Well, I've been using Weebly for years for our Ag Ed and FFA website, and it worked GREAT for that purpose - I highly recommend Weebly for your program's web site. Because I was familiar with the site, it was my immediate choice for my blog. However, I decided to give WordPress a try for my blog and it is just SO MUCH SIMPLER and EASIER to maintain a blog and posts on WordPress. So, I am trying to re-route all of my TpT products and Pinterest pins to my new site. I'm sorry you had to take the detour, but hopefully I will get it all switched over soon! Please visit my new site by clicking the button below!
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Check out this FREE download on my Teachers Pay Teachers store! This is a fun way to decorate your Ag Ed Classroom AND showcase students' SAE projects at the same time!
Even though in many of our small communities word travels by mouth pretty quickly, it is very important to get the word out in a professional, eye-catching newsletter. Our FFA and Agriculture Education programs rely heavily on the support and approval of our Administrators, teaching partners, parents, community members, and community sponsors to continue thriving.
Can there be a better way to merit their support than to keep them informed on a regular basis of what your students are accomplishing? Keeping the lines of communication open with the surrounding community can be a daunting and time-consuming task. I know that creating a newsletter is about the last thing Ag Ed Teachers, FFA Advisors, and even the FFA officer team has time for. Why not make the process easier? Why not make an eye-catching newsletter with little design effort? Please check out my latest product - a newsletter template made specifically for FFA and Ag Ed programs - to help make your life as an Ag Ed teacher easier! Don't rely on word of mouth to get the message out to your community. Send out your professional and regular newsletter, and community members will be begging to get on your newsletter email list! Agriculture Education teachers are lucky if they have just one week of the school year in which they do not have to be in two places at once. Being out of the classroom doesn't mean you're taking a day off, it means you have at least a dozen students in a mini bus trying to get to a career development event in enough time before registration closes. Meanwhile, you have all of your other students back in the classroom needing something productive to work on while you're out of the classroom. And what Agriculture Education teacher has time to put together extensive substitute teacher lesson plans? Not this one!
I started implementing a "Sub Activity Grid" a few years ago in my classroom. (I later decided that "Independent Learning Activities" sounded more like I meant business.) It gave me peace of mind that my students were working on things that were of value while I was out of the classroom, and I didn't have to think too hard about what they were going to do while I was gone. It was also a life-saver any time one of my little ones woke up in the middle of the night sick and I didn't have to throw something together quick for my classes to do the next morning while I was gone! I give this worksheet to students on THE VERY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL and explain my expectation for students using it. It is best to print it on brightly-colored paper so students can easily find it. I have a designated area of their interactive notebook or binder for them to keep it, with extra copies in my Sub Tub. I explain to them how it will be graded (totally up to you how you want to do this - grading is not addressed in the document). The result? Quality items on-tap for the FFA officer team to use in their newsletter (which is sent out to parents, community supporters, and our school board), and the best substitute teachers of our district instantly grabbing up my sub requests because they know my students have plenty to keep them busy! As educators of Agriculture, we are constantly working to recruit more students to our program. The more students we have, the more funding our program receives, and the more we can justify our teaching position when it comes to talking numbers and staffing with administrators. Agricultural educators should take recruiting seriously to grow their program. One tool I have used the past few years involves FOOD! Kids always respond well to food!
My Ag Business students do this as an advertising project of their Ag Sales unit. We assemble these baggies and make enough for every agriculture education student. Each current student is responsible for giving a baggie to a non-agriculture student. The idea is if everyone can recruit just one person, our program will double in size! You can include traditional s'mores ingredients, or you can make it more "trail-mixy" by using mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, and graham cereal. We use regular zip baggies and staple the fold-over (printed on card stock) on the top. It is easiest if you staple the fold-over with the opening to the bag folded back along one of the sides. The kids love these! Food always gets kids' attention, and hopefully they'll take in the message while they're snacking! You can get this product FREE at my TpT store! Please leave a comment and follow my shop! I am a true believer in the power of student leadership! Students need to learn how to take on leadership roles, create task lists, delegate tasks, and run committees. Sometimes, though, starting with a new officer or leadership team can be a daunting task - we have so many ideas for the year ahead, but where do we begin?
Some organizations can justify an elaborate weekend-long officer retreat to plan out their events. Other organizations cannot justify the time or costs associated with this, and simply need to get a plan together. I have created a cost-effective and practical resource to help your officer team get their kick-start at the beginning of the school year. This resource is only 4 pages (front-to-back) and folds into a simple booklet. It is practical for planning the upcoming year of activities, committees, and events. Check it out on Teachers Pay Teachers! "Students begin working before the bell even rings."
"All students are engaged in the lesson from bell to bell." These are two comments every teacher wants to have listed on their teacher evaluation. Having the right tool in place in your classroom can make all of the difference in how your students utilize their time during the 45 or 50 minutes you have them each day. For me, this worksheet was a lifesaver in keeping high school and middle school students on track. Of course, you must model your expectation from day one for this to work correctly. The worksheet is simple in nature, but very powerful. Each day I post a question on our LMS that references the previous day's notes, or if we are introducing a topic the question might ask for their opinion relating to the topic. The point is, the students are expected to be working on this when the bell rings. I quickly move throughout the classroom checking their responses, and give them a stamp (I use the stamper markers) to indicate that I checked it. After the first 5 minutes of the class are up, I put my stamp away and we move on. After presenting the day's lesson, lab, etc. I give an exit ticket. It might be something as simple as, "Write the equation for photosynthesis." Again, I get out my stamper marker and check for accuracy. Students must have their paper stamped before leaving the classroom at the end of the period. How long does it take to grade these at the end of the week? 2 seconds. Literally. You've already done all of the stamping to verify their answers, now it's just time to read their feedback for the week. At the bottom of the bellwork side there is a place designated for students to indicate what helped them learn best for the week and what they still need help with. There is also an area for them to list the week's big ideas. This helps students think through what topics and subtopics they learned for the week. I tell my students that this feedback helps me to help them. I don't give credit for the worksheet if they do not complete the feedback section. This gives them the "nudge" to give constructive feedback that I can actually use. I have a designated basket in the classroom where I keep copies of this worksheet. I can run off hundreds of them at the beginning of the school year to use in each of my classes. (One year I taught 8 different preps. Let me tell you, having one thing that was consistent among all of my classes was what saved at least a little piece of my sanity!) Students know that on their way into the classroom on Mondays they are to get a new worksheet and start in on the bellringer. This worksheet can be used for any subject area. This has worked very well for me over the past 6 years, and I have modified the concept many times to make it work well for my students. Hop on over to Teachers Pay Teachers to get your FREE copy to try out in your classroom! |
AuthorAn Agriculture Awareness enthusiast who is involved in living, working, and teaching Agriculture. ArchivesCategories
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