College Station High School

Lauren Riback
18 November 2016

College Station High School, Home of the Cougars, is part of the College Station
Independent School District located in Brazos County. The school district is home to two high
schools, two middle schools, two independent schools, eight elementary schools, and one
alternative education center. Currently there are approximately 1,750 students attending grades
9-12 at College Station High School. The school only opened in 2012. Students have seven
periods a day and over 70 clubs or activities they can participate in. Each agriculture class is
always full with a cap of 20 students per class. In the agriculture department there are three
teachers: Sheridan Clinkscales, Rodney Martine, and Erin Stutts.
The agriculture science department has three different sections or paths. First is the
plant path that includes floral design, horticulture, landscape, agriculture plant and soil
science, and turf science. Second, the food path includes food technology and safety, meats
processing, and livestock production. Lastly, the environmental path includes wildlife science,
rangeland ecology, forestry, and energy and natural resources.
In the classroom I observed Ms. Clinkscales for the greatest length of time. Her style of
teaching was a blend of a facilitator and a demonstrator. By this I mean she maintained her
authority role while still being able demonstrating her knowledge as well as promote selflearning in the classroom. She used PowerPoint slides with clear daily objectives, included
procedures, and allowed students to work together for an overall goal. She described to me how
certain classes do better in the classroom while other classes gain experiences outdoors. There
were, of course, a few common problems that come with all high school students. Students
would speak at inappropriate times, quit activities before bell rang, use cell phones, not follow
instruction, throw things, and other immature behaviors. Despite this, the students still displayed
an overall knowledge of what they learned in class.
Students were also involved in a variety of SAE projects. The school was low in numbers
when it came to livestock however those projects included steers, heifers, turkeys, chickens,

and goats. The more common types were exploratory and researched-based. One of their
research-based SAEs included aquiculture using catfish. The school has a full meat processing
lab, green house, floral refrigerator units, multiple classrooms, and even an aquiculture lab
space. Parents arent very active in the program; however involvement is increasing.
The College Station High School FFA program has 201 members. The school uses the
affiliation program to involve more students with less hassle. Some chapter activities include an
Ag Olympics, chili cook-off, karaoke night, park clean-up, and radio mash. Contests they
participate in are plant science, poultry evaluation, meats evaluation and technology, wildlife,
floriculture, nursery/landscape, and ag sales. The biggest challenges the program faces are the
commitment level of members and sharing students with other programs in the school.
This visitation really showed me how much teaching and advising is a juggling act.
Youre constantly moving, flexing, catching up students, planning, and being involved with
students on a personal level. The biggest advice Ms. Clinkscales gave me is that planning is
everything. If you dont plan ahead of time then it becomes a waterfall affect. For example the
weather here in College Station changed and a cold front was moving in, so Ms. Clinkscales
original plan to plant cactus wasnt going to work, and she had to go to Lowes to get frost covers
for the plants that werent in the greenhouse. You have to always be on your toes and have a
backup plan in case something unexpected happens. I also learned that as a teacher you need
to be able to identify when one of your students is acting different or needs help. I dont know
what the full situation was but I could tell Ms. Clinkscales offered the students support and had
them do an alternative assignment. I really enjoyed my visit to College Station High School and
learned some valuable lessons that I cant wait to try in my own classroom.