Importance of SAE (Visits)

Back in mid May I had the opportunity to go on an SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) visit with my cooperating teacher, Mr. Haussener. We went to Ms. Risser's farm after school. She is the Cedar Crest FFA President who you will meet later in my video blog.

While on the visit, I also got to meet her siblings and her mother. They were in the process of cleaning out the pig pen so we started our visit there. This picture includes her market hog projects along with her siblings projects.

Mr. Haussener led the conversation by asking questions like; "What do you feed," "Are you going to take anything to the PA State Farm Show," etc. She told us that they work with a nutritionist to formulate a special diet; especially for the hogs that are going to Harrisburg in January (which they did not have at the time of the visit). Mr. H. actually printed a copy of some of Ms. Risser's records and brought it with him. We talked about how she could improve her records and maybe add a couple more activities to it.

We then moved on to her dairy project. They have approximately 80 milk cows. She chose a December calf as a young project while having a couple of older milk cows as well. 

Also, we walked through the tie stall barn as she talked about the milk cows. She is extremely involved in dairy industry activities as they have won several awards. I had the opportunity to learn more about each of her show cows and their little personality quirks. There were also some jokes shared as well!

Fast forward to the end of July....I attended the Lebanon Area Fair for 2 days. I thought this would be a great idea as I could see Ms. Risser's project at the end of the line. I not only got to see her projects but some of the other students that I will be teaching in the spring.

The market hog show was the first day I was there. 

Great news! She won FFA showmanship! Type classes went pretty well too. All that hard work paid off!

My 2nd day at the fair, I watched the dairy cattle show. Unfortunately, the December calf that I met in May got sick so she couldn't go to the fair. Although, a couple of the milk cows got to go and didn't do too bad! One of Ms. Risser's fellow chapter officers and a couple members were also showing dairy cattle on that day too.

While I was at the fair, I walked around to see all of the animals. I stopped and talked to several Cedar Crest FFA members. We talked about how their projects went and what they were enjoying about the fair so far (it was only the first couple of days of the fair that I was there).

I feel the simple things, like walking around and talking to the students/FFA members, is what counts. Get to know the community you're student teaching in and get to know the students that you will be teaching. 

The best way to get to know somebody or a whole community is to ask questions and get involved.

Note on SAE visits:

Don't be afraid to ask how a family or a business does something. Whatever the answer may be, may help you to improve or change what you do. On the flip side; what works for them may not also work for you. It won't hurt to at least think about new ideas.

As a future teacher, I think SAE visits are crucial to understanding how your students work/what goes on in their minds. Hopefully you get the chance to see something that the student implemented from learning in the classroom. Even if you don't; that only gives you an opportunity to learn, grow and change things as a teacher.

Overall:

SAE is only one important component in the three circle model of Agricultural Education. Classroom/lab instruction and FFA are also important. As a future classroom teacher, I will have to remind myself that I need to incorporate all 3 into my teaching. Take something I teach in class, encourage students to compete in the CDE/LDE, and encourage them to do (at least) an exploratory SAE project with it. By incorporating all 3 components, I believe there is a greater chance for a student to succeed and for them to enjoy things they never thought they would!

I am truly excited to conduct more SAE visits in the future!!