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. 

One Word 2019

Y'all I loved this.Recently on the 'gram I have been seeing people post their #oneword365 for 2019. Basically it is the ONE WORD they want to focus on in 2019. This word should be able to be applied to all parts of life (career, school, family, relationships, health etc.)After seeing it I KNEW I needed to do this with my students. But, any old worksheet just won't do this justice! This is a BIG DEAL so it needed to be more that JUST an activity.So, after thinking and seeing some other ideas similar to this online (like All About Me banners) I decided to make my own :)And thus, the One Word Banner was made.On the back side are prompts to run through with the kids. Step 1: Brainstorm as many words as you can that will embody 2019. Step 2: Circle THREE that you like the most and write why you could see that as your ONE WORD. Step 3: Pick ONE WORD and explain why that one is the best for you in 2019. Step 4: On the other (blank) side creatively design your ONE WORD for 2019.After they were done I decided to hang them on my personal growth wall (I have the FFA mission on the different walls of my room).It was a GREAT activity that the kids took seriously and I love how for the rest of the semester they will be able to SEE their personal WORD day in and day out!Wanna try it out? Here is a link to the document!If you try it out with your students make sure you tag @agteacherhowtos so I can see the awesomeness your students create!

Happy 2019

2019It's here.Maybe you are in a place that says "THANK GOSH 2018 is over" or maybe "Man, 2018 was the BEST year ever".Regardless of where you are on that spectrum, I am here to say that 2019 can be different. It can be better than you BEST year. You can make today better than yesterday regardless of circumstances.I am cheering for you!Now, if you are a teacher...enjoy the last few days of freedom before chaos begins again but before you leave...Remember that you ARE making a difference, it doesn't matter if you feel like you are just treading water to stay afloat each day or you are swimming through the year like Michael Phelps. There is SOMEONE in your class, maybe it is just one, that looks up to you, loves coming to your class, and thinks of you as a mentor. And that my friends, is a WIN. Keep showing up for that kid.Happy New Year friends, happy to be on this ride with you...-Sarah

Agriscience Fair

Watch the #firstfridaywebinar about Agriscience Fair HERE!Agriscience Fair, one of those awesome opportunities for FFA members, but why not offer it to every AgEd student?Four years ago I set out to just that. All of my Basic Agricultural Science students have been doing Agriscience Fair as their semester long project/Final Exam since 2015. And here is how I make it happen...(need all the resources I use? You can check it out here!)Step 1: START EARLYLike 4 months in advance early. Yes, you really need that long. The best thing about Agriscience Fair is that it is already "chunked" for you, meaning that you take every part of the Agriscience Fair rubric (ex. introduction, materials & methods, results) and focus on ONE section at a time, give it a due date and then SLOWLY work on the entire project throughout the course of the semester. I start in September and then the actual paper and fair is in mid December before winter break.Step 2: PROVIDE SUPPORTDuh, right? But, you are going to need more than 1 day in class to support this project. ASF throws students off the deep end of inquiry and lets be honest, IT'S SCARY! Inquiry is HARD, but for good reason! The harder something is, when you achieve that hard thing, you get a HUGE sense of accomplishment! The kids need that! But, don't throw them off the deep end with out some swimmies on (you know those blow up things you put on your arms to help you swim?). What does this look like in my classroom? I give me students EVERY WEDNESDAY during the project as an agriscience fair work day. Yes, EVERY WEDNESDAY! Why, they need it and I need it. This gives me time to check in with the kids to see who is achieving and who is behind and needs extra support (if they need it I usually provide it during class and put them into tutoring). I also use these work days as due dates for sections, so I can yell out in class as I am checking sections who is done and who is not. Yes, this does take away from curriculum, but I USUALLY provide curriculum ahead of time so students who are finished with ASF can work on their notebooks (online of course) while others catch up.Step 3: KEEP PARENTS UP TO DATEParent contact is KEY! This is a huge project I do with my freshmen, and it's not easy! I email my parents BEFORE we start the project so they are aware of the expectations and due dates. I email EVERY time a student does not turn a section in on time. Why, so they 1. can talk to their child 2. so I have documentation that I contacted parents 3. to light a fire under the students! I also email before thanksgiving break, usually I have data/results due the week after thanksgiving break so if I student is behind, at least they have a good seven days to get results. I also email after thanksgiving break because the final due dates are just a few weeks away. I also think that NEXT YEAR, I might invite the parents to the fair to see all the amazingness the kids come up with!Step 4: HAVE A BACK UP EXPERIMENT IDEAAre there kids who refuse to do it, YES! You will have a handful who say "Mrs. Nerswick, I CAN'T DO THIS, I can't come up with an experiment idea!" (Although, I give them LINKS and LINKS of ideas!) So, if we get behind on a section or two, I have a few experiment ideas in my back pocket to assign them. I have thought one or twice to just assign all students an experiment BUT, the best experiments I see year after year are the ones my students came up with ON THEIR OWN! But, for those special little nuggets, I have some easy to implement ideas for them (ex. rate of germination in different conditions, spoilage rates of ________(insert a fruit or veggie), survey of population on GMO's, organic, free-range etc.).Step 5: HAVE AN AGRISCIENCE FAIRSeems easy enough eh? Do it, have an actual agriscience fair! I have mine DURING class (my periods are 50 minutes). I invite at least 5 judges (invite administration, science teachers, alumni, state staff etc.) to come and judge the students. I provide this EASY RUBRIC. I grade their papers pretty tough because we work on it SO MUCH in class, so the presentation we don't grade as hard. This project counts for 200 points, 100 for the paper and 100 for the presentaion as their FINAL EXAM GRADE! During the ASF, we place all my desks in a circle and the students set up their displays and wait for a judge to come to them. WAIT, rewind....make sure the DAY BEFORE you have a PRACTICE presentation. 1. So you know the kids have their displays done 2. So the kids can practice their presentation BEFORE judges. I give my students this presentation postcard, they have to present for 6 different students and the students listening sign their name and write one comment for the presenter. I collect that as a classwork grade. OK, now back to the day of the ASF, judges meet with 5-10 students then the judges reconvene and choose a few experiments to revisit because they were steller. Then ALL the judges go to re-interview those few experiments and pick a top 3. Then I present those top 3 students with a certificate! That's it! Super simple and effective.

Step 6: DO NOT GIVE UP/DO NOT GIVE INThis is HARD for you as the teacher too. Getting the kids to buy it, staying on top of 80+ students deadlines, emailing parents weekly, grading 80+ papers, organizing judges etc. It takes a lot of time and patience. BUT, I GUARANTEE that the day of the agriscience fair YOU WILL BE HAPPY with the result. Not going to lie, EVERY YEAR I ask myself "Sarah, why do you do this every year?! You are insane!" and EVERY YEAR at the agriscience fair I say to myself "THIS IS THE BEST THING EVERRRRR!" So keep working, YOU CAN DO IT!Step 7: NEED SUPPORT FOR YOU?Seems like a lot right? Well, I have ALL the guess work figured out for you AND created an editable resource that YOU CAN GET RIGHT NOW and implement into you classroom. This resource includes the following:Information/Due Date WorksheetASF Ideas WorksheetASF HyperDoc for helpful hints (*Includes link to Google Doc Written Report Template)Back Up ASF Ideas WorksheetStudent Accountability SheetPractice Presentation PostcardPresentation RubricASF CertificateYASSS! Am I right! If you don't know where to start, this is a one stop shop for some resources. I am also a HUGE fan on using the National FFA Resources to supplement the resources I have created to go along with it. With the HOPES that what my students create align with the National standard so students have the opportunity to submit for state judging!So, are you in? Are you ready to do an Agriscience Fair? Get your Agriscience Fair in a Box HERE!