Piglets Are Here !!!!

Hi all,

This week was the farthest thing from normal. Three days in Harrisburg for SLLC, first interview for a "Big Kid Job", Piglets arrived, and CDE practices kicked off. Oh the life of an Ag Teacher!

With all the goings on this week  the lesson that shown through the most was the importance of student success. Seeing the reaction of my students as they received their certificate for best homemade shirts at SLLC on Sunday night was just the start. On Tuesday the students were recognized by the Senate for their participation in SLLC , as well as their work with local Agriculture in their local community.

A pone returning to school on Thursday the importance of student success continued to echo. I figured that when I saw the two students who had tried for Proficiency awards (Small Animal Care) they would be a little disappointed. But to my surprise their only concerned that I was disappointed in them. Once I explained that was in no way the case, I was just proud of them for putting all the time and dedication into their SAE and their award applications. It was amazing to see how that reassurance and praise for their hard work completely changed the attitudes of these two students.

Continuing on this same train of thought, the students in my floral design class had work extremely hard on their contemporary arrangements ( Fresh- landscape & Silk - student's choice). I had been trying to work with the principal to have the arrangements displayed in the school lobby, however, do to the fear of the arrangements being destroyed by the vocational students and the fact that the Ag department had just had the display cases for FFA week my request we denied. The students and I were relay disappointed. With a little help from Mrs.Reed ( the department Secretary) I was able to pressured the school librarian into letting the floral class display their arrangements in the library.

When I returned on Thursday the students had no idea what was going on when they looked at their objectives, 1) Filed Trip.  I gave them instructions to go to the lab and load all the fresh arrangements out of the cooler and on to a cart, as well as to get their silk arrangements to carry down to the high school library. They light up and could get over how I did it. The librarian greeted us at the door and told the student they could put their arrangements any where they would like and they would be high lighted during the library's open house, coming up this week. Teachers that had their classes in the library were stunned by the classes work and kept complementing all of them. Seeing the students' smiles grow as they placed their arrangements and talked to the teachers about their arrangements was one of the best moments I have had during student teaching.

Additionally, this week The freshmen had the opportunity for hands on lamb/sheep fitting in the greenhouse. On Wednesday  large animal science class got to deliver ten of the twelve piglets,getting to assist with two breached piglets. Friday we had a USDA community recourse person come to demonstrate how to process the piglets. Removing needle teeth, ear knock, and give shoots (Iron).

Till next time!