Many of the acquaintances I make in the agriculture industry seem to have preconceived notions about girls who love horses. While I have never consciously labeled myself a "crazy horse girl", this girl sure is crazy about horses, so if the boot fits I guess I better pull it on.
The Joys and Discomforts of Agricultural Life
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| Collegiate Horsemen's Association at Penn State |
While I have grown up riding horses and reading horse breed encyclopedias for fun, working at the Penn State Horse Barns and pursuing a minor in Equine Science has allowed me to take my love for horses to new heights. I enrolled in the Handling and Training class this semester to gain more confidence working with these animals, but I never imagined my experience in this class to be as rewarding as it has turned out to be. While training two year old horses is challenging, risky, and sometimes just plain scary, never in my life have I learned so much about who I am as a person. As I have been helping to teach these fillies and colts how to be upright, contributing members of society (insert laughter here), they have been teaching me patience, compassion, confidence, strength, and respect. In a matter of a few weeks I have seen a tremendous amount of growth transform me from being nervous to handle a cranky lesson horse to being the first person ever to sit on some of these young horses. While I recognize that my Student Teaching Internship will lack velvet soft horse noses and the smell of fresh alfalfa, I do hope that, with the right mentor, content, and program, the growth I have experienced when working with horses will be the equivalent of the growth I experience at the right Cooperating Center.
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| Handling and Training Class |
Woman Up
At Elizabethtown Area High School I had two fantastic Agricultural Educators, Mr. Mark Anderson and Mr. Stephen Geib, to learn from and look up to. Mr. Anderson's classroom transformed me from knowing little to nothing about the agriculture industry to being a passionate advocate for anything ag. He taught me the value of uncomfortable situations by guiding me to them and coaching me through them. When it came to FFA I could tell that my lack of confidence in my ability to lead frustrated him at times, but he never once gave up on me and, as an even greater testament to his character, never let me give up on myself. Mr. Geib came to our program during my senior year in high school, but taught me quite a few life lessons in the limited time we spent together. From teaching me that practice makes perfect (or ninth place) in Extemporaneous Public Speaking to modeling what it looks like to be dedicated to student accomplishments, Mr. Geib breathed new life into the Elizabethtown FFA chapter and helped to solidify my decision to become an agricultural educator. Of all the things that Mr. Anderson and Mr. Geib taught me though, they were, understandably, not able to teach me what it looks like to be a female ag teacher. So in my quest to conquer my chronic lack of confidence, I have been searching for a Cooperating Center led by a strong female agricultural educator to complete my Student Teaching Internship with. Ever the visual learner, I feel that being able to observe a confident woman practicing good classroom management and professional student to teacher interactions will allow me to lay a solid foundation for building my own presence in the classroom. With an abundance of strong female agricultural educators in Pennsylvania, my second criteria for finding the perfect Cooperating Center helped me to narrow down some of my choices.
A Lifelong Learner
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| Mr. Anderson & Mr. Geib |
As I journeyed through agricultural education at Elizabethtown Area High School I thought I wanted to be a large animal veterinarian. After teaching, leading, and growing in FFA however, I had a new dream of becoming all that Mr. Anderson and Mr. Geib were to me for others. This sudden change in my life's trajectory left me with a few weaknesses in content that I hope to strengthen as a Student Teacher. Since I had thought I wanted to become a large animal veterinarian, I ended up taking Introduction to Agriculture, Animal Science, Equine Science, Pre-Vet, and Agribusiness in high school. At Penn State I have taken classes in the areas of Plant Science, Soil Science, and Horticulture, but that still leaves me with very limited knowledge about the vast majority of the industry I love so dearly. That is why I hope to complete my Student Teaching Internship at a Cooperating Center that has strong Ag Mechanics, Food Science, and/or Environmental Science classes. Developing lesson plans in these content areas will help me to bridge gaps of knowledge about topics that are vital to the industry and currently peaking the interest of many agriculture students. While I am nervous about diving headfirst into teaching content that I know nothing about, in the true fashion of being a growth minded individual I am excited to dive into the role of being a lifelong learner.
SAE What?
Any future agricultural educator should be able to tell you that the Three-Component Model for School Based Agricultural Education includes Classroom/Laboratory Instruction, FFA, and SAE. Going along with that, any future agricultural educator should also be able to tell you that of these three components, Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) is often the most neglected. While programs that focus their efforts on making SAE an integral part of how their students learn about the industry seem few and far between, I am hoping that my Cooperating Center does just that. With little experience in supporting, growing, and developing SAE projects, I hope that the knowledge I learn in this area while Student Teaching will help me to grow a program that is completely dedicated to all parts of the Three-Component Model for School Based Agricultural Education.
As a Student Teacher, instead of clinging to safety in Animal Science, I hope to explore and grow in my areas of weakness. A strong female agricultural educator who teaches in unfamiliar territory and is actively involved in her student's SAE projects is exactly what I am searching for. While I would love to grow forever as an equestrian with my family at the Penn State Horse Barns, I am excited to explore Cooperating Centers that make me love teaching just as much as I love horses. Though I fully anticipate falling flat on my face at least twice in this endeavor, I am counting on my Cooperating Center to encourage me to get back in the saddle, put my heals down, and ride on.
"Taylor"ed with love,
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