From Green Blazers To Blue Corduroys

Reflection on the Importance of Supervised Agricultural Experiences in Youth Development “SAEs are Experiential service and/or worked-based learning through the implementation of a supervised agricultural program” is a direct quote from the National FFA Organization on SAEs.    Here is my disclaimer: My knowledge behind SAEs has been what I have seen and talked to with students, FFA Alumni, and Ag Teachers.   If you would have asked me what an SAE was years ago I would have said something like: Project Animals, Crop Growing, Agribussiness, Job Shadowing.   Now that I’m trying to prepare myself to be an FFA Advisor in training this spring I am starting to get a better idea of the purpose of SAE. During my one visit to Cumberland Valley FFA Chapter I met one of the girls who is working on an agriscience fair project. This is kind of like a science fair project but has its own twist.   This is how she determined her project topic: “At f...

Fall Weekly Blog Posts Concerning Motivation, Purpose for Ag Education Week One is officially over as I begin writing my reflections on my first week.  First we began by talking about different and unique ways to produce success for ourselves in the future as agricultural educators. What we determined is we need to be motivated both intrinsically and extrinsically to succeed this school year. First we have to get ourselves out of a fixed mindset and into a growth mindset.   I need to think about how I can achieve as a successful Agricultural Educator and be a life long learner.   The one theory that I think I need to take to hear my self is the Achievement Goal Theory which has four styles of approach to a goal.  Mastery Approach - I want to learn how to be a great Ag Teacher  Mastery Avoidance - I don't want to be a bad Ag Teacher  Performance Approach - I want people to see me as a great Ag Teacher  Performance Avoidance - I don't wan...

The End of the Summer . . . The Next Chapter  This is the final reflective blog on the reading of the book See Me After Class: Advice for Teachers by Teachers written by Roxanna Elden.  This has been a three part reflective blog on the readings of the novel over the summer. The final part of this book tackles some topics that to me stress me out.  Being observed and getting critiqued. Giving out tests and what goes wrong when giving out tests. Grading assignments and the stress involved with procrastinating on grades.  When things don't go as planned and you make a fool of yourself in front of your students. Helping new teachers, and finally what to do better next year. A lot of this stresses me out and honestly for a good reason: I don't understand almost any of the lingo here in these chapters. A lot of the concepts being discussed in these pages are things we haven't discussed yet in our Ag Ed Curriculum. Yes These Topics Stress Me Out I'm Exci...

The Combination of Two Worlds Leads to Perfect Harmony   One of my projects this summer could be summarized into Three Simple Statements Determine the best method for analysis Begin the analysis and determine the best route or action Find a way to pass this information on so the analysis can continue after you  What did this all mean? Determining the Best Method for Analysis This aspect of my project had me taking the lessons I learned in the Food Science Class room to develop a Standard Operating Procedure which I could follow to collect, test, and analyze my project. This also required me to give daily updates on the project to many people in the management chain which has changed my interactions with them to more of a member of the team. An S.O.P. as they are referred to also help keep tests reliable by making them repeatable.  Its like the rule of three students follow in doing science experiments, repeatably makes the results much more reliable as...

Touring a Food Industry Plant    In today's world, one of the most common questions people have is how food is made. One of the big things people want to see is a food industry plant. They want to see how it is made and how it compares to their perceptions of the food industry. When giving a facility tour here we start off with a three part briefing. First, is a brief history of the plant itself. A great example that Cargill is proud to always mention is that the plant is a newly renovated facility that has switched from producing hamburger patties to a series of four main lines, which are all relatively brand new.  In fact the plant has only just restarted production for less than a year. What makes this so cool is that the plant transitioned from a Raw to Ready to Cook Facility to a Raw to Ready to Eat Facility. What this means is that all of the products produced go through a cook step and a chill step. This ensures that every product that leaves the plant is ...