New Additions to the Family
Posted: April 29, 2012 Filed under: Agriculture Education, Family, Puppies | Tags: Family, Family additions, New puppies, Training puppies Leave a comment »
It has been another busy week. First I started a new part time job on Monday, I am helping make calls to up-date a resource directory. It will only last about three weeks which is perfect it last through finals week and then I am leaving to so see my son in VA. Oh I forgot to mention that he proposed to his girlfriend last week. I am so excited for them.
I am working every MWF which is really an adjustment to get use to again. The weeks are winding down at school and I have a couple of big projects to get done. In fact one presentation is due on Thursday, I have been working on it but it seems to be going slow.
To top all this off we rescued two of six puppies on Friday night. Brother and sister I figured that two were just as easy as one and then they would have each other to play with while we are gone and not get so lonely. They have been really sweet, need to call the vet now and get them in for shots and see how soon we can get them fixed. Also I am trying to figure out the best way to fence in some of the back yard so they can go out and play. Plus having to potty train them, they seem to be doing pretty good. They had been outside all the time before so being in the house is different for them. So far no accidents while we have been home. We have been taking them out all the time though.
I bought the training pads to put down at night and we are lucky that we can close off the diningroom/livingroom and keep them contained in that space.
I would appreciate any advice anyone has in the puppy training department. I haven’t had a puppy to train since I lived at home. Of course we know that was a long time ago.
Missouri FFA State Convention
Posted: April 21, 2012 Filed under: Agriculture Education | Tags: Ag Sales, Agriculture, agriculture education, FFA, FFA CDE, FFA Knowledge, Job Interview, MO FFA State Convention, Parliamentary Procedure, Public Speaking, Top 5 Leave a comment »Top Five Best Things about Missouri FFA State Convention 2012
- Working in the Press Room for the first time.
- Making work connections.
- Making new friends.
- Visiting with old friends
- Great Food, the Caterers were amazing.
This year had to be my most favorite of all the times I have been to the Missouri FFA State Convention. Some of my fellow students and I from ag communications class went to Columbia and spent the last four days working in the press room. This is the first year I had this opportunity to participate in this activity and it was so much fun, plus I learned so much about writing press releases and got lots of practice typing them up.
It is a great time to see other advisors that I know, to just say hi and catch up a bit. I also was able chat with some of the students I taught while student teaching this last fall. Congratulations to the three groups who won and will be going to Nationals in the fall. Ag Sales, Parliamentary Procedure and FFA Knowledge your hard work paid off.
I also got a big hug from one of mothers of two of these students. It was so nice to see her and talk. She was very nice to me when I was student teaching and I really appreciated her acceptance and support. I hope I am lucky to have parents like that at the school where I will someday teach.
Speaking of teaching, no job offers yet but there are more applications to get filled out and sent on their way. Maybe one of these will be the one. I also had some positive feedback from two people I know that said they would be putting in a good word for me.
One opportunity I had last night was to visit with one of the FFA members who helped me pass out press release papers to award recipients. She was really terrific and it just reinforces my belief of what FFA has to offer our youth in leadership opportunities and career development events. She talked about how all the speaking events she participated in over the years really helped her be a more confident person.
What FFA activities have helped mold you into a better person?
MSU Transfer Ag Expo
Posted: April 15, 2012 Filed under: Agriculture Education | Tags: Agriculture, agriculture education, Hereford, Job Interview, Journagan Ranch, Missouri State University, MSU Mountain Grove Campus, School Leave a comment »Well the search is still on for a job. All the places where I have interviewed have hired someone else. It is getting kinda frustrating, but I continue to send out applications, it seems that there is another school position that opens every day.
It has been a busy week and to end it all we had a Transfer Ag Expo at MSU on Friday to show future transfer students our facilities and the benefits of attending MSU. It was a lot of fun, The beginning of our tours started at Darr School Farm and the Pinegar Arena, then went to the New Bond Center ate some lunch and toured that building. I am an official driver so in the van we loaded and went to Karls Hall on our main campus. After this tour and visit with some of the professors we loaded up again to head out to the Mountain Grove Campus and Journagan Ranch.
Dr. Elliot rode in my van on the way out to Mountain Grove. I was really excited to be able to see these two places. Missouri State-Mountain Grove is a 190-acre campus. Headed by Dr. Anson Elliott, the Agriculture Department operates the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station that includes the Center for Grapevine Biotechnology and the Mountain Grove Cellars. Faculty teaches primarily through the Plant Science Master’s Degree Program. Dr. Elliot asked me how my job search was coming along that made me feel really good that the head of our agriculture department was truly interested in what was going on with me.
After a quick stop at the Mountain Grove campus we headed out to the Jounagan Ranch. The Journagan Ranch is the 2nd largest single gift in the University history. The gift is a 3,300 acre ranch that includes all the barns, buildings, vehicles, machinery and everything else a modern operation needs. Also included was an initial gift of 243 of the 1,000 Polled Hereford herd with more of the herd being passed to MSU in stages. With this transfer, Missouri State has one of the largest Hereford herds associated with a university in the United States.
This gift is so exciting; there are hills, woods, creeks, ponds, pastures, cropland and just about every other kind of natural phenomenon you would expect in southwest Missouri. Animals that have been spied on the property include bald eagles, bobcats, deer, hawks, owls, quail and turkey. The ranch has almost limitless possibilities for University research in topics including biology, forestry, geology, genetics, plant science, soil quality and erosion, water quality and wildlife conservation.
We had a great tour of the ranch and took some opportunities of getting photos of everyone that attended the event. After our tour we returned to the Mountain Grove Campus had some sandwiches and wrapped up our presentation. All in all I think it was a successful day and I hope the students that attended enjoyed it as much as I did.
Job Interviews
Posted: April 9, 2012 Filed under: Agriculture Education | Tags: agriculture education, Job Interview, School Leave a comment »The calls for job interviews are starting to pick up. I interviewed at Portageville in the boothill of Missouri on Wednesday. This is a new Ag program they are starting for the 2012-2013 school year. It would be exciting to be in on the ground floor of a new program but also very scary doing it as a first year teacher. On Thursday I had an interview at Koshkonong. This is a small school but they really have potential to continue building on the program.
It is really hard to know what to do if I get an offer for one of them. The salaries at these last two are lower than the one at Iberia and I haven’t heard back from them yet. If I don’t have an offer from any of the places I have interviewed by Wednesday I will be going to Bethany. It is in the NW part of the state, I am excited to see that part of the country again. My son went to Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville for a semester it is 60 miles west of Bethany.
I hardest part is liking almost all of the places where I have interviewed and confused on what to do if I get an offer for the lowest salary job and wondering what to do if another offer comes in the next day for better pay. There are so many things to consider, I still have to pay on the house where I live now so the Iberia job would be the best because I would not have to move. All the other jobs are too far away and I would have to move and have the added expense of renting a place to live on top of my other bills so, getting a better salary is important if given the opportunity.
I have never been in this position to be applying and interviewing at multiple places for a job. Does anyone have a similar experience or dilemma? What advice could you give me on how to handle that situation? Do you accept the first offer and then stick to your answer if another offer comes in or do you take the newer but better offer and call the first to politely decline?
SW District FFA Contest
Posted: April 8, 2012 Filed under: Agriculture Education | Tags: agriculture education, FFA, FFA Contest, Job Interview, Judging, Public Speaking Leave a comment »One of my favorite times of year is working SW District FFA Contest at Missouri State University. On Saturday we hosted; Parliamentary Procedure, Agricultural Sales, Agricultural Issues, Job Interview, FFA Knowledge, and all the Speaking Contest. I was a judge for Job Interview in the morning. I really like this contest; it gives students real life experience in interviewing for a job. The contest is set up with a judge scoring the resume that is provided by the contestant, a person is designated to be the interviewer, and three people score the contestant on appearance, professionalism, and quality of responses to interviewers’ questions.
One of the reasons I like judging these contest is you get to meet other people. We had one of the people from the MSU career center, a minister and his wife who was the one that scored the resumes and the interviewer was a woman who worked for a local company. Learning from new people their experiences and just the camaraderie you get after being enclosed in a room together for four hours is great.
In the afternoon our same group of judges from interview, joined by the ministers’ wife and our job interviewer made us a group of five to judge the Extemporaneous Speaking contest. This is a great contest for FFA members to use their skills of thinking on their feet and knowledge they have gained on a topic that targets what is going on in the country or the world today, they draw three speech subjects chose one and have 30 minutes to prepare a 5-6 minute speech. In my opinion the most nerve racking part for a judge is when the contestants come back to hear the placings and then can ask questions of the judges.
On Monday I helped with Farm Business Management contest. This is easier because you are just proctoring the contestants while they take a test. It was held at the new Bond Center and it was the first time I had been in the building. It is a really nice building and I am excited about the opportunities it will provide now and in the future. In the afternoon I was able to catch up with some of the teachers I know and catch up on what is going on in their lives. A great day all around.
It is hard to remember who did what in their speech. Have you judged a contest of any kind before? Tell me your experience.
Always Busy
Posted: April 1, 2012 Filed under: Agriculture Education | Tags: agriculture education, Family, FFA, Grandchild, School Leave a comment »Spring Break came and went with two interviews, and another one was canceled before I even interviewed. Two and a half days of subbing I just wish they were in an agriculture classroom. Then it was back to class and the week just flew by.
Greenhouse project done and turned in, we took a field trip to a greenhouse in Springfield. I found it interesting the owner made the comment that years ago there were small greenhouses all over just like the corner store. The neighborhood residents relied on the greenhouse not just for flowers but vegetables as well. Because this greenhouse is a small operation they do not stock many trees. The owner said it was too hard to know what to have with so many varieties available.
Saturday was the first day for SW District FFA CDE. I love this time of year because I get to be a judge. I judged Job Interview and Extemporaneous Speaking this year. We had a great group of judges and had a lot of fun visiting between contestants. The contestants all did a good job, I am always so proud of them for having the courage to put themselves out there and participate, especially on a solo contest. I don’t know what I will do when I get a job and will be the teacher sitting out in the halls waiting for my students to finish.
Monday is day two of contest where I will be helping with Farm Business Management and maybe Poultry in the afternoon. Tuesday will be the last day but I am working the Voting Polls here in town so I will miss out on that one. Only one day of class, a project to turn in before another two days off.
I am looking forward to coloring eggs and making sugar cookies with my granddaughter for Easter. I have said it before but time seems to be going by faster and faster. In a couple of weeks I will be working the Press Room at the Missouri FFA State Convention. It is going to be an experience I am sure.
Ten things I learned about blogging from Judy Graff
Posted: March 24, 2012 Filed under: Agriculture Education | Tags: agriculture education, Blogging, School 1 Comment »On March 14th we had the pleasure of having a guest speaker. Judy Graff who blogs from “FarmnWife.com” gave us tips on blogging, answered questions about navigating our blog page and helped in customizing our blogs.
Ten important points to know about blogging:
Benefits of a blog – Judy quoted some statistics on how having a blog will benefit your company. Companies that blog have 55% more contacts, B2B companies acquire 67% more leads per month and B2C leads are a whopping 88%.
Why should I blog – By looking at the statistics in what the benefits are, it would be the added contact and leads a company will acquire. Opening your company up and making things personal and giving customers something to relate to is important in drawing them in and then continuous information will keep them coming back.
Who is my target audience? – Really understand who your target audience is, ask yourself these questions. Whose problem are you going to solve? Are you there for entertainment or to solve a problem? You may want to target a specific niche.
Importance of linking. – It is important to link other company sites on your blog. Make sure people can find your blog from facebook, twitter, emails or newsletters or vise versa people who read your blog can also follow you through those avenues.
Three important blog tips. – Three key points that Judy made about your blog site is to keep it Simple (clean and uncluttered), Obvious, and Repeat. Keeping these items in mind will help you create a page that customers find easy to navigate through.
How does your page look? – One very key point that Judy said about your blog is how the page loads up. You don’t want a picture taking up the majority of the space where the reader has to scroll down to see the post. See about putting your title in your picture to shorten up the header, you may need to find a different theme to use.
Five items to include in blog. – Five items to put into your blog are: Tagline, About page, Contact page, Call to Action, and Fast load time. Having these items will help customers navigate through your page but also help you in keeping your blog up to date.
Picture Size. – Be sure that any pictures you post to your blog are not large. Large pictures slow down your load time and may discourage people from staying on your site if it takes to long to load up. I know I have left sites for this reason. The thumbnail option still gives you a quality size picture.
Changing your theme. – When changing your theme don’t get discouraged that some widgets do not transfer over it takes some time but you will have to reinsert them into the new theme. I am still trying to find a theme I am happy with for my page. And figure out how to copy the picture I recreated in paint to my blog it doesn’t want to include all details.
Use paint to customize your header picture. – I have gone into paint and worked on recreating by header picture like Judy suggested. I finally have things worked out like I want them to be but when I try and copy the whole thing it won’t pick it all up. I just had to put it away for a while and get back to it later, there is probably a simple solution I will get it figured out.
Interview appointments “Yes”
Posted: March 18, 2012 Filed under: Agriculture Education | Tags: Agriculture, agriculture education, Family, School Leave a comment »Well my applications are out and the interview appointments are coming in. “Well” two anyway, the way I look at it, it’s a start. I have three more to get mailed and it will be a total of 14. Monday I have an interview down in Southeast Missouri, I am glad it is my spring break this week I wish I could get some more in while I am off. My next interview is a week from Wednesday just about an hour and a half north of where I live. Who knows where the road will lead next. I just take each day as they come and each interview is not only the schools impression of me but my impression of the school. It works both ways and hopefully will help me in making a decision if I get more than one offer, where will I fit in the best.
I realized I need to start getting myself prepared to move because that is the most likely scenario of what is to come, since the greater part of my applications are at least two hours or more away. I don’t even know where to begin since the majority of my stuff will stay here at least for a while since one of my children still lives at home and I can’t get rid of the house yet. This could get interesting and on the other side is trying to find a place to move into wherever that new job is.
I actually saw a couch and loveseat on a garage sale site yesterday and was wishing I had the money to get it because it was an extremely good price. Oh well hopefully there will be some deals like that when the time comes to actually move.
On another note spring is coming quickly flowers and trees are blooming. This time of year is like renewal for the spirit you can’t help but feel good seeing everything blossom. Easter will soon be here and I actually already bought my granddaughter some things for her Easter basket. We had so much fun making sugar cookies at Christmas that I am looking forward to making some for Easter and I have some great cookie cutters to use. I just had a great idea, I think I will make some invitations inviting everyone to come to my house for a cookie making day. Sounds like a plan to me. So, what does Spring season hold for you? I would love to hear your ideas.
MSU school visit to Thayer High School
Posted: March 10, 2012 Filed under: Agriculture Education | Tags: agriculture education, School Leave a comment »Friday was a long day woke up early so, I could leave at six o’clock for a two and a half hour drive to Thayer, MO for a MSU school presentation at the high school. I went down there to give the presentation with another student who graduated from Thayer. I had never been there before so I enjoyed seeing another school and getting to talk with the ag teacher.
I value the time I get to talk one on one with another ag teacher I always come away with new information or a different perspective about something. It seems they always bring up something I hadn’t thought of or reinforce something I worry about. It also gives me a connection with someone I may be able to go to when I need help on something. Since I don’t know the area in which I will get a job all the connections I can get wherever I go will be helpful.
We only had a one hour slot for our presentation so we didn’t have many students who came but I hope we were able to present some good information that will help those who came think about what they want to do when they get out of high school.
After we finished with our presentation Eli took me to Mammoth Springs, AR which is only two miles away to a little restaurant to eat some catfish. One of my favorite meals, it was great. When I returned back home I looked up to see if any new schools had been listed in the job openings and found two more so I am up to nine applications out for review. Keep your fingers crossed one of them may just be the one that will hire me.
Another Sidetrack “My Kids”
Posted: March 10, 2012 Filed under: Agriculture Education | Tags: Children, Family, School Leave a comment »I can’t rant on and on about Junior and not bring my children into it. I don’t know what I would have done without my kids. They have been so understanding and supportive with me going back to school. I know it was not easy at times but we made it through. I am proud of what they are now accomplishing in their own lives. My oldest daughter was and EMT and decided to return to school this year to get her paramedics license she goes to school on Monday and Wednesday. My son as I said in previous post lives in Virginia and has a good job with a local company as a pipefitter. Another daughter decided to go to cosmetology school this year attending Monday thru Friday. My youngest daughter is a freshman attending a local college and attends class on Tuesday and Thursday. My classes are Monday thru Thursday this semester but, I attend school in the opposite direction.
The reason I mention the days we are attending classes is because it lends itself to my children helping each other out. Since my youngest has class on Tuesday and Thursday she is able to help out on Monday and Wednesday picking up her niece at head start or available to take care of her when my son-in-law needs to go to work before my daughter is out of school. On Tuesday and Thursdays she and my other daughter share rides to school to help with gas.
Even though there is eleven years between my oldest and my youngest all my children have a very close bond with each other. Of course we had the usual sibling squabbles when they were growing up, I wasn’t sure if my youngest two daughters would live past their teens. They are only nineteen months apart and those years were extremely trying ones. As you have read they survived and so did I, I think having gone through those trials made their bond stronger. I am glad they are close and the girls at least live in close proximity to each other for now. My sisters and I didn’t have that luxury my little sister lives in California and my older sister lived in Colorado until two years when she moved here to live with my mother. We are close but I know we don’t have the same bond as my own children do. Here are some pictures of my children from the last few years. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did picking them out.
