You had me at free...FREE Easy Review Ideas

Reviewing is a staple in classrooms across America. We wonderful teachers (pat yourself on the back) spend usually at least one day a unit reviewing concepts so students can succeed on their assessments. But, we can DEFINITELY get stuck in a rut.I remember exclusively using JEOPARDY when I first started teaching thinking it was the ONLY way to engage kids during review. WRONG-O Sarah.So, here are some FREE Easy Review Ideas you can add to your arsenal of review activities!#1-Goose ChaseY'all. Seriously. Goose Chase is AWESOME. The free version you can have up to 5 teams and as many Goose Chases as you want! It is basically an online scavenger hunt. I have used this on field trips, introducing topics and reviewing for tests. It is SUPER SIMPLE to put together. Here is a link to one you I made!#2-Google Forms/One Note Escape RoomsI wrote a whole blog post about this which you can check out here. I have LOVED this tool. It is SO EASY to make, and it makes ENGAGEMENT so simple. Kids are seriously IN IT TO WIN IT. It is basically an escape room without locks, the locks are passwords that are embedded into the Google Form or One Note. Best thing, once you make it, you can use it OVER and OVER again!#3-Quizlet LiveIf you live Kahoot or Quizizz (also good review games), you will LOVE Quizlet Live. You can use any of your old quizlets (or let's be honest, just search for one made by another teacher/student) and create a Quizlet Live. It RANDOMLY (so cool) puts kids into groups and they must WORK TOGETHER to look at a question (that pops up on their device) and find the answer because EACH STUDENT as a different set of answers on their devices. I tend to keep them in the same group for a round or two, then make them switch. Definitely adds MOVEMENT to the classroom. Here is a Quizlet I made on FFA/Leadership, feel free to use this one to try out Quizlet Live.#4-Around the room reviewHide random questions around the room (under desks, on ceiling, on the wall etc.) then give the students a worksheet (or have them just write on a piece of notebook paper) and have the WRITE THE QUESTION and the ANSWER. It provides MOVEMENT (again)! You could basically take ANY of your old worksheet reviews and just paste the questions around the room and have a whole new take on review. I got this idea from Mrs. Marte.#5-Canva FlyerI love CANVA, I use it a lot to make social media posts. But, there are also templates for normal printer sized paper. I have had students make a comprehensive flyer over ALL we learned in a unit using Canva. Don't have enough devices? You can put them in groups to work together or they can do it the old-fashioned way with paper and writing utensils! Provides a creative side to review.Well, there you have it. Just a few ideas to add some creativity to your review activities.What other COOL ideas do you have? 

Final Exam Projects

I hate taking tests, always have always will. I just was never good at them. And to be completely honest, I do not think I am that great at writing them. I tend to find my tests just to regurgitate memorized information.So, this year I have implemented a lot more project based assessments through my units and my final exams are no different.In my Basic Agriculture class, students have been working on a semester long Agriscience Fair Project which will count as their final exam grade (half from the paper, half from the actual Agriscience Fair)In my second level class, students will be submitting a record book report from the AET. Didn't know that that was an option, yeah me neither, until my teaching partner showed me all about it last year.Here is how those two projects shake out...AGRISCIENCE FAIRStudents pick a topic after we do our scientific method unit (usually in early September) to make sure students understand what the scientific process should look like.Students receive a template written report via Google Classroom and a Due Date sheet. Each item in the written report is given it's own due date. Students turn in those sections throughout the semester. I grade them QUICKLY using Google Classroom (seriously, a life-saver). I also supplied students with a HYPER DOC, basically it is ONE document that has links for EVERY THING the students need help with (ex. how to write an abstract, how to use APA Style in-text citations, examples of old display boards, and how to insert graphs).{Want to know more about HYPER DOCS...Check out this blog post from Write on With Miss G. I saw her post about them on the good ole Instagrizzle (my loving terms for Instagram) and KNEW I had to implement them in my classroom.}Students print and bind the written report, make a display and the last day of classes before exams in December, we host a class Agriscience Fair with judges (alumni, other teachers from the school, administration, etc.) students can get recognized for the top three experiments from the judges. They also get a score for their presentation which counts as half of their final exam grade, the other half is the written report graded with the National FFA Rubric by me.RECORD BOOK REPORT*This is all based off of my amazing teaching partner, Ashley White's Final Exam report idea. You rock!**Our students are pretty versed in the AET, they log hours everyday and get a recordkeeping grade every week.Students are given this rubric. I spent a day walking through how to complete each item (profile, pictures, captions, resume, SAE plans etc.) I also gave them this Hyper-Doc with "How To" do EACH item of that rubric.Students have time during class to work on the items. I will have checkpoints throughout the last few weeks if they want to turn in items early.On the last day of classes before finals, all students print and turn in their COMPLETE record book report (REPORTS, under Annual Reports & FFA Apps click COMPLETE RECORD BOOK REPORT, click ALL SAES, and generate a PDF).The BEST PART of these AET based Final Exams with our second level students is it gives us a gauge of where the student is in the journey toward their STATE DEGREE so we can help them reach that goal! Once they make it to the second level class our RETENTION rate of students for a third class is almost 100%, so we want ALL of them to get the coveted STATE DEGREE! And, YES this counts toward curriculum because FFA AND RECORDKEEPING are part of our standard!So there you have it! Just a quick glimpse of project based Final Exams. I will be doing something different for Spring Semester and when that is all finished I will jump on here and share that too!  

Green & Growing MASTERMIND

The bistro tables at the Marriott in Savannah, in the truck on the way to ANY FFA event, in the lobby of the Tenaya Lodge in Yosemite, in my Instagram DMs, in the dining hall at the FFA Camp in Covington, while waiting for the kids to finish CDE events...Those are some of the BEST professional development "sessions" I've ever been to.Sounds weird, maybe. Probably not if you are an ag teacher. In the past you have sat down and probably gotten the BEST information, ideas, encouragement and more, just sitting with other ag teachers, not in planned PD sessions, right?Not knocking those PD sessions (believe me, I host them multiple times a year and LOVE doing it). BUT, one hour with a group of people is NOT EQUAL to multiple hours with the same group of people over a period of time....which is why I am SO excited to be starting the Green & Growing MASTERMIND group!Professional Development is a dirty word in the education field.It's dry and sometimes useless and immediately elicits simultaneous eye-rolls.But, it doesn't have to be.That is where Green and Growing MASTERMIND comes in...Think about a group of people who are here SOLELY to provide...COMMUNITY, COLLABORATION and CELEBRATION!That's right, that's it...Why not provide us ag teachers what we really need-- like minded people, in the same field, with the same struggles, hunkering down together and trudging through the muck working toward a better career in agriculture education.That is what Green and Growing is all about!Like the idea... me too!THE FIRST GREEN & GROWING MASTERMIND will start in January 2019!If you are interested, go HERE for more information & application.Since this is the first ever Green & Growing Mastermind, we will keep the group very small. You can apply here :) And by apply, I mean tell me more about you and why you would like to be a part of Green & Growing!Looking forward to chatting with you about this cool opportunity :)I will be hosting an Instagram Live over on @agteacherhowtos on FRIDAY DECEMBER 1st at 8:30 p.m. EST to talk all about the Green & Growing MASTERMIND. Join me to ask any burning questions---or reach out to me via email or Instagram.

Digital Escape Rooms (via Google Forms & OneNote)

Y'all reviewing in fun/new/inventive ways is my jam...One day--I was begrudgingly stuck in the main building and stumbled upon a teacher doing a OneNote Escape Room. And let's be honest, my Google Classroom loving eyes immediately rolled. But, I had nothing better to do at the time so I jumped in and joined the fun...And it was fun! Not gonna lie---I wanted to beat everyone else and zoomed through the escape room and won the COVETED piece of fun sized candy (yas, high five)! After that, I knew I NEEDED to make my own for my classroom. So, after a few minute sit down session with our Media Specialist Extraordinaire, I made my first Escape Room to review my Animal Science Unit in Basic Ag.After a little trouble shooting the day of (due to our network being crazy) I got it working, and let me tell you, the KIDS DID IT, and were ENGAGED... insert mind blowing here. Even the two partners I partnered up (and were so NOT INTO IT) were in it to win it!Also, side bar, when making your escape room ABSOLUTELY make sure that you require them to do something WEIRD and CRAZY to win. Don't just write "you win" have them DO SOMETHING. I had mine stand up and do the YMCA (HAHA)! A fellow Ag Teacher, Cole Andes (@bcandes87), had his kids sing WRECKING BALL to win, yassss. Definitely makes it more exciting and engaging! And then THANK YOU to Lindsey O'Hara (@lindsey_ohara) for reaching out to me via Instagram to tell this GOOGLE LOVING person, that you can do the SAME THING with Google Forms. The game HAS CHANGED!I have done BOTH, and they both were easy to do, but in my personal opinion Google Forms is more user friendly (take this with a grain of salt because I am just a google person).So, without further ado... I present to you the YouTube videos that I used to help me make DIGITAL ESCAPE ROOMS...HOW TO make a OneNote Escape Room By: Jill R(This is PART 1, make sure you watch Parts 2-4 as well)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxRoOvWDFB4HOW TO make a Google Form Escape Room (by: Dan Klumper)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx9MsF746Gc

Google Forms in Ag Class!

Hey Ag Teachers!Here is the link on how to use flubaroo to grade your tests/quizzes on Google Forms!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U06W3H_iDhoHope it helps you!Happy Teaching!