National FFA Week (7)

Week 7 of my Student Teaching Experience was packed full of meaningful experiences inside and outside of the classroom. From fiery labs to National FFA Week shenanigans, it's hard to believe we only had a four day week. When I was in high school National FFA Week was a time for my fellow FFA members and I to show off our FFA pride and bring the rest of the school into our blue and gold world. Experiencing National FFA Week as a Student Teacher not only gave me a chance to learn about how another school goes about the festivities, but also gave me a glimpse into the hard work I will be putting into planning this week as an advisor in the future.

Milkshakes and More

Making Those Milkshakes!

Like most chapters, Cumberland Valley FFA used spirit days to unify the chapter throughout National FFA Week. Since we did not have school on Monday, our FFA members got to dress up for Tuesday's Blue and Gold Day, Wednesday's College Day, Thursday's Flannel Day, and Friday's Official Dress Day. Of course there was a little spin on our spirit week, however! At the end of each day, members who participated in the spirit week were put into a raffle to win a gift card. Not only is this an idea worth bringing into my future program after graduation to increase participation, but members of the officer team had fun making videos at the end of each day revealing who was chosen on the almighty wheel of names to receive the gift card. 

On Friday, the Cumberland Valley FFA chapter whipped up some famous Farm Show milkshakes for the faculty and staff at Cumberland Valley High School. Our members spent their extra time beautifying the second classroom with blue and gold décor, setting up the milkshake machines, and pumping out the good stuff to get ready for the event right after school. Over 150 faculty and staff members visited the Ag Department for their sweet treat and a little thank you gift for their support of the chapter. Since the Cumberland Valley Educational Campus is just that, a campus, our FFA members also took the time to drive out to the different buildings and offices to deliver milkshakes to those who could not join us in the school. This experience opened my eyes to how important it is to serve your educational community as an agricultural educator. In any school, the Ag Department is a bit of an odd duck with all of the after school activities, field trips, and labs that they do. It is important therefore to serve the rest of the faulty and staff to show your appreciation for their support and partner-chip (their gift was a chip clip with a little "we value your partner-chip" note attached and it was adorable). This event was also a fantastic opportunity for our FFA members to learn about planning events to serve others and sharing their blue and gold spirit with their other teachers. 

Calorimetry Lab

Let's be honest. Teachers are not thanked nearly enough for their hard work and dedication to guiding the youth of the world. While National FFA Week is a fantastic time to thank an agricultural educator for all that they do for the school and community, every week is a fantastic time to thank a teacher. Period.

Classroom Highlights

As promised, there was fire. In my Animal Science class we have been learning about calorimetry to figure out the energy content of different feedstuffs. How does one figure out the energy content of different feedstuffs? You burn it! This lab was not only an exciting one for my students, because you know, fire, but it also gave them a chance to learn about a concept in class and actually get out there and do it. From a teacher's perspective, it also gave me a chance to learn about how to effectively implement safety in a lab setting. Don't worry, no smoke detectors were harmed during this lab as we took out learning to the great outdoors!

ELISA Testing

As always, Biotechnology was up to some really cool labs this week. Building off of what we learned about proteins and the Biuret assay last week, they conducted labs with the Bradford assay and the ELISA assay. These various labs gave them a chance to compare the accuracy of these different tests as well as a great opportunity to practice their pipetting skills. The content in Biotechnology is very challenging even for me to understand, so I have been very thankful to Ms. Darla Romberger's guidance through this material. While I am not leading this class through most of the complicated procedures that we do, I am learning a lot about how to break down challenging concepts and facilitate walking a group through this material.

Week 7 was jammed full of learning opportunities for me as a Student Teacher. As I reach the top of the roller coaster of this experience and begin to enjoy the ride down through the second half of my time at Cumberland Valley, I look forward to making more memories and learning more about how to be a better educator. 

'Taylor'ed with love,