2019 Student Teacher Check-In with Lisa Boltz (@BoltzLisa)

We love hearing from our Student Teachers! Aside from frequently checking in with them, and seeing all the amazing things they do with their students in their classrooms and through FFA, we would like to help share their experience student teaching, how they're overcoming the challenges they meet along the way, and how they're preparing themselves for a future teaching Agriculture!

You can join their journeys with them! This week we're checking in with Ms. Lisa Boltz, who is currently student teaching at Dover High School with Ms. Alex Barzydlo. We asked Lisa about her favorite parts of student teaching, challenges, and unique opportunities she was able to have along the way so far.

Ms. Boltz is only a few weeks into her student teaching experience and she's already learned so much from the opportunities she's had. She shares that her favorite class to teach is her Large Animal Science class. In this course, she is able to teach the content while having the freedom to experiment with different practices in the classroom. Small Gas Engines also is a favorite class of Lisa's because it's allowed her to learn under the guidance of a veteran teacher while practicing teaching, and getting more comfortable with, a subject that she is less familiar with.

Lisa shares that she's learned quickly that even though your students may be quite, it doesn't mean that they're bored. "I misinterpreted students not talking for them being bored, but once I discussed this with my cooperating teacher, I discovered they weren't talking because they were still absorbing." She says that it's important to make sure that your students understand the material you're teaching before you power through your lessons for the sake of time. On the flip side, she shares that classroom management can be difficult at times. "...I've managed by living by the mantra, 'they can only get your goat if you show them where it's tied.'" Lisa has been tackling classroom management with poise and working to not let the little things get to her, and she shares that even teachers are human, and need to take situations, whatever they may be, one at a time.

Ms. Lisa Boltz with Dover FFA's landscape display at the PA Farm Show.

We asked Lisa what her favorite part of student teaching is, and she shared that it's, "...having the candid and honest conversations with my cooperating teacher to help improve me as a teacher, SAE supervisor, and FFA advisor." She adds that it feels great to know that her virtual mentor team and cooperating center are there to support her through her student teaching journey.

Lisa would also like to share that even though the student teaching experience only lasts through April, the connections you build and the experiences you get are there for a lifetime. "...don't blow the chance to learn from them all the time." Good teachers build on their experiences and carry them with themselves throughout their career, and we can certainly see that Lisa is already thinking about how she can incorporate the opportunities she's taking into her future career as an Agricultural teacher!

We wish Ms. Lisa Boltz the best of luck as she continues her student teaching experience at Dover High School, and we can't wait to see how she's grown personally and professionally when she comes back to Penn State in April!


Want to read more about Lisa?

• November 2018 Student of the Month: Lisa Boltz
• Penn State Teach Ag 2019 NAAE Award Winners
• 5th Annual Domestic Study Away, Day 3: Classrooms, Cranberries, and Connections

Hunter Kauffman

Team Leader, @TeachAgPSU Communications

Wildlife and Fisheries Science

College of Agricultural Sciences