draft done until I was BACK in Costa Rica for the start of my EARTH University study abroad experience. Then, I really didn't get time to do anything with it until I received some revision feedback and began working on it again in the last two weeks... here, again in Costa Rica. So - it's a thesis about agricultural education in Costa Rica that was started, worked on, and completed while in Costa Rica - each time for an agricultural education experience! Talk about #irony. My computer is now accustomed to being stared at for hours on end in the hot tropical weather and probably wouldn't work for me if I tried to work on my thesis in the States.

This week, therefore, was much devoted to thesis work (hence back pain).

What else? Maybe something more exciting? I am still working regularly with the students at the local primary school - we are getting to know each other more and more. On Tuesday, I helped them pick up trash around the school yard! Although the appearance is still not that appealing due to the scorched grass, it looks much nicer! (note: these are the only photos I have for this week's blog - sorry, I told you I am not a fan of computer work - no photo opps!)

Clean up time!

Scorching sun = brown school yards

After a bit of time at school on Tuesday, I received a call that I could join a group of UTN animal production students to tour a feed mill and processing plant! It was pretty cool... maybe I am growing an interest in animal nutrition? I felt pretty knowledgeable of the content that the tour guide employee was reviewing - even in Spanish! I guess it helps that I just finished a 5 week animal nutrition/digestion unit in Wellsboro before coming here :) Either way, it was cool to learn about the processing techniques - I had never visited a feed mill in the US. They compared the corn of the US to Brazil and discussed ethanol production. The common, exported byproduct of ethanol production is DDGS - Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles. It was cool to learn that, not only is this English acronym universal, but that Central American animal feeds source this protein-rich product from the US.

Educationally-speaking, from the tour, I was surprised that more students (in their 2nd year of this animal production) didn't seem as engaged or even as knowledgeable of the theory behind the practical tour. I am wondering, now, if I should have attempted to teach these peers some agricultural concepts as part of this internship rather than simply helping them with chemistry. But due to the fact that there only remains 1 week of classes before the end of the semester, I don't think this will be able to happen... and thus I keep learning and moving forward!

The last 2 days haven't been that exciting - lots of thesis work and other planning on the computer. I am excited to say, however, that plans for Earth Day are really moving along!! They've blossomed into a scheduled plan with identified speakers and presenters, among other things, within the past 24 hours!

I am collaborating with a student at UTN who is majoring in wildlife/forestry and is a local to Atenas to brainstorm and plan some different activities for the community. In addition to meeting with him today and really moving ahead, I've been able to find some great online resources for Earth day/environmental ed activities. I also have confirmed at least 1 professor to give a demonstration about recycling and composting, and connected with a UTN employee who is active in the local community that is targeted for the event! Super exciting!!

And tomorrow is also an exciting day - I get to teach a lesson about Costa Rican agriculture and environmental issues to the 5th grade class at the school! WOHOOOO AG LITERACY! I'm pretty excited about it. I will reflect more tomorrow once it's completed (and I hopefully have some pictures to add)!

Man time is flying. I will be coming home in 3 short weeks... then graduating 2 weeks later. #crazy #reallife #whoa

Only the Lord knows what I will be doing in the next year - even though I have some ideas or hopes, it's really all up to Him. I just pray I won't be working on a computer for days at a time :)