4 Activities to Teach Employability Skills in Your Classrooms
You know one of the words I dislike the most as an educator?
SOFT SKILLS
Ugh, it makes my skin crawl. When did we decide that the skills that allow you to be productive citizens and highly employable people become less important than technical skills? I don’t know about you but I would much rather hire someone who was professional, timely, respectful and passionate that has developing technical skills over someone who is the smartest in their given area of expertise, but has worse work behavior than Michael Scott and George Constanza.
As a career technical subject matter, we as agriculture teachers are honored with the important task of providing instruction in employability skills. That means we get the best of both worlds; teaching the soft and technical skills.
One thing I do know is that we might not put much emphasis on these standards. Maybe even saying “well, they will get sprinkles of this throughout the curriculum so I am not going to teach it.”
And that is the WRONG answer my friend.
This statistic from a recent Deloitte survey says that “92% of companies report that human capabilities or soft skills matter as much or more than hard skills in today’s business world.” This article even mentioned that people are starting to catch on to the significance of these skills, rebranding them as “durable” skills. I am here for that!
Companies are looking for employees with skills like empathy, collaboration and adaptability. With the emergence of artificial intelligence barring some of the technical skill load of many careers it is imperative that our students are well equipped in the skills computers/bots can’t replicate like empathy, collaboration, emotional intelligence, intuition and complex problem solving.
And that is why we at G&G believe that your employability unit should be of utmost importance in your classroom. I know for certain that my biggest wish as an educator is to make certain why kids could succeed in life as a good citizen and employee. And this is your chance to do this for your students too.
We have compiled some resources that you can grab-and edit to your liking that can help you focus on employability skills at a deeper level in your classroom this year.
3 ACTIVITIES TO TEACH EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS IN YOUR CLASSROOMS
In the newest G&G resource, students participate in a tournament-style career exploration where they compare agricultural careers head-to-head across three rounds. They start by reviewing career pathway information, then evaluate pairs of careers based on key factors such as job satisfaction, work environment, and growth potential. As they progress through the rounds, students select winners and provide three well-reasoned justifications for their choices. The activity concludes with a final matchup to determine the "ultimate" agricultural career. This engaging format encourages students to think critically about career paths in agriculture while refining their decision-making skills.
Durable (Soft) Skills this Battle of the Ag Careers lesson focuses on: Critical thinking, decision making, analytical skills and self-awareness.
Here is what is provided to teachers to help implement this activity into your classroom seamlessly:
Structured Lesson Plans: Detailed guides to navigate each phase from idea generation to final presentation.
Timelines: Suggested schedules to manage project milestones efficiently.
Assessment Rubrics: Clear criteria for evaluating student work and presentations.
Business Plan Templates: Pre-formatted documents for students to outline their business ideas.
Pitch Outlines: Templates to help students organize their presentations.
Panel Evaluation Criteria: Guidelines for "investors" to assess pitches and provide feedback.
Guidelines for Presentation: Tips and strategies to help students prepare for their pitch delivery.
2. Shark Tank Entrepreneurial Skills
Shark Tank Entrepreneurial Skills
Shark tank type lessons are a great way to get kids thinking outside the box. This lesson would be awesome not just for an employability skills unit, but also to be sprinkled throughout content units to encourage students to solve problems related to the content you are teaching.
In this activity, students begin by brainstorming and developing an innovative product or service idea. They then create a comprehensive business plan, detailing aspects such as target market, marketing strategies, financial projections, and operational plans.
Once their plan is formulated, students prepare a persuasive pitch to present to a panel of "investors," simulating the format of the "Shark Tank" television show. This presentation involves defending their business idea, answering questions, and potentially negotiating terms, providing a practical experience in entrepreneurship.
Durable (Soft) Skills this shark tank lesson focuses on: Innovation, presentation skills, critical thinking
Here is what is provided to teachers to help implement this activity into your classroom seamlessly:
Structured Lesson Plans: Detailed guides to navigate each phase from idea generation to final presentation.
Timelines: Suggested schedules to manage project milestones efficiently.
Assessment Rubrics: Clear criteria for evaluating student work and presentations.
Business Plan Templates: Pre-formatted documents for students to outline their business ideas.
Pitch Outlines: Templates to help students organize their presentations.
Panel Evaluation Criteria: Guidelines for "investors" to assess pitches and provide feedback.
Guidelines for Presentation: Tips and strategies to help students prepare for their pitch delivery.
3. Purple Plow
Engineering, Design Thinking and Agriculture are combined in this Purple Plow program. I’ve used a lot of the resources on this website to include their short puzzlers and semester long projects to teach important soft skills like critical thinking and collaboration.
In Purple Plow challenges, students engage in a variety of activities designed to foster critical thinking and problem-solving skills. They begin by researching complex agricultural issues, such as food security and sustainability, to understand the challenges at hand. Using the engineering design process, students design and develop prototypes that address these challenges, followed by testing and refining their solutions through iteration. The process culminates in presentations where students articulate their design journey and the effectiveness of their solutions, promoting strong communication skills and collaborative learning.
Soft Skills this lesson focuses on: creativity, problem solving, teamwork, communication
Here is what is provided to teachers to help implement this activity into your classroom seamlessly:
Educator and Volunteer Guide: Offers detailed information to help teachers understand and facilitate the challenges, including guidance on the engineering design process.
Engineering Design Process Guide: Introduces students to the systematic approach used by engineers and scientists to solve challenges, which they can apply during the activities.
Engineering Design Rubric: Provides criteria to evaluate student projects, aiding in assessment and feedback.
Supply List and Budget Sheet: Assists teachers in planning and organizing materials needed for the activities, ensuring efficient preparation.
Task Cards: Help students stay organized and on track throughout the challenge, outlining specific tasks and objectives.
Why not blend your FFA and employability skills units together? I specifically did this activity with my second, third of fourth year students so they didn’t have to do that whole FFA Unit song and dance since they already knew the basics. This allowed them to dive deeper into the meaning FFA had in real people who went through the program before them.
In the FFA Interview Project, students are assigned to interview a former FFA member or educator to explore the long-term benefits of involvement in FFA and agricultural education.
They connect with their interviewee via phone, video call, or in-person meeting, asking prepared questions to gather insights about the subject's experiences and professional growth. After conducting the interview, students synthesize their findings by creating either a written report or presentation that captures key responses and reflections.
The project includes class time for preparation, but students may also work independently. To conclude, students craft and send a formal thank-you note to their interview subject.
Soft Skills this lesson focuses on: communication skills, interpersonal skills, active listening, organization, time management, reflection
Here is what is provided to teachers to help implement this activity into your classroom seamlessly:
Contact Information Template: Fields to document interviewee details.
Resource Links: Tips for interviewing, starting conversations, email etiquette, and thank-you notes.
Interview Question Section: Space to list at least 10 thoughtful interview questions.
Rubric: Clear criteria for evaluating student work, including components for introduction, body content, conclusion, organization, and thank-you card submission.
Assessment Examples: Guidance on how to effectively quote or paraphrase interview content in reports or presentations.
Overall, soft skills are DURABLE skills that are equally important for your students to learn in your classroom and there are lots of fun ways to help you incorporate this type of skill building into your lesson plans.
If you are someone who loves teaching soft skills in your classroom we would love to hear about it! Send an email to greenandgrowingedu@gmail.com to share your idea.
A Roundup of (Free + Paid) Agriculture Resources From Green and Growing
You might have noticed that back in July the G&G team took some time away from our Zoom Squares and traveled to the Bayou for our yearly retreat.
We did our normal routine of fun including some color analysis with our good friend Bri, some much-needed thrifting, and learning Wingspan. And then we got down to BUSINESS.
This included going through EVERY OFFER we have in the G&G world and deciding if we continue offering it, if it needs a revamp, or to take it off the table.
We don’t just willy-nilly decide these things, don’t worry. We take your feedback into account, survey responses, and conversations we have on socials and in person with you! One of the things we decided was time for a MAJOR revamp was the resources we offer for agriculture teachers.
If you have been around for awhileeee, you might have purchased some resources on Teachers Pay Teachers and a couple of years ago we took all those down to focus more on Germinate Conference and resources.
And let’s be honest, we went hard on Germinate and it is the shining star of the G&G world. We love her, you love her, and she is here to stay with even some new team members at the helm stewarding her toward the next conference in July 2025.
But, those resources had a moment and then we kind of treated them like the dust bunnies behind the couch. They are there just waiting to be noticed.
And that just wasn’t good enough for us anymore. So we committed to adding MORE resources to the library for you this school year. And since we are shedding light on these resources, might as well give you a deep dive so you know what is waiting for you to download and utilize.
Resources for Agriculture Teachers
Free Resources
Downloadable Resources
Need a quick resource? We have you covered. Frequently requested resources live on the G&G takeaway library for you to use, edit, and change to your liking. These resources are designed for you to grab and go! Here are some examples you will see when you venture over to the digital stacks of the library.
Examples:
Holiday: Veterans Day is right around the corner. Did you know FFA has had connections to veterans in the past? Students can complete this web search to learn more about Veterans Day.
FFA: Raise your hand if you are headed to Indy for the Convention this year (raises hand). Raise your hand if you are a little nervy about letting teenagers loose for hours in the Expo (raises hand with sweaty palms). We get it. That’s why we created a simple Convention Scavenger Hunt for you to print and use with your kiddos this year!
Classroom: Need a new way for students to communicate their gained knowledge in a unit? Are you just OVER multiple-choice tests? The kids probably are too! Hannah created an awesome resource with everything you need to take those summative assignments from pencil tip breaking scantrons to hearing your students voice their learnings with a podcast.
SAE: We loveee when we can maximize our time with our students. One way we have done this is with Teacher SAE Conferences. This resource is a simple 3 touch base throughout the year/semester with your student to be done in class. We love the combination of this with the SAE Folder routine we learned from Jacklyn Bond.
Other Resources
Blog
If you are reading this, you have already found the crown jewel of the past few months. So happy you found this little corner of the internet. We decided last year to double down on blogging so the valuable ideas, inspiration, and content we share on socials are immortalized in a searchable format for you.
So the next time you think “Man I thought I saw an idea about how to start delegating tasks” you can find it easily on the blog. Feel free to binge-read during your 21-minute lunch breaks or the next time you have hall duty during state testing.
Podcast
The G&G podcast provided weekly episodes to connect, educate, and encourage Agriculture teachers across the country for over 3 years. While we are not updating the podcast regularly now, we have TONS of valuable content for you to binge. We also suggest checking out the Here by the Owl Podcast for awesome agriculture teacher content!
Gazette
On the first of every month imagine the G&G team pedaling down your street and slinging the newest, freshest agriculture teacher-only newspaper to your doorstep.
From our latest obsessions to news from nationals, we gather up all the ideas, resources, and more via the monthly Gazette. Join the newsletter here and don’t miss another month of fun sent straight to your inbox!
Social Media
We highlight awesome ideas from teachers on Instagram! If you are known to scroll, make sure you follow Green & Growing so you can get something out of that scroll! You will see inspiration as well as classroom resource highlights from ag teachers across the nation weekly.
Paid Resources
Germinate Conference is Green & Growing Education’s signature professional development conference. It’s designed as a virtual conference so you can connect teachers from across the country without worrying about time or money. Since 2019 Germinate has brought together over 3,500+ teachers for a one-of-a-kind experience. Germinate is coming back July 1-3 2025 and we cannot wait to welcome you! If you are wanting to step out behind the screen and serve as a speaker this year, applications are OPEN.
Starter Packs
Looking for some more immediate help in one of the 3-circle model categories? We’ve gathered some of the most impactful sessions from past Germinate conferences to create a pack of 5-6 sessions to help you in your area of choosing. Check out an SAE, FFA, or Intro to Ag starter pack here!
Germinate Hall of Fame Sessions
Maybe you’ve heard of some of the rockstar sessions from past years of the Germinate Virtual Conference. Well now you can access those sessions and their awesome takeaways by purchasing single-sessions at the Germinate Hall of Fame. Sessions like Review Activities for ANY class, Parliamentary Procedure Deep Dive and how to finally manage your Greenhouse like a pro in 2025!
One thing we are committed to is providing you more value this school year through easily accessible resources. The one thing we KNOW to be true is we cannot create things you want unless we know what you want. Here is where you can ask us to create something for YOU!
That is right, something that works for YOU is exactly what we want to create. Send us an email to greenandgrowingedu@gmail.com and we will put your idea into a cue for the next set of resources!
Teaching Leadership in Your Classroom
Leadership is part of your curriculum.
Most likely, you have actual standards that are mandadted by your state to teach leadership. And if you are like me, your bachelor’s degree in education didn’t cover that. But, we gotta admit, it might be some of the most important content you teach to your students.
WHY?
Google recently did a study to ask companies to rank the 8 top qualities of their top employee. Got any guesses on what ranked highest? Listening, coaching, critical thinking and communication skills! Ranking on the bottom of the study were the technicial skills like math and coding.
How cool is it that YOU have the space in your curriculum to help prepare your students to be the most prepared, competent and equipped to get any job they apply for!
And if you are thinking “I just don’t know where to start” or even “I’ve done the same thing over and over again and want to spice my leadership unit up”
GOOD NEWS, we have just the resource to help you!
We have taken a dive into the Germinate Session Vault and pulled out a session that can give you the direction on how to put leadership back to the forefront of your curriculum from Wyatt Capps of Illinois!
Sounds too good to be true right?
Well, like the Disney Vault (and Cinderella) this session will turn into a pumpkin and head back to the vault on May 31. Take some time to block off your calendar (approx. 20 minutes) to watch this session and download the takeaways to get ready for leadership emphasis in 2023-2024!
FREE Valentine's Day Class Activity: Downloadable Inside
Roses are red, violets are blue… but do you know WHY that is exactly? 🤔
Holidays always allow for fun classroom activities and give your students the chance to do something that matches their energy versus forcing them to sit and listen to a 30 minute lesson when they’re hyped up on chocolate.
I mean let’s face it - holidays as teachers can be challenging, but we must remember that it isn't our students' fault!
Kids are naturally excited about holidays (regardless of their age and regardless if it’s Valentine’s Day, Christmas or Groundhogs Day 😂), so instead of wasting your time and energy on trying to correct their behavior, you can lean into it by planning for fun activities that relate to the holiday at hand!
Valentine’s Day is always a fun one and no matter the age of kids, it always seems like everyone is celebrating.
Younger aged kids typically still trade Valentine cards, while older aged kids have true crushes and some schools allow them to send carnations.
This activity goes hand in hand with flowers, so it creates the perfect opportunity for you to still teach something on this day while relating it back to what’s actually going on in their life!
For this Valentine’s Day activity, your students will research the phrases given and match the flower color to the meaning.
For example, red means “I love you” and signifies courage, passion and respect. 🌹
To add an extra layer to this activity, you can have them work in groups, present their findings to the whole class and could even have real or fake flowers that they can leave with and give to someone.
It’s an easy activity that will keep them occupied despite their distractions on the holiday!
You can grab this activity for FREE by clicking HERE.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
The Green & Growing Fam 💚
Get Your Classroom Under Control With These 4 Management Strategies
The new year is here and after a few weeks out of the classroom, it can be a bit difficult to reign your students back in and get them fully engaged in your lessons.
After all, students have just gone from being hyped up on Christmas candy, holiday fun and staying up too late to jumping back into early alarm clocks and are expected to be on their best behavior from 8am-3pm Monday through Friday.
Not to mention, it’s that time of the school year that seems to drag on with very few breaks in between, so it’s completely understandable that, as a teacher, you would be in search of new classroom strategies to implement so that your students feel excited and ready to learn.
The good news is that there is absolutely a way that you can make the second half of the school year work for you, not against you!
As you ring in 2023 in the classroom, we encourage you to implement one or all of these 4 classroom management strategies in order to create a collaborative learning environment for your students.
Non-verbal Classroom Management Techniques
If you’ve ever felt like your classroom is completely out of control, your students aren’t listening to your directions or you feel like you’re answering the same exact question 10 times a day, non-verbal techniques can be your life saver!
Here are 3 of Mrs. Wedger’s favorites that go hand-in-hand together
1. Freeze Body
For this technique, simply choose a place in your classroom where every single student can see you and hear you - this will be what you call your “freeze body” spot and this is the spot you will stand in anytime you need to gain (or regain) your students attention or deliver important directions.
When you stand in this spot, make sure you have a firm, confident stance and follow your stance with an attention getting phrase.
This phrase should be something that you have previously trained your students on to know that you need their attention when you speak this phrase.
Mrs. Wedger keeps it simple by saying, “eyes and ears up here!” It’s short and sweet, but gets the job done.
There’s two keys to remember with this technique:
WAIT! Don’t try to talk over your students during this time, but instead wait until you have their attention. This will train them that you aren’t going to move forward until everyone is listening.
Remain still while delivering directions so that your students can hear and focus on everything you’re saying. When you wander around or pace back and forth, it can be hard for students to keep their focus on you, so do them a favor by staying in one spot!
Release phrase & wait 20 seconds
In addition to an attention getting phrase, you also want to make sure you have a “release” phrase that students know. This is the phrase you will speak after you’ve delivered directions and this lets them know that they can move forward with their work.
Again, the two key with this technique is that you:
WAIT! Before you move from your freeze body spot, wait at least 20 seconds so that students know that you are serious about them starting their work. If you have students that are not getting started, simply make eye contact with them and it will usually move them into action.
Stay silent. This allows your students to remain focused and actually get to work versus being distracted by conversation in the room.
Above, Pause, Whisper
When you’re ready to regain your students' attention after their working time, you want to go back to your freeze body spot, raise your hand high and pause.
During this time, students will naturally start to pay attention to you. Now, of course there may be some that you need to reign in further and you can simply do so by calling their name.
Once you have every student's attention, speak your first sentence in a whisper. This causes everyone to lean in and it really grabs their attention because they want to know what you’re going to say next.
Now that you have their attention, you can speak in your normal voice and trust that your students are truly listening - a teacher’s dream, right?!
2. Exit Directions
Have you ever given your students directions and released them to work, only to have multiple kids ask you what they’re supposed to be doing? 😅
I think it’s probably happened to all of us and it can be a real frustration in the classroom as a teacher. To prevent this from happening on an ongoing basis, you can implement exit directions.
Exit directions bring true purpose and clarity in the classroom and quite honestly give you your sanity back!
Picture this: you’ve just delivered directions for what your students should work on next and you’re ready to exit the teaching stage. You project a slide on your board that everyone can clearly see and read.
Your students have little to no questions and are ready to get to work. The rest of class time is filled with students doing exactly what was expected of them and you end class feeling confident in yourself as a teacher!
That’s a picture you want to see, right?!
You can achieve that ⤴️ when you implement exit directions, friend!
What they are not: step-by-step written directions for the assignment - that’s what you give during your teaching time.
What they are: what they should be doing during and after they complete the assignment
For example, exit directions could be something like:
Get into groups of 4
Complete notebook assignment
When completed, get stamp
When done, [insert options they can do]
In order to do this well, we encourage you to couple your exit directions with images or emojis so that it captures your students' attention in a new way and so that it trains them that when they see the image, it sparks something in their brain and they know exactly what to do.
Implementing exit directions allows students to really lead themselves with a little guidance from you so that you aren’t the one having to do all of the heavy lifting throughout the entire day.
3. Start Class Strong With Routine
Have you ever gotten held up in a meeting or in the hallway before the bell rings and you can’t make it back to your class in time to greet your students and get them started?
And then once you return, the class is absolutely bonkers, no one is in their assigned seats and it takes an extra 10 minutes to calm everyone down before you can actually start class? 🙃
Yeah, those days aren’t fun and it definitely doesn’t start things on the right foot. But what if we told you that there is a way your students can start class WITHOUT you there?!
It's totally possible friend and it can happen when you establish a solid routine and structure for your students to expect and keep it consistent. Here’s what this can look like ⬇️
Routine: something that your kids are used to doing in your classroom every single day.
The routine for your classroom should be established at the start of the school year and should remain fairly consistent from that point on. This allows your students to know what they can expect as soon as they walk in and after a few weeks, they don’t have to wait on you to guide them.
A routine for your class can look something like this:
Come in and turn in homework
Complete 5 minute starter assignment
Get out notebook to take notes on lesson of the day
The routine for your classroom will be totally unique to you, but the point is that establishing a routine allows for a much calmer environment and sets your students up for ultimate success.
4. Student Encouragement
Did you know that you have the power to impact your students with JUST your words?!
Just like we as adults need and appreciate encouraging words, our students do too. And while I know this sounds simple and like it may not need that much intention, the way that you encourage your students can be designed as something you do very strategically and when you put more thought into it, it can have a lasting impact!
So, how can you pour love, energy, excitement and confidence into your students?
There are plenty of ways you can do this and it can be as simple or as complex as you want!
Some ideas include:
Place sticky notes with specific compliments on their desk before they enter your classroom
Give additional feedback with encouraging words on a graded paper
Offer public praise in front of the whole class when they’ve done something exceptional
Mail a letter home to honor their work in front of their family
Do 2-3 minutes 1:1 student teacher meetings during class time and follow the start, stop and keep formula
Implement jacket quotes - Mrs. Nerswick explains more about this in THIS podcast episode
At the end of the day, the whole point is that you are intentional with the encouragement you give to your students. When you do this consistently, their confidence will grow and there is a solid chance they will remember you for it long after they are a student of yours.
These 4 classroom strategies can set your classroom, your students and YOU up for success as you tackle the last half of the school year and ultimately help you create an environment that is conducive to real learning and leadership.
We’d love to hear which one you’re going to try out - let us know in the DM’s!
The Green & Growing Fam 💚