Experiential Learning Philosophy

Experiential Learning Philosophy

My philosophy as a whole I felt was very strong in the beginning of the year and hasnt changed a great deal.  What has changed in my paper is how I plan to implement my philosophy within my classroom and really working on skills and developing skills for the students future/career.  The paper as a whole outlines a road map/journey that each student will take in my class as they grow from a freshman to a senior.

Badge 3

Cups Up

Materials: Plastic cups, rubber bands, strings, scissors

Directions:

Using the strings attached to the rubber bands put the class in groups based on each rubber band.  The goal is to only use the strings to build a pyramid and then once built, take the pyramid back down and stack the cups.  If students talk during the activity cut their string

Quote: “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up” Babe Ruth

Badge #7 & Badge #12

Chapter Officer Daily Plan

Badge 12

Chapter officers will be involved in three leadership/team building events throughout the course of their year of service to our chapter.  It will start out with an officer retreat where they will develop a SWOT analysis of the chpater and also come up with SMART goals that we will look to focus on throughout the course of the school year.  Second students will attend a leadership night put on by another chapter and with what they saw and learned put on their own leadership night.  This will allow officers to develop team building skills and get members of their chapter involved in the overall cohesion of the organization.  Last students will attend the 212/360 conference to take their leadership knowledge and skills to a greater level so that they can finish out their year as an officer with a vast amount of knowledge and skills gained.

Learning objectives throughout the year:

Develop SMART goals for the chapter

Create Leadership opportunities for students to engage in

List the importance of a POA

Create a preliminary plan for banquet

Develop skills from leadership nights/conferences

Competencies:

1.2.1. Extract relevant, valid information from materials and cite sources of information.

1.2.2. Deliver formal and informal presentations.

1.2.3. Identify and use verbal, nonverbal and active listening skills to communicate effectively.

1.2.4. Use negotiation and conflict-resolution skills to reach solutions.

1.2.5. Communicate information (e.g., directions, ideas, vision, workplace expectations) for an intended audience and purpose.

1.2.14. Use motivational strategies to accomplish goals.

1.2.10. Use interpersonal skills to provide group leadership, promote collaboration and work in a team.

1.2.7. Use problem-solving and consensus-building techniques to draw conclusions and determine next steps.

Badge #8

FFA Fruit Sale

Students will sell fruit that includes tangelos, navels, and grapefruit.  Students will receive a free chapter t-shirt once they sell 12 boxes, if students are above 25 boxes they will receive $50 off any trip they choose to go on for every 25 boxes sold.  Marketing for the sale will be done with signs outside of the school and on/at any school websites and functions with announcements and signs.  Students are the largest part of marketing their own product.  The sale will run for 1 month with fruit delivered around the second week in December.  All money will go through the adviser and put on an excel program to accurately track all money in and all boxes of fruit that go out.  Students are in charge of delivering all boxes of fruit and collecting all money.

FFA Hog Raffle

Students will be involved in selling raffle tickets for freezer meat that is donated by local farmers or students themselves.  There will be 1/4 beef, 1/2 hog, and 10 chickens raffled in lots of two’s.  The marketing for this fundraiser is done completely through the students and selling as many tickets as possible.  After three weeks we will draw for each type of meat and winners will be able to call the butcher to have specific cutting instructions.  All money will go directly into the chapters funds at the end of each week and all tickets will be kept in a locked draw/locker to ensure equal chances.    Students who sell $25 tickets will get an FFA key chain, any students that sells above 50 tickets will get $25 dollars off a trip of their choosing for every 50 tickets sold.  Students need to ensure that each buyer keeps their portion of the ticket so that we can match the winning ticket to its owner.

Badge 10 & Badge 13

The trip I am planning is the state soils CDE contest.  My program would be in the northern part of the state and the CDE in the southern part (Lebanon, Ohio) in the early morning so it is wise to have the students stay in a hotel and get adequate sleep before their competition.  The trip will consist of four students going to the competition, hotel accommodations will have to be made, and transportation will be through the high school van.  No chaperones will be needed and the adviser will be with the students at all times on the trip to ensure safety.  The team consists of two males including the adviser and three females so two rooms will be booked at the hotel. Badge 13 attachment

 

State Soils Agenda

October 15-16

 

Leave High School 6pm (casual dress)

 

Stop halfway for dinner provided by the chapter

 

Arrive at hotel 10pm (Holiday Inn Express)

 

Lights out 10:30pm

 

Leave for contest 7:15am (eat breakfast at hotel before leaving)

 

Arrive at contest 7:40am

 

Contest starts at 8am

 

Lunch provided by Ohio FFA

 

Depart for home 2pm

 

Stop if necessary for food

 

Arrive at high school 5-5:30pm

 

Budget

 

Holiday Inn Express $90 per night, $220 budgeted for two nights

 

Dinner provided by chapter $75

 

Gas Budget $100

 

Badge 5 & Badge 14

When looking into a system for experiential learning and when conducting a visit to a students house for their summer SAE visit I realize utilizing paper and pencil is not effective nor efficient.  When looking at the best way for my students, their parents and any administrators to view a students performance or track my, the educators, progress with visits, the best way to do this is technology.  Luckily there is technology specifically designed to track a students progress, track my mileage and also my comments on each students SAE project that they can access at any time and have no excuses of losing.  The AET online program was designed to add convenience and accessibility to the lifestyle of an Ag Ed student.  Utilizing this software will allow anyone that is necessary to see the progress our chapter is having year after year.

For all those new to Agriscience Education and do not yet have a grasp on what the program entails and what an SAE project consists of, I have designed a tri-fold handout so that students and their parents can sit down with me and go over the three circle model and have a basis of understanding of what an SAE project looks like and the time and effort it entails.  Trifold pamphlet for badge 5 and 14

Farm Science Review Expert Sessions (Badge 4)

IPDP Alex Tuggle

The first session I attended at farm science review was about the Asian Long horned Beetle.  The session specifically talked about what to look for and compared it to Emerald Ash Boar (EAB).  EAB when it exits the tree it leaves a D shaped exit hole, while the Asian Long horned Beetle leaves a circular hole.  While EAB almost solely to my knowledge affects ash trees, the Asian Long horned Beetle affects a variety of hardwoods some of those including: birch, elm, maples will and also ash.  As the beetle’s lifecycle from larva to beetle it east its way through the tree eventually tunneling out making its way to spread eggs to other trees.  This lesson was extremely helpful and can be used in the classroom through a forestry lesson and walking the school grounds looking for trees that are dying or have died.  It will allow us to identify why they have died and if the Asian Long horned Beetle is the cause of the trees death.

The second session I attended dealt with flying squirrels.  The session started out identifying different types or breeds of squirrels as well as their nests and lifestyle.  It then transitioned into the presenters first time experiencing the call of a flying squirrel.  The call itself is a mild screeching noise; since the flying squirrel is nocturnal it is hard to identify them based on sound and sight.  The flying squirrel is heavily populated in the southern parts of Ohio and lives in the cavities of hollowed out trees or dead trees.  In the winter they can fit as many as 20 squirrels in one cavity so that they can all keep warm.  Since the flying squirrel does not hibernate it hides or stashes nuts throughout the forest for the winter months and can accumulate 15,000 nuts for winters.  The presentation although doesn’t have a direct connection to curriculum it is great for examples if the topic comes up or just stories to let students know of habitats and species that we don’t think about on a regular basis.

The last session I attended was about stocking your ponds and what species are best suited for pond life.  To start out the presenter told us the four species that are directly adapted and best suited to live in ponds; those are: largemouth bass, bluegill, channel catfish and red ear sunfish.  These four are the best suited and can survive the best as a group within ponds for optimal pond and fish health.  The population managers you could say are the largemouth bass.  They keep all species from over populating as they will eat almost any fish at certain times in their growing period.  A neat scenario for starting a pond the presenter told us was for the first year or two of your ponds existence fill it with just fat head minnows and let them grow for at least a year and then stock the pond with the types you want in there for years to come.  This will allow those stocked fish to have a great start for feeding and they will grow exponentially fast.  This presentation was my favorite of the three because I love talking fish and learning about them.  It can be related to a variety of classroom lessons including water quality and treatment, environmental sciences lessons and also side conversations for potential SAE projects for selling fish as a product or raising them and selling the younger fish to customers for their ponds.