Week 10: The Last Stand

This past week was my last week at Twin Valley High School. I had no idea that I in 10 fast weeks I would build relationships with students that I will never forget. I can honestly say that the experience I had there far exceeded anything I could have imagined. I was very fortunate in my placement with Nicole Weaver, she showed me what teaching Agriculture is all about! Going into the internship I imagined that by the end of my time in the high school I would know the answer to this question: "Do I want to teach agriculture in a high school classroom?" The answer to this question as I have come to learn is not a simple yes or no answer like I had imagined it would be. From what I have come to learn, being an ag teacher is anything but easy, it takes dedication, motivation, time management, flexibility, and courage.

For me being dedicated and motivated was pretty easy, I have a passion for educating others about the subject matter that I am most familiar with, and I am motivated to learn about subjects that I am not familiar with so that I can share the information with others. I may not be flexible physically, but when it comes to last minute changes to a lesson, field trip, or event, I have discovered that I can be pretty creative to last minute solutions! There were several instances where because something in the plan failed, I was able to come up with a quick fix to get us through!

The last two things that I mentioned are time management and courage. These to pieces to the puzzle are the things that I think are the most difficult for me. I really struggle with managing time to complete assignments, grade, plan SAE visits, and still have a moment to myself to think about the journey I have taken. Sometimes we get so involved and focused on our work that we forget the big picture. During my student teaching at Twin Valley, I tried to remember where I started and where I was going. Every week I would try to take a day to myself and learn something new, relax, and enjoy my time in Southern PA.

Here is the thing about courage, it can make you and break you, but you have to be willing to try. Whether it is a new lesson, new event, or new teaching method, trying to broaden your horizons is the only way to get better. Personally I have always been afraid of change, I have learned through my time student teaching at Twin Valley that you just have to put yourself out there sometimes and be able to stretch. The thing to remember is that you shouldn't just take risks to take risks, they should be strategic with a predictable outcome, now that doesn't mean you will always predict it correctly, but you should go in with a game plan!

Overall,  I still do not have a solid answer as to whether or not I want to teach agriculture in a classroom, but one thing that I do know is that I can if I ever decide I want to.