Summer 2020 Reflection: How Did Being a Greenhouse Operator Prepare Me For My Future Classroom?

 This summer was by far the weirdest one that I can remember. I usually have a plan before I move home to Connecticut from Pennsylvania of where I am going to work. I have held some interesting summer jobs with some of my favorites being a Lifeguard Instructor for the amusement park in my hometown and teaching horseback riding lessons to "high risk" children. 

This year was very different since many places were not open due to COVID and I came home earlier than I thought. I was blessed to be able to find an internship that pushed me out of my comfort zone of the lake and the farm that ultimately gave me the opportunity to become a better educator in the process. 

Where was my internship?

 I was blessed to find an internship with Moscarillo's Garden Shoppe in Torrington,Ct. This nursery has 4 large greenhouses 2 tropical greenhouses, an outdoor nursery, a floral design shop and a gift store. We grow mostly everything on site in the maternity greenhouse and then push the plants out into the main floor for sale. We also have a sister store in West Hartford,Ct that is quit larger. 

What did my day look like?

The cliental this summer was mainly our New Yorkers looking to change up their landscapes at their Connecticut residency for the summer. I usually met with customers to help them design their landscapes with a variety of plants including trees, shrubs, perennial grasses/flowers and annuals. Most of the time my clients had no idea what they wanted or what plants would even grow well in the environments that they had. It was my job to educate them on certain plants and then help them design a beautiful area for their home. 

I also worked behind the scenes watering, pruning, organizing the sale floor,

The main sale floor at Moscarillo's Torrington

overall caring for the plant as well as propagating plants for next year.. I learned about about wrapping trees in the storms to keep them safe from the wind and which plants needed more water than others. I also assisted with making flower arrangements and dish gardens for orders. 

How does this experience connect to agriculture education?

This experience reiterated that not everything I teach has to be done in the 4 walls of a classroom. Every day I was working with clients to teach them something new and none of that occurred in a classroom. I would not just recommend a plant or a fertilizer to someone, I would explain the why behind they should be using something over the other. I had 15 soils to pick from at some point so, the why I was suggesting one over the other I felt was important to the customer and for us as a business to share. Being able to clearly communicate the science behind what was happening to the plant and in the greenhouse is something I will miss doing as part of this internship. 

I also had a very basic knowledge of plant science before starting this internship. I wanted to learn more about greenhouse production. After this summer, I can now recognize different trees, flowers and shrubs, compare different types of soils, preform a soil test, and so much more. I gain a ton of valuable content knowledge. I look forwards to continuing my internship through the winter as we prepare to fill the greenhouse with mums, poinsettias and Christmas trees/wreaths! 

Week 16: Goodbye to Conrad Weiser

When you are the first in your family to graduate high school entering college becomes a tad bit scarier than for some. You have to navigate everything on your own and never see the finish line because no one showed you that you can. So, when I embarked on my #TeachAg Journey so many years ago I never pictured the part where I actually student teach. Everything was classes, facilitating workshops, and theory. I never saw the part where I got to apply all the stuff I learned over the past 5 years in a classroom with real students but, here I am another semester later and I have completed my student teaching internship. 

When I started at Conrad Weiser in January I could not imagine all the valuable skills I would learn by the end of the semester. From working with students, planning assignments, how the school and district work, planning events and the list goes on I gained more than I could imagine.Everyone was right to say "trust the process" you learn more in the field.

My Big 3

Conrad Weiser FFA Jacket 

1. Be flexible: Just like us, students have a ton of things going on in their lives. Bending to a certain degree is really important. If I cannot show my students I am flexible then how can I expect them to be flexible with me? Flexibility also comes into play with other teachers, events and other activities in the school. I should want the students to be engaged with other activities of the school and encourage that instead of being a stickler on some work because they might be away. 

2. Engage with others: My program might be me as the sole agricultural teacher. I cannot do everything and need to be able to work with others in the building. In addition, I am not the only teacher my students interact with on a daily basis. It is better for everyone if I work with other teachers in the building to provide the best support to students. Colleagues in the building provide assistance in my class, to my students and working with them provides a great sense of community in the building. I should try at least once a year to co teacher with another teacher in the building. I saw while student teaching how Mr.Serfass connected the photography students into a FFA event we did to give them experience of filming an event. It is small connections like those that help create a stronger program and school community.

3.Change is good: I plan to actively seek professional development to help myself grow as an educator. We are always seeing new and emerging ideas in education. I need to be okay to step out of my comfort zone and try them. Something that Mr.Serfass tells his students with SAE is "The sky is the limit." I think that is one quote from him that will stick with me in my own class. There are obviously some barriers when trying to do things in my classroom but, I won't know till I try. There usually is a way to modify my ideas to get a similar outcome.

To Conrad Weiser

I never got to properly say goodbye to my students or the amazing faculty I got to work with during my time at Weiser. I got to experience so much with all of you because of your willingness to let me try new things even if you never did it yourself. You all welcomed me into your school, classroom and labs without hesitation and I appreciate it.

Myself with the Conrad Weiser FFA Chapter at
State Activities week June 2019

To next years cohort

Student teaching is not as scary as everyone makes it out to be. You are not expected to know everything there is to know about agriculture so, rely on your cooperating teacher and mentor team who has more in depth knowledge to help you along the way. You know more than you think you do about pedagogy and about agriculture so, trust yourself and try it. If it does not work right the first try it might the second. Students are pretty forgiving and will help you become a better teacher to so, don't forget to get their advice or input! It is their class you are teaching anyways. Above all try new things and enjoy the ride because it goes by quickly.

My experience as a student teacher at Conrad Weiser was incredible. I stepped far out of my comfort zone at times and tried new things. I also got some experience of teaching online due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. I gained a ton of experience and got to work with a great group of individuals. I am beyond excited to now embark on my own journey of my first year teaching. 

Thank you to my cooperating teacher,Mr.Adam Serfass,for being an outstanding mentor to me this past year. I have learned so much from you this past year and cannot wait to apply what I have leaned to my own classroom.

Drinking the Kool-Aid: The Impact FFA has on Students

National Convention '13 with my advisors Miss Christian
Miss Jedd and Mr.O'Keefe

As a high school student I remember going as a freshman to the Jr. Leadership Conference for the Connecticut State FFA Association. We rotated to different rooms and learned what FFA is from the State FFA Officers. This was not my first FFA event since I had competed in Horse Evaluation earlier that year but, it was the first event where I thought "Wow I want to be part of this."

My FFA Journey 

I am blessed to have come from a chapter with 5 FFA advisors. All 5 of them pushed me in ways I couldn't push myself. I became involved in FFA my freshman year of high school by competing in horse evaluation. I was so confused on what was going on the day of the contest and why I was even there. My sophomore year our horse evaluation team placed 1st at states and moved on to Big E and National Convention. I remember my advisor, Mrs.Digioia, spending long hours before and after school and in the summer working with our team to prepare us for the contest. She definitely pushed our team to the breaking point several times but, it was worth it when we placed 9th national in horse evaluation.

Outside of CDE/LDEs I had the opportunity to be a chapter officer serving as the Southington FFA Parliamentarian and Vice President. These were not opportunities I would not have gone for without help from Mrs.Digioia or  Miss Christian. I was so unsure if I would be able to do a good job in serving my chapter but, my advisors showed me I can and I should.

My State FFA Officer team at State Convention 2015

During my senior year I decided to run for State FFA Office. It was my advisor, Mrs.Stannard, who had been a state officer that helped coach me for the Nominating Committee interview. Each day she would give me a new topic to look at. I had a packet of possible questions ready to go. Mrs.Digioia assisted me with the oral speeches I needed to write as part of my application and helped me practice them in case that became part of the interview. The two of them together pulled a ton from their colleagues to help me have the resources I needed to get ready for the day of the interview.

As a student I always appreciated the time my advisors put in and the belief they had in me. Looking back, I see how from freshman year to the end of my state office year I grew from being quiet and shy to a girl who can stand up at the State FFA Convention and deliver a speech. What I did not realize until my student teaching was how much behind the scenes things my advisors needed to do to make sure I was able to attend these different events.

My FFA Philosophy

FFA is a great organization but, sometimes it becomes the center of a program. In agriculture education we use a 3 circle model that contains classroom instruction, Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) and FFA to help create better leaders of students leaving our program. These 3 parts all need to work together and balance each other out.

FFA intertwines into both of these easily so, it is easy to get into the mindset that the FFA Chapter runs your agriculture program. Someone like me who bled the blue and gold for so long it is hard for me sometimes to sit back and realize that I do not have to do every FFA event to have a good chapter. It is back to the idea of quality over quantity. I should be picking events that reach my students needs. This comes into play with CDE/LDE and leadership events.

My horse Judging team with our advisor Mrs.Digioia

Each chapter is different. My home chapter of Southington had a 23 person officer team. This was a tad bit extensive but, it kept students motivated and help students obtain leadership skills they might not have been able to get otherwise. Being a great advisor and a good chapter means making those decisions (like the 23 person officer team) that seem unique to some because it is what is best for your students and your program.

At the end of the day FFA is an essential part of my program. It provides students the opportunity to take the knowledge they are learning in my program and then applying it in a way that provides skills to help make them a better rounded individual.

Thank you

Thank you to Mrs.Digioia, Miss Christian (Mrs.Zielinski), Ms.Shields(Mrs.Jedd), Mrs.Stannard and Mr.O'Keefe for the dedication you had to being my FFA Advisors. I would not have became the woman I am today without the 5 of you! 

Week 15: Plan A-Plan Z

Currently at my house I have 27 chicks (some layers and some broilers), 5 bunnies, 3 dogs and seeds I started in an egg carton. This week we had extremely bad wind, rain, hail and 4 inches of snow. The main concern at my house this week was "What happens when we loose power and the heating lamps go off on the chicks and seeds?"

We have a plan of which of the 5 of us in my house would remember to make sure we had fuel for the generator and who would be in charge of getting chicks from the coop at the other end of the property and bring them inside. Then we had a secondary plan for when that person forgot to get the fuel!

This week I had some issues first thing Monday morning with websites being blocked by students trying to access them and I had to come up with a come up with a new assignment really quick.

What did I teach this week? 

This week I continued with the my entomology unit and looked at pollinators. We looked at bees in the area the students live in, bee keeping and other types of pollinators. I used apps such as Kahoot! and GimKit on student paced mode to help deliver this material to the students. Overall besides a few tech glitches it went pretty well.

My step daughter with all the chicks

Tech Tips

This week I really found the value in having a backup plan. The first day the website I wanted to use was blocked by the server so, I needed to come up with a new plan and responded to several emails saying the website was blocked. To make sure this didn't happen again the rest of the week I had back up, less internet reliant activities ready to go to upload.

Tech issues is something that in the classroom face to face is a little bit easier to come up with solutions to since I can rely on the different materials in my classroom like the greenhouse, animal lab and lab. This week challenged me to think outside of the box and creative ways for students to do the assignments virtually in 2 different forms or be able to navigate websites like Kahoot! and Gimkit in new ways.

What did I learn? 

• Kahoot! and Gimkit have really great resources for teachers right now. Students can play both on their phone or on the computer in a self paced mode. Kahoot! has an option to allow students replay questions they got wrong for extra practice. The reports they give are by student and by question so, I receive great feedback on how my students did in these activities.  
• Flexibility is key. As long as my students can obtain the key concepts from what I posted for the day then it does not matter if it is exactly what I had thought out. This is a mindset I can carry into every lesson I teach. 
• Simplicity makes it easy. When I ask students to go from page to page to complete things that makes it complicated for the students and allow more room for error. If I keep it limited to 1-2 pages to click to then it makes it easier for students to navigate and me to troubleshoot from a different state. 

Headed into my last week of student teaching

This week is my last week of student teaching at Conrad Weiser. I cannot believe how fast this internship flew by. I am excited to see what next week holds as I wrap up student teaching. This week I want to focus on providing students with opportunities to learn offline after attending some professional development this week about getting students away from the screen at this time. I want to see how this method works during this time compared to what I have been doing.

Collaboration of Aggies: Attending the PAAE Eastern Regional Meeting

PAAE stands for the Pennsylvania Association of Agriculture Educators and is an organization under the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE). In Pennsylvania, we have 4 regions that are broken up around the state. Where I am student teaching, Conrad Weiser, is part of the Eastern region. Tonight we had the regional meeting via Zoom due to the meeting restrictions of COVID-19.

 How does PAAE support agricultural teachers?

PAAE connects with several other groups in order to provide support to their members. They work closely with the Pa FFA Association, Pa FFA Foundation, Pa FFA Alumni PA Agriculture Commission and the Penn State Center for Professional Development. These groups all come together with PAAE to help stay on the same page when it comes to FFA events and offer professional development to teachers in Pennsylvania. They also assist and seeing what members need in terms of professional development and try their best to host some form of professional development or provide funds to attend out of state professional development.

#Psuaged20 at the PAAE Regional Conference

The organization itself is made up of several committees that help keep the organization running smoothly for members. Members of PAAE sit on the committees and connect across the state of Pennsylvania to help make PAAE run. For example, the convention planning committee will help plan their state convention each year. These committees are looking at some concerns and then able to bring the bigger concerns to the group as a whole if needed.

My role in PAAE

I am currently uncertain where I will start my teaching career seeing as I was attending a Pennsylvania conference from Connecticut. However, it is important to me that whatever state I am in has a great teacher organization such as PAAE. The role they will play in my professional development as a new and beginning teacher is crucial and I want to know that I will have a community of other in the profession to advise me when needed. 

Professional What?: The Ins and Outs of Professional Development

Jess Barnhart (#Psuaged20) and I in California
for the NAAE FAST Symposium

As a equestrian who wants nothing more than to become a better horseman I attend seminars at local fairs to learn more about technique and style from trainers. This past February/March I went to the World Horse Expo and spent countless hours watching a wide range of trainers talk about their method or philosophy for training and riding different disciplines. Everyone built off each other, had some varying in opinion but, overall I took something away from each workshop to try with my horse.

The education profession is no different. If I want to stretch, grow and morph into a better educator I cannot stop with the bare minimum of obtain my degree from Penn State and my level 1 teaching certification from Pennsylvania. I have to connect with others and be open minded of what I can take back to my classroom.

What professional Development have I done?

Penn State's Center for Professional Development does an excellent job of exposing pre-service teachers. I have attended several conferences including

PA FAST Symposium learning about Break Out Boxes

• PA Future Agriscience Teacher (FAST) Symposium
• NAAE(National Association of Agricultural Educators) FAST Symposium
• Several on campus agricultural workshops through the Penn State College of Agricultural Science
• Domestic Study Away in Montana to engage with agricultural teachers, students and business
• PAAE(Pennsylvania Association of Agricultural Educators) Summer Conference 
• FFA Alumni Regional Conference 
• SAE for All 
• Teach Ag! Twitter Chats
• Penn State Teaching and Learning Symposiums 
• I will be attending a CASE AFNR Institute this summer.

Professional Development throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic

Since my student teaching journey has switched online I have been engaging in online professional development. NAAE has been offering online webinars focused around different topics such as teaching about local cooperatives and teaching agricultural mechanics online.

Facilitating a leadership workshop in Montana 

These webinars are the perfect spot for a pre-service teacher to not only take away some great instructional materials but, to make connections within the organization. I plan to attend the NAAE Region IV teach chat later this week for the same reason. I currently do not have my own classroom and my time at Weiser is coming to an end quickly but, I am building relationships with others which is just as important for a young professional entering the classroom. Other educators are just as valuable to me as the content in the workshop.

Agriculture educators do an amazing job of staying connected via the Ag Ed Discussion Lab on Facebook, the Communities of Practice on the NAAE Website and on twitter. I see the value in connecting with these individuals in the profession now so, I can become part of the network of people who can help other young educators entering the profession down the line or get support for myself as I enter my first classroom next year.

I have also engaged in other unique forms of professional development since the pandemic. I have had the opportunity to gain some "badges" on FlipGrid by connecting with educators from across the US who use the app. I also was able to engage in a twitter chat to help share how I use FlipGrid and see other uses for the app.

Finally I have been getting some agricultural content certifications through Penn State Extension. Professional development is not just to improve my teaching skills but, to better learn content. These certifications are helping me gain content knowledge in my weaker areas such as plant science, entomology and forestry.

Final thought on professional development 

Photo from the NAAE National Convention 2019 

No one is ever "developed" enough. That is the same mind set as I do not need to be a life long learner. I value professional development and the different opportunities I have been given so far. Throughout student teaching I either used lessons I had learned while at the NAAE Convention, I got from other educators on communities of practice or from my cooperating teacher.

There is no reason to re-invent the wheel all the time. The way to learn about these cool ideas that others have are mainly though professional development webinars. We are blessed in agricultural education to have several groups supporting teacher professional development and I cannot wait to continue to seek these opportunities throughout my teaching career.

Week 14: How I Got to my Why

Growing up with anxiety when you gave no idea what it is or why you feel that way is the worst. You are constantly unsure of why you have the emotions you do. When no coping skills are learned you tend to obtain other mental illnesses such as eating disorders or OCD in your adult/teen years because you think some of those behaviors can mask the emotions being felt.

Confidence Building Exercise 

When we connect children with a wide arrange of mental illness to horses you can help them process what is going on in their life without rehashing out traumatic experiences. When I was in high school, my SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) was working with rescue horses and assisting with therapeutic riding. Since schools have been closed due to COVID-19 I have been able to spend more time doing what I love, teaching therapeutic riding lessons. 

Therapeutic riding and working with the younger kids on the farm is what made me want to become an educator. Watching a student pick their horse for lessons, canter their first lap and conquer things in the saddle that they didn't think they could is the best feeling in the world to me

. It brings me joy that I get to work with students again on the farm again. 

What does therapeutic riding mean?

I work with a range of children from ages 4-18. Their first lesson is them picking the horse in the field. We do meditation in order for the horse to pick the patient. A horse will pick up on body language and personality. When we relax ourselves and open ourselves up to other a horse picks up on it and will come to you. Once the patient and the horse have chosen each other we can then work on trust building, confidence, focus and much more through leading the horse through patterns. Each day we have a goal of what we want to accomplish or realize through the work with the horse. Doing this will help add coping skills to the patients tool box as they overcome challenges with the horse. We can look at why and how we overcome those challenges and connect it to challenges in our own life.

My clientele?

Walking patterns in theraputic riding

I am currently working through the program with 4 individuals. I have some who just started and are picking their horses and some who are getting into the riding stages of therapeutic riding. At the moment everything is by appointment in order to cut down on people at the farm during the pandemic.

Connection to my student teaching internship?

I became an educator to help students who are at their lowest points realize they can. I want to turn the "I can't moments" into "I can moments." I realize these opportunities will not necessarily be my daily routine throughout my career but, is a main reason I wanted to pursue education. Working with my clients I am picking up signs of different metal illnesses and understanding how the brain of that child works. By having this information I can better help students in my classroom who might need a little extra motivation to get going.