The End of Student Teaching

I write this post from my home back in State College, getting ready for the week ahead that holds the PSU Agricultural and Extension Education post-internship seminar. Each of the eight pre-service agricultural educators have now concluded our student teaching and are ready for our final two weeks as undergraduate students at Penn State. This morning, I made the drive south from my home up along the New York border, stopping one last time at Athens Area High School to print a few final papers and return my laptop/key fob on the way. It's a humbling thing to look back on the last few weeks and say a deeply bittersweet goodbye to a formative chapter of my life.

As did the first half of student teaching, the last two months of the internship flew by in the blink of an eye. The days and weeks were full of lesson planning and FFA events with students, sometimes moving at an even greater clip than the first portion of the year! I taught a full course load for much of the second half of the internship where I taught two sections of Agricultural Mechanics 1 and one section each of Ag and Natural Resources, Intro to Ag, Animal Science, and Horticulture. The second half of the year held many FFA experiences including Public Speaking, Safe Tractor Driving, Bradford County FFA Meetings, the SLLC Conference, and an FFA presentation at the School Board Meeting. I also got to hone my ag mechanics skills, including practicing my welding skills a bit more after school :).

As I consider areas for my future growth, one of the most challenging elements of education for me is instructional planning, both in terms of maintaining a longer planning horizon ahead of where my classes currently are and knowing when I need to end a unit if I did not get to teach all of the content I had hoped to. Designing effective summative assessments proved somewhat challenging for me, and while I did grow a lot in this area towards the end of the internship I still have room for improvement. I also seek to improve my ability to effectively and consciously address students IEPs. This was challenging as a student teacher coming into the classroom part-way through the year, but I recognize this will be an area of continued growth for me as I begin my career.

Towards the end of the internship, I found myself finding a bit more of a rhythm to life as a teacher, balancing instructional design with the responsibilities of an FFA advisor in addition to making space for some rest and physical activity. I really enjoyed taking some time to get out and walk around Round Top Park and Riverfront Park in Athens - both of these places provided a respite for me throughout the semester. From Round Top, you can get a neat view of the town below.

In a very real sense, Bradford County became a sort of 3rd home for me after East Earl and State College. In large part, this is due to the kindness of Michele Liddane, a special education support teacher at the high school who opened her home to me during the course of my student teaching internship. It is no small thing to open your home to a random college kid from Penn State, yet Michele did so with a genuine sense of welcome that made me feel right at home. The life of a student teacher is a bit of a crazy one, yet even so I routinely came home to a dinner to be shared and a nice place to rest and debrief before we both got back to it the next day. It's hard to find the right words to say "thank you" to Michele for the ways she supported me during this experience.

On a recent van ride late one night on our return trip from the Northern Region PAAE meeting in Williamsport, one of my students asked me "Mr. Bixler, why did you pick to come to Athens?". It was a good question, and one that took me back to my initial interview as I went about selecting my cooperating centers. I was able to share with the students how I'd looked for a cooperating center which was in a different region of the state from where I grew up, had a male ag teacher, held a strong ag mechanics program, and had two or more teachers from which I could learn. As I shared these details, I couldn't help but reflect on the ways that Athens far surpassed even my highest expectations for a cooperating center throughout this internship.

Both Dave and Sarabeth have been tremendous role models during my time at Athens. Student teaching is a stretching experience for any teacher candidate, but I count myself fortunate to have had the chance to learn from their example and to have the support of two incredible teachers as I began my own teaching career. Dave is a pillar of the Athens community which is easily observed in relationships built in genuine respect and kindness from everyone around. I've learned a great deal about how to manage an agricultural mechanics classroom and shop effectively - working to hold high standards for students while still allowing them to enjoy the learning process. From Sarabeth, I've gained so much wisdom on how to support all students with clear instructions and intentional planning. She is a thorough and thoughtful educator who teaches effectively to an extent I've seen few others do before.

One of my most difficult goodbyes is to the students at Athens. I've had the chance to work with incredible young people during the last 15 weeks - men and women who will no doubt make an impact in the places where they live and work in the years to come. I've learned a great deal about how people think and what motivates them as a student teacher, and no matter where I go next I will always think back to my crew of students at Athens as the very first ones I got to work with and learn from :). 

I was first motivated to become an agricultural educator because of the impact of my own ag teachers, and now having completed the student teaching internship I can confidently say that agricultural education is equally as fulfilling from the educator’s perspective. Teaching is hard work - it requires a person to sacrifice potentially more lucrative career opportunities to work with young people who still have a great deal to learn about the world and are in the process of figuring a lot of things out, which is often a challenging thing! However, these students need quality teachers; I aim to be one of the people who can fill that need. While I do not know that I will teach for my entire career, I am excited to teach to build a foundation and set of experiences in the classroom. As a teacher, you learn a great deal about how people think, what motivates them, and how to navigate difficult relationships. If and when I do leave the classroom, I firmly believe that my experiences in agricultural education will prove most valuable in whatever may come next.

It is a hard goodbye to leave Athens - I will miss my time here immensely. I am grateful to have had the chance to been part of an incredible program that is hard to leave. Student teaching requires a significant sacrifice in your last semester of college - leaving behind friends and your college town to venture out into a brand new and challenging internship with high expectations and long hours. However, the sacrifice pays off a hundredfold in the end, with once-in-a-lifetime experiences, tremendous learning and growth through doing the real thing, and blessings higher than I can count. Regardless of where I go from here, I will always be grateful for my time as a Wildcat!

- Mr. Bixler