I am a HUGE game person! Whether it is a board game or card game, I love trying to figure out the strategy behind the game!
Naturally, when I was in the classroom, this love for games was transparent in my curriculum. Many of the review games or competitive activities I incorporated into lessons were based on some sort of game I loved to play growing up. And guess what? My students also loved these interactive games!
One of my biggest struggles and frustrations as an early career FFA advisor was the disconnect between underclassmen and the officer team, which resulted in less than ideal participation.
These upperclassmen officers were passionate about FFA, could identify innovative activities and would implement a POA with ease, but struggled to get underclassmen to attend the events, especially if they were outside the school day.
How many of you conduct some sort of Ag in the Classroom event in your POA?
How many of you struggle to get your students to write a well organized lesson for said event?
Who can resonate with this?
When I arrived as a second year teacher in my previous school, FFA was not a priority of the school. The students in the program did not care about the content. They did not know the vast opportunities that were available in FFA. They rarely were recognized on the state or national stage.
Within agricultural education, there is a lot to outline to students and parents, especially if it's the student’s first year in the program. Between the classroom, FFA, CDEs, LDEs, fundraisers, field trips and SAEs, there are a lot of components (and acronyms) that need to be explained before students and parents fully immerse into the culture of agricultural education.
