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SAE For All: My First Visit

Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs) are the perfect way for students to show off their skills, knowledge, and work in agriculture! I have learned about SAE in college and lived it in high school, but I have never gone through SAE through a teaching perspective. This past week was the first time I was able to experience SAE as a student teacher and it was such a great way for me to learn about how to communicate with students when it comes to improvements, praises, and recommnedations with their SAEs. 

This student had a Paid Placement SAE at a local store in Intercourse, PA. We (my ct's and myself) went to this visit after school hours when the student started his shift. This student was so excited to share his job responsibilities with us, and we were able to get a tour and to speak to his work "mentor" and supervisor. The student was continuously praised for his hard work and willingness to help out in any way. His mentor walked us through the store and facility to explain what the student did everyday, and the student also shared some tasks that were his favorite. 

After the visit, the student sat down with me and my ct's to discuss the things that we were seeing and to talk with the student about improvements that he could make along the way. To start the conversation, the student was first asked to tell us what he was proud of in his work and where he sees himself after high school. He was excited to share that he is given more responsibilities and is able to learn new tedious tasks the longer he is employed at Hoober. He also realized that he could have a future career at Hoober, if he so desired. He was then asked what improvements that he could make, to which he said that he wanted to work on recorded his SAE visit on AET. Another improvement he pointed out was that he wants to work on keeping notes on how to perform certain tasks so that he doesn't always have to ask for help or a refresher on how to do things. 

Overall, this was a great first visit! I learned valuable skills on how to keep encouraging students, like this one, to continue their great work. I want to help this student work on improving his AET entries and continue to praise his for all his accomplishments in agriculture!

Comments

  1. John EwingFebruary 16, 2021 at 6:30 AM

    Michaela,

    It is good to see that you are viewing this experience from the teacher's perspective. It is through this lens that you will gain new knowledge and skills through these experiential learning opportunities that are being provided to you by your cooperating teachers. Many thanks to them!!
    -Dr. Ewing

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mrs. VanSantFebruary 18, 2021 at 7:25 AM

    Michaela,
    This was a great visit for you to see! One thing that really helps guide our SAE visits is the form that we fill out on our visit. This form helps us make sure we asked those pertinent questions and allows the student to reflect on his/her experiences. Taking the time for reflection with these kiddos is so important, as they often don't do this themselves. Thanks for joining us on this one!

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