Education is a profession filled with ritual and tradition. From the silly hats worn by professors at collegiate commencement ceremonies to the signaling of time by metal bells, we educators have inherited a great number of traditions that have been and will continue to be passed from class to class.
One of those traditions for me is "the FFA unit" in Intro to Ag. It's my chance to sell the organization that puts the "cult" in agriculture and get our newest students excited about the agriculture education model. I'm not sure when it happened (I'm guessing sometime after I adopted the CASE Intro to AFNR curriculum), but eventually, I found myself trying to explain the ag ed model to students. Over the course of my career, I have really liked how I explain the ag ed model to them. I think it's not only a good starting point for my Intro to Ag students, but it is also a good starting point for this blog.
So...here's what I give them every year.
1. I have them draw three circles in their notebooks together in Venn Diagram fashion. All three circles intersect equally.
2. I label the circles - Classroom Instruction. FFA. SAE.
3. I then place the following bullet points underneath each circle's label.
The truth is, that I really believe that our paths as professionals are evolving and ever changing. Education is a dynamic industry, and to be honest, there will be some days that you feel like you're sucked into the FFA vortex while other days, FFA and SAE will be the last things on which you'll want to focus.
Here are some tips that I've found for balancing the three circles and becoming a true Ag Education Teacher:
1. Obtain and use solid curriculum resources. Personally, I am very partial to CASE, but there are a lot of good curriculum materials out there. Some of the "curriculum" that's out there is also absolute junk. I purchased an "Agribusiness Pathway" from a respected curriculum provider, and after $1500 of investment, I found that there was literally NOTHING there but a couple of lessons on Job Interviewing. I was disgusted (and haven't purchased anything from that vendor since). Critically evaluate your materials and remember that if you use good curriculum materials, you will be less likely to neglect the Classroom Instruction circle.
2. Recognize that FFA is supposed to reflect your curriculum. This means that if you are a solid teacher of, let's say...Ag Sales, then your FFA chapter's Ag Sales team should be good. Likewise, if you don't have much of a horticulture component to your program, then should you be spending the time and effort to train a Nursery and Landscape team? See number 3 below for more on this topic.
3. But...FFA is also an opportunity to differentiate. We do not offer ag mechanics courses here, but the Ag Mechanics CDE gives us the opportunity to offer something mechanical to students that may want it. You have to be really careful with this, though. If the students do not have classroom instruction on which to build a knowledge base, then you're going to have to give that to them outside of class, which takes time and energy.
4. We don't teach to the CDE, but sometimes, following the CDE rules leads to some really solid instruction. As a rule, I have always felt like completing all of the tasks required in the National FFA Ag Sales CDE makes for an EXCELLENT ag sales unit in class. In my mind, the same could be said for forestry. As someone with very little forestry background, I found that in my natural resources courses (pre-CASE NRE), that using the FFA Forestry CDE tasks as the end objectives for my instructional units and designing the instruction backwards from there was a natural fit in my classroom.
As an added bonus, FFA CDE success energizes the classroom instruction underlying it. In other words, winning breeds winning in other arenas.
5. Use your students' SAE projects for instruction. Right now, I have a student working the turf circuit at one of our local golf courses. As we are coming up on our Turfgrass unit in Landscaping class, I asked if he could line up a tour and demo of the golf course's equipment. Being immersed in the project every day, he has done an excellent job in setting up the tour for us. I have used this strategy to set up many instructional experiences.
6. Use SAE tools for instruction. Some states have mandated record systems. Others do not. Many use AET. Regardless of which system you use, I have found that asking students to complete and submit assignments using the platform of the SAE record system helps naturalize them to the system (and through it, SAE). For example, AET has a great journal feature. Every now and then, I will have the students complete reflection questions on the AET journal and submit them through that.
7. Use SAE tools for FFA. I LOVE the AET's FFA roster submission tool. It eliminates the need for a separate (and exactly matching spreadsheet) for inputting new members into the FFA roster. Just get the students into the system, have them fill out their profiles, check their names, and click send! It's heavenly.
Truthfully, I could go on for hours about this topic. These are just a few of the things that I've picked up over the years. What questions can I help with? Email me at pbane@pontiac90.org.
To see other Guest Blogger submissions from Mr. Bane:
2015 - Organizing your Instruction...Literally.
So...here's what I give them every year.
1. I have them draw three circles in their notebooks together in Venn Diagram fashion. All three circles intersect equally.
2. I label the circles - Classroom Instruction. FFA. SAE.
3. I then place the following bullet points underneath each circle's label.
- Classroom Instruction - "You will gain knowledge and start to develop skill. Here is where you will learn content and concepts."
- FFA - "You will get the opportunity to practice the knowledge you've gained and compete with other students to show that your knowledge is more than theirs. You'll also get to develop leadership."
- SAE - "In this circle, you will get to put this knowledge to work for you. If you do this right, you'll grow beyond anything that I can teach you."
The truth is, that I really believe that our paths as professionals are evolving and ever changing. Education is a dynamic industry, and to be honest, there will be some days that you feel like you're sucked into the FFA vortex while other days, FFA and SAE will be the last things on which you'll want to focus.
Here are some tips that I've found for balancing the three circles and becoming a true Ag Education Teacher:
1. Obtain and use solid curriculum resources. Personally, I am very partial to CASE, but there are a lot of good curriculum materials out there. Some of the "curriculum" that's out there is also absolute junk. I purchased an "Agribusiness Pathway" from a respected curriculum provider, and after $1500 of investment, I found that there was literally NOTHING there but a couple of lessons on Job Interviewing. I was disgusted (and haven't purchased anything from that vendor since). Critically evaluate your materials and remember that if you use good curriculum materials, you will be less likely to neglect the Classroom Instruction circle.
2. Recognize that FFA is supposed to reflect your curriculum. This means that if you are a solid teacher of, let's say...Ag Sales, then your FFA chapter's Ag Sales team should be good. Likewise, if you don't have much of a horticulture component to your program, then should you be spending the time and effort to train a Nursery and Landscape team? See number 3 below for more on this topic.
3. But...FFA is also an opportunity to differentiate. We do not offer ag mechanics courses here, but the Ag Mechanics CDE gives us the opportunity to offer something mechanical to students that may want it. You have to be really careful with this, though. If the students do not have classroom instruction on which to build a knowledge base, then you're going to have to give that to them outside of class, which takes time and energy.
4. We don't teach to the CDE, but sometimes, following the CDE rules leads to some really solid instruction. As a rule, I have always felt like completing all of the tasks required in the National FFA Ag Sales CDE makes for an EXCELLENT ag sales unit in class. In my mind, the same could be said for forestry. As someone with very little forestry background, I found that in my natural resources courses (pre-CASE NRE), that using the FFA Forestry CDE tasks as the end objectives for my instructional units and designing the instruction backwards from there was a natural fit in my classroom.
As an added bonus, FFA CDE success energizes the classroom instruction underlying it. In other words, winning breeds winning in other arenas.
5. Use your students' SAE projects for instruction. Right now, I have a student working the turf circuit at one of our local golf courses. As we are coming up on our Turfgrass unit in Landscaping class, I asked if he could line up a tour and demo of the golf course's equipment. Being immersed in the project every day, he has done an excellent job in setting up the tour for us. I have used this strategy to set up many instructional experiences.
6. Use SAE tools for instruction. Some states have mandated record systems. Others do not. Many use AET. Regardless of which system you use, I have found that asking students to complete and submit assignments using the platform of the SAE record system helps naturalize them to the system (and through it, SAE). For example, AET has a great journal feature. Every now and then, I will have the students complete reflection questions on the AET journal and submit them through that.
7. Use SAE tools for FFA. I LOVE the AET's FFA roster submission tool. It eliminates the need for a separate (and exactly matching spreadsheet) for inputting new members into the FFA roster. Just get the students into the system, have them fill out their profiles, check their names, and click send! It's heavenly.
Truthfully, I could go on for hours about this topic. These are just a few of the things that I've picked up over the years. What questions can I help with? Email me at pbane@pontiac90.org.
To see other Guest Blogger submissions from Mr. Bane:
2015 - Organizing your Instruction...Literally.
Submitted by:
Parker Bane, @parkerbane
pbane@pontiac90.org
Agriscience Teacher
Pontiac Township
Parker Bane, @parkerbane
pbane@pontiac90.org
Agriscience Teacher
Pontiac Township
No comments:
Post a Comment