What you do today, will show up a year from now
I heard that quote for the first time early this year at my GUIDE Culture training.And it struck me.I think back to a year from today. I know that the little deposits I was making in myself have paid dividends a year later.And it all started with changing one thing in my life.Let me take you back to Black Friday 2018. It had been about 9 months since I had my son Callan and I needed a change. An advertisement for Pure Barre popped up on my social media. I used to do it consistently but had some pregnancy issues that made me stop and then I didn't prioritize anything but baby snuggles for the 4 months I was off work with him. So, I decided, I am in the groove with work now and handling my two little loves. I can commit to working out again.I have now been going to my Pure Barre studio consistently since December 2018. But, that was just the start of the snowball effect.-My husband and I joined a married couples small group-I started First Friday Webinars-The Green & Growing Mastermind was born-I invested in my first personal development course-The idea of a virtual conference was planted in my brainAll from one thing. When you invest in yourself, in whatever way you need, it will pay off. I needed a big turn around in 2018, and getting a grasp on my health was just the beginning. So many other amazing things have happened. I am happier and in a much better place mentally, emotionally, spiritually, relationally, and it all overflows into my classroom teaching. I am a better teacher when I take care of myself. I truly can see it the days I don't work out or have a minute to myself, I am sluggish and unmotivated.Am I in a perfect place, no. We never will be. But, the thought is this, what are you doing today that you will thank yourself for a year from today?
Vermicomposting
Donated Kilwin’s Ice Cream bucket with drill hole locations.
Action photo of drilling holes in the buckets.
Shredded paper has been added on top of the worms.
Example of almost complete worm compost. You can easily see the red wigglers, some residue shredded paper and some food scraps.
Vermicomposting is a method of using worms to transform organic waste into a nutrient-rich fertilizer (via Hunker).
To learn a little bit more before the step-by-step demonstration, check out this cute TED ED video on vermicomposting.
These pictures are from a community event where our agriculture class invited community members to learn how to make and maintain a vermicomposting bucket.
Step 1: Obtain Bins
We have used kitty litter bins, 5-gallon buckets and (FREE) ice cream bins from Kilwins. Really any TWO buckets that sit nicely together with a lid will work. You will need to stack them so a good fit is a must. BONUS: Get a third bucket to help harvesting the compost (see more details below).
Step 2: Drill Holes into the TOP bucket
Drill about 4-6 holes in the lid, on the top rim of the top bucket and the bottom of the top bucket (for drainage to the other bucket). Your top bin will be your farm, the bottom bin is for drainage only.
Step 3: Add Worm friendly bedding & moisture
Put newspaper cuttings (1/2 inch strips) or shredded paper in the bottom of your top bin (We would get the shredded paper from the front office for our bedding). I've seen both work well. Spray a small amount of water on your paper to make a moist BUT NOT WET environment for your worms!
Step 4: Add your worms
We bought our worms from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm which you can also buy on Amazon. For a class of 25 people we bought 500 worms for about $35. You could buy more a less depending on your situation. Place your worms under your bedding.
Step 5: Feed the worms
Now that you have a suitable home for your wigglers, feed those babies! You can feed them fresh waste (coffee grounds, tea bags, veggies, fruits,), avoid too much citrus, cooked items and don't compost meat (it is harder to process and will attract unwanted pests). The more you feed them, the more they will reproduce and the more hard-working composters in your farm.
Some added tips:
If you find your worms trying to escape it is probably because the farm is too wet. Add more paper material to ellivate this problem.
If you forget to feed the farm your worm population might decrease. Remember to feed them again and monitor closely. You don’t need to buy new worms unless you are certain there are no more worms.
The more you feed them, the more they will reproduce and the more hard-working composters in your farm.
Step 6: ENJOY and harvest the black gold in a few months
When you see a lot of black (worm castings) it is time to harvest. One method would be to add a third bucket to your farm with the holes, moist paper bedding and food. Once the worms have finished the food in the original bin they will migrate up to the top bin leaving all that beautiful composted rich fertilizer below. Then you can harvest the fertilizer and restart the process.
Parliamentary Procedure Inquiry Style
I actually love teaching parliamentary procedure.That may be an unpopular opinion but, I think this new inquiry style might make the non-parli-pro-believers turn to love it a little bit more.Check it out!DAY 11️⃣ Confuse the kids by saying Parliamentary Procedure a lot (optional) ⠀2️⃣ Write out the 5W’s and H questions you want kids to answer about Parliamentary Procedure⠀3️⃣ Have students work in groups to research the answers and post their answer on the board with post-it’s⠀4️⃣Review their answers (and include a little parli-pro—-a student volunteers an answer as you review, ask the class “all those in favor say yay, all those opposed no” then give them the answer you want. I had them write out the “official” answers on a note sheet⠀
⠀**ps...if you aren’t 1 to 1 NO WORRIES! Print out an article or two that contains all the answers and place them at each table, that the kids look through those to find the answers**⠀⠀DAY 21️⃣ Watch a quick video about the basics of Parli-pro (I chose a 3 mins section of a longer 4-H Parli-pro video from Oregon 4-H) stop and discuss as needed (we stopped and defined debatable, amendable and majority vote)⠀2️⃣ Show a short clip of a @nationalffa⠀Conduct of Chapter meeting nationals competition (I used 2019 video, start at 7:50 for the first chapter). Discuss how they talk, what their body language is like, how they debated etc.⠀3️⃣ Give them their assignment: they have been approached by the principal to create a demonstration of proper Parli-pro for an upcoming “hot topic” meeting (ex, no homework, early release, open lunches etc). They must address (fill in whatever you want Parli-pro related), talk for a minimum of ___ minutes, and everyone must participate.⠀4️⃣ Go write a script, you’ll perform for the class tomorrow!⠀⠀
That’s it! ⠀⠀Will it be perfect, nope! But are they learning, YES! My student teacher and I even chatted afterward saying they were all so engaged with the struggle on figuring out what and how to say everything. The struggle is where the learning happens, not when we spoon-feed the answers 😊 Honor the struggle and feel the burn! ⠀DAY 3Presentation day!⠀⠀Students got up in front of their peers to present their scripts. It was great! Students (in my opinion) had a better grasp of Parli pro doing this then I have seen my students accomplish in the past. Why?⠀⠀1️⃣ Better debates⠀2️⃣ More buy-in⠀3️⃣ More creative notions⠀⠀🥳⠀Here is a link to the grading sheet I used for the presentations. Very simple, students got points for speaking at least twice and then got scored on the impact of their debates.⠀DAY 4Time to wrap this up with some FOOD. We did a snack class meeting! Here’s whatcha do... (This lesson is from the trail mix parli-pro idea I learned my first year teaching from Allison Jennings in North Carolina)⠀1️⃣ Give each student two ability cards (see below-I made one "debate" card for each student, and then one "other motion/ability" card)⠀
2️⃣ Explain that we will be having a class meeting and the agenda is on the board. We must determine the following: 1. Will we make a snack? 2. What 3 items will be included in the snack? 3. How will the snack be distributed?⠀3️⃣ Students must turn in their ability cards through the meeting and properly pass each agenda item before adjourning OR NO snack⠀4️⃣ You serve as chairperson and help out as needed (we added a few new motions today-question of privilege, division of assembly, and point of order)⠀5️⃣ Enjoy the snacks when the meeting is finished⠀
⠀The kids actually loved it. Saying things that made me believe they had fun! Whoop whoop, that’s a win in the teacher column! ⠀⠀And my kids, who haven’t sat through a PowerPoint on parliamentary procedure did just as well IF NOT better than the years I’ve taught this traditionally with lecture! ⠀
Veterans Day Lesson
Veterans Day (from military.com)
I am a military daughter, sister and wife. Veterans extend from way up on my family tree to my parents (yes, plural all 4 of them) sister, brother in laws, and husband. So, I want to focus on that during class tomorrow.I created this VETERANS DAY WEBQUEST to look at how FFA and agriculture connect with the military in the PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE. Feel free to use it in your classroom. It is an editable document you just need to save it to your drive first. CLICK FILE, Click MAKE A COPY, then SAVE to your DRIVE!***Big thanks to Anna Bates from San Luis Obispo FFA for sharing the resources she had about FFA history which led me to this incredible blog from Dr. Moore a retired professor from NCSU. The blog, The Friday Footnote, focuses on sharing the history of rural American and agriculture education. Definitely worth a follow!***
Wonder Week
I wonder how I can implement inquiry into my classroom?I wonder what units I should make more student-centered learning?I wonder if inquiry-based learning is hard to teach?If you have asked those questions, I hear you. I took worry about straying away from what I know and into the unknown.But, if I could tell you that trying out inquiry-based learning could save you time lesson planning, encourage student ownership over learning and hit multiple teacher evaluation standards in one lesson, that's something you would be interested in, isn't it!Well, after talking about wonder week a lot on instagram I decided to make my thoughts more permanent than a 24-hour instastory.So, here you go! Below is the IGTV all about wonder week!Also, here is a link to my WONDER WEEK information sheet.I learned everything about Wonder Week from John Spencer, you can download some free lesson ideas about Wonder Week from him at this link.So, what are you waiting for?https://www.instagram.com/tv/B4GuTKTF0Y9/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet