Destination: Planning for Success

Stop 1: Money Monday

Writing Clear Learning Objectives (Boston University)

Writing Measurable Learning Objectives (Arizona State University)

Stop 2: Work-it Wednesday 

Interest Approaches (Illinois Ag in the Classroom)
Interest Approaches (NAAE CoP)

Stop 3: Flashback Friday 

Large and Small Group Teaching (UCD-Dublin)

Interactive Group Teaching Techniques (University of South Florida)

Guest Blogger Series: Using Resources in Your Community

Editors Note: This blog is part of a series of guest contributors from the National school-based agricultural education family. Ms. Emily Kellogg is an 8th year agricultural science teacher and FFA advisor at Coudersport Jr/Sr High School, in Coudersport, Pennsylvania. She resides in Shinglehouse, PA with her husband, Kabel and three children Karter, Wyatt & Anna. They have a very small “hobby” farm where they raise Boer goats and a handful of chickens, and help with their families’ maple & honey business.

Teaching agriculture can be overwhelming, especially for new and beginning teacher. If your class schedule is anything like mine, you will plan for and teach more classes than most teachers in your building (we have a 9 period day, and I teach 8 different classes).

As agriculture teachers, we are knowledgeable in many areas of agriculture, but not necessarily experts. The AgEd Family provides a wealth of resources, knowledge, and support, all of which are very valuable as you plan and execute you lessons. However, some of the resources for teaching, that I have found most valuable, are found right in my local community.

Below are the 3 community resources that I use to enhance learning opportunities for my students:

1. Local Agriculturists
Once you have established yourself in a school, it is important to get to know the local agriculturists. They are an invaluable resource to your program. I visit area farms on a regular basis for field trips, SAE visits, and Career Development Events. From hobby farms to large scale, I have yet to find a farm that isn’t willing to help out my students. This year one of our local crop farmers donated an acre of potatoes to our FFA Chapter to use as a fundraiser! Your local agriculturists also make a great addition to you Occupational Advisory Committee and Local Advisory Committee.

2. Extension Offices
County extension offices provide enormous amounts of resources, for FREE! The extension agents are also great for guest speakers and CDE judges. In small areas, such as Potter County, most of my FFA members are also 4-H members, so my FFA students work with the 4-H Educators and members to plan and teach Progressive Agriculture Safety Days in the Spring of each year.

3. Community Businesses & Organizations
Community Businesses & Organizations have helped to open up many opportunities for my students to demonstrate and develop knowledge and skills in agriculture. A few examples of organizations that we work with on a regular basis include: the local nursing home, the county fair association, the borough, and new this year the Rotary.  Specific examples include:

• At the local nursing home my students work with the staff and residents to help establish and maintain the enabling gardens so that the residents can enjoy produce, vibrantly colored flora, and the opportunity to learn from students. 
• The county fair association created a Jr. Fair Board, which provides an opportunity for youth to expand their leadership skills and help to improve our county fair. Many of my FFA members have taken advantage of this and learned about leadership through a whole new perspective
• My 12th grade agriscience class has the responsibility of growing all of the bedding plants, vegetables, and hanging baskets for our annual spring plant sale. Recently, we have made a connection with our borough office, and the students are now responsible for growing all of the arrangements that are hung from the light posts around town. 
• This year we plan to work with our local Rotary group, as an opportunity for students to practice their public speaking. Local groups, such as the Rotary, love to have students come and talk about their experiences and interests, and in my experiences, have always provided positive feedback and constructive criticism.

Conclusion
While the list of resources I provided is minimal, for my program they are essential. I encourage you to make connections within your community, and take advantage of the resources that it has to offer. Not only does it help to broaden the horizons of your students, but it helps to make the public more aware of agriculture education, FFA, and promotes your school district in a positive manner.

Submitted by:

Emily Kellogg

Agriscience Teacher

Coudersport HS (PA)

ekellogg@coudyschools.net

REBLOG: Nine Ways to Improve Class Discussions

I am reblogging this from Faculty Focus: Higher Education Teaching Strategies: http://www.facultyfocus.com/

Aligns perfectly with our recent discussion on group teaching techniques!

DF

Nine Ways to Improve Class Discussions

By Maryellen Weimer, PhD I once heard class discussions described as “transient instructional events.” They pass through the class, the course, and the educational experiences of students with few lingering effects. Ideas are batted around, often with forced participation; students don’t take notes; and then the discussion ends—it runs out of steam or the class runs out of time. If asked a few days later about the exchange, most students would be hard-pressed to remember anything beyond what they themselves might have said, if that. So this post offers some simple suggestions for increasing the impact of the discussions that occur in our courses. 1. Be more focused and for less time – It’s easy to forget that students are newcomers to academic discourse. Academics can go on about a topic of interest for days; hours, if it’s a department meeting. Students aren’t used to exchanges that include points, counterpoints, and connections to previous points with references to research, related resources, and previous experience. Early on, students do better with short discussions—focused and specific. Think 10 minutes, maybe 15. 2. Use better hooks to launch the discussion – Usually discussion starts with a question. That works if it’s a powerful question—one immediately recognized as a “good question.” Prompts of that caliber require thoughtful preparation; they don’t usually pop into our minds the moment we need them. But questions aren’t the only option. A pithy quotation, a short scenario that requires content application, a hypothetical case or situation, a synopsis of a relevant current event—all of these can jump-start a discussion. 3. Pause – Stop the discussion and ask students to think about what’s been said so far, or ask them to write down what struck them as a key idea, a new insight, a question still unanswered, or maybe where they think the discussion should go next. Think short pauses, 30 seconds, maybe a minute. 4. Have note takers – Ask whether there are two or three students who’d be willing to take notes during the discussion. Then post their notes on the course website or otherwise distribute them. This should count as class participation! It gives introverts a way to contribute comfortably. You might encourage some extrovert who has tendency to over-participate to make your day by volunteering to quietly take copious notes, which he or she could use to summarize the discussion when it ends. 5. Talk less or not at all – Too many classroom discussions are still dominated by teacher talk. You will talk less if you assign yourself a recorder role. You’ll key in on the essence of comments, record the examples, and list the questions. You’ll be listening closely and will probably hear more than you usually do because you aren’t thinking about what to say next. Or you can function as the discussion facilitator. Recognize those who are volunteering. Encourage others to speak. Point out good comments that merit response. Ask what questions the conversation is raising. Challenge those with different views to share them. Do everything you can to make it a good student discussion. 6. End with something definitive – Return to the hook that launched the discussion. Ask some students to write a one-sentence summary of the discussion. Ask other students to list the questions the discussion has answered. And ask a third group to identify unanswered questions that emerged during the discussion. Finally, use what students have written to help them bring closure to the discussion. 7. Use the discussion – Keep referring to it! “Remember that discussion we had about X? What did we conclude?” Refer to individual comments made during the discussion. “Paula had an interesting insight about Y. Who remembers what she said? Does it relate to this topic?” And if you really want students to listen up and take discussions seriously, use a comment made in the discussion as the frame for a short essay question on the next exam or quiz. 8. Invite students to suggest discussion topics – If the suggestion is good, reward the student with a few bonus points and ask him or her to launch the discussion by explaining why it’s a topic that merits discussion. 9. Discuss discussions – Briefly is fine. “Why do teachers use them? What keeps everyone listening? How do they help us learn?” Or do a debriefing of a discussion that just occurred. “So, the discussion we just had, say we’d like to improve it. What would you recommend?”

Guest Blogger Series: Career Success 101 - How to Plan a Career Tour

Editors Note: This blog is part of a series of guest contributors from the National school-based agricultural education family. Ms. Jaysa Fillmore is a 7th year Agricultural science teacher and FFA advisor who currently works at Cassia Alternative High School in Burley, Idaho.  CHS is one of the few agriscience programs in alternative schools in Idaho and Ms. Fillmore started it the program in 2014. She is the current Idaho Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association secretary and the Idaho FFA Service Learning Coordinator. She is currently a CASE Master Teacher and has been a lead teacher since 2011.  She lives in Paul, ID with husband Richard and two daughters age 3 & 5.

"FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education." The FFA Mission. 

We all know it and we strive to put it into practice in our agricultural education programs. What exactly does it mean to "develop their potential for career success"? We prepare great lessons, we invite guest speakers to our classes, and we encourage students to train for Career Development Events, but how do we expose students to the real careers we are preparing them for? A career tour is a great way to introduce students to new careers in an interesting and engaging way.

Students visit a Pacific Ethanol plant to learn about fermentation and ethanol production. The plant manager describes the automated monitoring system that keeps the plant running at optimum efficiency. The ethanol plant offers good benefits and some of the highest paying entry level careers in the area.

1. Plan ahead! 
Pick a few date options for your career tour at least one month in advance. Career tours can be one tour during one class period or a full day with multiple stops. You could even plan a multi day event! Determine the size and scope of your career tour including how many stops you'd like to make and how many students you want to include. A group of 25 or less is ideal. If you have more students, consider separating tour groups onto separate buses with rotating tour stops. This obviously takes more planning and coordination, but as someone who has planned a full day, four bus event for 100 students, it is totally worth it!

2. Form a list of potential tour stops.
Talk to your local chamber of commerce, economic development committee, elected leaders, fellow teachers, advisory committee, or civic groups to get ideas. Create a big list and include any contacts already have. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• food processing plants
• commodity handling facilities
• commercial greenhouses
• production livestock or crop operations
• agrifinance companies
• co-ops
• agricultural equipment manufacturing or repair
• government entities- USDA, Forest Service, BLM
• agriservice businesses- ag electricians, ag transportation, commodity inputs, veterinarians
• agricultural laboratories or Extension research facilities 

2. Contact the tour locations.

If you have a contact person at the tour location, start there. If not, make a cold call. Introduce yourself as an ag teacher and FFA advisor. Ask who you should talk to about setting up a tour for your high school students. You may have to leave a message. Keep detailed notes on all of your calls- who you talked to, who you left a message for, when you left a message, etc. Once you get in touch with someone who can schedule your tour, discuss the date options you have selected. Don't schedule a tour, yet. Ask what days and times work best for the tour host and get several options from them. Ask how long the tour will take from arrival to departure. Ask how many students the host can accommodate. Will you have to break your students into groups? Take detailed notes!

3. Put together the itinerary.

After you've talked to enough tour locations to fill your tour schedule, start putting together an itinerary. Make sure to account for time to load, unload, and travel between stops. Leave a little wiggle room at each stop. It's better to be early than late! Make time in the schedule for lunch.

4. Confirm the tour stops.

Now that you have an itinerary, call the tour hosts back to confirm the tour times. Make adjustments to your itinerary if needed. Ask about tour protocol like clothing or shoe requirements, check in procedures, etc. Schedule transportation for your career tour. Prepare for a guest teacher. Create permission slips and recruit chaperones. Consider having enough chaperones to accompany any small groups that need to be created at tour stops.

5. Plan for lunch.

If you're planning an all day career tour, consider asking the chamber of commerce, a local bank, civic organization, or local government to host your students for lunch. Many of these groups have access to large conference rooms and would welcome the opportunity to buy your students pizza and soda and talk about their business or organization. If you need to eat lunch en route, sack lunches may be the way to go.

Idaho Fish and Game Biologist shows students how to collect and separate sagebrush seed for habitat restoration. Wildfires in Idaho destroy thousands of acres of rangeland each year and Fish and Game employees are tasked with collecting seed in the fall and planting seedlings each spring. Their careers keep them outdoors most of the time.

6. Prep your students.

The week before the career tour, tell your students about the tour stops. Guide students in researching the host sites. Discuss the types of careers they may see in action. Talk about tour etiquette and help students formulate good questions for their guides. Collect permission slips and remind chaperones about the tour.

7. Tour time!

We can all agree that days like these are one of the reasons why we became ag educators! Enjoy the career tours with your students. Learn right along with them. Bring business cards to exchange with tour guides and hosts. Take lots of pictures but be sure to follow tour protocol on cameras!

A project manager for Kloepfer Concrete and Asphalt talks to freshmen on a career tour. He encouraged students to seek out after school internships with his company if they were interested in a career operating heavy equipment.

8. Reflect on the experience.

Create a career tour reflection assignment and encourage students to write about their favorite tour, careers they learned about, and people they met. Teach students how to write good thank you notes and send them to the hosts. Create a press release for the newspaper highlighting your students' experiences or write a letter to the editor acknowledging the tour hosts. Post your pictures to social media and tag hosts if possible.

The USDA estimates that there will be 57,900 high-skilled job openings annually in the food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and environment fields in the United States and only 35,400 new U.S. graduates to fill those positions. Our students may not even realize the types of careers available in agriculture and seeing them first hand while on a career tour is a great way to open their eyes to the career possibilities in agriculture. If we plan to feed 9 billion people by 2050, we need all the help we can get!

Submitted by: 
Ms. Jaysa Fillmore
Idaho Agriscience Teacher
filjaysa@cassiaschools.org
@mrsagteacher

Follow up to Session 11 - Introduction to Group Teaching Techniques (Sept. 27th)

Please remember to "research" your group teaching technique for Monday!

Responses to Tickets Out

What are you curious about?

• To keep learning about the Group Teaching Techniques!
• Cooperative Learning, for more: 
• http://www.crlt.umich.edu/publinks/clgt
• http://www.lauracandler.com/strategies/co-op.php
• http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/cooplrng.asp
• Lectures
• http://www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/faculty/mowshowitz/howto_guide/lecturer.htm
• Discussion
• http://tep.uoregon.edu/resources/faqs/presenting/facilitatediscussion.html
• http://www-tc.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/media/cms_page_media/128/Ten%20Tips%20for%20Facilitating%20Classroom%20Discussions%20on%20Sensitive%20Topics_Final.pdf
• Role Play
• http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/roleplaying/howto.html
• http://www.wce.wwu.edu/Resources/CIRCLE/Strats/Role%20Playing.pdf
• Field Trip
• http://kathleencarroll.com/a-guide-to-great-field-trips/
• Demonstrations
• http://cte.udel.edu/publications/handbook-graduate-assistants/demonstrations.html
• Resource People (Guest Speakers)
• http://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1/2502/WardS0811.pdf?sequence=1
• https://education.skype.com/guest_speakers
• http://busyteacher.org/7083-top-10-ways-get-most-from-guest-speaker.html
• More of the Principles of Teaching & Learning Charades!
• We will keep doing this!
• Getting permission for guest speakers to come into the classroom. 
• It is not as scary as you think. Work with your cooperating teacher to learn the process at your school. Be able to articulate the learning objectives/outcomes that will be complemented by the guest speaker.
• Does the group teaching technique affect the cognitive level of learning?
• Any teaching technique depending on how the instructor utilizes it and what expectation they have of the learner impacts cognitive level.
• What is the Teaching Method behind us doing a rubric when we hand in an assignment?
• This allows for assessment to become a part of instruction. It encourages and pushes reflective thought and review of an assignment with the expectations of that assignment instead of just 'turning it in'.
• How often should you balance individual and group learning?
• I am not sure what you mean by this question, but we should add as many tools as possible to our pedagogical tool belt so that we can achieve variability in the classroom
• Cooperative Learning in the Ag Workplace
• hmm, not sure how to respond to this one. You might need to tell me more. I know it is there!

What did you learn?

1. The Group Teaching Techniques
1. Cooperative Learning
2. Lectures
3. Discussion
4. Role Play
5. Field Trip
6. Demonstrations
7. Resource People
2. How Teachers Select the which Group Teaching Technique to Use.
3. Cooperative Learning is as easy as PIES
1. P - Positive Interdependence
2. I - Individual Accountability
3. E - Equal Participation
4. S - Simultaneous Interaction

What do you want to learn more about?

• A Cooperative Learning Course would be cool!
• yes, so when you are seeking out graduate courses in the future, know that opportunities like this exist 
• Cooperative Learning
• I will share more on Monday! It might be also really cool to ask the Teach Ag Society Professional Development Committee to Organize a Session on this!
• Also, I would be willing to explore Cooperative Learning in an additional alternative session of 412 for all who wanted it..just let me know if you are really interested! I have lots of materials!
• PIES & How to use in the classroom.
• Read more here: http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/cooperative/whatis.html