It’s 6:30 on a chilly October morning and I am on a bus full of sleeping kids headed for Indianapolis. I figure now is as good a time as ever to reflect on my first year of teaching so far. We are officially one-quarter of the way through the school year as of tomorrow and lots of family and friends have encouraged me to keep up with my blogging. Honestly, I do wish that I had more time for it, I know that just in the past few months there are so many moments that I wanted to remember forever and have already forgotten them. Teacher brain.
I thought it would be nice to start with a glimpse into my daily schedule as a lot of people aren’t completely sure what I do. It’s funny, honestly, how little you know about the actual day-to-day of a career until it’s yours. So, without further ado, here is a day in the life of Mrs. Brown.
I usually try to get to school by 6:30 but most days it ends up being closer to 7. This gives me time to actually get some work done because once the students arrive at school I have no free time until 3 PM.
Every morning, I walk up the hill to the middle school for my Agricultural Science class. This is the first year that Kutztown has offered agriculture classes at the middle school so it’s pretty exciting. The 8th grade is split into four sections and I have each group for about a month in the fall and then they come back for another month in the spring.
Content: A little bit of everything (agricultural science, natural resources, plant and animal science, leadership)
Likes: My favorite thing about this class is how curious and excited the kids are. Once they hit high school, they tend to lose some of that enthusiasm so it’s fun for me to be able to work with them now. I try to do lots of fun activities with them and give them just a glimpse into agriculture so that I can spark their interest and they’ll take my classes at the high school. I also feed them a lot ;)
Challenges: The most challenging part of this class is that my class sizes are all above 25 and 8th graders have lots of energy. They surely keep me on my toes but we have a good time.
After Agricultural Science, I pack up and scoot back down to the high school for my next class. I have a section of Horticulture that the life skills class comes to me for every other day.
Content: Parts of the plant, growing and caring for plants, fruits and vegetables, plant uses, etc (I try to theme what we are doing to the time of year/ holidays)
Likes: I really enjoy this class because the students are so fun to work with. They make me laugh quite a bit and we have lots of fun together.
Challenges: The challenging part about this class is thinking of activities that are educational, fun, and ability-appropriate. My students in this class have varying ability levels and I do my best to come up with activities that they can all engage in and enjoy. We do lots of crafts, we plant flowers, and we have snacks sometimes too! This month we even sampled a variety of apples and then made applesauce at school!
Next up is a general section of Horticulture. All of my classes throughout the day have about 8-16 students with varying backgrounds, very few of them coming from an agricultural background.
Content: Plant anatomy, plant function, plant propagation, soil science, plant nutrition, integrated pest management, greenhouse management
Likes: I love this class because my students let me geek out over plants. This section in particular is very engaging and we have lots of good conversations. I look forward to this period every day.
Challenges: This class challenges me because there is so much I could teach and I have to decide what to teach and when. So far so good though!
One more class before lunch!
Content: Principles of business, planning and starting an agricultural business, financial management, risk management, personal finance, employability skills, leadership
Likes: I enjoy this class because it pushes me to learn new content and find ways to make it exciting. I was lucky enough to attend a training this summer where I was given a curriculum for an Ag Business course which is a huge blessing because I would be lost without it right now.
Challenges: Agri-Business is definitely one of my most challenging classes of the day. To be honest, it is probably one of my least favorite content areas and one in which I don’t have much experience. I took an Ag Business course at Penn State (and didn’t understand most of it) but that content was at a level way higher than I am aiming for with my students so even if I could remember what I learned, it wouldn’t do me much good. I also find this content to be fairly boring and the curriculum involves lectures and packets so that doesn’t help much. I do my best to think of ways to make the class more exciting and so far we’ve been doing okay.
Some days I eat my lunch during my lunch period, a lot of days I eat it while I teach Vet Science. With only 30 minutes of a break and always a long to-do list, eating usually falls to the bottom of it. I also have a few students who eat in my room every day which is nice but often distracting.
As mentioned, I often lecture with a mouth full of food during this period. (kind of kidding)
Content: Safety and sanitation, veterinary practices, anatomy, health, care, disease, vaccination, and
handling of small animals (dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, etc, reptiles, birds, and more)
Likes: I have lots of fun in Vet Science because the kids in it tend to be pretty fun. I think the highlight of the year so far was when we grew mold for an experiment. Some of the boys begged me to keep it when I tried to throw it away after two (maybe three?) weeks, that was a hard no.
Challenges: This class is a bit difficult because I am not as familiar with the content and it tends to be fairly science-heavy. I am more comfortable with large animal science (livestock) but I study up when I need to and we’ve been learning as we go.
This is the only course that I teach in two different sections. It’s nice to have a bit less planning to do but also challenging because my two sections are very different in terms of personality and what works for one group doesn’t always work for the other.
Another science teacher used to teach APES but this year they asked me to teach it. I only have five students which is nice because we can move at the pace they need and have a lot of discussion-based learning.
Content: Environmental systems, ecosystem ecology, biomes, biodiversity, populations, land and water use, energy resources, pollution, and a lot more!
Likes: Again, this class is nice because the size allows me to really tailor the content to what the students need. I also have lots of resources to use for planning and teaching this course. I attended a seminar this summer for APES teachers that gave me a lot of insight and I also have a guide from College Board that recommends what to teach and for how long. I also really enjoy the topic!
Challenges: As much as I love environmental science, I’ve never actually taken a class on it. Which means that 90% (maybe not that much) of what I have to teach is completely new to me. There are many days that I read the textbook before class so that I actually understand what I am lecturing about! There is also so much content that I HAVE to teach because AP courses have required objectives. This is my most challenging class to teach because the amount and pacing of the content but I do enjoy it and we’ve done lots of cool labs!
Connections is the activity period that we have every other day. Some days I have the chance to get work done but I am usually pulled in 83 different directions by students. This is also when we hold our FFA meetings so once every cycle we have our meetings. It’s actually really nice to do it this way because it allows more students to attend and we are meeting more frequently.
Depending on the day, my schedule is never the same. Sometimes I have meetings, sometimes professional development, sometimes FFA events, and when I am lucky, I have nothing! I usually try to stay and get some work done but with a 35-45 minute commute, I do my best to leave by 4 so that I can spend time with Kelse and get dinner on the table.
I guess that about covers it. Every day is seriously an adventure and although it’s tough, I love it more than I ever thought I could. I’m going to do my best to write things down and share them every once in awhile. I know that someday, I’ll want to look back on these firsts and smile. As always, prayers and support are appreciated and calls/ texts will never go ignored (may take me a day or two). Thank you all for your love and support!
I thought it would be nice to start with a glimpse into my daily schedule as a lot of people aren’t completely sure what I do. It’s funny, honestly, how little you know about the actual day-to-day of a career until it’s yours. So, without further ado, here is a day in the life of Mrs. Brown.
Before the Bell
I usually try to get to school by 6:30 but most days it ends up being closer to 7. This gives me time to actually get some work done because once the students arrive at school I have no free time until 3 PM.
Period 1/2- Agricultural Science
Every morning, I walk up the hill to the middle school for my Agricultural Science class. This is the first year that Kutztown has offered agriculture classes at the middle school so it’s pretty exciting. The 8th grade is split into four sections and I have each group for about a month in the fall and then they come back for another month in the spring.
Content: A little bit of everything (agricultural science, natural resources, plant and animal science, leadership)
Likes: My favorite thing about this class is how curious and excited the kids are. Once they hit high school, they tend to lose some of that enthusiasm so it’s fun for me to be able to work with them now. I try to do lots of fun activities with them and give them just a glimpse into agriculture so that I can spark their interest and they’ll take my classes at the high school. I also feed them a lot ;)
Challenges: The most challenging part of this class is that my class sizes are all above 25 and 8th graders have lots of energy. They surely keep me on my toes but we have a good time.
Period 3- Life Skills Horticulture
 |
| Applesauce in the making! |
Content: Parts of the plant, growing and caring for plants, fruits and vegetables, plant uses, etc (I try to theme what we are doing to the time of year/ holidays)
Likes: I really enjoy this class because the students are so fun to work with. They make me laugh quite a bit and we have lots of fun together.
Challenges: The challenging part about this class is thinking of activities that are educational, fun, and ability-appropriate. My students in this class have varying ability levels and I do my best to come up with activities that they can all engage in and enjoy. We do lots of crafts, we plant flowers, and we have snacks sometimes too! This month we even sampled a variety of apples and then made applesauce at school!
Period 4- Horticulture
 |
| Flower dissection! |
Content: Plant anatomy, plant function, plant propagation, soil science, plant nutrition, integrated pest management, greenhouse management
Likes: I love this class because my students let me geek out over plants. This section in particular is very engaging and we have lots of good conversations. I look forward to this period every day.
Challenges: This class challenges me because there is so much I could teach and I have to decide what to teach and when. So far so good though!
Period 5/6- Agri-Business
One more class before lunch!
Content: Principles of business, planning and starting an agricultural business, financial management, risk management, personal finance, employability skills, leadership
 |
| Playing Monopoly to test our record-keeping skills! |
Challenges: Agri-Business is definitely one of my most challenging classes of the day. To be honest, it is probably one of my least favorite content areas and one in which I don’t have much experience. I took an Ag Business course at Penn State (and didn’t understand most of it) but that content was at a level way higher than I am aiming for with my students so even if I could remember what I learned, it wouldn’t do me much good. I also find this content to be fairly boring and the curriculum involves lectures and packets so that doesn’t help much. I do my best to think of ways to make the class more exciting and so far we’ve been doing okay.
Period 7- Lunch
Some days I eat my lunch during my lunch period, a lot of days I eat it while I teach Vet Science. With only 30 minutes of a break and always a long to-do list, eating usually falls to the bottom of it. I also have a few students who eat in my room every day which is nice but often distracting.
Period 8/9- Small Vet Science (Second Lunch)
As mentioned, I often lecture with a mouth full of food during this period. (kind of kidding)
Content: Safety and sanitation, veterinary practices, anatomy, health, care, disease, vaccination, and
 |
| Wasn't kidding about the mold. |
Likes: I have lots of fun in Vet Science because the kids in it tend to be pretty fun. I think the highlight of the year so far was when we grew mold for an experiment. Some of the boys begged me to keep it when I tried to throw it away after two (maybe three?) weeks, that was a hard no.
Challenges: This class is a bit difficult because I am not as familiar with the content and it tends to be fairly science-heavy. I am more comfortable with large animal science (livestock) but I study up when I need to and we’ve been learning as we go.
Period 10- Horticulture
This is the only course that I teach in two different sections. It’s nice to have a bit less planning to do but also challenging because my two sections are very different in terms of personality and what works for one group doesn’t always work for the other.
Period 11- Advanced Placement Environmental Science
Another science teacher used to teach APES but this year they asked me to teach it. I only have five students which is nice because we can move at the pace they need and have a lot of discussion-based learning.
Content: Environmental systems, ecosystem ecology, biomes, biodiversity, populations, land and water use, energy resources, pollution, and a lot more!
Likes: Again, this class is nice because the size allows me to really tailor the content to what the students need. I also have lots of resources to use for planning and teaching this course. I attended a seminar this summer for APES teachers that gave me a lot of insight and I also have a guide from College Board that recommends what to teach and for how long. I also really enjoy the topic!
 |
| Soil profile sundaes! |
Connections
Connections is the activity period that we have every other day. Some days I have the chance to get work done but I am usually pulled in 83 different directions by students. This is also when we hold our FFA meetings so once every cycle we have our meetings. It’s actually really nice to do it this way because it allows more students to attend and we are meeting more frequently.
After the Bell
Depending on the day, my schedule is never the same. Sometimes I have meetings, sometimes professional development, sometimes FFA events, and when I am lucky, I have nothing! I usually try to stay and get some work done but with a 35-45 minute commute, I do my best to leave by 4 so that I can spend time with Kelse and get dinner on the table.
I guess that about covers it. Every day is seriously an adventure and although it’s tough, I love it more than I ever thought I could. I’m going to do my best to write things down and share them every once in awhile. I know that someday, I’ll want to look back on these firsts and smile. As always, prayers and support are appreciated and calls/ texts will never go ignored (may take me a day or two). Thank you all for your love and support!
Sounds like your having some fun among the craziness! I hope your found some 'me' time during Thanksgiving break :)
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