Making my way down South... (ST visit)

Today, I went to West Perry High School located in Elliotsburg, PA. I had the pleasure of observing Mr. Holt for the day! This day was very different for me. I am used to seeing students work in the shop almost all day. Today, the students were in classroom desks for majority of the classes. Here is a glimps in my day!

• Small Animal Science Class - This was the first class of the day. One of his students had brought in a chicken ready for dissection! Mr. Holt took this opportunity and ran with it. He used it for students to learn the parts of a digestive system from hands on learning. It was a really cool activity that (some) students loved! 
• Large Animal Science Class - In this class, students were learning about large animal gestation periods. Today's topic in particular was ruminants. This was a typical lesson with a slide show and discussion at the end of class. The discussion changed the environment up a bit for him to continue getting the students attention. 
• Wildlife Class - In this class, students learned about identifying birds and bird calls. The students really got into this lesson. Mr. Holt gave the students enough time in between each bird to try and recognize the call. This was the best class of the day for him. His personality shined through while teaching this class. 

I also got to talk with Mr. Hines for a bit. They have a very strong program with SAE and FFA involvement. I got to ask a couple questions about implementing SAE in the classroom and the best way to get students started. I learned to have students complete one project as a class together. This way there is less confusion and more learning! 

This visit had a lot of benefits. I got to see how a fellow student teacher has grown in the classroom and tour another program in our lovely state of Pennsylvania! 

PS. Matt, you are doing an awesome job! Only 4 more instructional days to go. Keep up the awesome work.