Countdown to the End: Day 27

A student is adding fertilizer to the field, .
All field products were donated.
Spring 2013. 

Iowa Assessment testing continued today. I was interviewed by my former administrator. We also started field work today. It was just a normal day. I feel like I usually have at least 12 problems to solve in a day, and today was really no different. After my former administrator interviewed me on camera, he asked if I could send the video to him. I said yes, but I didn’t know it would take a lot of formatting and switching between my PC and Mac. The only thing about this process that really bothered me was that a colleague, someone that I considered to be a friend, wasn’t helpful while other teachers that I’m not as close to tried really hard to get the job done. After going through multiple people, my colleague at the after school program figured out another way it would work. There are many ways to skin a fish, or in this case, upload a 40-minute video that can be viewed by multiple people. Youtube only allows 15 minute videos for free.

My last harvest ended with a late night
repair on the Gleaner. 

The field work today was a worry. With the weather so nice today it only made sense to start the field work. A student had a tractor and disk at the John Deere dealership in town, so he asked if he could finish disking today. I gave permission, but then I had to figure out how I was going to supervise and teach. First hour, I had some student volunteers to stay outside for safety checks while I organized my classes. Each class period I took students to the field and did hands on learning, which was fun. The students enjoyed it too. However, my student in the field was driving a John Deere 730, which doesn’t have a cab on it. With no cab it makes the safety risks higher. I know I was overreacting, but it was a genuine concern. I had to leave a sentry student outside to call 911 if something happened. I know this wouldn’t be the protocol at my student’s home or even at my student’s grandparent’s home, which is where he borrowed the tractor and disk from. The best part about today was seeing the John Deere 730 in the field. I grew up on a John Deere 630, so it reminded me of my dad. The sound of it conjured up the most memories. I wasn’t the only one that had memories from that tractor. A math teacher emailed me and said that seeing the tractor in the field reminded her of her dad. A couple of older gentlemen came up to the field because they heard the tractor in town, and spoke of their growing up on a farm. It’s unreal to think that when that tractor came off the line in the 1960’s over 40% of the population in America was in production agriculture-farming. Now 55 years later that same tractor is in production agriculture, but only 2% of the population in America is in production agriculture. I reminded my students today that I’m not teaching students how to farm. I’m teaching you to be an ag mechanic, an agronomist, a soil scientist, a businessperson, a conservationist, an environmentalist, a communications expert, and a community citizen. All things an agriculture teacher is expected to be an expert in.

We could row the corn in 2014. 

I know I made a good choice because I won’t have to be an “expert” in everything because my own children don’t expect it like my high school students do.