Week 12 at Oley Valley!

    I can't believe we have reached the end of week 12 of student teaching! Time is flying by and before I know it, we will be back at Penn State reflecting on our student teaching experiences as a cohort. I felt refreshed coming back to Oley after being away for a week for SLLC and my Mid-internship seminar at PSU. I had the goal of creating better lessons that were more hands-on and inquiry based rather than the same method of teaching everyday. Having a lighter teaching load has given me the opportunity to plan more engaging lessons that allows students the opportunity to challenge themselves and problem-solve. I also realized that although these types of lessons take a lot of preparation, I get more satisfaction out of teaching them. I have also been working on creating an environment where students are making connections to the real-wold and are learning the importance behind the content. Continue reading to find our more about my past 2 weeks of student teaching at Oley Valley! 

    My Plant Science and Horticulture students got very creative in my floriculture unit these past 2 weeks. We got to conduct a flower dissection and make boutonnieres, floral arrangements, and hanging baskets. They had the opportunity to have autonomy in their work, but also learned about the elements of floral design to create visually appealing arrangements. All of this was new to me prior to teaching it, but being able to get creative and hands-on with the material was very fun and I learned a lot alongside my students. Emphasizing the important of floral design was a key objective, as I kept reminding my students that the hanging baskets they are creating will be sold for the FFA plant sale at the end of April. Overall, floriculture was a very fun unit to teach and I'm happy I had the opportunity and resources to do so at Oley. 

A student's boutonniere. 

A heart-shaped floral arrangement. 

    I also taught my introduction to Animal Science unit to my middle school students over the span of these past two weeks. Students learned a lot about cattle, poultry, and the dairy industry. We talked about the anatomy of an egg and how it related to a chick's embryo through a micro-viewer lab. I brought in chicken and duck eggs and has students identify the anatomy and function of the different parts. However, I didn't anticipate how fun it might be for students to break open the yolk and play with the eggs while I wasn't looking, so that is something I definitely learned to structure different! We also did a milk sensory evaluation lab, where students tasted 5 different milk products or substitutes to notice the differences. Majority of my students strongly disliked kefir and were joking around with me that I gave them sour milk. We then got into a discussion about what kefir is and why it taste the way it does. I'm going to bring in strawberry and blueberry kefir this week to see if they enjoy the taste over the plain unsweetened kefir. I also showed them the almond milking commercial and explained to them that a current controversial topic within the dairy industry is whether or not non-dairy products should be labeled as a "milk" product since they aren't derived from the mammary system of mammals. Although it was a challenge to handle classroom management wise, I think my students learned a lot about dairy products from the activity and made an authentic connection to the dairy industry. 

Milk Sensory Evaluation Lab. 

    I also finished up my Agricultural Business class and ended with some ice cream sundaes! My students were tasked with writing a script of a business meeting that is discussion the topic of ice cream sundaes. They had to conduct 3 parli pro objectives to pass a motion for the type of ice cream sundae they were to eat. Students had a lot of fun debating over the flavor of ice cream to eat or what variation of toppings to use. The ice cream was from Bad Farm, Mrs. Rice's dairy farm where she makes and sells her own ice cream! It was a really fun activity to end the parli pro unit as my students were able to show what they know about conduction proper business meetings. 

Ag Business students making
their ice cream sundaes. 

    I can't believe we are nearing the end of our student teaching experiences, I guess time really does fly when you're having fun! I have been learning so much from not only my cooperating teachers but also from my students and I've really enjoyed the connections I've made so far. This upcoming week is the FFA's banquet ceremony where they have asked me to say the advisor role during opening ceremonies. It is crazy to think that someday in the near future I might potentially have my own program and chapter of students to advise in the wold of Ag. Thank you for taking the time to read through my student teaching update and please feel free to leave a comment down below! 

My student's 1 week old Boar goat.

Lauren :)