Interacting with Those in the Agriculture Education Profession

On Monday, March 28^th, the Eastern Region Dinner Meeting sponsored by the Center for Professional Personnel Development by Penn State was held at Shady Maple.  If you are unaware about what Shady Maple is, it is a smorgasbord nestled in the heart of Lancaster County.  Leaving hungry is your own fault. 

After devouring an array of food options we shared resources, reflected on our teaching methods, gave advice, and shared in laughter.  The event was extremely beneficial for me as a pre-service teacher and received so much good advice and resources from others in the profession.  Olivia and I got to interact with teachers who had strong food science, veterinary science, agricultural mechanics, and natural resources programs.  What was great about the evening was that everyone in the room is doing what they do because they love what they do.  The amount of laughter in the room and information gathered was second to none. 

We were informed prior if we brought a resource we would get our meal paid for by Mr. Frederick.  Of course I jumped on that plug!  I brought a rubric I had created for my electrical wiring unit.  I found out early in my student teaching experience it is very important to be as transparent as you can be when grading students.  That way if they disagree with their grade you can show them exactly where they fell short at receiving points.  Mrs. Oberholtzer brought an SLO she created for her class others could possibly use if they have some sort of animal science program.  Mr. Smith brought a form he uses when conducting his small gas engines class and students bring in their own engines to fix. 

The evening concluded with Mr. Frederick providing us with an abundance of resources!  These resources ranged from pamphlets on how to identify trees and anatomy sets of a cow, pig, and dog.

Another favorite moment of mine which I have gotten to experience numerous times now, is traveling with Mr. Smith to these agricultural education events.  The wisdom, advice and hysterical stories he has shared with me have also all been filed away like the resources given to me at all of these events to use at a later date.