Close the Gap

Okay, since I haven’t written anything in a while I figured I would give it a whirl. On the phone yesterday, a friend said I hadn’t written a blog in months and I told her that sometimes I don’t feel like I have much to say(or write) unless I am annoyed. I guess that isn’t the healthiest but it seems to work.

So today, here I am… Slightly annoyed and writing.

An interaction yesterday gave me some perspective to think deeply about my job. What are we doing? Why are we doing in? How do people still not see the value of agriculture education? Where did I go wrong? These thoughts made me think back to a less than positive interaction at the beginning of the school year where a staff member questioned my understanding of my students, their backgrounds and my compassion towards them.

If you didn’t know, our school district has been hammered for the past year for lack of equity. I am a firm believer that this comes from how our district has handled issues between the charter school and the elementary school. That’s my personal assessment. But it has now cast a shadow over every decision made, every email sent, even most conversations and trainings.

But yesterday’s questioning asked for conclusions and perceptions of equity and the cookie cutter mentality within our agriculture classes and FFA on every level.

If anyone were to look at our class rosters, they would know they are equitable in every sense of the word. If anyone looked at our gradebooks, they would see equity. If they looked at FFA meeting sign in sheets, again it would be equitable. If they saw completed Agriscience projects, they would see equity.

However, while our classroom and program are equitable, I am not sure that people understand the real question of equity at the higher levels of involvement. At state conference this past year we had Lupita Cortez Alcalá, Chief Deputy Superintendent of the Department of Ed. speak to the membership. One thing I remember specifically from her speech, was how she addressed that in most cultures it’s not the norm to send a child off for the weekend or week to stay with kids, teachers, and chaperones. When she talked about this, I really thought about how I have been so lucky to have students whose parents trusted that I always would take care of their child on a trip. But I also recognized that this idea would take an entire culture shift to close the gap at leadership conferences and any activity that requires travel. I have even been reading a book recently that addresses gender equity—and probably not the kid you think… It refers to boys and how they learn, why they do or do not get involved in education, test scores, classroom cultures, etc. There are issues everywhere and everyone handles it differently.

While I know there are always gaps to close in regards to student involvement (I would literally take 95% of all my kids to a conference if I could), I can’t help but think how can we make adults understand.

How do we ensure administration understand? How do we make communities get it? How do we get away from the stereotypes that adults perceive to be true? How can we agree to disagree without making others feel inferior (cuz that’s definitely how I felt)? While I can agree there are always improvements to be made, I think we are well on our way to ensure that agriculture education and FFA are ahead of the rest on campus. 

How can we create an education system that appreciates all types of programs as long as they provide opportunities to kids? How do we encourage all programs to step up their game instead of criticizing programs that go above and beyond because its different?

Following yesterday, I still know and maintain that FFA and agriculture education makes a positive difference for kids. We work hardest on campus to involve ALL kids and provide opportunities they would not otherwise have.

“There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.” Jiddu Krishnamurti

Apparently, we just have to continue to educate others. It feels like a never-ending battle when you feel passionate about something that works and people still don’t understand. If you've never seen Bre Holbert's retiring address from the 2018 National Convention, I think she sums it up perfectly. (Video)

Dear Parents....

An open letter to parents from an Ag Teacher during FFA Week...

Dear Parents,

First, I want to thank you for having children that in some way shape or form take agriculture classes. Without each kid in a seat on a daily basis, my job would seize to exist. Many times when people talk about FFA week, conferences, showing livestock, or all the other great reasons they loved being in FFA, they tend to forget that they had to take some initiative to sign up for a class on day 1. Some of my best kids, never travel on trips, but they show up every day and want to know more about agriculture and science and they indulge in my wild ideas and crazy labs.

Also, I want to thank you for allowing your kid to participate beyond the classroom. Without the out of classroom experiences, Ag Education and FFA would not have such a profound impact on student's lives. From leaving at 4am for a field day or indulging in my very specific uniform expectations, I appreciate that you help your child be their best. The time I spend in the car with your children is invaluable. I love every road trip and time for them to sing together or tell stories or spill their guts (I know too much, but it's always why I love them).

Many parents do not understand Ag education or FFA involvement until they have seen it first hand and endured the entire process from Greenhand Conference to their American Degree. Some parents try to remember what FFA was like when they were in high school, but it's changed so much even in the past 10 years. Taking parents to National Convention to watch their kids get an American Degree is like watching a 1st grader during the first week of school-- big eyes and amazement at what their kids have been doing the last 5 years.

I want to say thank you for allowing me to have expectations of your child, push your child, and help them do their best because they represent themselves and the chapter name on the back of their jacket. While I know that at times I seem rigid, please know that I treat your children as my own. I would give them the shirt off my back in a heartbeat because I care about their success and growth as people, and I see their potential to be good humans.

Parents, remember high school?  Remember, how it might not have been great... Remember, what made it great... Remember they are kids, they screw up, they have more attitude and sass than needed, but also remember, high school is hard, hormones are insane, friends occasionally suck, etc.-- they are already doing a better job of being better humans because they chose to be in an Ag class. Whether they participate in 1 FFA activity or 100, they did something, they are trying and they want to be good.

Thank you for your support, your appreciation, and free rein to help your kids be good people. FFA Week is always a good time to reflect on growth and appreciation of the FFA. Where the blue jacket took you for instance... I always take a little time to appreciate the shenanigans that I participated in while in FFA and Ag classes. Now as a teacher, it reminds me that "it's all gonna be alright".

Sincerely,
The Crazy Ag Teacher

Even with the bloopers... They turn out just fine!

Why can't they just be more like us??

This week I attended the Supervising Teacher Institute in Sacramento. We spent a significant portion of our time discussing how we can best support student teachers and new agriculture teachers. We also talked about our “AgEd family” often and the support that we provide each other to make sure that we are not just being successful as individuals but as an entire profession. On the second day we were fortunate to visit the State Capitol and meet with our assembly members and senators (or their staffers). Our first meeting was with Mike McGuire’s Senior Legislative Aide. She was great and one of the comments I made, was that “it’s so nice to not have to convince Mike about importance of agriculture education, because he is a product of it”. He gets it, he loves it, he rallies for it, because it is part of who he is. We then got a special extra meeting with James Gallagher (way to go Heidi!). I again thanked him for not having to convince him of the importance of agriculture education—he too is a product of the 3 ring model. James was great to talk with and he asked questions about CTE and how we can make sure we have a workforce ready to do the jobs that we as a state demand (specifically the rebuilding after the fires in multiple counties).

Meeting with James... Product of Mrs. Laurie Goss &  East Nicholas FFA

I started thinking on the way home from our conference. I have heard many times about how AgEd has the best model for education and how we will have over 100 student teachers coming out  in the next year. But why and how is AgEd continuing this uphill climb while other CTE programs seem to be in a constant state of simmer? The state is begging for more CTE and budgeting millions of dollars towards CTE, and then just hoping that program numbers will increase and the number of students produced will continue to climb. This is all happening without much thought to the infrastructure to how programs grow and become successful. It’s pretty simple—TEACHERS!

Non-Ag CTE teachers do not have the structure, support or lines of communication that agriculture teachers have. AgEd definitely has the FFAmily idea worked out and it’s part of the reason we are successful. We have meetings regularly and are updated on state funding and legislation. Other sectors don’t have that… Other sectors don’t produce kids that graduate high school passionately dreaming to teach that industry to others, like AgEd does.

How can we continue to promote all CTE industries if we don’t have the teachers in all those areas? Why don’t kids want to be construction teachers, culinary teachers, child development teachers, etc? There are 15 industry sectors provide CTE opportunities. But why have we as an AgEd profession not worked with them to make their structure and communication as good as ours? Why do they promote just their industry and not becoming a teacher of the industry???

Teachers are the backbone of agriculture education. When you look at programs throughout the state, teachers are the reason their program and students are successful. Other CTE sectors really need to model the teacher-educator programs we have to ensure the fate of CTE programs is a successful one. Kids leave agriculture programs and want to become agriculture teachers, that’s just not the same in other classes like culinary and construction. But we cannot continue to offer CTE programs in California without more teachers getting CTE credentials. CTE programs need to build the infrastructure to attract kids not just to the trade but also to the classroom. If you don’t have students that want to do what you do, unfortunately you might not be doing it right… 

Success breeds success...

Passion for a job breeds passion for a job... 

Continuing education breeds life long learners...

New Year, New Me... Not!

New Year, New Me??? Well no, not really but I figured I could start by writing again. I guess I minimized my blogs because I just felt uninspired. But with the New Year, I feel like I have a never ending list of things to do and applications to read, so instead I will write.

This past fall, I had the opportunity to work with a P1 student teacher. At the beginning of the semester, I was so unsure that I was qualified to help guide a student teacher, and following the semester I feel just as unsure. However, with that being said (or written), I feel like I learned a lot and was able to actually help this baby calf trying to walk during her first few hours of teacher life.

So this is for any teacher that’s never worked with a ST (or a lesson for those not great at it). Because of some confusion through the university, I can honestly say I had no real clue what I was doing or what was expected of me. So this list is just some food for thought:

1. Set expectations early: I talked with a few veteran teachers and created a document that outlined the basic expectations for her while at HHS. Some of the documents I read from other teachers were awesome and others were sort of demeaning. I always thought of a ST as someone that wants to learn and do what teachers do, not someone that is around to be a TA and do your work for you? Maybe that’s just my understanding, but I feel like it’s a cooperating teacher’s job to set expectations and ensure the ST gets a full experience of everything a teacher does so that they can be successful after they’ve left you. I created a binder for my student teacher that we went through prior to the first day of school. We outlined the calendar, classes, curriculum and general expectations. 
2. Classroom comes first: Helping a student teacher establish a classroom culture and reminding them that the classroom is their first job. We talked with her and found out what she was most comfortable and confident with teaching and which she felt would be most challenging. Because she was a P1, she observed for a couple weeks then started teaching full time with the class she felt most comfortable with. We then added others in short units for other classes giving her more time to prepare for classes that seemed more daunting. Another thing that I personally do is 3-week packets which allowed me to sit and plan with the student teacher weeks ahead of time so there was less day-prior panic by all parties involved.
3.  But, don’t forget about the rest: As much as we must instruct and guide on in the classroom festivities, we cannot forget the other 60%+ of our job. Everything from officer meetings to FFA competitions, project visits, and banquets. How can we expect student teachers to learn professionalism outside of the classroom if they aren’t with us to see it modeled? Take them everywhere, don’t assume they’ve seen something just because they were maybe in FFA. Seeing how an opening and closing contest runs as a teacher is extremely different than how we may have saw it as a kid. Even things as simple as talking about basic housekeeping of running a chapter, like budgets, purchase orders and conference applications are important skills they all need to learn. We can’t assume that they know it or that someone else will teach them.
4. Importance of being inclusive: This goes hand-in-hand with taking them everywhere. Include them in everything while keeping it professional. They need to understand the ins and outs of how a department works (or doesn’t) and they need to be part of working with the FFA officers. Have the kids include them and make sure to include them in the basic inter-working of the department. If we don’t show them, who will?? We cannot continue to blame student teachers for not knowing anything, if we don’t actually teach them…
5. Let them make mistakes: It’s hard and I would say this is my least favorite thing but I would say allow them to fail or make mistakes in a safe environment. This semester, my student teacher taught a lesson she created and she learned quickly that she didn’t get through to the kids. The kids were lost and she ended up staying up for the better part of the night to re-do the lesson so she could reteach it. I didn’t criticize her, I just asked her after the lesson if she felt like it was effective. She said nope and began recreating her lesson to reteach. It was one of those fancy teachable moments, veteran teachers talk about… LOL
6. Create a digital reflection: I’m big on reflection and based on scheduling I wasn’t always able to talk with my student teacher following a lesson. I created a google sheet that listed the date, lesson topic, student teacher reflection and notes and then my questions, comments or concerns. It was a great way for both of us to make sure we reflected on the lesson and when we got to the end of the semester it was super helpful for filling out university paperwork and evaluations. It was probably the number one random thing we did that turned out to be the number one most useful/helpful.

Bottom line, try to remember back to your student teaching experience and if it was positive or not. Remember the things that made it that way… Help guide others based on that. Helping your student teacher have a positive but realistic experience will help our whole profession in the long run. I was fortunate to have two amazing schools during student teaching with some amazing teachers and mentors and am so grateful for their guidance and instruction.

Thank you Rod, Lily, Susan M, Susan P, Ken, Kevin, Aireal and all the others that let me watch and learn during student teaching…

 Include them with officer things... Give them a chance to develop relationships with the kids

Take them everywhere including industry tours, CATA stuff, FFA stuff, school stuff... EVERYWHERE