Dancing Ag Teacher

 This weeks lab was all about the problem solving approach. We were tasked with coming up with a lesson that used problem solving skills. I decided to give my students a problem that I know all too well; choosing a good feeding program! For this lesson I started off with bellwork. Each student was given two sticky notes. On the first sticky note I asked them to write down one thing they know about nutritional requirements and on the second sticky note I asked them to write down one question they still had. Once they were finished I asked them to stick their sticky notes on the chalk board. This allowed for me to see all the similarities that students had in their answers.  Next, I showed a behind the scenes video at Purina. The goal of this was to help students understand that there is a lot of research and science that goes into creating feeds and supplements.  After the video, I introduced the activity to the students. I started off by giving them their "mission". ...

 This week for lab we were given the task to come up with our best interest approach. For my lesson, I decided to work on a lesson from the animal behavior unit that I have started.  The biggest challenge was coming up with an interesting activity that doesn't take too long and can be done during a pandemic. I decided to not make it too complicated and go the video + worksheet approach.   I picked out 3 different video clips of animals basically doing funny things and had the students write down 3-4 observations of what the animals were doing in the video.  The first video was of dog and cats, the second video was of horses and the third was of monkeys. After the students watched all the videos, I wrapped up the activity with a discussion.   During the discussion, I asked the following questions:  1) What stood out to you?  2) Was there anything you saw that you have never seen before? 3) Was there anything you saw that made you laugh or made you upset...

This week in Lab we were tasked with coming up with a lesson that we would teach on the first day of school. For me the hardest part about creating this lesson was coming up with a "get to know me" activity that could be done in the era of social distancing. It seemed like every activity I came up with didn't follow social distancing rules without some sort of modification.   After spending way too much time thinking about it, I finally decided on a simple activity. In order to comply with social distancing, I decided it would be best to just go around the room and have each student introduce themselves. Except there is one twist, before each person goes I roll a dice and the number it lands on is the number of fun facts that they get to tell the class. I thought this would be a fun way to get to know each other with the excitement of never knowing what number you get. However, I think I may choose a different activity in the future as I think this one may take too much t...

Rotary is such a huge part of my life so I thought it would be a good idea to tell you a little about it! What is Rotary? Rotary is a global service organization that is focused on bringing people together to make a difference.  What makes Rotary different from other service clubs is that Rotarians not only work on improving their own community but they also do work on a global scale. What are some causes that Rotary really focuses on? Promoting Peace: ( Rotary Promotes Peace video ) Fighting disease: ( Rotary Fight Disease video )  in 1985, Rotary started a campaign to End Polio. As of today, Polio is so close to being eradicated because of the efforts of rotarians.  Providing clean water: ( Rotary Provides water, sanitation and hygiene video ) Saving mothers and children: ( Rotary Supports Mothers and Babies video ) Supporting Education: ( Rotary Supports Education Video   Easing Poverty: ( Rotary Supports Local Economies Vi...

Me at the Florida State Fair with Mr. Shrum  Back in February not only did I have the amazing opportunity to be an Intern at the Florida State Fair but I also visited Mr. Strugis at Durant High School in Plant City, Florida. My visit took place on the day prior to the fair and the whole day was such an adventure. I'm a fairly new driver and this was my first time navigating an area I wasn't familiar with all on my own. So I put on the GPS and followed the directions that Mr. Sturgis had given me the day prior. I was very nervous about getting lost but fortunately I had very minor problems figuring out where I needed to be. When I arrived I was welcomed in true Plant City fashion by a beautiful Strawberry field. Durant High School Strawberry Field I was a little hesitant about where to park but eventually decided to park next to some of the other cars by the strawberry field and the plant nursery (they had FFA license plates so I figured I was in the right pl...

A diverse program with more than one type of Ag class.  Since I come from a purely Vet Assisting program, I would like to experience a program that offers more than one type of Ag class.  A program with an active FFA Chapter  I would like to experience a program that has a very active and successful FFA program. I come from a program that faced a lot of challenges so I would like to see what it takes for an FFA chapter to reach its full potential.  A program that encourages students to participate in CDE's This is really important to me as I never participated in CDE's in high school. I would really like to see what it takes to prepare students for these competitions.  A program that has members who show livestock as their SAE. One of my favorite things in high school and one of the reasons I decided to become an Ag teacher was showing pigs. However, because I come from a very suburban area I never had any experiences with other species. I would l...