My Ag Ed Journey

Hello, my name is Abbie Smith, and this Spring I had the opportunity to student teach at Northern Burlington Regional Middle School and High School, with Dr. Robin Mclean, Mr. Keith Dannucci, and Mr. Brian Hayes. During this experience, I spent the majority of my time with Dr. McLean teaching Agri science 7, Agri science 8, and CASE AFNR. I also taught Advanced Animal Science with Mr. Dannucci and I spent five weeks with Mr. Hayes and his Small Gas Engines class. In addition to the teachers that I worked with directly, I got the opportunity to work with a great team of teachers, administrators, and staff at both schools. Each individual I had the opportunity to work with had something to teach me during the experience. Thanks to this varied experience I have a few different takeaways from my student teaching experience. 1. Be Proactive: By being proactive in my planning and other activities I will be better able to serve my students. I have made strides in my planning ski...

Earlier this semester I attended the SAE for all teacher workshop. At this workshop, I learned about how the idea of SAEs has changed due to the continued change in the interests of FFA members. One important change is that while SAEs are still agriculture-based a student’s project does not have to be strictly agriculture-based. Granted the SAE still must relate to agriculture but SAEs do not have to directly relate to raising plants and animals. Another change is that teachers have a different way of observing their students SAE projects. This method is the AET. While students have had access to the AET for a few years now, with how large some agriculture programs are teachers may struggle to visit each student's SAE project every year. Especially when some students may need more than one visit. While these larger programs will often have multiple teachers, it can still be difficult to visit all of the projects. By using the AET teachers can get an idea of how their students...

This week my student teaching experience came to an end, this has been a great experience for me. I have learned much about myself during this student teaching experience. Some of what I have learned is new while others are things, I have already known but have struggled on improving. Throughout the course of this semester, I have made improvements to my teaching style and related skills. With this progress though, there is still room for further progress. I have met and interacted with many people along the way who have impacted my growth throughout this experience. The students that I got to teach were great kids they were all ready and willing to learn even if some of them needed more of a push then others. They all had something that could get them interested in the current topic, even if it was only loosely related and hard to find. The students were a great part of each day, regardless of what happened each day they were all a great part of each school day. My coop...

Today I visited my cohort member Amanda at Conrad Weiser High School. Amanda seems completely in her element even when she may not know exactly what is going on. She knows her students well and knows what their SAE projects are, or at least has an idea for what they are. Today the students, in the first half of her Intro to Ag classes, used Flipgrid to create videos relating to asexual propagation methods and how to use them with radishes. Upon completion of these videos, they were watched in a mixed tape format so that the students could see each other's videos. Once they finished watching the videos they discussed the topics before moving onto their SAEs. The students were all engaged and appeared to enjoy creating and viewing their Flipgrid videos. I got the chance to listen to the students to explain their SAEs and they sounded pretty interesting. They mostly have research-based SAEs as Conrad Weiser is a highly science-based school. During the second class, th...

In early February I had the opportunity to visit Mrs. Henry’s science class. During this class I got the opportunity to observe the wrap-up of a science project the students had been working on. Each student was to create an interactive representation of a specific geological formation, like tectonic plates. Students made fun yet simple activities for their classmates to complete so they could experience what the different geological processes look and act like on a small scale. Prior to being allowed to disperse around the room, the students were given a brief overview of what they would be doing during class that day. They were also told what was expected of them during the activity to evidence their participation. With the students being allowed to go to any presentation except their own. Once student questions have answered the students were allowed to move to their stations to set up their projects. Some of the students made websites for their information while ...

Today I took a look at a student's Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) project using the Agricultural Experience Tracker (AET). Northern Burlington does not generally do SAE visits as the Child Labor Laws in New Jersey count the SAE as a form of child labor. However, the teachers will check up on their student's progress using the AET. Through the AET they can not only check the student's progress on their SAE but they can also use the AET to fill out applications for different proficiency awards. In addition to the AET students whose SAE is located at the school have been able to receive updates from the teachers given permission to enter the school on the progress of their plants or animals. At Northern Burlington, a few of the students are responsible for taking care of the animals during the school week. These students have been allowed to use the animals on-site as part of their SAE. The animals that they use include goats, rabbits, and chickens. Duri...

Before quarantine started, I was able to attend a video conference meeting of the NJAAE hosted by my cooperating teacher Dr. McLean, who is the NJAAE president. This meeting was relatively brief, with some technical issues making it a bit difficult for some teachers to attend the meeting. Due to this not all of the normally covered business could be discussed, however, the documents were available so we could all see what the discussions would have been about. This in a way showcased how effective yet difficult using a video conference can be. On one had you can connect with individuals around the world and have a “face to face” meeting with them, on the other connection issues may make the meeting difficult to hold if all the speakers are unable to get reliable connection. This is also why, as I have been told, it is important to have at least a “Plan B”. By having a backup plan, you are able to plan for different circumstances that you may not anticipate. One way to do this ...

In late February I attended the Advocacy and Legislative Leadership Development workshop with a group of the Northern Burlington Regional High School FFA members. This was my first experience going to a workshop similar to this. I have attended different workshops during the Pennsylvania Association of Agricultural Educators, New Jersey Association of Agricultural Educators, and the National Association of Agricultural Educators conferences. However, I have never attended a conference meant for FFA members, having not come up through a program myself. The students were all fairly interested in the topics discussed during the conference and they were able to ask questions to each of the presenters. Students from various schools asked well thought out questions of the presenters. Their questions helped to create a better understanding of what each speaker did to further their own leadership and advocacy skills. The speakers described their own journeys and the various problems ...

Earlier in the semester I went with Dr. McLean to attend the New Jersey Board of Agriculture Meeting that was being held during the New Jersey State Agriculture Convention in Atlantic city, NJ. During this meeting representatives from different agricultural industries in New Jersey, from Equestrians to Aquaculture, discussed different advances an issue facing their respective industries. Individuals from the seven agricultural pathways were present during the meeting and each representative got a chance to discuss the issues related to their area of expertise. Through discussing the issues, they face in person the different representatives were able to brainstorm different ideas for how they can solve their individual problems. This is due mostly to the fact that while the representatives may know their specific industry the best, the other representatives will bring different perspectives into the issue that is being faced. This willingness to work together and share i...

Grant are a key part to teaching agriculture. In many cases the funding received for the program is not enough to cover all expenses for the program and learning how to fill out grant applications could be key to your program’s success. While fundraisers can help to raise money, and can be fairly successful, communities can only support so many fundraisers a year. This is especially true in low income and low population areas. By applying for grants you will be able to increase the activities that you can do with your students and FFA members. Unlike the money from fundraisers however the money from grants can usually only be used for the actual purpose of the grant. This however, isn’t much of an issue as there are grants for just about everything from classroom supplies to community service activities. There are even grants where the applications are meant to be filled out by the students or FFA members. These grants can help not only your program but the individual s...

Before Northern Burlington began their spring break, I talked a with Mr. Konowicz through zoom about what he looks for when looking to hire new teachers for the career and technology education programs at Northern Burlington. We discussed some of the characteristics and traits preferred in candidates as well as what programs might be the beneficial to add to the curriculum. Overall Mr. Konowicz stated that he looks for teacher candidates who have positive energy and charisma, as they tend to keep the students’ interest for longer time periods. In addition to having positive energy it is also important that the teacher candidate meshes well with the existing teachers. If for whatever reason the new teacher were not to get along with the other teachers, they may not have the best working relationship. In addition to the relationships between the teachers, the teachers’ relationships with their students is also important. The teachers must maintain an appropriate pro...

This upcoming week is the final week of my student teaching experience. When I started this experience, I never would have thought that I would have spent the last five weeks of my internship participating in strictly online instruction. Generally speaking, the worldwide pandemic we are dealing with isn’t something you would need to plan for. During this experience I have learned to apply many of the concepts that I learned about during my classroom experiences. The main one being classroom management techniques. Throughout my student teaching experience, I was given many opportunities to gain a variety of experiences. While I did not take advantage of all of them, I feel that I got the most out of the experiences that I did participate in. I got to experience the differences between a high school and middle school setting, which is not something many Agriscience student teachers get to experience. I greatly enjoyed this opportunity to see students in these two settings and co...

In the midst of the COVID-19 Quarantine, my cooperating center is starting its Easter/Spring break. The students and teachers have been working hard these past few weeks of quarantine. With the teachers working to create a workable curriculum that the students can complete at home. While the students learn how to best manage their time to complete their assignments. This has been a time of trial and error for many teachers and students. With most of them being unused to making or taking online classes there has been a learning curve. Some schools already have a system in place for online instruction. This has allowed some teachers extra time to prepare their curriculum for the rest of the quarantine, as they already have some materials prepared for their students. Other schools had no system ready for remote instruction. Teachers were left to create an instructional plan for their students with little to no pre-planned material. This difference in teacher prepa...

During Quarantine one very important thing we need to remember to do is to take care of our mental wellbeing. With people being stressed out over the possibility of contracting COVID-19 we need to remember to take a moment to ourselves to breathe. In addition to worrying about COVID-19, many people are also worried about their jobs and how they will pay their bills. While many individuals are able to work from home or are considered essential and need to go out to work, many more are unable to do so. With their jobs being considered nonessential and unable to work from home they are not bringing in any money for themselves or their families. This causes additional stress as everyone is worried about this virus and how long quarantine will last. While eventually COVID-19 will die down and quarantine will end we don’t know how long this will take. That is why it is important to find ways to take care of your mental health while you are stuck in your house. What you do durin...