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Pequea Valley, Thank You

I am sitting here writing this blog and trying to think all the way back to January, which marked my first week of student teaching. Back in that moment, I could never have imagined that I would make it through or that it would fly by, but here I am at the end of week 14 and I can't seen to figure out where the time went. I will always cherish the memories that I made along the way and how much I learned from my students and mentors. 

When I was first approached about considering Pequea Valley as a cooperating center, my first thought was "how do you even pronounce that" and my second thought was "I have never heard of this school before." After my first meeting with Jasmine VanSant and Doug Masser, I thought that this could be a great place to student teach at and now that I have gone through this experience, I know that I could not have asked for a more perfect placement. 

At Pequea Valley, I met amazing people and had the best students a student teacher could ask for! I grew as an individual and as an educator, and I created friendships along the way. Here are some of my highlights: 

1. The Fetal Pig Dissection

2. Making pies and learning about lipids in the process!

3. Learning soooo much about Horticulture

4. Watching students bandage dogs (Yes, REAL dogs!)

5. The Ag Olympics

6. Visiting a fish hatchery for an SAE visit

I could go on and on, but I should probably stop before my list gets any longer! 

I became a more confident person while student teaching and really found a bigger love for teaching that I thought was possible. It is hard to really summarize 14 weeks into a short blog, but I want the biggest takeaway to be that my student teaching experience was amazing and it was amazing because of the people I was surrounded by. THANK YOU to the Pequea Valley administration for checking in with me and making sure that I felt welcomed in the district. THANK YOU to the students, who made each day an adventure and for being supportive and invested in my teaching. THANK YOU to my cooperating teachers for... well, everything! They did more for me than I could ever explain and their support is the reason I got through this!

I could write a book about all the memories I had and reasons I should thank people, but I think I will end this with a simple: Thank you, Pequea Valley.

-Miss Smith



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