"A Tradition of Excellence"

As you walk up to the Agricultural Education building at Fair Play High School, you're bound to notice the huge sign in the front yard that says "Fair Play FFA - A Tradition of Excellence." 

Walk inside the classroom and look at the office and there inscribed into the windows you'll read...

"A good name is seldom regained. When character is gone one of the riches jewels of life is gone forever."

"He who complains about the way the ball bounces is usually the one who dropped it."

Needless to say, Fair Play and I are getting along just fine. Well, we've had one day but Randy and I have the same beliefs on the philosophy of a program. Their tradition of excellence is what put Fair Play as my top choice, but those quotes are just part of the amazing atmosphere that surrounds this chapter which makes me very excited to be down here.

Miss Ficken's Day #1 - Story Time
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1st Period: Farm Management/Ag Econ
Randy: "Just wait till Miss Ficken starts teaching, she'll bring out the whip I saw her bring in this morning."
Girl in class looks at me...more like stare...so without missing a beat...
Me: "And it's a six footer, let me tell you what!"
Girl laughs hysterically! Ok they get sarcasm... off to a good start!
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2nd Period: Ag Science II
I helped a couple kids with their record books...not much excitement there! ;)
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3rd Period: Ag Science I
We're out in the shop... I love shop. Really, I do!
A girl gets to her torch turns on the tanks and then just stands there....
I walk over and ask if I can help her with something...
She gets all flustered..."I just drew a blank and can't remember how we set the pressure..."
"No problem, all you have to do turn the pressure regulators right here till you hit the right line pressure... like with acetylene here we turn it in to the right until we hit..." CRAP! I just forgot what we set it to!!! Hurry think, think... "I just forgot what the pressures were for cutting..."
She jumps in "4 and 40!"
"That's right, until we hit four, now you do oxygen over there."
She set oxygen right.
"Got the rest?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Ok let me know if that changes."
Teaching lesson #1: I had no memory at that moment of what the cutting settings were (plus every shop seems to have a different opinion on what the levels should be), but how confidently and quickly she jumped in with the answer... I knew all she thought about it was that I was just asking so she had to tell me or to make her feel better that I forget things too. HA! So I played it up with "That's right!" Like I meant to have her tell me. Crisis averted!

I turned around and a boy was having problems getting his flame set to a cutting flame. (I know this is a foreign language to some of you but just hang in there!)

He had the flame lit but every time he went to adjust it with oxygen the flame blew out. I walked over and watched as he lit it again. "Try a little less acetylene." Well he looked at me with a freshman boy look of I know what I'm doing but he went ahead and lowered his acetylene... turned on the oxygen but it still blew out.

So I did what any Ag teacher who just received the look would do... I walked away and let him work at it until he was nice and frusterated about 3 minutes later. I casually went back over to him.
"Still blowing out?" (Like I hadn't been watching, haha)
"Yes!"
"What pressure is your acetylene line set at?"
"Just above 5."
"Why is your line set above 5?"
"I don't know."
Ooo... I wanted to say Hmmm, shall we ask the person who set the pressure? Oh wait that would be you. But I didn't... I was good.
"Well, I believe that is your problem. You have too much pressure in your tip from just the acetylene that when you add oxygen it's blowing it out. Also is why you're hearing that loud hissing sound. Set it back to four and try again."
He stands there... maybe he didn't hear me... then he kind of fumbles and mumbles... oh he doesn't remember how to do it, okay...
"All you need to do is drain your acetylene line. I'm going to back out the regulator. Now you open your torch acetylene... see the pressure going down here? Ok it's at zero. Close the acetylene. Good. Now set it to four just like you set them at the beginning. ...K, now light it, adjust it and cut."

He looks at me, I think it's a I don't believe you look but now looking back it may have been an impressed look because he lit it and all be darned when he adjusted it, it did not blow out! Who would have guessed that?
"Press down your oxygen lever."
"What?"
"You know you have the right cutting flame when you press your oxygen lever and these little blue cones, right here at the base of the flame don't change. Is your flame right?"
He presses it. "Yes."
"Then you're good to go."
He doesn't say a word just lowers his shield and cuts! I felt smart.
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4th Period: Conservation... oh conservation... fun, fun
This class has the mischief boys... I can already tell. I think some work got done on record books during this class... maybe... or maybe not. Randy put in the idea last semester that we might get kits from Cabela's to learn how to stuff squirrels and so these boys are on a mission to figure out how you kill a squirrel so it's still in good enough condition to stuff. I think Randy's rethinking his idea. I want to do it because, hello - Cabela's would be making those lessons! :) and ummmm... the mischief boys are interested in doing it! So we talked about squirrels, squirrel season (because we don't want illegal squirrels in the shop) and so-on. Then we talked about CDEs... lots of talk, little work, this one's going to be fun...
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5th Period: Construction... yeah construction!
So I'm still not quite sure why he had contruction giving reports over current ag topics but he did... maybe they got in trouble last semester... who knows... anyway we went through a couple and a boy gets up to give his.

His report is over the proposal to artificially dam Missouri rivers in the spring to create a habitat for somekind of sturgeon to reproduce, because they are going extinct. Which will result in ruining all the farmland in the riverbottoms - very rich farmland to have. That sums up just about all the boy knew... doubt that's a very high grade... anywho Randy jumped in with more on the topic to spur conversation and questions. So it becomes open for questions and a senior girl raises her hand...

"So these... sturgeon, can you even eat these fish? Are they any good?"
Boy didn't know and Randy said he didn't think you ate them as like a fillet but they are used for caviar quite often. (Now this is the random info that just takes time to know!)

"Oh... well if they don't taste good, why do we care about saving them?!? I mean fish eggs or farmland... come on!"

I was so thrilled at her rationale right then! I love small towns!
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Lunch: Lunch is at 1 p.m. It's going to take some time to get used to! But boy let me tell you I have ate school lunches in my time, but Fair Play's lunches are fantastic! Small school, so even more impressive - You have a choice everyday bn salad, entree #1, or entree #2... there's your choice of any topping you may ever imagine for all the foods we are having today in little personal cups... choice from at least 3 sides... and always a dessert... with a slice of bread & butter at the end if you would like... plus 2 kinds of white milk and chocolate milk... and everyday there's variety of condiments from ketchup and mustard to mayonnaise and BBQ sauce. Kids have choices, teachers can pretty much get what they want! ...and cut in line to get it - which still makes me a little uncomfortable but its a perk! And what I've had so far on my observation day and on Wednesday has been delicious! Oh and I got my official lunch card on Wednesday so you know now it's official!
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6th Period: Plan
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7th Period: SAE
Usually will go visit a kid's project during this hour. Some schools allow you to get the kid out of a different class to take him, Fair Play it's up to the other teachers from what I've understood and it doesn't happen to often so the way Randy says he looks at it is if you don't go out with the kid during that hour it's still the trade-off for the hour after school when you go visit him. We are required to visit each project twice a year. Some schools don't but that's what you're supposed to do.

Right now we're still in the getting to know you and what I'm going to be doing phase so I spent the afternoon looking at Farm Management and Conservation curriculum to get an idea of where I want to start at. Planning is the worst part about teaching... especially hard the first two years where you're reteaching yourself everything and figuring out what kind of teacher you're going to be... even something that seems so simple as if you gives kids guided lecture notes or expect them to write it all out as you go - becomes complicated when you realized that even that decision affects how you properly deliver content.

So that's where I'm at today... thinking about the teacher I want to be. It's more intense than you might think to become a 'good' teacher. Getting ready to tackle week one of conservation lesson plans...awww craziness mainly because that whole reteaching, or teach yourself for the first time, business!

Thought of the Week: Friendship is a two-way street. There is no need to waste your time and effort to pave the other side if they still aren't willing to walk half way to meet you in the middle. Let those people wander off. Because when you find a person who meets you in the middle, regardless of the condition the road is in, hold on tight because that person will be a friend for life. Surround yourself with walkers, not wanderers. We are only as good as those whom we choose to have walk beside us.