PSU Teach Ag at Wine and Swine Celebration of Blue Corduroy (@PAFFAAlumni)

On September 23, 2017 the 1st Annual Wine and Swine Celebration of Blue Corduroy was held at The Winery at Hunter's Valley. The Pennsylvania FFA Alumni had hosted the event to raise funds for the First Year FFA Jacket campaign. Throughout the night there was a silent auction for chapter baskets as well as other auction items with the money going towards FFA Jackets. Teach Ag was invited to go to represent Penn State at the event. Each of our student cohorts were represented which included George Dietrich #psuaged18, Victoria Herr #psuaged19, Luke Kerstetter #psuaged20, Alicia Gates #psuaged20, Libby Baker-Mikesell #psuaged21, and Sam Loy #psuaged21. It was a casual event with yard games featured for entertainment. Overall the event was successful, entertaining, and Teach Ag was exemplified well by our cohort representatives.

Left to Right - Luke Kerstetter, Beth Winklosky, George Dietrich, Victoria Herr, Sam Loy, Libby Baker-Mikesell, Alicia Gates

Luke Kerstetter

Student Blogger

Twitter Handle: @lmkerstetter96

2020 Agricultural Education Student Teacher

#TeachAgTuesday: Essay Finalist Spotlight on Sarah Gonzalez

Every Tuesday until PA FFA Convention, we will be highlighting one finalist from the Essay Contest. Each finalist created a video for their submissions answering the question "What do you enjoy about agriculture education? OR What do you like about your agriculture educator?" Each finalist did a fantastic job and we want to show off their videos until our special surprise at State Days when we announce the winner. Our first student to be highlighted is:

Sarah Gonzalez

 

Manheim Central High School

 

Teacher: Heather Anderson

 

Class: Introduction to Agriculture Science

 

Lesson: Acids and Bases

  

 

 

Check out Sarah's video!

 

 

 

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

Blog Editor

2016 Student Teacher

@OSweetMuph

 

 

 

PA FFA Fall Leadership Conference: #psuaged15 gets their #TeachAg Swag on!

FFA Members working on a group activity during
one of the officer workshops. 

On October 1st, the students from the 2015 student teacher cohort (#psuaged15) along with their shadow teachers from the 2016 student teacher cohort (#psuaged16), Dr. Ewing (@jce122) and Mrs. Rice (@LauraSankeyRice), headed to Altoona to facilitate workshops at the PA FFA Fall Leadership Conference! The Penn State students facilitated six different workshops at the conference which was held at the Blair County Convention Center.

The purpose of this conference is to teach and reinforce the different duties of the FFA officers and to jump start new members of the FFA. It also gave the pre-service teachers at Penn State the opportunity to gain "real life"experience by interacting with the students and teaching the various workshops.

Cory Scott (@CJScottAgEd),  one of the pre-service teachers, stated "attending my first FLC was an amazing learning experience. Getting to spend over 2 hours working with a group of students got me really pumped to student teach next semester."

Hannah Harris and SaraBeth Royer facilitating
the treasurer workshop!

The group of Penn Staters were responsible for creating and facilitating lessons for the officers that attending the conference. Each group was made up of two or three pre-service teachers and a shadow teacher. The shadow teachers were underclassmen enrolled in the Agriculture and Extension Education program

The workshops were facilitated by:
President: Jill Gordon, Kate Basset and Rachel Speicher
Vice President: Carly-Jean Schaffer, Howard Poole, Megan Kellar and Mason Tate
Secretary: Morgan Campbell, Jasmine Graybill, Jenna Moser and Kelsey Henry
Treasurer: Bryanna Kenno, Hannah Harris, Toby Neal and Sarabeth Royer
Reporter: Janae Bickhart, Rea Ianson, Laura Metrick and Janae Herr
Sentinal: Deanna Miller and Cory Scott
Catch-All: Rachel Telesz, Amanda Forstater, Cassidy Cheddar and Erin Yoest

The FFA Members and facilitators during the
Reporter workshop

After the workshops, the Penn State students got the chance to talk with current FFA members and advisers over lunch. While reflecting on the day, many topics were discussed including areas for improvement and areas that went well.

Deanna Miller (@DeannaPSU15), another pre-service teacher stated "I learned that even with the best planning, you sometimes need to change the direction of your lesson to better suit your learners. 

Overall, the conference was a great experience for all of the Penn State students. From writing out the lesson plans to facilitating the
workshop, a lot was learned!


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!

Laura Metrick
@Its_LauraBeth
Student Blogger
2015 Student Teacher

PSU AEE Students help with FFA Food Stand at Farm Show

Any food product with this label is grown in PA and
supports local farmers!

What unifies all humans? If you guessed FOOD than you are correct! When the Pennsylvania Farm show comes to Harrisburg, people come for the exhibits, shows, events, but also to eat the amazing food that is only there for one week out of the entire year! Cheese cubes, pizza, milkshakes, fried mushrooms, and so much more are all PA Preferred products that are sold.

PA Preferred has been working with several food booths for a common goal. They feel that is their duty to restore thousands of PA companies to only sell products from local farms to support the economy as well as the farmers who grow the products. One of the stands that works with PA Preferred is the FFA Foundation Food Stand. Tyler Schaeffer, as well as myself, had the privilege to be the mangers over the week of Farm Show. 

Top (left to right) Kelsey Paulus, Olivia Murphy-Sweet, Dave (Ice Man), Shannon Christie,
Bottom (left to right) Ali Emig, the Nittany Lion

From open to close, FFA members from all over the state, came to work with us at the stand to make some FFA dollars. From working they could save money that goes to their chapter to go on trips at a discounted price. One of those students Ali Emig from the Cumberland Valley chapter said, “I work here every year with my chapter. It is a great way to make friends as well as money to use on trips! I hope that when graduate I can still come back to work because the relationships you make here with people last a lifetime. I am still friends with a girl I met freshman year of high school!” She worked all week to save up money to go to Washington and Oregon with her chapter for their spring trip. She will also be going to the Penn State branch campus Mont Alto in the fall.

State FFA Officer, Lena Bioni
working at the FFA Food Stand

During the week it was awesome working with students and their teachers to make the week a great success. We raised over $30,000 dollars at the stand during the course of the week. Tyler and I also received a scholarship from working through the FFA foundation.

To learn more about the Pennsylvania State Farm Show visit www.farmshow.state.pa.us. Or if you are interested on being a manager for next year you can contact Mark Lowery at mark.lowery@newholland.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   

Penn State CFFA hosts a Career Development Event Day for High School Students

Here are some of the Penn State  student helpers

On September 28, 2013 Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences lead by the PSU CFFA hosted the first ever Career Development Event (CDE) Day.  A CDE is a competition that connects to various careers and strengthens student’s skills to provide them with both experience and knowledge.  There are 24 CDE’s listed at the national level and 8 of those were offered at the CDE Day at PSU.  The goal of this event was to provide Pennsylvania FFA members a glimpse of the diversity of competitions within the FFA.  An additional benefit was to attract younger agriculturalists to Penn State University.

FFA members and Penn State students conversing together

The CDE Day was organized by Penn State’s Collegiate FFA as a result of a delegate issue “To have a Practice CDE Day” discussed by FFA members at the State Convention in 2012.  During the week’s delegation process, the FFA members decided that they would be appreciative if Penn State’s Collegiate FFA would create and host the event.  The information was passed on to the Collegiate FFA Chapter and the members began to plan.  There were members who reached out to all of the agriculture educators across the commonwealth, and members who communicated with the different agriculture clubs on campus to encourage involvement.  CFFA wanted this event to not just be about Penn State’s FFA program, instead they wanted to emphasize the importance how FFA can connect and relate to any organization.  This event became a tool that helped to mold a stronger sense of community within the College of Agricultural Sciences. 

Students learn more about livestock judging from Block and Bridle

The following clubs played an essential role in the success of the day’s events: The Dairy Science Club who facilitated the Dairy Judging CDE, Tau Phi Delta running the Forestry CDE, Block and Bridle who facilitated both Horse and Livestock Judging, The Teach Ag Society who organized the Parliamentary Procedure and Public Speaking Events, The Small and Exotic Animal Club who ran the Vet Skills CDE, and The Wildlife Society who organized the Wildlife CDE.  There were over 100 students who participated in these events and they came from eleven different FFA chapters throughout Pennsylvania.  The students certainly had a blast and learned a lot.  One student on a response card said, “The people were nice, I learned a lot, I met a lot of new people.”  This response signified to the members of CFFA that they were doing great for the first ever CDE Day.  Throughout the day CFFA members sought feedback from the different clubs, teachers, and students that participated to ensure that the events to follow will only be greater! 

There is a sincere thank you to all of the volunteers, participants and supporters of this event.  Without their faith and encouragement it would not have been possible.  The first line of the FFA Creed states “I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deeds.”  Well the people, who showed up with their heart of service on September 28^th, demonstrated that the future of agriculture is certainly in good hands!

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!

Jenna Moser

Guest Student Blogger

2015 Teacher Candidate

Twitter: @JennaLeeMoser 

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