Struggling to get students to implement a Supervised Agricultural Experience?
Frustrated your students are not finding success in the degree or proficiency award process?
Looking for a new way to introduce your students to SAEs in the classroom?
I was right there with you!
One way I helped expose students to new and unique projects was through a SAE SHOWCASE as part of my upperclassmen curriculum.
So what is a SAE Showcase?
It was an assignment I had non-first year students complete where they created a poster board of their SAE project. These poster boards were then showcased on the bulletin board in the hallway outside of my classroom and were rotated throughout the entire school year.
This SAE SHOWCASE did a few things for my program…
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RECORD KEEPING: It forced students to update their SAE records on AET after summer break. Students needed to know the number of hours they invested in their SAE and their financials to be able to complete the assignment. Therefore, they had to update their records before completing it.
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NEW & UNIQUE SAES: Students struggled to think outside-of-the-box with their SAE projects. Typically when brainstorming SAEs with first year members, students all gravitated towards fair projects, vegetable gardens or mowing lawns because this is the type of agriculture they were exposed to in their personal lives. However, after seeing unique SAEs displayed in this project, such as selling cut flowers at the farmers market, beekeeping or even managing a community garden, students were more open to try different SAE projects.
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PROFICIENCY COMPONENTS: Many of the components included in the poster board are also needed within the proficiency award application. This allowed students to think about their biggest challenge, accomplishments and responsibilities within their SAE projects and capture photos of their SAE. This made starting a proficiency award as an upperclassmen easier.
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AGRICULTURE EXPOSURE: Students exited the school towards the buses through my hallway so students and staff members often stopped and reviewed the SAE projects showcased on the bulletin board. This often led to questions about agriculture and the projects students were engaged in through agriculture education.
Through the use of this SAE Showcase assignment, as well as other techniques outlined in the SAE Grants - Free Money, SAE Visit Pre-Work, Maximizing SAE Visits, and You’re Hired SAE Letters blog posts, I was able to expand and improve the quality of students’ SAE projects in our program. This resulted in 100% of my students having SAEs and 10 students reaching the national proficiency stage over a six year timeframe. You can begin implementing the SAE Showcase assignment by downloading the requirements and rubric here.