Next Steps

What’s next? What do you want in a cooperating center? What are your strongest components of Agricultural education? What are your areas that need improvement?

All of these questions have been running through my mind for quite some time now, and to be completely honest, I didn’t have all of the answers to these questions. I still probably don’t know some of these answers, but what I do know, is that the Penn State Agricultural Education program always has your back. 

This week, I finished my student teaching application, handed in all of my observation hours this far, and did a lot of deeper thinking about what I want my student teaching experience to consist of. These deeper thoughts not only included what would be a good fit for me, but also, what I should be looking for in a cooperating center. 

The bottom line is that we don’t have all of the answers, and we may never have all of the answers. That is why I reached out to three previous Agricultural Education students from Penn State to help me determine the answers to these questions and to give me a little bit of a pep talk as I prepare to embark upon this journey. 

I decided to reach out to three individual all for very different but extremely meaningful reasons. The most recent agricultural educator that I reached out to was Ms. Angela Becker, Ms. Becker has given me a little piece of mind since I have met her, always encouraging me and letting me know that everything will work out. Ms. Becker is from a county out west and is currently student teaching at Manheim Central in Lancaster County, which, happens to be where I am from.  

The next Agricultural Educator that I decided to reach out to was Mrs. Janae (Herr) McMichael. Mrs. McMichael was ironically, a senior and president of my FFA chapter when I was a Freshman in high school. Mrs. McMichael played a huge role in my decision to pursue FFA, Agricultural Education, and Penn State. Mrs. McMichael was a member of the 2015 cohort and is currently back at Lampeter Strasburg High School serving as an Agricultural Educator. 

The last Agricultural Educator that I decided to reach out to was Ms. Quinn Cashell. Ms. Cashell and I met on a complete accident. I had a discussion with Dr. Foster a few weeks ago about the possibility of going outside of the state of  PA to student teach. I originally thought of going to Maryland, Delaware, or Virginia. Maryland ended up being my top choice outside of Pennsylvania due to the proximity both to Penn State and Lancaster County. Dr. Foster had mentioned to me that Ms. Cashell was teaching in Maryland and would fit the requirements for a potential student teaching center, and the rest, is history! 

While talking to these individuals, I asked them to rank the following from 1 being the most influence in determining a cooperating center to 5 being the least influence in determining a cooperating center. 

From this experience, I have found that curriculum and cooperating teacher personalities were fairly large components of deciding where to go for a student teaching internship. I also found that while having a job during this process may be necessary, it is not ideal and should be avoided in order to give 100% to your students and your job as a future educator. 

I will leave you with one of the best pieces of advice that I have received from these mentors.

“Follow your cooperating teacher everywhere! Do everything with them! Do the hard stuff, ask to do the extra stuff, fully embrace and engage in the experience.” -Mrs. Janae McMichael