Visiting Potential Cooperating Centers

 In order to find a cooperating center placement that is a good fit for student teaching next spring, I have been visiting high schools all over Pennsylvania.

The first school that I visited was Greenwood High School (GHS). I was able to observe Ms. Pontius teaching a variety of classes and met the other agriculture teachers in the program. I liked how collaborative the three teachers seemed. I think it would be valuable to learn from a team of experienced teachers beyond my main cooperating teacher during my student teaching experience. 

The second school that I visited was Derry Area High School (DAHS). While visiting, Ms. Rippole taught a lesson to the sixth graders about maple sugar harvesting—learned from her experience in the Student Engagement and Experiential Discovery semester (SEED) at Penn State. This excited me because one of my biggest goals for my student teaching experience is to be able to implement learnings from my SEED semester into classroom lessons.  

The third school I visited was Milton Hershey School (MHS). Mr. Isenberg showed me around the school grounds, visiting the Environmental Center, Horticulture Center, and Animal Center. I was able to interact with some of his students and get a feel for the smaller-sized classes. The resources available at MHS were overwhelming and I couldn’t help but imagine how to use them within lessons taught.

Finally, I visited Conrad Weiser High School (CW). The ag program at CW is part of the science department, and both ag teachers are certified to teach Biology as well as Agriculture. Because of this, there is an emphasis on microbiology within ag. Students are also encouraged to run their own research projects focused on topics that interest them. Student teaching at CW would give me the unique opportunity to utilize my biology minor in a formal classroom setting.

I have found these visits to be valuable in getting a feel for each school and cooperating teacher, making it easier to narrow down the location where I would get the most out of my student teaching experience next spring.