Guest Blogger Series: Independent Study Students: Perceptions from Cheeseland

Editor's Note: This blog is part of a series of guest contributors from the national school-based agricultural education family. Ms. Rachel Sauvola is a 17 year teaching veteran at New Richmond High School in Wisconsin.  She's active within her school and professional organizations, in addition to serving on the Executive Boards for the New Richmond Area Community Foundation and the Five Loaves Food Shelf.  Rachel and her husband, Dean have two daughters - a three year old named Iris and a fourth grader named Abby. In her free time she enjoys traveling and scrapbooking!

Greetings from Wisconsin!!

The Greenhouse Lab Manager
helps with plant maintenance

In agricultural education, we all have "those" students. Those students who want to essentially live with us in our rooms for most of their junior and senior year. Those students who are with us at least three hours a day because we are their second mom or dad. Those students we know we can trust as they have taken EVERY SINGLE course we offer and know the protocol in the ag room. Those students who we leave by name in our sub notes in case a problem arises while we are off on an adventure. Those students who we turn to when we need something because they love us as much as we love them.

"Those" students are often the root of my Independent Study Program here at New Richmond High School. This is a program designed for juniors and seniors in my school who want a little something more, a curriculum that they can tailor to a certain career they wish to explore, or a special project they want to do. Sometimes I seek out the Independent Study students because I have a special project in mind for them.

Now if you're anything like me, you have a five year plan and you're an extremely busy person. You have program goals you wish to accomplish. Why not get your little lovelies on board to help you achieve your plans and your goals? I call it my work smarter, not harder philosophy! You should also know that I am allergic to plants and animals, so some Independent Study happens out of necessity for my health!

There are "rules" to Independent Study in my world. The students who embark on one MUST leave a legacy for others to learn from. They must have a finished product that can be showcased to students, parents, community members and/or beyond. They must work diligently to make a difference!

So let me give you some examples. For Independent Study credit, I have two students who serve as managers for the Aquaculture Lab, one manager who oversees my Large Animal Science Learning Center, one manager for my Small Animal Science Learning Center and one for my greenhouse. When they are managers, they are in charge of complete operation of the facility. They order materials, pick up supplies, clean, sort, organize, process and complete health care binders for all living things and conference with me regularly. They keep a journal and are in constant communication through conversations and Google docs. Those students are leaving a legacy and providing live creatures for their classmates to study, obtaining more community partnerships as customers for products we produce, advocating for the program, seeking donations of new plants and animals for others to learn about and honing valuable recordkeeping and communication skills.

The Animal Learning Center Managers take care of these fabulous creatures and many more -

Roscoe, our bull calf, who will turn steer very shortly....

Anna, the Boer goat who often escapes for added daily adventure....
Notice how sweet she looks right now..

Peka, our chinchilla....

Geno, Snickers and Charlie, our rabbits...

These little buggers make my throat swell shut the worst, but they sure are cute!

Here is a model he built of the barn we will build on school grounds - A community partner made the figurines to scale for our presentation purposes.

I also have those students who embark on things within my plan - Side note: We have a growing enrollment in our Large Animal Science course. Therefore, we need an Outdoor Animal Science Learning Center - a.k.a. a barn! Sixty students can't learn all of the management practices for one baby bull calf because once you castrate it in third hour, you can't repeat that in fifth hour! We need more animals to be able to offer more opportunities to our students! I'm busy and can't plan it all myself, so it's a win-win situation!

I pitch these ideas to my Independent Study students and they take them on. An example for you - A senior student did all the legwork for us to be able to build a barn on campus last school year - contacting community partners to assist with all areas of the building process. He presented to the Admin team and the School Board, while I sat in the wings waiting to answer any questions. Our ultimate goal with our operation is to provide beef for school lunch. We're moving forward on this exciting endeavor because he did such a great job!

Pictured are the two students who are using the legacy 

left behind from last year to improve our systems for this year.

Another two students, studied some pictures of aquaponic operations, did some reading, obtained all the supplies, problem solved and built five systems so that we could provide lettuce to our school lunch salad bar and herbs to our Family and Consumer Science program or FFA members' homes.  

Two more students are currently working with a curriculum consultant community partner to develop an Advanced Animal Science course because they didn't think Large Animal Science was long enough as a semester. They want more!

I have a few dozen more examples of students who have taken this route. They are the definition of inquiry learners. They are charting their own course, learning valuable agricultural information and necessary life skills. They are advocates for the program. Most of all, their learning lightens my workload and leaves a legacy for others to learn from for many years to come.

How can you embrace this concept and make it work for you? How can you offer your students course credit for going above and beyond? How can your students help you work smarter, not harder?

Please let me know if I can help you in any way!

Rachel Sauvola
New Richmond High School
701 E. 11th Street
New Richmond, WI 54017
715-243-1761
rsauvola@newrichmond.k12.wi.us
@MrsSauvola

Student-Created Assessment: How would that work in secondary school-based agricultural education?

We are discussing "assessment" in our AEE 412 Methods class.

Today, we shared a neat article written by Dr. Maryellen Weimer of Faculty Focus on October 8, 2015 entitled: Student-Written Exams Increase Student Involvement
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/student-written-exams-increase-student-involvement/

The #psuaged16 teacher candidates were asked to read the article and respond to:

• What did you think?
• How could you use this in a secondary school-based agriculture program?

Here are some sampling of their responses/comments/questions:

1. I think this method really gets students involved in their learning process. Instead of just absorbing and spitting out information, they have to be aware of the objectives and what they need to take away from their classes. I would implement this after some discussion objectives and questions that are appropriate for the content. Students could be given a list of objectives ahead of time and evidence what objective their submitted question addresses.
2. I see a challenge of grading. Maybe students could grade each others exams which would continue their learning experience and critique other types/styles of exam questions.
3. Instead of just giving students a study guide, they are using that guide to create their own exam. This individualization could be helpful for differentiation with learners. Examples:
1. Students write exam questions for a review game
2. Students write their own exam essay questions
4. I would have students create their own exams with demonstration as a graded component.
5. Having students write their own assessments is beneficial because the students learn what make a good question and the process forces them to think about materials presented and study more.
6. Ask students to review their notes and any other materials used during that unit, bringing back possible test questions. one can also use their own materials if students do not have "quality" questions.
7. How would i ensure that this methods assesses my students at a deeper level of thinking.
8. What if this was a  unit long endeavor? Starting with the student creating the unit plan, and finishing with the creation of the summative assessment.
9. This could give a good perspective to the testing styles that students do best with.
10. I could use this in the Ag Business management course I am teaching to implement higher order thinking and motivating students to study!
11. You could use something like this with my freshman animal science class on their "breed" projects where each student creates two questions abased on their assigned animal breed. Could require student to listen closer to all presentations
12. I think this is a good idea. It provides a way for the teacher to evaluate themselves. What students write as questions indicates what "stuck" and is a way to determine what was taught well!
13. Could "Lower the Stakes" for high school students going through a lot...
14. Could eliminate "Cheating" as a problem in HS
15. Could alleviate common teacher compliant of too much grading.
16. Where do you find the time to sit for an hour with one student when you have 20/30 students?

Respond in the comments with your thoughts!

Guest Blogger Series: In-Class Success from Out-of-Class Connections!

Editor's Note:This blog is part of a series of guest contributors from the national school-based agricultural education family. Ms. Annette Weeks is in her 17th year of teaching agriculture, 4 years were spent in Southeastern Idaho and 13 years in the Battle Ground School District in Southwest Washington. Annette, her husband and three children live in Vancouver, WA and enjoy being active in the community by supporting the local high school sporting teams and activities. For 12 of the past 13 years, Annette and Kevin have been able to teach in the same high school, this year Annette moved high schools.

"As long as students know that you actually care about them personally and about their education personally, you can do anything." ~George Lucas

When I was in school getting ready for the classroom I just knew I was going to make a difference in some child's life! Okay, I hoped I would make a difference in someones life. Or better yet I was worried that I wouldn't make any difference at all....

Here is what I have discovered about working with students, they don't believe that you care about them until you create a relationship with them.

"Positive teacher-student relationships — evidenced by teachers' reports of low conflict, a  high degree of closeness and support, and little dependency — have been shown to support students' adjustment to school, contribute to their social skills, promote academic  performance and foster students' resiliency in academic performance (Battistich, Schaps, &  Wilson, 2004; Birch & Ladd, 1997; Curby, Rimm-Kaufman, & Ponitz, 2009; Ewing & Taylor, 2009; Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Rudasill, Reio, Stipanovic, & Taylor, 2010).

FFA Members:

So, what can you do to create these relationships? Well, one of the easy ways is to connect with your students through the FFA. The Advisor/FFA Member relationship runs strong and can hold up a student through thick and thin. The students will come back to you time and time again reminiscing about their time in the FFA, sometimes it will include something from class, but more-often-than-not the lasting memory will be of something zany that went on in the FFA.

Sporting Events:

What about those students who just aren't interested in the FFA? Does that happen? You bet it does - I have spent the last 13 years teaching in a large, multi-teacher program. My FFA numbers did not represent what it should have for that many teachers. However, I have some strong ties to the students, their families and the community. Why, how does that happen? My husband, my family and I attend a great deal of the sporting events and other activities that take place at the school. We traveled with the Girls' and Boys' Basketball teams last year as they made their run for the Washington State Tournament. When they lost, we hurt with them. The next morning I was able to discuss with the students what we saw take place on the court, how silly the refs were or how great the dance team was during half team. These common experiences create a basis for conversation with your students that you might miss out on if you don't attend at least some extra-curricular events.

Dances:

Chaperoning dances is a time for students
to see you outside of the classroom.

What else can you do to create a relationship with students? Well...there is always chaperoning dances. My husband and I were the "Dance Managers" for the high school for five years. This means we attended EVERY dance for that five year period. Let me tell you, I really got to know a different cross-section of the student body. It wasn't just my students who were there, it was a quarter of the school (our student population was 2,200 some years). This created ties to kids who recognize me in the stores or in the community. These are the relationships that are important outside of our subject matter - maybe more important. The reason? We are meeting the students where they live and in their own interests.

Attending events, such as weddings,
show you have an interest
in the students beyond the school doors.
It also allows them to introduce
you to the people most important to them.

Community Events:

Finally, don't be afraid to attend community events. Honestly the times where I grew closest to the student body, especially my students, was during funerals and weddings. (there was a period where we had 1-2 suicides every school year) This shows your human side. The students see you have the ability to mourn with them and that you really do care about their lives. Don't be afraid to cry with them, it is not a weakness, it shows a great deal of strength and these fragile young people need to see solid examples of getting through the tough times. My greatest joy is the weddings and the babies - enjoy them! They are the next generation of our programs, look forward to the promise they hold. Don't be afraid to express this joy with your students and their community.

I know you are all thinking, where will the time come from. Choose the activities wisely. Begin by asking your students what they are involved in and make sure to see one event for each that is represented in your program. This is just a place to begin. Your time will loosen up, it gets easier, really it does. You really never know which student your presence will mean the world to.

"To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world." ~Dr. Seuss

Submitted by:
Annette Weeks, NBCT
@weekanne
Agriculture Teacher
FFA Advisor
Prairie High School
Battle Ground, WA
weeks.annette@battlegroundps.org

Guest Blogger Series: You Are Not Alone: Developing a Support Network

Editors Note: This blog is part of a series of guest contributors from the National school-based agricultural education family. Mr. Kevin Keith is the Team Leader for the National FFA Local Program Success Team. He has decades of experience as an agricultural education leader, teacher, state staff, and multiple other roles.

Being an agricultural Education Instructor can be daunting. You have at least three full time jobs competing for your time, not to mention the all-important “life” part of the Work/Life balance that we all strive for and desire. We are a classroom and laboratory instructor, we are a supervisor of work based learning (supervised agriculture experiences) and we are FFA Advisors helping to provide personal development and leadership development skills to our students.  This three component model, is what makes agricultural education so unique and special in the development of our students, and in many cases, may be what drew us to this very special career/life.

Agricultural Education teachers from NAAE Region I (Western United States), share ideas on classroom lessons and curriculum during the 2015 Conference in Tempe, AZ. Ag Ed Instructors attending state, regional and national events are encouraged to network with master teachers from across the country. Developing contacts through such opportunities is a hallmark of Agricultural Education an participation is open to and encouraged for all Agricultural Educators.

Also special in the agricultural education career area is the close knit collegiality/community circumstance that is available to us. This can initially be pretty difficult to see, as we embark on our careers in our local schools.  We often feel like outsiders when we begin, especially when we are the “Lone Ranger” as THE Agricultural Education Instructor in our schools.  Between the schedules that we keep and the isolation that can often be a natural result of the location of the agricultural education classroom and its laboratories, we can too easily get the feeling that it is “me against the world”. 

I was very lucky when I started in agricultural education and also as a beginning agriculture education instructor.  I grew up in a family that was not involved in production agriculture. I grew up in town (I was told that I was the first ‘townie’ to be enrolled in agriculture at my high school. I enrolled in vocational agriculture (the title of the department when I went to school back in the early 1970’s), somewhat by accident.  I had no knowledge of typical production agriculture practices or farming in general and I thought that FFA Jackets looked goofy and had no intent of ever being associated with the National Future Farmers of America (I lasted about 10 days in ag ed classes before I ordered a jacket, by the way).  I was a bit of a ‘fish out of water’, in my early years enrolled in agricultural education in high school and most of my classmates asked me why I was there.  By this point, I can imagine that you might be asking, how is it that he considers himself ‘very lucky’ when he started.  

Because of the obvious disadvantages that I had in experience and knowledge base, I often received encouragement to network with others and ask questions of others. I also was encouraged to let people know about my possible shortcomings and lack of experience, and I learned very early on, that my development and success depended on networking.  My ‘luck’ was forced by need and I became very comfortable with admitting that I was not an ‘expert’.  So, I was lucky to learn to ASK others for assistance and not to fear that I might be considered incapable or incompetent. 

Additionally, I plunged headlong into opportunities to interface with agricultural educators. The most important of these, at that time, and carrying forward to today, is membership in and more importantly involvement in State and National Professional Organizations in Agricultural Education (and to a lesser but still important degree, in Career Tech Education).  My early involvement in area and state meetings developed into regional and national meetings. I found that being involved with others who had to deal with similar issues and managing similar activities was very liberating and their understanding of these experiences and their information, sharing, and yes, even mentoring of this writer, made me aware of the ‘family’ that is agricultural education, and of folks I could commiserate with, consult with, bounce things off, benefit from and share with.  

Using face to face meetings, both regularly scheduled and impromptu, along with snail mail and phone, I was able to find support and assistance when I needed it most. Today, we have a lot of additional ways to network.  Resources like the NAAE Communities of Practice, State and National Ag Education List Serves, Blogs, Websites, Online communities, Social Media, and on and on, give us so many ways to connect and extend our support networks.

I have often found that we need to stay in touch with colleagues that we have contacted while developing as a pre-service teaching candidate.  Stay in touch, not only with those colleagues that go into teaching, also, as importantly, with those going into other career areas.  These folks can often offer, not only a friendly ear to listen and support you, but also are evolving and staying on the cutting edge of their specific career areas (becoming great potential resources for your work as a classroom teacher as well as having potential connections for SAE experiences for your students. These folks tend to be going through the same kinds of growing experiences as you and can be great sources of support for your morale and feelings that you the only one experiencing frustrations and struggles (maybe even incompetency) as you move forward in your work.

We also need to develop relationships with folks we contact daily… yes, of course, this includes family, significant others, and friends, but also should include fellow teachers, administrators, and staff (always include building/maintenance staff, bus drivers, cafeteria staff, office staff, etc.  While these folks may not be able to relate to agriculture or your supervisory and advising experiences/assignments, the can offer a lot as far as school operations, community connections, and insight relative to the school and policies.  Having a master teacher, even outside your ‘discipline’ can make assignments and processes much easier to deal with, and I found these relationships extremely important, in both maintaining my sanity and developing a literacy about agriculture education within these colleagues. They become allies of you and your program, instead of potential detractors and/or obstacles (which is almost always something that occurs by accident, rather than by plan).

Montana Teacher, Eric Tilleman sharing an ‘Ideas Unlimited’ submission with Utah Teachers Megan Cool and Megan Haslam and Nevada Teacher Ty Smith at the 2015 Region I NAAE Conference.  Many opportunities for networking are provided through professional organization membership and involvement.

We need to develop relationships with other agricultural education instructors across our state and even in other states.  I benefited from and highly valued the relationships I had with teachers across the state, I freely shared what I could offer and freely asked for what they could share (or were willing to), and I found that most, in fact nearly all, were very happy to share and consult.  I see, on a daily basis, teachers request help and receive responses, via Communities of Practice and State/National List Serves, and know that this is also occurring via social media, email and phone. Professional Agricultural Educations on Area, State and National Basis are a great road to developing relations and this writer feels that it is a huge misstep to fail to become involved in these important support groups… join and participate!!

Develop a local support group for agricultural education. An FFA Alumni, Booster Club, Young Farmers Group, or other such interest group. Communication is key to success in working with this group, but having a community support group adds to their understanding of your program and provides a virtual army of contributors – one of the most important contributions to a successful agricultural education program and implementation of the 3 component model of agricultural education, which I experiences was due to having a tremendous FFA Alumni Affiliate. These folks were friends, colleagues, supporters, and mentors and I have stay in touch with many of these folks for the past 30 plus years!

Finally, agricultural education has some designated support folks. State Ag Education and FFA Staff, Teacher Educators, Professional Organization Officers and Staff, State FFA Officers, and other State Leaders are available to assist in many ways. Yes, you will be asked for information, reports, etc. from these folks, but the purpose is the benefit of Agricultural Education as whole.  Data is critical, so please look at these requests as assisting in the advancement of Agricultural Education, rather than a nuisance or busy work.  In addition, I hope that you will always remember to consider your LPS Specialist as a part of your network. They all have experience as successful Agricultural Education Instructors and are in place to assist state and local leaders of agriculture education.   They, in turn stay in touch with their team members across the country and work together in an attempt to reply to your requests and provide support to agricultural educators.

So as a recap…

Join!
Participate!
Ask!
Communicate!

 If I may be of any assistance, please feel free to contact me. 

Guest Blogger:
Kevin Keith 
Team Leader
National FFA 
Local Program Success
kkeith@ffa.org
317 709 0806.

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