Outstanding Early Career Agricultural Educator Award: Dr. Daniel Foster #teachag

The Pennsylvania State University prides itself on being a leader in academics preparing its students for a successful career upon graduation.  Having this reputation, it comes as no surprise staff members go above and beyond for their students to prepare them for their future. In the Agricultural and Extension Education Program, we are fortunate to have Dr. Daniel Foster, Assistant Professor and Student Teacher Coordinator.  Dr. Foster has been recognized as the AAAE North-Central Region Outstanding Early Career Agricultural Educator Award.

The American Association for Agricultural Education (AAAE) recognizes annually an individual who is in the early stage of a university career in agricultural education to recognize contributions to the profession and encourage others in the profession to emulate the achievements of those recognized. Dr. John Ewing and Dr. Laura Rice co-nominated Dr. Foster to be recognized on a national level for his accomplishments in the field.

In the nomination packet, there needs to be evidence relating to excellence in the following categories: Teaching (preservice and in-service), Research (personally or directed), Writings, and lastly Service whether it is professional, community, state, and or nation.  To show you just some of Dr. Foster’s achievements, please look at the following below to show you just some of his achievements.

Teaching- Dr. Foster has taught courses in pre-service teacher education for a grand total of seventeen courses. Currently Dr. Foster instructs the Methods of Teaching Agriculture and Environmental Science, Developing Youth Leadership through Organization and Program Structure course, and serves as the student teacher coordinator. He has also developed a global competency course for our students called Global School-Based Agricultural Education.  Course work included students traveling to South Korea to meet students majoring in agricultural education at Seoul National University.

Research- Dr. Foster has had the opportunity to do several research projects including: examining current levels of cognition (teacher and student) in college classrooms, and studying what is needed to develop teacher candidates to lead programs and to make our teachers and students globally competent. Since his time in the profession, Dr. Foster has had articles published in refereed journals and presented papers and posters at professionals meetings.

Service- Dr. Foster has represented Penn State on a national and global scale since joining Penn State. He encourages students daily and has even worked with the FFA and 4H organizations. Outside his work with these organizations, Dr. Foster has led training's, seminars, and workshops offered during research conferences and meetings.

Dr. Foster’s extensive hard work and dedication to the Agriculture Education major and profession makes him well-deserving of the AAAE North Central Region Outstanding Early Career Agricultural Educator this year. We are thankful for Dr. Foster who pushes us to be the best agriculture educators that we can be and we can’t wait to see what he does in the future in and out of the profession.

Congratulations to Dr. Daniel Foster! 

To learn more about starting on the path to having a career that makes a positive impact on the lives of students across the globe by becoming an agricultural educator, please contact the agricultural teacher education program at teachag@psu.edu. Follow us on Twitter at TeachAgPSU, on Facebook, or on our blog.

Olivia Murphy-Sweet
Student Blogger
Teach Ag! Avenger
Twitter Handle @OSweetMurph  

2016 Agricultural Education Student Teacher 

Governor School (#PGSAS14) going Global! #globalag

Remember when you were a kid and you went to a summer camp? Either your parents forced you leave or you wanted to actually go? Well, these 27 academically talented students from all across Pennsylvania were selected to go away for four weeks to Penn State’s University Park campus for Governor’s School for the Agricultural Sciences! This is the first time that this program has been opened since 2008!

Students from all around Pennsylvania have traveled to Penn State to learn about what the College of Ag has to offer. The students have four weeks to see if Penn State is right for them as well as if they truly do want to major in agriculture. One class was taught by the AEE program about Global Agriculture! Directed and facilitated by Dr. Daniel Foster and Dr. Melanie Foster, they took 8 volunteers to help create and then teach their own individual lesson plans that related to global agriculture! With four undergrads and four graduate students, two of which were international students, was the perfect blend for this week long class!  

 

Outlined below is the classes that were taught and by who! 

Students touring the greenhouse

Monday: Taught by Amanda Forstater (@CityAggie)

“Chocolate from Cacao to Bar”

This was the first class where Amanda challenged the students to think about the entire process of how chocolate.  They used the scientific process to hypothesize and then were rewarded with two different chocolate bars from different countries! 

Trying Indian Cuisine! YUM! 

Tuesday: Taught by Roshan Nayak (Ph.D candidate)

“Importance of Food in Your Life”

The students were able to study food systems and nutritional values! They played games to see what foods go in a balanced diet and what farm life was in India! Since Roshan is from India, he was able to give an insight of what life is actually like! The students were also able to dine on some local Indian food! 

Students dressing in traditional Korean attire

Wednesday: Taught by Janae Bickhart (@JanaeBickhart)

“Global Competency”

The students really focused on what the definition of “global competency” was and as well as learn about Korea! Since Janae was one of the students on the trip she brought a “study abroad” experience to the classroom! The students were able to try sample native foods such as  a kimichi, paint fans, and even dress in traditional Korean clothes!  

Learning definitions! 

Thursday: Taught by Stacia Creed (@stacia_creed)

“Food Security”

The students learned a lot with this lesson because they had to do an experiment to feed everyone in their group on a tight budget with a typical American price tag. The students said that they were surprised about how much food actually costs to feed a group of people! 

During the week long instruction, the students were also able to do two labs!

Lab One: Taught by Nur Husna Abd Wahid (Ph. D candidate)

“Malaysian Dancing”

For this lab the students were able to strut their stuff to see if they can dance the traditional dances of the Malaysian culture! There are videos if you click on this link!

Students completing the Amazing Race!

Lab Two: Taught by Olivia Murphy-Sweet (@OSweetMurph)

“Smart Goals and the Amazing Race!”

For this lab, the students learned about SMART goals (how to make them and what they wanted to do). They were also able to go on an Amazing Race tour around campus to learn  about what global programs that Penn State has to offer. 

  

Overall, the facilitators and the students had a great time! We hope that they learned a lot and that they come back to be Penn Staters! If you also want to check out a blog that the students wrote about their time with the class you can check out what they had to say here! 

WE ARE……!

To learn more about starting on the path to having a career that makes a positive impact on the lives of students across the globe by becoming an agricultural educator, please contact the agricultural teacher education program at teachag@psu.edu. Follow us on Twitter at TeachAgPSU, on Facebook, or on our blog! 

 Olivia Murphy-Sweet
Student Blogger
Teach Ag! Avenger
Twitter Handle- @OSweetMurph
2016 Agricultural Education Student Teacher

Checking in with 2012 PSU AEE graduate and Maryland Agriscience Teacher Brittany Arnold!

Mrs. Lenzo (past high school teacher),
Brittany Arnold,
Mr. Harrington (Past Region
 IV Vice President NAAE)

In a previous blog post we introduced Brittany Arnold, a graduate from Penn State in 2012, who won the CTE Outstanding New Teacher Award her very first year teaching at Oakdale High School in Maryland!  With a degree in Agricultural Extension and Education and an emphasis in Dairy Science, she has come a long way but she says she is learning every day! We wanted to see how she has been since we last interviewed her and what she is has been up to in Maryland!

Since her graduation in 2012, teaching for Brittany has been great! She has learned how to develop patience and tough skin to help with her students in all of their tasks every day! In the beginning she states that it was very hard disciplining her students and when they would speak out of frustration and she would have to act calm and keep her head. Right now, she is busy working on helping her students maintain being one of the biggest FFA chapters in Maryland! They have already had a team compete on the national level within the first year of being a chartered school. She has really developed the school to an amazing level but still has a long way to go.

This is Brittany and her students
working at their annual Ag Day! 

Advice never hurt anyone right? Well Brittany wanted to make sure that we received good advice. She says that as a new teacher never settle! What she means by that is that once you settle, you become comfortable with what you and your students are doing you closed a door of opportunity. Challenge yourself and do things you’re not comfortable with. It will pay off. She also states that the NAAE Communities of Practice is a great opportunity to learn new lessons, facts, and subject matter. Her last piece of advice was to listen to Dr. Foster and Dr. Ewing. When times get tough and we question them, we should all know that they are looking out for                                                          our best interests!

Overall, Brittany is doing great things for her school and her chapter. If you want any advice, lessons, or have any questions, feel free to contact her at bna5032@gmail.com. 

To learn more about starting on the path to having a career that makes a positive impact on the lives of students across the globe by becoming an agricultural educator, please contact the agricultural teacher education program at teachag@psu.edu. Follow us on Twitter at TeachAgPSU, on Facebook, or on our blog! 

Olivia Murphy-Sweet

Student Blogger

Teach Ag! Avenger

Twitter Handle @OSweetMurph

2016 Agricultural Education Student Teacher 

PA FFA Fall Leadership Conference: New experiences for both high school and college students!

FLC, formally known as Fall Leadership Conference was hosted in Blair County, October 1^st at a convention center. The purpose of the conference is to teach and reinforce the different duties of FFA officers, as well as jump start new members of the FFA. It also serves the purpose of allowing pre-student teachers at Penn State to gain “real life” experience by teaching the different officer workshops.

Students work on scrapbooks during the "catch all" workshop

Penn State focuses on giving their students experience in the classroom before they student teach in the spring. FLC is the perfect outlet for that experience. This year, the 2014 student teaching cohort split into groups of two or three with one shadow teacher. The shadow teacher is typically a junior in the major that will be presenting at FLC next year.

Student teacher groups consisted of Michael Petrun and Tyler Cremeans completing the President workshop with Jillian Gordon as their shadow teacher. Vice President was taken care of by Mindy Stoops, Meagan Slates, and Jessie Ross, with Laura Metrick as their shadow teacher. The secretary workshop was taught by Brittany Rigg, Caleb Wright and Quinn Cachell with Cassidy Cheddar as their shadow teacher. Kate Livingston and Valerie Laub with Megan Keller as their shadow taught the treasurer workshop. The sentinel workshop was taught by Emily Urban, Jeanne Case and shadow teacher Jena Shaffer. The reporter workshop was taught by Anenette Sprenkel and Casi Foster with Kate Basset as their shadow.  Lastly, was the “catch all” group which included chaplains, parliamentarians, and student advisors. This group was taught by Billy Saylor, Todd McMillian, Allison Hoover and shadow teacher Howard Poole.

Mike said, “at first it was hard to imagine running a two hour workshop, but then time flew by and we didn’t even have enough time to finish all of our activities and wish there would have been more time to fit everything in.” This was Mike’s first FFA conference ever.

Allison Hoover, another pre-student teacher said “it was great to see the cohort teaching styles in actions. By having students in front of us, it was a good reminder on how to be prepared and motivated for real students as opposed to lab.”

Dr. John Ewing said, “FLC is a great opportunity for future teachers at Penn State to interact with current FFA members. I believe that everyone learned a lot as FLC is one of the first teaching opportunities for pre-student teachers.”

After lunch all the pre-students teachers met with Dr. Daniel Foster (@FosterDanielD) and Dr. John Ewing (@jce122)  to talk about the workshops that had gone on in the morning. Topics were discussed such as adaptations that have to be made on the fly, giving the students enough time to process information, and teaching while remaining silent. In addition, critical elements such as enthusiasm, creating energy in the beginning and keeping it, and getting the unmotivated students involved.

Jena Shaffer said “I am really glad that I was asked to be a shadow teacher at FLC this year, because I got to experience what the atmosphere is like and that this conference is all about. I believe that this will be extremely beneficial in preparing a workshop for next year.”

Another 2015 student teacher, Kate Basset said “after being a shadow teacher, I have picked up a few ideas, methods, and strategies that I can implement in my workshop planning for next year”.

Annette Sprenkel said, “The level of energy depends on you! If you lose the energy it's really hard to get it back. While you're teaching it’s important to watch your students body language to determine if they need a change. Example: When students start yawning, they need to get up and move around.”

Other aspects of the conference included workshops that the State Officers hosted for the new students. Some of the workshops included Official Dress, FFA History, SAEs and Teamwork. There was even a chapter,Williamsport, at the conference that had just been chartered two weeks ago! Austin Shay, Pennsylvania State Sentinel, said, “I believe that the day went great. Students were engaged and excited to learn and meet new people from across the state. Plus this conference is special because you do not have to be an FFA member to attend.”

Matt Reutlinger presents to all the students about WLC

To end the conference, 2015 student teacher, Matthew Reutlinger, hosted a workshop to get students pumped for WLC (Washington Leadership Conference) in the summer. This past summer, Matt spent seven weeks in Washington, D.C. as a facilitator for National FFA. There, he worked with students from across the country to develop a personal plan to become better citizens. This is referred to as a “living to serve plan", as it helps to address problems that students see in their home, local and global community. Matt had a different style than the other presenters as the FFA members had to chant “Let us in, let us in” in order to be let into the room and for the session to start. Matt reflected on the day saying, “It was nice to be able to facilitate again. Connecting with a new generation of students is always a refreshing experience. I think students were caught off guard by my uncommon form of facilitation and that created some difficulties. I do think they were receptive to the process though.” Hopefully there will be some better Pennsylvania representation at WLC this summer after this presentation.

Todd McMillien and Billy Saylor, 2014 student teachers check to see what is wrong

As the life for a teacher never really ends, Penn State students go to apply their knowledge of AEE 297 and AEE 350 on their way home. When the vans stopped for ice cream, a seemingly very popular place for people after FLC, one of the high school vans from an FFA chapter broke down. Dr. Ewing and some of the more mechanic-savy students came to the rescue with a rubber floor mat and a hose clamp. There was problems with the pin hole fittings heater return line. There was also not that much oil in the in the engine as well. All in all it was a good that that got to put multiple Penn State agricultural education classes into real life practice.

To learn more about starting on the path to having a career that makes a positive impact on the lives of students across the globe by becoming an agricultural educator, please contact the agricultural teacher education program at teachag@psu.edu. Follow us on Twitter at TeachAgPSU, on Facebook, or on our blog!

Jeanne Case

Student Blogger

2014 Dover HS Student Teacher

Twitter: JRose_Case

2013 Ag Ed Summit: Let's get out there and make some teachers!

On January 30^th and 31^st, Agricultural teachers from across the United States gathered together in Indianapolis, Indiana for the 2013 Agricultural Education Summit.  This year teachers were focused on the theme of “Recruitment and Retention of Teachers for School-Based Agricultural Education".  How do we get more people to pursue a career in agricultural education?  How do we keep them there?   

Matt Reutlinger represents 
Penn State on panel discussion

The Pennsylvania State University was represented by both Matt Reutlinger (Penn State Teach Ag! Avenger, 2015 Student Teacher) and Dr. Daniel Foster (Assistant Professor of AEE).  They had the opportunity to share their thoughts on the issues.  Matt started off by stating, “We all understand that recruitment is important because it ensures the future generation of teachers and also the future generation of stakeholders in agricultural education.”  In his comments he shared to the importance of encouraging young people inside and outside of the classroom.  

“We need those people to go out into the classrooms and clubs and say, ‘You are going to be an agricultural educator!  You may not know it yet but I will teach you how.” - Matt R. 

Dr. Foster spoke on Thursday and shared how Penn State is preparing our future teachers for a career in agricultural education.  He emphasized the importance of having a supportive family atmosphere with student teachers, current teachers, and organizations (PAAE, FFA, FFA Alumni).  An important point of his presentation was that our students can be the best advocates we need for agricultural education.  The students are the ones with incredible stories and experiences to share with those potential agricultural education majors.  Our students put in a lot of work and energy into becoming the best they can be so it is important that we prepare, support, and assist them in the field they are going into.  It takes a dedicated and motivated individual to do what agricultural educators do everyday.  "If it was easy anyone would do it!"  Towards the end of his comments he challenged the summit to always be asking the question "What if...".  What if we could ensure every graduating student has a job lined up?  What if we could double our AEE enrollment?  

Dr. Foster shares innovative ideas
and thoughts with Summit.

"Our best recruiters are, and always will be, our students!" - Dr. Foster

There was plenty of discussion during the Summit.  From better recruitment to mentorship, and media involvement to universal teaching standards; there certainly is much to look forward to in the world of Ag Ed.  Be sure to check out the links below for more on the Summit and how you can be a better educator!  From all of the videos that I watched and great ideas I heard I am excited to be preparing to dive into this career!  If there was one tidbit I could say stuck with me the most, it would be this quote: "Take one idea and plus it!"  We have plenty of information and resources available to us.  It is time for us to take our ideas and make those dreams become a reality.  The reality  question is, how will you will you make your big idea happen?  Now go and do it!

Links:

2013 Ag Ed Summit Videos

The National Council for Agricultural Education

Teach Ag Campaign

Why Teachers Stay in the Classroom

To learn more about starting on the path to having a career that makes positive impact on the lives of students across the globe by becoming an agricultural educator, please contact the agricultural teacher education program at teachag@psu.edu. Follow us on Twitter @TeachAgPSU, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PSUTeachAg.

By: Matthew Dodson, 

Student Blogger

2013 Teach Ag Avenger

2016 Student Teacher Candidate