Don't give up on STEP 2

Today, I admitted my failure to my entire high school staff.It was exciting, scary, exhilarating, and terrifying all at the same time.I absolutely love speaking, seriously, I actually VOLUNTEER to speak in front of about 200-300 people at least once a month.But, admitting that you failed....pretty epically...to your colleagues that you work with everyday is hard. But, I survived, and you know what? MULTIPLE teachers came up to me afterwords saying they have a similar story and were THANKFUL I was vulnerable sharing my story.So, since you all are MY PEOPLE, I wanted to share with you too.Here it is...my story of failure...Alight participation time. Take the card you got as you walked in and write a goal you have in your head that scares the crap out of you, I teach Ag I promise I am allowed to say crap.SERIOUSLY, WRITE IT DOWN. I’ll wait….It can literally be anything, and don’t share it, it’s your goal and my friend Rachel Hollis says NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR DREAMS.Yup, I said it. Actually, Rachel did, but i believe it. I WHOLEHEARTEDLY believe this. Let me tell you about my dream. I want to create a nationwide online summer conference for agriculture teachers. Where I organize the best teachers from across the country sharing relevant content that will help ag teachers stay GREEN and GROWING.And guess what...about half of you have tuned out….BECAUSE YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT MY DREAMS. Not because you don’t care about me the person, but because MY DREAMS do not have the same VALUE to you as they do me.So your dream is different, but you know what...those dreams all come pre packaged with failure. YOU ARE GOING TO FAIL. Now, it’s your turn to determine how you HANDLE that failure. And i believe that the way you fail and learn from the process can help you be a better teacher.How do you PERSONALLY feel about failure. No seriously, on a scale from 1-5 using your hand. 1 being I shake in my boots when you say the work fail, to 5 I fail like ALL the time and love it. Hands up, yup, I wanna see them (virtually :)). Thank you for your honesty.Failure is part of our job, we literally get to determine if people PASS or FAIL everyday. Not many people have that type of POWER over other individuals. But, we do it, everyday, for hundreds of students.But, what about us. Can we fail? DO we fail? Is failure even an option for us? 1.87That was my first semester freshman year GPA at UGA. Is that embarrassing to share with you, heck yes. But, this was my starting line for learning how to fail.A few weeks back I was listening to a podcast that featured John Maxwell a personal growth expert who shared his CYCLE OF SUCCESS. Here it is…. TRY, FAIL, LEARN, IMPROVE, RE-ENTER. Let’s go through the cycle together with my awesome first year at GA.Y’all I TRIED to pass, I promise you, I studied, went to class,  I went to study halls, ALL THE THINGS. BUT, I just wasn’t ready for college. So I EASILY moved onto the second section of the  cycle FAIL. I failed with flying colors, I am sure some people didn’t go to class once and got a better GPA then I did. And then, my mom found out. And she gave me an ultimatum that I will never forget. You get that GPA up or you have to move home to Maryland It was the FIRE under my rear that I needed to move to the LEARN section of the cycle.Y’all my second semester, I took better classes for my personality, changed my major to education (PRAISE), forged relationships with my professors and classmates, and LEARNED how to manage college life in the right way. And I SURE did improve. All A’s and one B (dang you English 1102, shakes fist). I IMPROVED more than just my grades, I improved my friends, my eating habits, my comfort in college. YES, I did it. I finished the cycle of success….But wait, Maxwell added something that I think we AND our students tend to forget...WE HAVE TO RE-ENTER, jump back on that horse, try something new, get out of our Zone of Proximal Development, take chances make mistakes and get messy. So...here is where you jump in. YOU and YOUR STUDENTS. YOU need to be failing. You need to be out of your comfort zone and which will help you become be best teacher and person you can be.Without failure THERE IS NO GROWTH. When we sit in our classrooms on cruise control, WE are doing a DISSERVICE to our students and showing them they can just COAST and when they FEEL FAILURE for that first time IT IS GOING TO HURT like flat on your face hurt. BUT, when you understand that they are JUST ON STEP 2 of the cycle of success you can share with them your experience in failure, like me in college, or the first time I tried pure barre and couldn’t walk for a week or that first professional development session you gave. YOU CAN BE HUMAN WITH THEM and share with them that it is ALL A PART of GROWTH.I KNOW you can succeed at that goal that you wrote on the paper. Keep it, put it on you computer, or mirror, or car dash to remind yourself of YOUR DREAMS which are valid, powerful and perfect FOR YOU.Don’t give up on yourself at step 2 of the cycle of success. Don’t give up on your students at step 2 of the cycle of success. KEEP GOING to LEARN and IMPROVE. AND don’t forget to RE-ENTER!

How to ROCK your FFA Week

FFA Week is one of those weeks that you SO look forward to, but also the thought of planning an executing a week full of FFA events makes your hands sweat a little-- oh, wait that's just me!FFA Week is a great week for US to show our students, school and community what our program is ALL about.But, I understand it is hard to plan out a WEEK FULL OF ACTIVITIES, so here is a quick planning guide to help you get started and some examples from some exceptional chapters from across the nation who EXCELLED during FFA Week 2019!Step 1:  Keep the National Chapter Award in MindI know not everyone submits a National Chapter, BUT it does a great job of spreading out all the different types of activities WE as chapters NEED to be doing to support or members, communities and agriculture industry the best.Make sure you hit at least ONE activity under the THREE BIG UMBRELLAS: Growing Leaders, Building Communities and Strengthening Agriculture. Go into planning knowing that this is your goal, and you are already 3 events in!Step 2: Plan EARLY and OFTENOur best events tend to be the ones we plan WAY in advance and check in with our officers/committees on a regular basis before the event. I would suggest starting the conversation about FFA week at your Chapter Officer Leadership Training in the summer BEFORE school starts. Plan out what your ideal week would look like (see step #3 for tips) and they you have a  foundation to bring before the FFA chapter. If you are hosting a REALLY BIG event that needs a committee, start it way in advance like 3 months. If you are meeting every other week, that would only be 6-8 meetings. Give members PLENTY of notice on all the activities they can participate in way in advance so they can plan their schedule to COMMIT to your FFA week events.Step 3: Spread out activities in "effort" scale accordinglyDo you host a Farm Day for hundreds of little kids and feed the entire high school staff breakfast as part of FFA Week? It is probably not the best idea to have Farm Day ALL DAY and you are DOG tired, then have to wake up earlier than the crack of dawn to make pancakes for hundreds of staff members. TRY your best to spread out the activities that are "less" effort in between those that are "more" effort (aka, you need to be "on" at all times).Examples of "less" effort activities-Handing out goodie bags to members, dress up days, FFA member only social.Examples of "more" effort activities-Cooking for a group of people for an entire meal, being in front of stakeholders, hosting students from other schools, any full day event (that takes you out of your normal classes)*I know none of these are completely "easy" just categorizing them in my mind :)Step 4: Get CreativeLike step 1 said, you already have a foundation to your planning (growing leaders, building communities, strengthening agriculture), now GET CREATIVE. Let those ideas just flow out, don't let any idea be off the table (at first), then pare down your ideas to focus on one event per day.Take a look at some of these awesome ideas from FFA Chapters across the nation!Check out NATIONAL FFA's awesome resources!@jenkinscoffa Mini CDEs during Lunches@commercemsffa Awesome Photo Backdrop@southernnashffa's Farm to Lunch Bake Sale@mcgovavkfffa State Degree Surprise Ceremony@buhach_colony_ffa Goat Showmanship Obstacle Course@ncca_ffa Special Needs Livestock Show@ledfordffa Teacher Treat Trolley@pittmanffa02 Kiss a Donkey@villarica.ffa Raffles for ParticipationAnd so many more, check the hashtad #nationalffaweek for THOUSANDS of posts! 

    

Shake up YOUR lessons!

Did you miss the FIRST FRIDAY WEBINAR about shaking up your lessons?Never fear, this BLOG POST is here to fill you in!Just because something is WORKING, doesn't mean it can't be IMPROVED, heard that while rewatching Black Panther last week.Seriously, if we didn't keep on improving, we would still have a rotary phone...PLEASE say you have used a rotary phone or else I will REALLY start feeling OLD!OK, so know that you agree that as TEACHERS we need to be IMPROVING ourselves and our CRAFT, let's jump into the reasons why we DON'T and what we can do to CHANGE that!#1-TIMEI get it! I am an ag teacher, mama x2, side hustler, pure barre addict, etc.We only get 24 hours in a day, the only way we can MAXIMIZE it, is to PRIORITIZE it!SERIOUSLY!You need to SET ASIDE YOU PLANNING TIME TO ACTUALLY PLAN! I know, CRAZY IDEA RIGHT!Set aside AT LEAST ONE PLANNING period a WEEK to solely focus on PLANNING! Get yourself a SWEET planner (digital or paper) and plan your little heart out! When you prioritize planning, you will give yourself time to reimagine how you can make your lessons more engaging and impactful!Also---side note---I plan in UNITS, not weeks. It allows me to be multiple WEEKS ahead instead of just a week. So I spend A LOT of time in the beginning planning a 2-4-6 week unit, but then during my planning period I just review what I need to do the next week.#2-CREATIVITY"I'm just not creative enough." Bull!You are, just give yourself some time to be creative with an open mind!Still don't feel like you can get around the lure of a PPT to teach ALL THE THINGS? Try these simple ideas to implement instead of PPT!Investigate & Report Back (Give students standards/unit/topic, they research and report back in a variety of ways-presentation to class, paper, project, podcast, video etc)Escape Room (Digital/Real escape rooms can be used for REVIEW OR KNOWLEDGE foundations!)QR Code Scavenger Hunt- Pose questions you want the kids to know the answer to, Use a bunch of QR codes to give them the resources to find the info, and have them fill out the answers. Check this one out I made for FFA, we used it for extra credit during FFA week.Stations- This can be as easy as printing out the slides of a PPT, placing them around the room in stations and kids rotate around to complete notes. Or it can be more engaging as they complete activities at the stations (ex. vet practicums, identification stations, food taste tests etc.)YouTube Videos-Changing WHO is teaching the content can immediately change the engagement. Find quality YouTube videos on your content and show those to introduce/reinforce information.GooseChase-If you have followed me for a while you know I LOVE GooseChase. I have used it for field trips, new content exploration and test reviews. Check it OUT for FREE!Visual Notes-Let those students use the other side of their brain and create visual/sketchnotes!#3-MONEYI 100% understand you! MONEY IS TIGHT!I get it! BUT, You DO NOT need $$$ to jazz up your lessons!Try these FREE ideas!ASK FOR DONATIONS (From community @mrswedger, From students @callieskendrick) Make lesson with old craft materials (ex. old newspaper and tape, judge using Boone & Crockett (@agwithmrsgibbs), painting rocks with commodities with old paint (@agteacherhowtos) FLIPGRID (free student video responses @kelseydejong)LIVING TO SERVE MINI GRANT/OTHER GRANTS (Implement a grant into a class activity!)A LOT of the ideas in #2 Creativity are ALSO FREE!#4 YOUR BRAINGET OUT OF YOUR HEADYou DO NOT have to do it the same as Sally Sue down the road (or hallway)You have THE PASSION, the DRIVE to be a BETTER TEACHEROr else you wouldn’t be here reading this blog post.SO YOU DO YOU!If that means re-doing your lesson every week, YOU DO YOU. If that means taking ONE UNIT from ONE PREP and jazzing it up, YOU DO YOU. If that means you need to ask another teacher who you look up to for help, YOU DO YOU! If that means taking a summer course on a subject you need more help with, YOU DO YOU!I have faith in you!You can SHAKE UP THOSE LESSONS to make them more engaging and impactful!------Other SIMPLE ideas-Student Choice Projects (I have one for ALL standards in Basic Ag)-Hyper Doc Research (Find out more about that here)-Podcasts-Virtual Field Trips (via Zoom it is free for UP TO 100 people for 40 minutes or less)-One Pagers  (@thedaringenglishteacher)-Food Projects (if it is a student led project, they pay for it)-Decorate Ceiling Tiles for Unit Project-Act out a character as you teach (@mrswedger)-Print off PPT slides and do a gallery walk instead of lecture (@tknickers)-Let the kids guide the lesson (they pick questions/topics to explore by just handing them standards)  

SAEs, we need help!

Supervised Agricultural Experiences...We love them....and then....sometimes....we dislike them strongly :)They are probably the most incredible experience that we offer our students, because each student gets impacted (even if they are not in FFA) in a unique and differentiated way.But, we have 50 kids, 180 kids, 480 kids, and it's hard.It's hard to TEACH them what it is, it's hard to GET THEM STARTED, it's hard to MANAGE THEIR PROGRESS, it's hard to help them understand the PROFICIENCY application, it's hard to navigate the AET, it's hard to do DEGREE applications, it's hard.But, here is something that can help you with a few of those things that I implemented in my classroom that A LOT of you wanted to see more of!So, I needed to help my suburban kiddos who are multiple generations removed from the farm wrap their brain around SAEs. It wasn't easy, but here is how I did it, and a month in, they are surpassing the creativity that my past 3 years at this school came up with.STEP 1: Information overloadNo matter how you look at it, when you talk about SAEs, it is going to be information overload. So, I broke it up.PPT, video, chat, brainstorm and repeat. There is a WHOLE LIBRARY of resources for teaching HERE from National FFA. I used their "doodle/whiteboard" videos to introduce the 5 categories along with my own PPT.STEP 2: Partner check in Now that they can "kinda" understand SAEs after lots of talking, chatting and providing resources. The need to TALK their idea out with SEVEN other classmates, and write down their ideas. The purpose of this is two-fold 1) They actually get up and moving and talking with other people 2) They can gain creative ideas from others and refine their idea by listening to others.THEN EVERY WEEK, they must have a PARTNER CHECK their records and sign off on it. We keep copies of these paper in the classroom, so on record keeping day, they just grab it, fill it out and then turn it back in.STEP 3: Teacher MeetingsIn my opinion, the traditional SAE visits don't work in my classroom with my demographic (except for a few students who ride horses competitively). We DON'T have a show team or ANY students who live on farms. Many of our students live in neighborhoods that forbid even backyard chickens. So, a home visit is a little out of the question. But, does that mean I shouldn't meet with all my kids? NOPE, not even a little bit. So, I created THIS TEACHER MEETING sheet. My students MUST meet with me a MINIMUM of 3 times a semester to chat about their SAE progress. This is like three-fold 1) A chance to actually have a valid SAE visit with my kiddos 2) Have a written record of my conversations with my student on the biggest chunk of their grade 3) Rapport, rapport, rapport. It has been great! Yes, that is about 300 SAE visits a semester. But, I make it work in any little fraction of time I have in class, during our "home room", before school, after school etc.Step 4: SCREENCAST AET HelpY'all I AM A FIRM BELIEVER IN THE AET! I use it EVERYDAY in my class. Seriously, the first thing my student's do in class before I even speak is open the AET, and they log their START UP answer in class time, and then log any SAE hours, FFA activities, or others before we even start class. With all this being said, the AET is HARD for the kids to wrap their brain around. So, I make screen cast videos of ALL the things I require them to do. The first thing we do is set up the profile, I make a screencast. The second thing we do is add our class, I make a screen cast. The kids need a SAE PLAN, I make a screencast. You get the picture. I LOVE Screencast-o-matic. It is FREE up to 15 minutes, but no kid is going to listen to that long of a video, so I usually make them 5 minutes or so.Step 5: Allow student to have SAEs at schoolNo, I'm not talking about livestock projects. Some of you already do that. Make a list of things that you wish you had time to do, or a list of things that get left on the back burner that really need more attention. Then, have kids apply for those positions. Some that we did this year were a FODDER grower (to feed to our small mammals and chickens), a GREENHOUSE builder (we don't have one up, but a small one in a box that just hasn't been built yet), A LAUNDRY SPECIALIST (running a doggy daycare we go through A LOT of laundry, and the washing machine is ACROSS the entire school parking lot in the main building). I used this SIMPLE job application and MOST of my jobs were filled!That's all I have for now! Hopefully, this will help you all get started down a path of LEAST resistance when you are implementing SAEs in your classroom! 

Ask an you shall receive...plant science ideas!

This weekend I posted an Instagram Story about how I need to re-work my plant science unit in my first level (Basic Agriculture) class.I got SO MANY wonderful ideas from AG TEACHERS across the country. So, I complied what they said into a quick Google Document.Now, this document, I want it to be ALIVE (just like plants :))!That means, if you have something to add, ADD IT BY GOLLY!Just write your Instagram handle so if a teacher has a question they can reach out to you for advice.Y'all are awesome! Now, STOP, COLLABORATE and .... share? Sorry MC Hammer.