National FFA Convention & Expo

My Travels with Grassland FFA

Dover FFA was unable to make the annual "pilgrimage to mecca" (National FFA Convention & Expo) so I paired up with my virtual mentor Mrs. Ranck and her program. Grassland FFA and Pequea Valley FFA traveled together, departing Tuesday Morning and Returning Saturday Night. 

• Touring WVU - This was a college visit on the way out to convention, it is a feasible option for students interesting in going to college and the students enjoyed the break in travel.
• Touring Indianapolis Speedway - Students that enjoyed Ag Mechanics really enjoyed this visit, and because it is a popular tourist destination other students engaged in the tour as well.
• Spending four hours in the expo - As I reflected with students they stated that they had wished they had been more productive with their time. They loved exploring for that long of time, although they wished they had made better use since they under estimated the amount of things to do and see. 
• Opening Session - We opted out of the Garth Concert and went to the Wednesday Night welcome session. The students were blow away by the laser show, the professionalism of the National FFA President, and the keynote speaker.
• Traveling to Louisville - A 2 hour drive took us south to visit other landmark stops that our Advisors discovered when the convention was in Louisville. I'd say it was worth the drive. 
• Touring Churchill Downs - Of course our horse girls were beyond excited, although the museum was extremely interactive and the tour had many fun facts for our other student that everyone was happy for the experience. As an Educator I adored the application to not only animal science, but soil science, agribusiness, and even floriculture.
• Touring Louisville Slugger Museum - Our sports guys on the trip greatly enjoyed this stop, and everyone got a mini-bat with the tour, whats not to love? Again as an educator I loved the application to Forestry, Sustainable Ag, Ag Mechanics, and Agribusiness.
• Touring FFA - CST Corteva - this tour was HEAVY with science. The tour was excellently put together and the facilities are amazing, although the biology and chemistry of their agriscience center may have been overwhelming for some of the students. Regardless, their now know more of the endless opportunities in agriculture!
• Touring FFA - CST Lawson Cattle Facility - This windy and rainy stop was worth stopping for because the students learned about animal science and diversified agriculture. 
• Session 7 - Students were influenced by the story of the National FFA Secretary during her tear-jerking, and inspirational retiring address as well as being inspired by the keynote speaker!

Driving home I was able to reflect on the things I loved about our trip, things I may change for my future program's trips, and how I would describe the worth of the trip to my administration. I am beyond thankful for the opportunity to learn from Mrs. Ranck, Mrs. Van Sant, and Mrs. Masser. 

My Professional Development Workshop

On Wednesday I participated in the AFBF Purple Plow workshop to learn about their free resources for Problem-Based Learning. 

My Take Aways:

1. Purpleplow.org is a STEM solutions website to aid teachers in problem-based learning. 
2. Puzzlers are great for 1-2.5 hours, therefore they would be great for utilizing over a day or two in the classroom. 
3. Challenges are semester long explorations that teachers enter into online, obtain the resources, students go through the problem solving process, and then submit their results to AFBF for a chance to win a 3D printer or VISA gift cards.
4. All resources are found at http://www.purpleplow.org/

Interviewing Teachers

I had the opportunity throughout the trip to interview three teachers (Mrs. Knapp from Wisconsin, Mr. Renshaw from Georgia, and Ms. Ward from New Hampshire) from three different states with the following questions.

 

1) When we leave on a field trip/FFA event, what are the rest of our learners doing? 

• Students complete online work so the teacher can hold them accountable for working in class.
• Students watch National Convention Sessions either live-stream or saved sessions. 
• Students work on large, complex projects that would be presented when the teacher would get back.

2) Do we approach FFA as an instructional tool or as a club? 

• All three said it is a hybrid of both. The FFA is more than a club, although it is not pure instruction, there is social implications and non-academic learning occurring in the FFA. 

3) How have made sure purposeful, intentional and explicit learning occurs? 

• Students come if they qualify for a CDE (the CDE is used as an extension of classes they may have been in)
• Students have assigned tasks they must complete such as attending a student workshop.
• Students plan their trip with learning opportunities in mind, then the teacher reviews the plans to adapt them as needed to accommodate travel time, budgets, and administrative approval.