2019 Student Teacher Check-In with Manny Catala (@MCatala35)

Manny Catala is the current student teacher at Pequea Valley.

We stay in close contact with our student teachers while they complete their student teaching experiences and cap off the Agricultural and Extension Education degree! As part of staying in touch, we love to showcase what our student teachers are up to while they get to try out what they've been learning at Penn State! Our next Student Teacher Check-In is with Mr. Manny Catala, teaching at Pequea Valley High School alongside Mr. Doug Masser (@MasserD), a recent alumni of Penn State's AEE program in 2012.

Time sure does fly! Manny has been student teaching at Pequea Valley for 9 weeks now, and through this time he's gotten to go through a variety of learning experiences. Manny shares that one of the things he's learned in regards to his relationship with his students is that small conversations can make large impacts. He shares that talking to his students has been very important to his success: "The more I get to know my students and their interests, the easier it is to engage them in the content." He also shares that his favorite part of student teaching has been having these one-on-one conversations with his students. This gives Manny a chance to build his relationship with them, and also serve an educational goal by allowing him to help them with their class projects in a more personal way.

Manny instructs students at Pequea Valley High School.

Challenges are inevitable when you start your student teaching experience, so we wanted to know what some of the challenges were that Manny had to face when he arrived at Pequea Valley in January, and how he was able to overcome them. He told us that it was challenging for him to work with students who simply weren't motivated. "A way I try to handle this is building rapport with my students and creating a fun environment for them in class."

Manny has the opportunity to teach a variety of classes, including Power Tech, Large Animal Science, Ag Biology, Horticulture, Intro to Ag Mechanics, and Ag Business. Being able to teach across a wide range of subjects affords the chance to be involved in some really neat opportunities. "... I am able to expand my content knowledge and see what I like and don't like." His favorite class to teach is his Ag Biology class because he has been able to build a strong connection with his students there.

Lastly, Manny shares that it's important to enjoy your time student teaching; "...It goes by fast so appreciate the time with your students and learn from your mistakes."

We appreciate Manny sharing his wisdom with us, and we wish him the best of luck as he powers through the rest of his student teaching experience at Pequea Valley! You can follow Manny through the rest of his student teaching journey by keeping up with his blog, 'Manny's Manual'. 


Want to read more about Manny?

• September 2018 Student of the Month

 

 

Hunter Kauffman

Team Leader, @TeachAgPSU Communications

Wildlife and Fisheries Science

College of Agricultural Sciences

Doug Masser (@MasserD), #psuaged12: New Agriscience Teacher at Pequea Valley!

Doug Masser, new teacher at Pequea Valley!  

Doug Masser (@MasserD), a 2012 Penn State honors graduate, has been busy since leaving Penn State! He will complete his Master of Science in Agriculture Education at the University of Idaho in the summer 0f 2014 with research focusing on describing agriculture program supporters and their roles in agriculture education programs, effective teaching strategies and coaching behaviors of CDE coaches. His activity caught the eye of Pequea Valley High School and their current senior agriscence teacher, Mr. Clair Witwer enough to hire Doug to be a part of their agriscience team for the next school year!

Doug has always been interested in agriculture. Growing up in Pitman, PA (located in Schuylkill County), he helped a lot on his family’s fruit and vegetable farm. Whether he was on the farm or out in the woods exploring the ponds, trees, and streams near his house, it made him develop a sincere passion for agriculture. He attended Tri-Valley Jr/Sr. High School where he met one of his mentors, Gretchen Dingman, a Penn Sate AEE Alum, who was his agriculture teacher for 5 years. After completing high school, he knew that he wanted to go to school for Agriculture Extension and Education. “ I believe that agricultural education provides the best model for teaching students and from my experiences, nothing is more rewarding than watching your students grow professionally, as leaders, and personally and lead successful lives. It is because of the great students I will get to work with that makes me excited to teach ag!” 

Doug at a teacher conference with
other great PA Teachers!

Clair Witwer (the current teacher at Pequea Valley) is excited on adding on a second teacher to their Ag Science and Technology Department. Mr. Witwer stated, "I am very excited to have someone of Doug's caliber coming to Pequea Valley. I have been a single teacher department for most of my career and I am looking forward to having someone to help. As we entered into the interviews, we were looking for someone who shared the philosophy of the department and the district. As we went through that process, it became very obvious that Doug was the fit we were looking for." 

Pequea Valley currently has 135 students studying agriscience, but the addition of the new teacher, plus new courses that they will be able to provide, will increase their numbers to 300 students! Pequea Valley also has been awarded as Distinguished School from Apple. 

Doug is excited to have a school that focuses on Agriscience and Agricultural Mechanics. Since they are both different topics, they can bring in a variety of students to be a part of their program. Doug states, “He has done a tremendous job building the program there, and together we both can continue growing the program and including new classes. I am excited to work with Clair on expanding the Agriscience Fair participation of our students and to infuse my strengths in plant science and leadership into the program.”

As far as their facilities go, they have a 24X40 greenhouse, two agriscience classrooms equipped with the hoods, water, gas, etc., to conduct hands on labs in many classes, they have a huge agricultural mechanics laboratory, and an area for aquaculture! Doug has endless possibilities that he can take advantage of because of what the school has to offer!


Doug at the University of Idaho!

Through everything , Doug remembers Penn State as his beginning point in his educational career. "Penn State provided me with the opportunities to become an effective teacher. Whether it was formal classes, workshops, or Ag Teacher conferences, the teacher educators at Penn State (Dr. Foster, Dr. Ewing, and Laura Sankey Rice) modeled what it means to be a great teacher. They also inspired me to work hard to make a difference in the lives of students. I know that the skills and experiences I gained at Penn State prepared me to be a successful agriculture teacher."

Doug’s Penn State and University of Idaho family wish him well as he starts another milestone in his life! In the future we hope to check back in with him and see how much he has progressed at Pequea Valley High School. Congratulations Doug Masser!

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 

National FFA Parliamentary Procedure Career Development Event Reflection

L-R Tyler Scheffer, Olivia Murphy-Sweet, and Doug Masser

I was fortunate enough to travel with Penn State to the 86^th Annual FFA National Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. There were over 62,000 FFA members in downtown Louisville for a week celebrating agriculture and FFA. This year, I had the honor to be a judge at the Novice Parliamentary Procedures Competition for the Society of Agricultural Education Parliamentarians, be an assistant with the Senior Parliamentary ProceduresCareer Development Event for national FFA and work at the Penn State booth to promote how amazing our school is. Now, this may sound hectic and busy, but I was able to be a part of a national conference and make an impact on the lives of the students that were there.

Students competing in the Final Rounds

During the Novice Parliamentary Competition, students have to demonstrate a knowledge in Roberts Rules of Order (the bible of Parliamentary Procedures), good debates that are prevalent to the motion at hand, make the motions that they were assigned to, which is on a card in front of them, and have 3 debates. Although there are more rules and regulations regarding the competition, the students have the opportunity to show us how well they work as a team to get a meeting completed in under 12 minutes. In addition, they also have a written test and oral questions after they presentation their meeting to the judges. The national winners this year were from the San Luis Obispo chapter from California. They blew the judges away with their presentation and their knowledge.

Another Penn State student, Tyler Schaeffer, a coach of the Cumberland Valley’s National Parliamentary Procedures team, has a tremendous respect for this competition. “I feel that the Parliamentary CDE is one of the best competitions that students can test themselves. It demonstrates teamwork, communication skills, makes them understand parliamentary knowledge, and develops leaders.” This is more than just a competition. It is preparing the world for future leaders who understand the proper way of how to run meetings and have reinforced better communication skills.  

View of the Parliamentary Procedure room

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
2016 Student Teacher 
@OSweetMurph

2012 Follow Up: Doug Masser, a year later = Vandal Pride

Doug in front of the University of Idaho sign,
but still representing the Nittany Lions.

Doug Masser, a 2012 Penn State AEE gradaute, is working on his Masters of Science degree in Agricultural Education at the University of Idaho. Because Doug was certified to teach high school agriculture with his undergraduate degree from Penn State, he is now focused more on research classes and classes that will help him out as a future agricultural teacher. The research he conducts focuses on community support for agricultural education and looks at ways to make community partnership stronger in ways that will improve agricultural education programs. To go along with his assistantship duties Doug also helps to advise the University of Idaho CFFA where he helps with coordinating chapter events, local CDE's and coordinating the National FFA Convention trip. 

Doug and the Idaho's CFFA members
 at National FFA Convention

After Doug graduated from Penn State he did not plan on going to grad school, he thought he was going to teach agriculture in a high school in Pennsylvania. Since he was in Schreyers Honors College at Penn State he had to complete an undergraduate research thesis – he enjoyed the research but he was not thinking about getting his masters until later on in his career. After graduation he went to Korea with other agricultural education majors at Penn State,  he also attended two research conferences to present some of his undergraduate research work. While at the conference, he met a man by the name of Dr. Jeremy Falk (http://www.uidaho.edu/cals/ae4hyd/faculty/jfalk), an assistant professor at the University of Idaho. Dr. Falk encouraged Doug to visit the campus and think about a masters in Ag Ed. When Doug went to visit the campus, he was very wary about moving across the country and leaving Pennsylvania, but he loved his visit and even signed an apartment and his assistantship contract the second day there. Doug said “I am a firm believer that every experience someone has shapes who they are later in life. That’s why when this opportunity fell into my lap; I knew it was too good to pass up.”

Doug helping to run a Parliamentary Procedure workshop.

In regards to living in Idaho, Pennsylvania native said that everyone is really friendly and that the lifestyle is more laid back. Doug thought that he lived in a rural part of Pennsylvania, but living in Idaho there is a lot more land and a lot less people. The agriculture in the state is different than that in Pennsylvania such as in Southern Idaho there are a lot of potatoes, onions and other crops that are grown in irrigated valleys and in Northern Idaho, where Doug is located, there is dry land and wheat farming in the rolling hills. Since the agriculture is different in Idaho from Pennsylvania, the agricultural education is different too. He said that agricultural mechanics is a large aspect with approximately 60% of the agricultural education classes being taught are agricultural mechanics. The other classes include animal, plant, food, and environmental sciences as examples.  However, similar to Pennsylvania, all the teachers are dedicated to their student’s success. Doug has been in grad school for a year and has met many of Idaho’s 120 agricultural teachers and feels that they are a tight knit family that supports each other and are dedicated to the future of agricultural education.

After Doug finishes his masters degree he wishes to return back to Pennsylvania and find a job teaching high school agriculture. He missed the being in the classroom and teaching. However, now that he has moved across the country for his masters degree he is more open to moving and teaching anywhere across the nation. Doug would like to “encourage everyone to stretch themselves to do something different and leave their comfort zone. New situations bring with (them) new challenges that help us all grow as individuals and professionals.”

A piece of University of Idaho's campus.

 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

PAAE Summer Conference - Student Teacher Style

[Editor's Note: Every year, we conduct an orientation for cooperating teachers, university supervisors, and teacher candidates to ensure that everyone is on the same page for the upcoming year/internship. We purposefully conduct this at the summer conference of the agricultural teachers association to introduce students to the professional organization. Below is the perspective of one 2014 teacher candidate, Ms. Jeanne Case, who will be student teacher at Dover High School. Follow the adventures of this student teaching group on Twitter at #psuaged14]

A couple weeks ago I attended the Pennsylvania Association of Agricultural Educators (PAAE) conference in Manheim, PA. Since I am interning with the PA Farm Bureau this summer and am living in Harrisburg I was a simple 45 minutes away from the conference – or so I thought. As per typical Jeanne, I got lost and was late despite giving myself an extra 15 minutes when I left home. Thankfully one of my peers, in my student teaching cohort, Mr. Billy Saylor, called me and gave me directions and I did not miss that much of the conference.

My peers and I started the conference meeting with our student teacher mentors and talked about what the perfect student teaching experience would look like. Ideas were thrown around, such as our individual experiences with different aspects of FFA – ACES, SLLC, chapter meetings, CDE’s, etc. We also thought it would be good to go to department meetings, meet with the principal and other teachers in the building, as well as attend a school board meeting. Respect of the students, teachers, and each other was also an important subject. Some people seem to think that the student teachers have to be in competition with each other since we are graduating at the same time and looking for jobs. This year we are striving to work together, to really help each other out, to work as a family and a team. We should be building each other up rather than breaking the group down.  Drama is not an option in our cohort.

After we met with the teachers and Dr. Foster and Dr. Ewing, we split off for some focused instruction for teacher candidates with leaders of the program and recent graduates like Ms. Laura Rice, Ms. Mackenzie McCollum and Mr. Doug Masser. They tried to calm our fears of the upcoming semesters. They also stressed how it is important to dress tastefully because we may have the opportunity to meet important people and it is important to present yourself well because everything is an interview. We went over appropriate clothing for different events.  Dr. Foster is not the best at expressing what girls should be wearing –" uh, nice pants and a shirt" - is not a detailed enough answer for a girl.  Ms. Rice and Mackenzie were really helpful. The individuals running this session also stressed that if we keep up with our work, rather than waiting until the end of the semester, that student teaching really is manageable and will not “kill us”.

Student teacher, Billy Saylor, with the winery grapes

We also received our own teacher " big idea"  books to keep track of any ideas that we may want to use later or things that we will want to look up to implement in the classroom.

Following lunch we split into different groups and went to a session that was hosted by teachers from across the state. I went to an electrical lesson where three different teachers shared how they teach electrical wiring in their class. All of them did it completely different but it still got the same point across.Students learn things differently and it was nice to see different ways to teach the same subject. It will be important to keep that in mind during our teaching career as some techniques may work with some students and not with others – it is good to keep an open mind and be willing to change your teaching style to help a student learn.  Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

As PAAE is an agricultural conference we. of course, have to support ALL aspects of the agricultural industry so we went on an industry tour of a local winery. We toured the farm then got to learn how they process the grapes on the farm and make their product. We even got to sample that product with a little swirl, smell and sip. To bring out the different flavors there were local cheeses and crackers provided as different foods change the taste palate of your mouth and create a different experience.

Student teachers listening to a presentation about the wine industry in PA

To end the evening we had dinner at a local auction barn and played Minute to Win it. Teams were made up of teachers and student teachers alike as we battled to win. It was a good bonding experience for all involved, the participants and spectators alike. Lots of the games were quite silly and it got everyone out of their shells, mingling and forming connections, which is what conferences and networking events are all about. Here are a few example videos of competition in action!!

Dr. John Ewing in the infamous "Pencil Snatch". Mad Skills

Mr. Herb Hoffeditz puts his nose in it!

Our Teacher Educators Team Up. Dr. John Ewing & Dr. Daniel Foster

2014 Student Teachers Billy Saylor and Caleb Wright Exhibit Team Work!

The second day of the conference and the last day for the student teachers had us attending more workshops to learn of opportunities that we can provide to our future students such as certifications, dual enrollment and tests to prove that our students are learning adequately, to name a few.

We were also able to listen to issues happening in the state, such as state days and other events. There was time to network with different teachers from across the state and make connections and friendships. I even met a woman whom I had talked to previously via email and facebook that is an alumni of the Greek organization I am involved with. It turns out that she was in the house the same time as my mom and that she and my mom actually worked together in the pasture research lab sorting different types of weeds. My mom even went to her wedding and took wedding photos for her. I love to network and make connections and I also love to meet alumni as they just seem to pop up out of nowhere and provide excellent resources. I also met another man who is actually the father of my student teacher mentor; I had talked to him on the phone last fall to interview him for a project in one of my AEE classes. It was very nice to be able to put faces to names.

We, the student teachers, ended our portion of the conference with a meeting to discuss why it was important that we were there and the importance of professional organizations. Agriculture is such a small industry while being so large.  It is important to help each other out and share ideas, as it helps the industry to constantly grow in the forward direction.  On behalf of this spring’s student teachers I know that we were very appreciative of the opportunity to attend the conference, to make friends and to learn a lot about the profession that we are about to enter. It was a great jump start to the fall semester!

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

Moving On...Following up with 2012 Graduate Doug Masser

As our 2012 Student Teachers graduated from Penn State on May XX, many of them had no idea what the future would bring. Now, as summer reaches its climax, many of them now have some idea of where their lives are heading. Over the course of the next few weeks, we will showcase some of our graduates and update you on where they are heading. First up....Doug Masser.

Doug was a Schreyer's Honors student in the AEE major. He student taught at Upper Dauphin High School this past spring. In the Fall, Doug will be starting graduate studies at the University of Idaho in Moscow, ID. We asked Doung a few questions about his experiences here at Penn State and share his expectations for what lies ahead. 

1) Why did you choose to the University of Idaho?

I chose the University of Idaho because it provided me with a chance to gain new experiences and perspectives in agriculture education by working with schools in a new state.  I will also be able to gain college teaching experiences as well as work with some great faculty that I know will help me prepare to be the best teacher I can be when I leave grad school and begin my career as an ag teacher.  

2) What are you most excited about in the upcoming year?

I am very excited to work with the undergraduates at the University of Idaho and help them coordinate state CDE events.  I am also looking forward to taking a few classes in ag mechanics such as basic shop practices and small gas engines!

3) What advice do you have for the student teachers next year?

The best advice I can give to future student teachers is never close any doors behind you and always remain open minded and ready for new and exciting opportunities!  I never dreamed I would be attending grad school right after Penn State.  However, I continued to remain open to my future and sure enough, an amazing opportunity opened up for me and in the fall I will be heading across the country!

4) Did you feel prepared for the Job Search Process (even though you are heading to Graduate School)?

I felt extremely prepared for the job search.  Even though my interviews and experiences pertained to graduate school, I was still able to utilize my portfolio, resume, and lesson plans in my interview process.