Snow. Snow. Snow.

We have had more snow storms this year than I can ever remember. I remember when I was younger getting a couple of big snows (snows the probably amounted to more than a typical snowstorm now) but I never remember this many different snows. It seems like there is always snow in the forecast! Thank goodness for global warming our it would really be miserable!!!!! Here are a couple of pictures I took in the snow.

 As I was leaving Bern this weekend, I saw this cow standing in the snow. It was pretty pretty!

Einstein and one of his buddies were romping around in the snow. Can you find the third dog in the picture? As I have said before, there are hundreds of dogs in this neighborhood!!

This past Friday night was Louisburg High Schools Winter Homecoming. The FFA ran concessions stands and had a good night! Despite the weather, people still came out and we brought in over $2400! Here are some pictures from the evening.

Some of the boys taking orders.

Making "cho's!" When ever someone would order a nacho, you would just shout "cho" and Cole was all over it! :)

And, you can't have a concession stand without popcorn! 

A great homecoming game. This was the tip-off in overtime.

Garrett passing the ball in.

Despite quite a few missed free throws, LHS still won by one!

Oh, and we can't forget the most important thing.....

Non-School Post

I am going to avoid posting about student teaching for a little while. I am a little disappointed in the way things are going, so I am going to stay away from it. Instead, I am going to do a little photo blogging since I did get a new camera! :) Enjoy.

 

 

  

Meet Einstein. It is a lot of fun to take pictures of Einstein.

 

Short Week

Well, it is already Tuesday of week number four! It has almost been a month already! Crazy!! I started the floral design unit yesterday. It actually hasn't been to bad! I am learning and the kids seem to be enjoying it! Starting next week, Monday or Tuesday, we are going to actually start building our own centerpieces. If you have any ideas, tips, or anything to make this work, please share!

Tomorrow I am teaching a lesson on Beef Quality Grading. I am a little bit nervous. This will be my first time teaching the Ag 3 class since last Friday when my lesson blew up and I had the worst teaching experience of my young career. I am a little bit nervous as I am not yet completely comfortable on this topic. I am sure it will be just fine.

Exciting news since last time - I purchased my first Digital Single-Lens Reflex Camera (DSLR)! I don't have the money to jump right to a Canon or Nikon with an expensive lens, so after some research, I setteled on a Sony Alpha 100k (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Sony/sony_dslra100.asp). The little bit I have used it I have loved it! I can't wait for more nice days so I can play around with it! It is really bad that I have as much to do as I do because I want to shoot a lot of pictures right now! :) I will add some pics I took with it later. I am at school right now. No worries. It is my prep period!

Well, the rest of this week should be interesting. I am leaving Thursday morning for Hutchinson, KS which is about 3 hours from Louisburg. The KAAE (Kansas Association of Agricultural Educators) is having their mid-winter conference. All Ag Ed interns are required to attend. I am not looking forward to giving up most of my Saturday, but I am excited to have two days off of teaching!

Have a good week!

1 Corinthians 15:51-54

⁵¹Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

⁵²In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

⁵³For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

⁵⁴So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

I can't wait for that day. Just saying.

The biggest news since last time, is that I AM AN UNCLE AGAIN!!!!!!!!! Tyson Maxwell! Born Thursday, January 14th. Here are some pictures! Enjoy!

Speaking in terms of "twinkling of an eye," it has already been a week since I last posted! I thought about posting just a day ago or so and I was like, naw. I just posted! Today some left a comment on my last post (Thanks Janelle :)) and went I went to read it, I realized it was last Wednesday when I last posted. So here is an update.

Since last Wednesday, I have started teaching. Last Friday, I taught Ag 1. There are two sections, 1st block which has 17 Freshman, and 2nd block which has 25 freshman! It was exhausting! I was advised that I am working way harder than I need too! I was told to work less and make the kids work harder! I am going to start doing that! :)

We didn't have school Monday because of MJK Jr. day! Yay! Wrong. I am a teacher now. I had in-service. It actually wasn't that bad. Listened to a few speakers, got some work done, played some volleyball with other teachers, and left in pretty good time.

Yesterday was my first of three formal observations by instructor from K-State. It went pretty well. I was a little nervous as it was only my second day teaching. Other than not knowing the vast majority of the students names yet, I didn't do too bad I don't think!

Looking forward. I pick up my second class tomorrow. I am a little nervous as these kids are older. I think juniors. Anyway, it is Ag 3 and I am teaching them the wholesale and retail cuts of lamb. There will be a prize for anyone that can name the five wholesale cuts of lamb without looking them up! :)

This coming Monday, I pick up my third class; horticulture. Yep, let floral arranging begin. If anyone has tips, advice, lesson plans, or anything that would help make this unit go smooth, it would be greatly appreciated! Haha....I am not too worried about it.

Well, that is about all that is new here. I hope that you all have had a good week thus far and the weeks flying only mean one thing....that much closer to graduation! WOOHOO!! Which reminds me....Do you know what they three things I love about teaching are? June, July, and August! :)

Peace!

Flying

Flying is exactly what the week is doing!!! Hard to believe that tomorrow is already Thursday! A quick update on the week.

Monday. Pretty uneventful day at school. We had an FFA meeting and practice for the Speech/Ag Sales contest at 6:30 so I stayed from the time school got out until the meeting. It made for a really long day. The meeting was good and I am starting to figure out where people fit into the program (ie FFA officers, etc).

Tuesday was pretty uneventful as well. Well, at least until right before lunch. I hadn't paid for a lunch plan yet, so I was wondering around LHS trying to find the right person to talk to. I was walking down the hall during Seminar when, I almost got stopped by the hall monitor and asked where I was supposed to be. Then she realized that she had met me at the staff meeting last week and that I was Mr. Morgan's, student teacher. I know this because she relayed this story to me after catching herself almost asking where I was going. :) I guess I don't look as old as I had been telling myself I looked! :)

Wednesday was early. The alarm went off at 4:45 as I needed to leave the house at 5:30 to make it to LHS by 6:00. However, I pressed snooze a few times and eventually my backup alarm went off at 5:15. Thank goodness or I am not sure what would have happened. I showered and was leaving by 5:32. I even let me car warm up a bit! We left for Dover, KS, home of the Speech and Ag Sales contest, at about 6:40. I had the speech people in my van which consisted of 7 females. Needless to say, I didn't do a lot of talking. Contest went well. LHS placed 3rd out of 10 in the Ag Sales contest, beating Paola High by one place (they got 4th). Paola is where my good buddy Jordan (who also happens to be my roommate this semester) is student teaching right now. I have been rubbing it in! ;)

Well, tomorrow is my last day of observing. I start teaching this Friday. My first lesson is on Evaluation of Further-Processed Poultry Meats. :) Fun stuff

Oh, and these posts have been really boring, so I am going to try and start adding a picture at the end of each post. Just for something to look at.

This is a picture of dad's barn back home. I thought it was a pretty neat picture.

Saturday Does Not Mean A Day Off

So, the snow days the last couple of days were kind of, eh. What I mean by eh, is I filled out a scholarship application ($500 would be nice), sent K-State my EFT information so they can direct deposit my loan check (jackpot), studying for a test that I don't want to take (first legit test since last May), played cards (won Hearts big, lost Up the River, Down the River big), ate a lot of food (I am getting fat), and did laundry (it is still sitting in my laundry basket unfolded).

Anyway, so after two snow days and not getting a whole lot done, I had to get up at 6:00 today to go take the PLT (Principles of Learning and Teaching) and my content, Ag, tests. I was encouraged by my adviser to not worry about studying for my content test as someone that went through the Ag program at K-State had never failed the Ag content test. I am not sure I passed. It was so hard. I should have studied.

After two hours of that, it was time to take the PLT. That was also incredibly hard and I am not sure if I passed that either. I have to get a 161 to pass. Not sure how the scoring works or what that means, but I am gunning for at least a 162. I need a 470 to pass the Ag test. Anything above a 471 would make me so happy!!

Anyway, I am looking forward to going back to Louisburg Monday! Have a great weekend!

Day 2

It's a miracle. After no posts for over a year, two in two days. It is only a matter of time until.......

In other breaking news, today was good. A quick breakdown of the day....

So, the lights on my Buick are automatic. They turn on if it is dark enough and then go off when it is bright enough or the car gets shut off. When I got to the high school at about 7:19, the lights were still on. I shut my car off, locked, and went inside knowing that it takes a long time (and by long, I mean at least three minutes long) for my lights to automatically shut off. I had been in the school for at least 2 minutes and 59 seconds when over the loud speaker I hear, "There is a car in the staff parking lot with Illinois plates and the lights are on!" By 3 minutes and 18 seconds after entering the school building, I looked back outside and they were already off.

Wednesday's are late start days for the students. Once a month, there is a staff meeting in the morning and today was that day. In the staff meeting, Mr. Morgan introduced me and said, "[. . .] and he is from Illinois." I think I turned about 27 different shades of red (and it can take a bit to turn me red!) :)

Everyone was very friendly and I am really enjoying my time at Rock Creek thus far! A quick run down of today.

1st Block - Hort - Plant ID, went to the greenhouse to check on plants

2nd Block - Ag 1 - Exterior and interior egg grading, handled the hens

3rd Block - Ag 2 - Milk judging contest

4th Block - Ag 1 - Exterior and interior egg grading (didn't have time the second class to handle the hens....there are 25 students in the 4th block and 17 in 2nd block.)

5th Block - Ag Mech - Working through electricity, talked about ohms, watts, volts, etc

6th Block - Ag 3 - Meat ID, working on beef (this is the class that I will be starting on. After beef Mr. Morgan is going to cover pork and then I am going to start in on lamb.)

7th Block - Prep

8th Block - Ag 4 - Continued working on Agribusiness problems

Day 2 is complete. Day 3 has been canceled. Unreal! I like what I am doing so far and look forward to it although I know it is going to be a ton of work! I am going to try and enjoy my day off tomorrow and begin to prepare for the PLT and my content test this Saturday!

Enjoy the snow! I am! I love snow!!!!!!!

Here is a picture of Louisburg High.

http://www.usd416.org/pages/uploaded_images/lhs%20108%20small.jpg

Student Teaching

I am back. I have decided that I am going to try and do a brief post at least once a week during my semester student teaching. Even if no one is reading, this will give me something to look back on and help me reflect.

Today was my first day student teaching at Louisburg High School in Louisburg, KS. Louisburg has somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 people. There are 509 students in the high school. Leave the high schools parking lot and head east and under three miles, you will find yourself in Missouri.

Today I found myself observing as Mr. Morgan taught. He reviewed finals that the students had taken before break and started some new units. I learned some new things! :)

I am really looking forward to this experience. I think it is going to be a lot of work but I am looking forward to the challenge!

Feels kind of good to be back! ;)
Blessings!!

Wow!

Ok, so I feel really guilty! I have not written on this thing since last April! That is pathetic. Since then, I will try to sum up what has happened in a few short lines! :)

- The Spring '08 semester ended!
- Worked for Kingdom Builders in Champaign over summer.
- Lived with Mark Sauder and BJ Sauder at the Shaker (does this make me a Shakerite?)
- Took an online class (Chemistry in Everyday Life)
- Matt and Brady moved to somewhere way to far away! :)
- I moved into a house for the first time since I moved out of my parents place! It is way better than an apartment! I live with Scott Kellenberger and Ryan Grimm.
- I am at KState again this fall.
- I took over Jason's job in the computer lab as a lab monitor.
- Another million people got engaged/married!

And here is a list of things that hasn't happened

- Jenny Wyss never made me my pie. :*(

That is about the story of my life! I will try to do a better job of keeping this updated!

Oh, and I have the cutest nephew in the world! :)

It has been awhile!

Youtube video to check out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbql_iECkME

Let me know if this link works!

More later!