My wildlife

You know you've been deprived of the outdoors when you get excited over seeing a squirrel.

I rushed to go get my camera so I could take this picture. Afterward, I realized, its just a squirrel.

My First Lesson!!

My first lesson went pretty well over all. There were some mishaps but over all I got good feed back.

So, about the mishaps. I have Windows vista on my computer which means I have to save my documents a certain way if I want it to be compatible with computers with an older version of windows on it. Well, after arriving at the school I found out that I apparently didn't save my slide show properly. It took half an hour to get it fixed but I was able to do my lesson.

My first time I taught about dairy evaluation was in one of the shops. That in itself wasn't a big deal, I would just have to talk louder. The problem was that next door, in the welding shop, they were grinding! Needless to say, my voice at this point can't carry over all that noise. But I got my point across and the students really enjoyed judging a aged holstein class at the end.

The second time around was a lot better. I wasn't flustered at all thankfully. I was teaching my dairy evaluation lesson in an 8th grade biology class. The kids were really excited because I had got them out of taking a test. They were all very attentive and involved and tried to answer all of the questions I asked them. It was great!

I got positive feed back from the teacher. She really liked my slide show with all of the pictures. She thought it was great. The only thing she said I should think about working on is walking around a bit.

I'm really glad it went well.

So, How's it goin'...

I know I haven't written a lot lately but I've been super busy. But fortunetly, Thanksgiving break is coming up so I'll be able to catch up on work then.

I have been observing at a school. The teacher I observe teachs agriculture and biology. I've learned a lot from her like you should let your students know who is in charge but also respect them and be friendly. Her students know that if they get caught throwing things in class they have to sweep and mop the entire classroom floor. I think its helpful to have a set "punishment" (for a lack of a better word) for certain things. Also, she has "the look" down. She only has to give a student a certain look and they know she means business. She has told us that when working with the younger students you should use lots of pictures, questions, and rewards (verbal or food oriented if they are working with it but mostly verbal) to help keep their attention. Unfortunetly, we are learning good tips for teaching junior high students but not high school students which is who we will be working with in the future.

I will be presenting my first lesson on the Thursday after Thanksgiving break. I think I'm going to do Dairy Judging My only problem is I'll be presenting to the animal science class first (high schoolers I've never met and don't know why I'm there) and then to an 8th grade biology class who has nothing to do with animal science. I'm kind of worried about it.

On a happier note, I've just taken an Agricultural Systems Manangment test over engines and hydraulics last week. I think I did pretty well. Here's to hoping.

Not much has happened lately though. School, School, and more School. I did however put up my christmas tree. Its pretty small but it makes me smile whenever I see it. I figure its a good way to bring the holidays in to home. Christmas is going to be a bit different this year. We'll be opening presents on christmas eve because mom is leaving on Christmas day for Alaska. I'll be able to spend part of Christmas day with Jon's family though so that makes it a little less sad.

To day Jon and I went to his Grandparents house in Indy for Christmas. I had a wonderful full time. They were all so nice. Jon's grandma was very interested in Dad being up in Alaska teaching. Both of the grandparents were teachers. They also seemed happy to hear I was going to be an Ag teacher. Jon's mom, asked how dad was doing after being sick, that's how we got on the subject. Jon's grandma was also happy to here I would be eventually visiting Alaska, which I'm excited about too.

Dancing with the Christmas Penguin

I figured Dad would like to see some christmas time cheer. Kennedy loves her penguin and what more could you do with a dancing penguin but dance with it!!

First Observation

Part of my EDCI 205 class is going to a school and observing their Ag class. Tomorrow will be my first visit. I'm going with Kaitlin and Sheila. The school we are assigned is Fountain Central in Veedersburg Indiana. Our teacher is Ashley Rice. She's been teaching for two years so I think this will be pretty interesting. I'll be sure to give you an update about my experience as soon as I can. It probably won't be tomorrow because i have a very busy day. I have a test, a quiz, my observation, and I'm going out to Monty's to take pictures of the rodeo club doing stuff. I also have a substantial amount of homework to do. I'll probably want to curl up and go to sleep when I get to my room.

OH! I almost forgot and I'm sad to inform you that Pomacia has died. On the up side, I got his replacement today. He's a blue mystery snail. I haven't named him yet so if you have any ideas please let me know.

Pictures from Florida.

A sun set from the condo. This is just one of many pictures I have.
This is one of the gators we saw when we went on our air boat ride.

Jon holding a gator.

Me holding a gator. Isn't he cute!

Critical Thinking

My first week of school has officially come to a close. I have come to one conclusion, this is the year for critical thinking. All of a sudden most of my classes are all hyped up about critical thinking. As a person who hasn't had to think critically in school, ever, it was a huge shock. I guess its a good thing, maybe I'll actually remember something (we call that learning where I come from). I'm sure I'll get used to it in a couple of weeks. I also have boat loads of homework. It's a lot of writing. Once I get started doing it I don't really mind.

I'm suprised at how organized I am this year too. Its kind of nice, keeps me busy anyway. Rodeo Club will be starting up next week. I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends. I'm looking forward to actually doing stuff with the club this year. I'm also thinking of joining some of the education oriented clubs too. They have one for everyone in the teaching program and also one for Ag Ed.

So far the living arrangements are working out pretty good. Sydney is working out nicely too. I'll never over sleep or be late for class. He wakes me up around 6:30-7 o'clock in the morning every day. Over all, everything is working out. YAY for things going right.

I'm going home this weekend to get some stuff I forgot at home and drop some stuff off. I haven't seen Kennedy and Jerralyn (I can never remember if its two r's or just one, same things with the n's) since I went to lunch with Brooke. So its been a couple weeks. I kind of miss them.

Well that's it for now I think.

Later!

Second Day of Classes

So today was my second day of classes. Wow. It's one of the longest days I've had in a long time.

My moring started out with my cat vomiting. I cleaned that up and did the thing I had heard Dr. Chaille say time and time again. I took up his water and food, stuck him in my room and put his litter box in there. After that it was off to classes.

My first classes was the Dairy Products lab at 7:30 a.m. It wasn't too bad. We went over the coarse material then started in on a lab. We started the cheese making process. It was a colby type cheese. Of course all we had to do was heat the milk up, take the pH, add some cultures and let the machine do its thing.

Next was my Soil Sciences class. Once again, not too bad but it's gonna be a lot of work. After he introduced us to the coarse, Dr. Scoyoc started in on lecture. We learned about soil coloring and how you can tell if the soil is well draining or not by it. He told us about monolyths and how they are made. Dr. Scoyoc believes in hands on learning so most of our time will be spend in labs actually working with the stuff we talk about.

There was a one hour break after AGRY 255. I really don't like them. Especially if I have nothing I can do.

After my break I had my Food Science class. I have a feeling I'll have a lot of fun in this class and learn a lot and not just about the science of food. Curby (he doesn't like it when people call him doctor) stresses critical thinking and puts it into practice during class.

I had another one hour break after my FS 161 class. Once again.... BORING!

After my second one hour break I had my Dairy Products lecture. She didn't cover anything I didn't already know so it wasn't very interesting. I actually could have expanded on some of the things she was talking about. I'm kinda proud of myself for that, its proof I'm actually interested in dairy cattle and the industry cause I actually remembered stuff about it.

Then I had my Food Science discussion session. That was a lot of fun. Curby talked about what would be expected of us then started a discussion. I actually got to start the main discussion. I was so proud of myself! It was a lot of fun. I've learned that participating isn't all that horrible.

My final class of the day was EDCI 285A. I had something to do with diverstity and education. That was pretty fun too. We went over the coarse material then played a game. Our professor would say a topic and make catagories. We would then have to split ourselves into the catagory in which we felt we belonged. An example would be Trucks: Chevy/GMC, Dodge, Ford, Other. We had to go to the group we prefered. The exercise was ment to show us that diversity doesn't have to be about sex, religion, or race. We also had to introduce ourselves and say where we graduated from, the number of our graduating class, the diversity of our school/community, and any personal experience with diversity. It was pretty interesting. One guy came from a town that held the headquarters for the KKK.

My classes ended at 5:30 p.m.

I then went over to the Ice Cream Social and helped promote the Rodeo Club before coming home. I didn't get back until 7:30 p.m. Then I ate dinner, watched some Alton Brown, started writing this and after this is done I'm going to bed.

Good night!

First Day of Class

I love love love my Agricultural Systems Managment class! It's construction and management. We have three units that we'll be covering: electricity and plumbing, concrete and buildings, and engines and hydraulics. I can't wait to start doing stuff.

My teacher is really nice and easy to talk to. In lab we will get a lot of hands on experience with things that are fun and relevent to every day life. I can't wait to take the diesal engine apart and put it back together.

We already started doing stuff in lab today! Our first section is on electricity. We talked about polarity wiring, color coding, deciphering cable and wire codes, and using pig tails. We started cutting the cable sheeth, striping wires, making loops, and hooking them onto a plug in. We also got aquanted with the shop and where everything was. I was a lot of fun. I can't wait to learn more!

Tomorrow promises to be a long day. My classes start at 7:30 a.m. and end at 5:30 p.m. I'm not looking forward to the hours but it should be a fairly easy day with short classes. There's also the Ice Cream Social in the College of Ag I need to attend. The Rodeo Club has a table and so far there's only Jon and I to man it. I'm hoping to get Julie to come and help out. sigh. Well its off to be so I'm nice and rested for my long day. Woot!

First trip to Florida

Jon and I went to Florida for a week. It was so much fun and I'm looking forward to the next time I get to go.

We left on the morning of the 7th. It was about 7 a.m. so it wasn't too bad. The drive down was good even though there were a few annoyances. None of them were caused by Jon or myself. Outside sources were the cause. The entire drive took about 19 hours. We got in at about 2:30 the next morning.

On the 8th we started our day by going on an adventure. We had to find the grocery store which is harder than it sounds. anyway, the houses were really pretty and they had kind of like boat road ways. After we got back from the store we went down to the beach. We collected shells and played in the water. Then we went to the swimming pool and afterwards ate dinner. Later on in the night I felt a little pinch on my face and the spot swelled up some and was itchy. the swelling went down later that night.

On the 9th we went shopping at Tin City which is just a configuration of small stores. On the way back we went to the Rookery Bay Reserve. That was pretty interesting. We stopped by to check on the llamas, which are owned by a friend of the family and Jon's dad. For dinner we went to a resturant called The Snook. Jon got the all you can eat sea food buffet and I got chicken.

On the 10th we went to Wooten's. It's an animal sanctuary and they offer air boat rides in the reserve where they're located. We looked at all the animals while we waited for our air boat ride. I held a baby alligator and so did Jon. They're really soft. We got pictures. After that we were off to the air boat docks. Our tour was sooooo fun! we even saw 6 gators after the guy told us we probably wouldn't because it was too hot so they would stay in the water. well, these were in the water but they had just killed something so they were eating. it was so neat being that close to wild gators. one swam right under the boat next to where I was siting! it kind of freaked me out but it was fun none the less.

Saturday and Sunday were generally uneventful. we laid around all day. went down to the beach sat by the pool and walked around to the different shops. We left on monday and arrived home on tuesday morning.