What Do I Look For???

When it’s come to selecting a coopering center, there are tons of questions and concerns that run through your head. For me, I had tons of questions and was a little lost in where to start. Starting the search for a coopering center has been tricky and challenging. The most significant challenge I had was trying to select a school, not knowing anything about the programs in Pennsylvania. For starters, I knew that I wanted a program that had a diverse group of students and a wide range of agricultural topics, but I didn't know what programs had those two criteria.

Fortunately, I was able to contact a few past student teacher candidates and ask them: What do you seek in a cooperating center and why?

First question: What do you seek in a cooperating center?

“ I look for the following: teacher to student ratio, classes taught, flexibility in what I want to do with my classes (CASE?), distance to nearest grocery store/where I am going to live for the semester, hours of when things are (FFA meetings/school starting/etc.), who my cooperating teacher is and how they teach their classes, school demographics of students, and how the administration is/involvement” -Olivia Murphy-Sweet.  


“Picking a cooperating center that works for you, that teacher, and the school is SO important. You want to look for a teacher who is going to mentor you, provide good critical feedback, and always push you to become better. For me, I would say all three of these things can occur if you have a good relationship with open lines of communication. It is critical that you can talk to one another if you have concerns, a problem, or need their advice”.- Allyson Balmer.

“I wanted a place with places I was not strong in. My high school program only had one teacher, so I wanted to experience a multi-teacher program. I also knew that I was not very strong in "shop" and wanted to gain experience in that while under the guidance of an experienced teacher. I also wanted an active FFA chapter showing all three parts of the model. So I chose Dover with Alex Barzydlo because they had a 3 teacher program, a wide diversity of classes and even an 8th-grade class. I was able to gain a lot of experience” ~ Jeanne Case.

My thoughts:

Olivia and Jeanne chose to focus more so on the program itself and not so much on the relationship between the teacher, unlike Allyson. It’s great to have these three different perspectives. At first, I was more concern with the program and didn’t think about the relationship I would need to develop. My logic was the program itself was concrete and I wouldn’t be able to change it, but I could change the relationship I have with the teachers. I generally view myself as easy going and get along with people. Building relationships have always been easy for me, so I didn’t think much about it. After getting in contact with Allyson, my mindset has shifted towards focusing on the relationship with the teacher.


Second: Why?


“I student taught at WB Saul HS in Philadelphia because I wanted a different student base than what I was used to growing up in the suburban area. There was a need for student teachers, and my classes were very overcrowded which provided an interesting learning environment for me. I wanted to make sure that I knew the surrounding areas and how the school ran as a whole AND how involved they were in the community. All of these are important when considering a school program!” – Olivia Murphy-Sweet

“I think student teaching/cooperating center is a good time to push yourself out of your comfort zone, because there are people to catch you if you fall, as opposed to being in your department. How better to become more comfortable with a subject when you have an expert there to work with you along the way?  That being said, you need to be able to communicate effectively with your cooperating teacher. If you choose a school and do not get along with your cooperating teacher or don't at least have mutual respect.... you will not have a good student teaching experience, and that may deter you from wanting to go into the profession.” ~Jeanne Case


“You also want to challenge yourself. Pick a school very different from the high school Ag program you might have come from, pick a school where you will teach an area that you are weak in. If you are going to challenge yourself, now is the time to do it under and experts supervision” - Allyson Balmer

My thoughts:

The biggest thoughts I took away from this question is to challenge yourself and develop a relationship. All three were looking to step out of their comfort zones and try something new. Stepping out your comfort zone is very important when it comes to growing as an individual. Allyson and Jeanne bring up a good point that this is the time where you can mess up and get instant feedback on how to fix it. As I continue my search for a cooperating center, I am excited to see what types of relationships I can form with a coopering center and which ones stick out the most!