Snowy School Days

Tis the season for winter weather, and this week was nothing shy of a winter wonderland.

Our area received nearly 3 feet of snow this past weekend, so we had a slow start to our school week. School left out early last Friday, due to the incoming weather, and we did not return until Wednesday this week. Classes were in session Wednesday and Thursday but on 2 hour delay schedules, so class time was modified once again. Friday, (today) was parent-teacher conferences, so students were not in school today.

Moral of my week, was learning how to adapt to changing schedules.

This week I began teaching Dairy Science to our Animal Care and Management (ACM) students. One of my favorite aspects of teaching this week, was having both of my ACM classes create a KWL chart on their knowledge of Dairy Science.

We filled in the 'Know' column as well as 'Want to know' column. I felt this was a fun interactive way to get my students think about dairy science and what prior knowledge they have and what they wish to learn throughout the next few weeks. A few of my students told me they enjoyed this approach to beginning a new lesson.  At the end of this unit we will follow up on our charts and complete the 'Learned' column.

As a result of all the snow we received at school, our heat system in our greenhouse took a turn for the worse and broke over the weekend. So on Wednesday, my Horticulture II students stepped away from our floriculture unit to rearrange our hydroponics system in the greenhouse. Because of the low temperatures in the greenhouse we decided to bring our hydroponics system into the classroom and save as many cucumber and tomato plants as possible.

 This was very stressful, because we had a lot to do in a short class time, but I think this was a great opportunity for team building. I saw each one of my 4 students working well with each other and helping wherever they were needed. Also, I think this was a great team building experience for Ms. Smith and I as we got to see how we work together under stress and keep composure to ensure our class stays in order.

At the end of the day we had the hydroponic system set up and functioning in our classroom, and our plants are still hanging in there.

This week was crazy, but I am looking forward to a regular scheduled week next week, teaching dairy science in the morning and floriculture in the afternoon.

Ms. Timmons


"Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire". -Anonymous

I love teaching...so far!

This week, was my first week teaching one of my classes at Kennard-Dale. The week began with a staff development day on Monday. This was fun for me to continue to interact with my colleagues in the building. We participated in a Ed Camp, which I thoroughly enjoyed! I believe this is a great way to make professional development fun and beneficial for each specific teachers needs. I learned how to properly write press releases which I will use to promote our FFA chapter events and accomplishments. In addition, Ms. Smith and I attended a workshop on effective classroom instruction, which was great for me to see how other teachers ensure their class runs efficiently and productively.

Finally, Tuesday rolled around and I was able to have my first day of actual teaching. This week I began teaching Ms. Smith and I's ninth period Horticulture II class. This class is fun, energetic, and...small. There are 4 students in this class (3 boys and 1 girl)! Having four students in a class is a great way to start teaching. I felt very comfortable teaching to a small group of students I feel I know well. However, on the first day of class, I only had two students. And my lesson plan for that day went right out the window. Actually, it really was not that bad, I just had to rearrange some materials and activities I had planned.

As the week progressed, all my students were in class and we were back on track and running smoothly again. All is well in Horticulture II. Looking ahead this week coming up my students will get to practice their floriculture skills through constructing a candy arrangement.

This week I had the opportunity to attend our monthly school board meeting with Ms. Smith and 5 of our FFA officers. Our officers got to share their gratitude and appreciation for all the events that the school board allows us to attend. To show our appreciation, we wanted to give the school board members an overview of how the events and activities we participate in our growing our program and our students as individuals. I know Ms. Smith and I both were proud of our students and for the accomplishments that we have and are able to continue throughout our program.

Next week will be a great week. I will continue teaching Horticulture II however, I will also begin to teach animal care and management which is a course taught two periods each day. I am looking forward to more time in front of the classroom and growing as a teacher.

~Ms. Timmons

"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11

I Get to Wear a Teacher's Badge!!

When I was little I always played 'school'. My 'school' consisted of me teaching imaginary kids sitting on the floor in my living room. Now, since I was little I didn't really teach much of anything rather I just perfected my teaching desire.

I only needed two things in order for me to feel like a teacher as I played 'school'. Those two things were a stack of white computer paper, and a teacher's badge.

That's all that mattered to me! At a young age (long before I met Dr. Foster) all I need in order for me to feel like a teacher was my papers to pass out and a badge with my picture on it.

I felt like a teacher because I got to pass out paper! Let me tell you, I perfected that skill and today I am a pretty good paper passer outer. But I could not pass out paper unless I was wearing my teacher's badge. Of course I did not have anything like a real teacher's badge so I had to improvise.

Let me tell you what my 'teacher's badge' was. You know when you go to amusement parks and on some water rides a camera will take your picture  as you going down the ride. And at the end of the ride you can purchase a small keychain picture. Well I happen to like those water rides so I have a few of those little keychain pictures. So I put one of those pictures on my handy dandy Penn State lanyard and I was a teacher! Now there were a few extra heads in my teacher picture but that was okay.

I felt like a teacher! I was a' teacher' because I wore a teacher's badge....and passed out paper!

A dream of mine came true this week. A desire, a passion, a goal, and an amazing opportunity came true. I got a real teacher's badge!

Now as you can see my teacher's badge does not say my name nor does it have a picture of my lovely face on it. Instead it says substitute, and I'm okay with that!

After this first week, I feel confident in myself, and the knowledge that I have gained about becoming an effective, powerful agricultural teacher. I feel as though I have the knowledge and the ability to wear this substitute teacher badge.

But, this badge, unlike my amusement park picture badge, does not have my picture on it. This badge is not permanent for me (and believe me I would love to have a permanent badge at KD). Rather this badge is not permanent for me yet, because I don't feel as though I am ready for a real badge with my name and face on it. I have the knowledge but I want the experience. I want to earn my REAL teacher's badge that says Ms. Timmons.

This first week of student teaching inspired me to continue and to honestly, entirely committed earn a permanent teacher's badge.

I got to watch an amazing, inspiring agriculture teach this week. I got to have a dog stay in my classroom (as a guest) one day this week because we were finishing an animal unit on dogs. I got to sit in on our monthly FFA meeting. I got to see my students every single day this week. I got to meet a welcoming family of faculty and staff this week. I got to have lunch in the teacher's lounge each day and listen to some of the funniest conversations you could ever hear in a school.

This was a great week of observations. But, observing is not going to make me an amazing agriculture teacher. Observing is not going to earn my permanent teacher's badge.

I am so excited for the weeks ahead. I am so excited to teach and to share my voice with my students. I am ready to finally earn my teacher's badge!

A few weeks ago at National FFA Convention, I told Ms. Smith that I could not wait to spend every day with her at Kennard Dale. After a week with her and our students, I feel even more excited to see her and our kids each day!

I can't wait for the rest of this semester and for all the dreams that keep coming true.

Love,
Ms. Timmons

"And I will rise when He calls my name"-Chris Tomlin

Mid-Winter Convention at the 100th PA Farm Show

Time really does fly by!

Not only was today a mark in time for the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, it was also my very first day of my student teaching experience, and let me tell you, it was a great day! Today I had the great opportunity of visiting the PA Farm Show with my cooperating school. Ms. Smith and I were grateful to attend the farm show with 20 of our agricultural students.

The PA Farm show is the largest indoor agricultural exposition. So of course as a farm girl, a lover of agriculture and now an agricultural teacher, this is an exciting event for me to attend. Today the farm show hosted the FFA Mid-Winter Convention. During this time, FFA students are awarded for their achievements and accomplishments.

One of the rewards that FFA members are able to receive during this time are the blue corduroy FFA jackets. This is an honor to receive as allows members to become part of a legacy.

Today Ms. Smith and I had 5 students receive their FFA jackets. This was an honor for me to witness and be a part of. I was moved by the dedication and commitment my students were making to their future, our FFA chapter, and to others. I feel blessed to be able to impact these five students as they become active members in our FFA chapter. I am so excited for the many opportunities these students will have as they proudly wear their blue jackets. Each one of these students are very deserving of the one and only blue FFA jacket.

In addition to receiving FFA jackets, members also if eligible are able to receive their Keystone degree at Mid-Winter Convention. The Keystone degree is a symbol of the great accomplishments service, and dedication FFA members have given through their service in the FFA.

Today, Ms. Smith and I had two seniors earn their Keystone degree. These two students are both officers within our FFA chapter and their willingness and commitment to our chapter is unwavering. I am so proud of Brooke and Josh for their hard work. They spend countless hours working to ensure our FFA chapter is active and impactful throughout our community. Brooke and Josh also excel in their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) as they make strives to apply the knowledge they are learning in their agriculture class to their real life experiences. They received this award with great honor!

Today was filled with joy! I think spending the day with Ms. Smith and a few of our students gave me a greater appreciation for the tremendous opportunity I have at Kennard Dale. Today, as I saw 5 students make a commitment to serving their FFA chapter, I was reminded of my commitment I am making to myself as I become an agriculture teacher and to my students at Kennard Dale as I will serve them and positively impact their educational career. I was also inspired by Brooke and Josh as I witnessed them receiving their Keystone degree. They demonstrated their hard work and dedication, which reinforced to me that I will need to work hard these next few weeks, but in the end the rewards I will receive from this student teaching experience will be greater than any degree could offer.

Ms. Timmons

"Great leaders do not desire to lead but to serve." -Myles Munroe

Final Lab Reflection

Wow! I am so happy to say that I have completed my AEE 412 Lab experience. This course has taught me so much about becoming the best agricultural teacher I can possibly be. The knowledge and experiences I have gained from this course are life long lessons that I will carry into my future classroom.

Three take-away's from AEE 412 Lab:

• Preparation is Key- This is one of the most important skills I have learned throughout this semester. If I desire to be successful I must be willing to put time and effort into my lesson and my students. I feel that throughout the semester, I increased my preparations skills and dedicated more time to being prepared with content for each lesson.
• Go for It- Throughout this semester I feel I have grown in my confidence and my ability to be a go-getter, and my own leader. I believe I have developed my self advocating skills in which I do not need to rely on others to be successful.
• Make it real- My goal for each lab that I taught to my students was to make it real and applicable to them. As an educator I want my students to enjoy learning and find value in agriculture education.  

Things to Improve On:

• Operational lab- I think since we had to write an operational lesson plan it would be nice to have had to teach an operational lesson as well.
• Eliminate busy work!- I am so glad we did not have to complete the Genius hour or the Creativity challenge. I just feel that some of the things that are created in this course are wasted time pieces.
• Mix up the lab groups- I feel that to be fair to all of our peers labs should be assigned and not chosen. For example I do not think one lab should have all the favorite students in it. Also I think by mixing up the labs students with different strengths and weaknesses will be able to work together and learn from each other.

Overall, I felt this was a great course and very beneficial to my growth as an agricultural educator. I have learned many things from this course. Particularly, I have learn Roshenshine and Furst's characteristics of an effective teacher and I feel that I possess their variability characteristic. Below is a video which illustrates my variability in instruction.

I proudly, leave this course knowing I have the knowledge and skill set to be a great leader of inspiration, a great leader of change, and a great agriculture.

Ms. Timmons
"Be the light" -Matthew 5:14

Creating a Successful Classroom Environment

As an educator, I want to ensure that my classroom is a safe and enjoyable place for learning to occur. However, it can not always be fun and games. As much as I love to create fun and engaging activities, I know that I must first cultivate expectations and procedures for my classroom, to ensure that we are learning.

Classroom management is key to a successful classroom. I believe that within a classroom there must be a clear list of expectations for students, a guide of procedures for students to follow, and ultimately a list of consequences that inquire if expectations are not met.

A pretty list of procedures, expectations, and consequences are fine and dandy but they will do nothing for the classroom if they are not implement. I think a classroom management plan can be implemented to ensure the class is safe and successful in three simple ways:

1. From the Beginning: In order for classroom management to be effective it must be implemented immediately. At the beginning of the school the teacher must convey their expectations, procedures, and consequences. We cannot expect our students to read our minds and be perfect angels (that would be to ideal) so instead we need to be firm and start out strong with our classroom management. You can always become softer, but you can't start implementing new rules half way through the year and expect students to follow them.
2. Consistency: As teachers we have to be consistent with our classroom management. If we let bad behavior slide one time then why not let it slide the next time. We have to be consistent with our follow through. We have to demonstrate discipline in which we are disciplined with our implementation and follow through of our expectations, procedures, and consequences.
3. Two Way Street: A successful classroom includes students and teachers. We as teachers must strive to work diligently with our students. Maybe we as teachers have to be the bigger person most of the time, but if we want to create a fun and successful atmosphere and reduce behavior problems we must be willing to communicate and work effectively with each student and their individual needs.

I think we as teachers have the ability to create a safe and successful classroom atmosphere if we take time to implement our classroom management expectation, procedures, and consequences. We must immediately be firm and consistent in our implementation, and at the end of the day remember we are all in this learning experience together!

Miss. Timmons

Serving in Action at KD

Yesterday, November 24th I had the pleasure of teaching a Life Knowledge lesson at Kennard Dale, my cooperating high school where I will be student teaching. Before I tell you any more, let me just say I love my school, I love being there, I love my kids, I love my cooperating teacher, I love it all!

So anyway, as part of my student teaching preparation, I was required to teach a Life Knowledge lesson to my students at Kennard Dale.

What is a Life Knowledge lesson?

Well the National FFA did a great job of creating complete lesson plans on common every day personal growth and development skills. The purpose of me teaching a basic personal growth skill was to just give me more confidence in my teaching as well as becoming more acquainted with my students.

Since we are among the holiday season, I chose to teach a lesson on serving others. This lesson stood out to me for many reasons. I strive to serve others in any way I possible can, and as an educator I want my students to see that in me. I want them to know that not only will I serve them through their education but I also expect them to help me serve others through our agricultural program. Also with the holidays right around the corner there are always needs to be filled and I felt this was a great time for us to fill them.

 I had a complete lesson plan already created for me from the FFA Life Knowledge program, all I needed to do was teach it. But I wanted this lesson to come to life for my kids. I wanted them to actually serve and find meaning and value in that five letter word.

After communicating my ideas with Miss. Smith we decided to conduct a canned food drive for our own food pantry within our school district. I felt this was a great way students could serve other students within our district.

I am thankful for Miss. Smith and her unconditional help and support as she informed our agriculture classes of our food drive mission and encouraged our students to bring in canned food for one week. We made our serving process a competition among all of our agriculture classes and whichever class period brought in the most items would receive a prize when I came to teach my lesson on the 24th.

When I got to Kennard Dale yesterday, I was pleased to see we had collected 2 boxes of canned food items to give to our food pantry. I was proud to see that our students actually participated and felt the need to serve others. Our period 9 Horticulture 2 class brought in the most items so they received cookies for their generous support.

Now for the actual lesson part...I taught a lesson on serving others to our Intro to Agriculture and Natural Resource class. This class consists of 14 students most of which are 9th graders. After teaching this class I am reminded as to why I do not teach any grades lower than high school. Overall the teaching went well.

Throughout the lesson we created a serving plate, which illustrated 4 areas in which we have the opportunity to reach out and serve others. We also illustrated 4 ways we can contribute to a service which include: time, money, gifts & abilities, and affections/encouragement. I had the student work in groups of 3 to create a service project or event in which they had to identify who, what, when, how, where, and why they were serving. And the last activity I had our students do was to write a word of encouragement to each other. On a piece of white copy paper each student wrote their name in the middle of the page. We passed each paper around to each student and each student then had to write something encouraging to the student whose paper they had. I wanted this to be away for our students to see how easily they can serve others with their words.

I felt good after teaching the lesson. I think this class will be an opportunity for me to grow in my abilities to maintain an instructional and enjoyable environment as well as help me implement my classroom management skills, and that is something I will look forward to with an open mind.

Overall, as always is was a great day at Kennard Dale and I continue to anxiously wait until I can be there everyday!!

Miss. Timmons

"A life of significance is about serving those who need your gifts, your leadership, your purpose." - Kevin Hall