Online Livestock Judging

I know that many of us probably competed in the livestock judging CDE. One way my school used to practice when we couldn't go out to a farm was to use online livestock judging sites.

Not only could these be utilized to coach CDE teams, but also to teach students about livestock judging. Take one day of class, reserve the computer lab at your high school, and take your students, sit them down infront of the computer and test their knowledge!

I found this website: http://ansci.colostate.edu/content/view/242/76/
which not only provides pictures for a variety of species (sometimes a little blurry), but also reasons as to why the "class" was placed the way it was.

I believe this to be a valuable as a virtural field trip, because it allows students who might not have the opportunity to travel to a farm and judge to still evaluate animals based on criteria that was covered in class.

-Hilary

Photos for Learning

Today, I stumbbled across a website that could be valuable not only in classroom teaching, but also in teaching CDE's.

Jeremy and Daniel told us about the website "World of Agriculture" and on it, there are a multitude of photos, including plant and weed photos and even meat photos.

If you are creating PowerPoints for class or even flashcards for CDE's, these photos could be a great way to begin establishing your collection. Along the way and through your experiences, you could always add to the collection, but this website allows you establish a starting point.

-Hilary

OLPC

I began thinking a little more about this "One Laptop Per Child" issue that we discussed as a class on Wednesday. I was very intrigued by this concept and decided to explore it a little more.

From the third grad to the sixth grade, I lived on Kelley's Island, which is in the middle of Lake Erie. In the entire school (K-12), there were 25 students. My twin sister and I and one other girl made up our entire grade. Computers were a big deal at this school. I came from a school that had no computer in the classroom to a class that a had minimum of 5 computers in every class.

Laptops were also accessable. Most of our homework was required to be typed before it was turned in, and becasue this was often a requirement and sometimes work my not get done in class, there were laptops that you could sign out and take home.

Our discussion on OLPC immediately conjured thoughts of my experiences on Kelley's. What a great tool to have available for a classroom? I know Jenna expressed concern in the availability for every student. My suggestion would be to raise funds and apply for grants to create a classroom set of laptops that students could check out. These laptops could be used for classroom work as well as for studying for CDE's.

I believe the OLPC laptops are slightly targeted more towards yonger children (you can take a look at the programs and the laptop at http://laptopgiving.org/en/explore.php).

My suggestion for teachers would be to invest in a more adult set of laptops that students will likely use in the future such as apple or dell. There will most likely be more cost associated with utilizing a name brand computer but ultimately they may target our students more than the OPLC laptop.

Hilary

Recruitment

While trying to find resources for one of my lesson plans, I got distracted and decided to see if I could find any AG Knowledge tests. I was thinking it may be good to use during recruitment. Allow the students to fill it out and see what they know about agriculture and where their food comes from. It may help to spark a students "need/ want to learn" and may attract students that otherwise would not be interested. Could be used as a way to start the day or close. It could even be used as an interest approach to the course. There are many possibilities. It could also be adapted, it all depends on creativity!

Agriculture Test

Amy

Interactive Learning

I found this Ethanol Maze and thought it would be a good interest approach. Could be used to teach students about by-products or introduce them to bio fuels. It is interactive and they learn facts about ethanol without even realizing it. You would probably need to do a lecture about it first for them to get most of the answers or assign a reading, but could defintely be a worth while tool.

http://www.ohioagriculture.gov/oda3/_Apps/Ethl_Maze/Default.aspx

Amy

Second Life

The other day in class we were talking about second life. I really was not sure what it was, but now do. While I was browsing for other videos I came across one about second life from the view of students. Thought it might be helpful if anyone was thinking about integrating it into their classroom or trying it our themselves.

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=33aba051261497ecffcb&page=25&viewtype=&category=

If you haven't checked out teacher tube yet, there are some good videos. There are lots covering topics that we have discussed in Mr. Lohrey's class.

Amy

A Good Visual on Ruminant Digestion

I came across this image today while searching for information on ruminant digestion. I took Animal Science 330 last quarter (nutrition), but the images were hard to internalize, because they were separate components of the digestive system. I thought this picture did a nice job of pointing out the major parts in a colorful way that makes it easier to visualize the pieces.

~Rose Dudgeon

Interest Approach Ideas

Check out this file when writing your next unit: Agricultural Interest Approaches . There are a variety of interest approaches, all broken down by topic. I really like the one on first impressions, but almost all of them seemed pretty cool. Let me know if they work for you!

~Rose Dudgeon

Agripedia- Like Wikipedia, Only Better

I came across a great resource today from the University of Kentucky. It's called Agripedia, and it hosts resources on a variety of topics. For example, I'm writing my next unit on animal nutrition, and I was able to find online feed samples. There are also quizzes and units already designed there. It is designed for teacher use and self-exploration, so encourage your students to check it on their own too.

~Rose Dudgeon

famous FFA members

Well....since we are all dealing with coming up interest approaches for every lesson we make this would be a good one to use in your future. When you are trying to catch the students interest about FFA, talk about former, famous FFA members...They are as follows:

Jimmy Carter, Former US President
Sam Brownback, US Senator, Past National FFA Vice President
Jerry Litton, Past National FFA Secretary, former Congressman from Missouri
Kirby Barrick, Dean of College of Agriculture, University of Florida, Past Ohio State President
Wes Watkins, Former US Congressman, Past Oklahoma State President
Jeff Miller, US Congessman, Past Florida State Vice President
Don Fuqua, Former US Congressman, Past Florida State President
Frank Atkisson, Member of Florida Legislature, Past Florida State Vice President
Jim Davis, creator of the Garfield comic strip
Trace Adkins, music entertainer
Don Henley, music entertainer
Jared Hess, director of Napoleon Dynamite
Tim McGraw, music entertainer
Willie Nelson, Music entertainer
Eddie Montgomery, music entertainer

These were found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_FFA_Organization

I hope this is helpful!

Jenna Meeks

PMP Educatin' Machine

This looks great.... a hand held portable 4.3 in monitor. This tiny piece of equipment can hold a dictionary, and many other programs that students can use! This might be great for forms of individualized learning. It can hold videos, textbooks, and other files that might be great resources for students to use.
Lindsey Regula

Digital Dissection Software

WOW! What a unique way to show students how animals body parts are different. These types of programs would be really great in areas that are more urban, where having animals come into school, or even be available may not be a realistic option. There are several kinds of this software. The one that I found to be most versatile is offered from Scienceworks at http://www.camcor.com/ld/Scienceworks.html . There are several options for teachers to choose from, and from what I have seen, there are really some interesting things you can get into!!

Lindsey Regula

Model of a cows anatomy

Well like the rest of you, I was up stressing about this unit that was due thursday. When I came to my section of teaching about the digestion system of a cow. It would have been awesome to have the resources like OSU has with being able to explore the real digestive system of a cow, but most high school settings are not going to have these resources. So I found a 4-D model that the students can take apart and put back together. It also was not very expensive, about $30. Hopefully this is something that you will be interested in investing in and also helps to expand your teaching techniques!!! Heres the website, but there are several other versions of this model and other animals too!

http://www.famemaster.com/Product/4D-Puzzle-Toys/4D-Vision-Animal-Anatomy/Gift-Box/4D-Puzzle-Animal-Anatomy-Toy-Cow-Anatomy-Model-26100.htm

Thats all for today! Enjoy your weekend!

Jenna Meeks

A Refreshing Alternative to PETA

My first unit of instruction is comparing animal rights and animal welfare. While looking for information, I discovered a website for the Animal Welfare Council. I had heard of this group before, but I really didn't know what they stood for. Upon investigating their website, it seems like an organization that has their game together. The website is easy to navigate, and it provides everything from simplistic information all the way up to technical resources. In this era when PETA can sway people with the drop of a pin, it's nice to have a group on the other side. They even advocate showing animals through FFA. It's a great resource.

~Rose Dudgeon

Awesome Video

I signed up a few months ago for the NAAE listserve. If you haven't done so yet, I highly recommend it. Today, a link to this awesome video came through in an email.

It seems like a really upbeat way to introduce students to the total agricultural education program. You might even recognize some Ohio faces in it. Check it out!

~Rose Dudgeon

Making a difference!

As I was looking for ideas for my "introduction to FFA" unit, I stumbled across this website. It has a lot of interesting articles that are made available online for both teachers and students. One article that was particularly relevant was, "Engaging all students in all parts of the program." This article emphasizes that every student needs to learn the material, not only the bold and outgoing students. As educators, it is our responsibility to reach out to all students and find a way for them to be engaged in the subject. This may be a difficult concept at times, but this article provides suggestions for overcoming those barriers. Check it out!!

http://www.ffa.org/ageducators/mad/index.html

Krista

Interactive tree identification website!!

I was doing some research for my forestry unit and I came across a cool website called What Tree Is It? which has an interactive tree identification component. Guess what makes this website even better...it is Ohio based! I know some of you are also working on forestry units for next fall and I thought this would be a really cool way to teach tree identification.

Here is the link:

http://www.oplin.org/tree/index.html

Jamie Zimmer

"Green" House kit!

This is so cool!!! This kit gives an instruction manual and all the parts necessary to build your own "Green" Home! There are up to 70 different experiments you can use with it, these include operating a windmill, electric motor, and solar cooker!! How much fun could your students have building each component and then actually seeing it work in your classroom! I think they said each kit was about $150, but there is so much you could use it for!!
Lindsey Regula

Parliamentary Procedure

http://www.csufresno.edu/comm/cagle-p3.htm

This site has all the information you will need to teach or look up info on Parliamentary Procedure. It breaks out the information and even has FAQ at the top that answers the basic questions. Farther down it talks about taking minutes, how to properly write a committee report, rules of debate and more. It can be very useful.

Drew Bender

Pioneer's GrowingPoint

https://www.pioneer.com/growingpoint/main_frame.jsp

Pioneer's Growingpoint website can be very useful for us teaching. You will have to get a username and password, but one should work for the whole class. This website would be great for having students look up different articles on almost anything crop related that Pioneer has. There is a lot to explore on the website and it also gives you the option to get e-news from the site.

Drew Bender

My Show Barn

We've been talking in class about websites that are user created content. I found a pretty cool website like that called My Show Barn. It's just a basic website with blogs and photo albums. But for those of you who like to show cattle and want to see what's going on around the country this would be a pretty fun one to go on.

http://www.myshowbarn.com/home.php

Hannah Sundberg

Ag Software Directory

As I was trying to find some neat things with software in agriculture, I stumbled upon this website that serves as a directory for looking up agricultural related software. It gives links for ag communications, marketing, record keeping and much more. Check it out if you're looking for some pretty cool software to use for running your farm or business.

http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/app68/agsoft

Hannah Sundberg

What is a wiki anyway?

So far, we have mostly been discussing blogs and podcasts in class. However, there is another function of Web 2.0 which might be very useful in a classroom. A wiki is basically a web site that anyone can visit to create or edit the content on the wiki, and they can be created for free. Visit these two websites to learn more about the uses of wiki's.

http://www.wikispaces.com/

http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/

Jamie Zimmer

Mac Television, you can see on both sides of it!

What a unique way to be able to show video, pictures, etc to a crowd. Screens on either side of this curvacious television allow users to stand all around it to see. What a great tool for a classroom! You should never have to worry about students being able to see!, there should alwyas be a view from somewhere, including the back of this innovative television!!
Lindsey Regula

Leapfrog Pen Top Computer

I thought this product would be really cool, especially for students who might be working on public speaking, or any other kind of CDE. You use special paper to write out anything you want, then the pen keeps record of it. It's almost like a personal accessory in that it can take pictures, keep your calendar, time, etc. But if you were competing in a cde like public speaking, you can write out your notes, and then have them recited back to you to help with different memorization.
Lindsey Regula

Wind Generator Kit

With the changing demographics of agriculture, and "going green" being such a popular subject. I thought this kit would be a really good idea. If you are ever doing a unit on environmentally friendly power genereation, this might be a good kit to use. Each comes with a motor and all the parts, kids can really see how windmills work, and what they do!
Lindsey Regula

Videos!

This blog post is coming a little late, but up until yesterday, I was still searching for something to write about! My inspiration did however come to me, in the form of my experience at Butler Tech!

For my one-on-one time with students, I visited the Communications and Broadcasting department. It was such a neat experience, especailly considering that we had just talked in class about video production for our Virtual Field Trip assignment.

I was with a student named Katy who helped me to make my very own DVD! It was really exciting, yet very complicated, but Katy made it all look like a piece of cake!

She set up all the cameras and equipement in the studio and we did a little blurp interview. We then took that footage and uploaded it to the computer for editing and constructing the video. It all happened so fast that I can't remember the exact names of the programs we used, but one of those programs was Final Cut, which Adam had mentioned briefly.

How much this techniques could actaully be implemented in the ag ed classroom, I'm not sure, but my thought was to allow students to create their own recruitment video for 8th graders. What better way to recruit students then with a video created by students for students?!

--Hilary Bailey

Instructional Materials

John Deere has available for sale many books on numerous topics on production agriculture including maintenance, machine operation, technology, and farm management. The books aren't exactly cheap, but it would be interesting to see if John Deere would send sample materials for instruction.

John Deere has a regional office located in Dublin and in the past have been willing to help the local agricultural community. Requesting some samples is something I may pursue, and if anyone else wants to as well, please feel free. As you will see, each series offers a books, instructors guide, and student guide. If John Deere would send samples, it could be very helpful in planning our units and daily plans.

Here is the website with the list of books http://www.deere.com/en_US/compinfo/publications/john_deere_publishing/complete.html

-Kurt Leber

Electronic Record Books

I believe during 531 someone metioned record books being online. I am not sure if this was outloud or in our journals, when we wrote where we saw Ag Ed 10-20 years from now. But I was browsing Clyde High School website, so I knew the material before my student teaching. They have the record books in excel format that can be downloaded and edited. Each section is a different tab in the document. This is exciting to know. This may also be of good use for those that are teaching their freshmen how to fill out record books. You can bring the document up on a powerpoint or this may make it easier to make an overhead. The possiblities are endless. I thought it would be a good resource, also for those of us who have never completed the record books.

http://www.clyde.k12.oh.us/FFA/index.htm

The links are the bottom of the webpage.

Amy

Lesson Plan Resources

As I have been working on my lesson plan for 530 I have been able to find alot of online lesson plans. Some are helpful. Maybe to help get an idea of where you should start your lesson plan or they might include something you forgot.

http://www.khake.com/page81.html

There are many other websites with these same features.

Here are some resources from Tyson. It includes the game I was going to use for my interest approach, but could not use because it wouldn't work on the classroom computer. It requires flashplayer I believe. There are alot of good resources on the internet related to the egg drop lesson. It is just a matter of what we have the media to use and taking the time to look for it.

http://www.tyson.com/projectaplus/games/default.asp

Amy

content standards

As upcoming teachers we are going to constantly revolve our lessons around content standards for ag. ed. Also on thursday we have our first lesson plan that we have to incorporate content standards into your lesson. So I hope this isn't to late for those of you who will be waiting till today or wednesday to write you plan out. (http://cms.osu.edu/standardshome.html) this is the direct link to content standards of ag. ed. So I hope this helps you in your planning for thursday and for all your future planning!

Teachertube Videos

Here are some interesting teachertube videos that I found. The first one is about how to make posters for the classroom using excel. It makes it seem super easy with just changing a couple of settings. Next is Podcasting with Audacity, I thought this would be interesting since we talked about it in class. I have used audacity for a couple of different projects. It is very easy to use and its a free download. Last is a video on why to have a class website, and gives you a very easy and free website to use.

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=a121ce581499d7b70166&page=1&viewtype=&category=

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=23dc8f4753bcc5771660

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=4e427a2818014b8e103b&page=2&viewtype=&category=

Drew Bender

This was just funny about teaching.

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=c157590b2fa1a7d093a3

A New Twist on an Old Favorite

My fiancé's family loves to play the Farming Game. I'll admit, they kind of have me addicted. I'm still trying to find the balance between how much hay and corn to plant and just when to take advantage of those Option to Buy cards, but I'm learning. It's a fun game and pretty much in line with the struggles and opportunities experienced by family farms. (For more information, visit The Farming Game Online- just don't blame me if you get hooked.)

But, believe it or not, that's not the reason for this post. Meet the Farming Game 2.0- COSI's online game called Bet The Farm. It's an online game very similar to the Farming Game, but it's a one player option. The graphics are a little rough, but it's a free play. For students who love to play games, perhaps you could point them in this direction during study hall. The site is likely not blocked by school censors, and it has some educational value. 

I highly encourage you to check out both of these games this planting season.

~Rose Dudgeon

GarageBand/ Podcasts

Another resource that my cooperating school has is Garageband, and I had never heard of it so I did some research. It is a mac program that allows people to create songs without any musical training. Not only is it a music program, but it can also be used for podcasting.

"GarageBand will adjust the podcast’s sound quality and volume levels — it can even automatically lower background music when someone is speaking. Students can then publish their finished podcast directly to a web page using iWeb and a .Mac* account and even submit their podcast to the iTunes Store"
-http://www.apple.com/education/digitalauthoring/garageband.html

I also found a website that specifically tells how to make podcasts if anyone is interested:
http://images.apple.com/education/solutions/podcasting/pdf/PodcastCreationGuide.pdf

Stacy Jewell

Paperless Classroom

We have talked a lot about what the future of teaching will be. During Daniel's class the rotation of reflections many people wrote about what new topics will be discussed in agriculture. New technology was a large topic. I recently found an article that discusses the future of a classroom that will be paperless. Computers will house tests, quizzes, and all assignments. Books will be on CD or the internet and all supplemental material will be streamed from the internet. I thought this was unique. We've talked many times about how SAE information is housed on a CD and if printed it would be an 8' tall stack of paper. This is true with textbooks. I thought this was interesting and may be a the future of teaching.

Article: http://www.teachersnetwork.org/ntol/howto/incorptech/paperless.htm

Nathan Arnold

The Right Answer...Just a Click Away!

When coming up with concepts for this blog, I began to think of ways technology is or could be applied in an agricultural education classroom at the high school level. However, all I could really think about were the "clickers" we used in Mr. Foster's class today.

During his presentation on the history of SAE's, Mr. Foster designed slides that would ask a multiple choice question to the class. Rather than have students raise their hands or write down their answer on a sheet of paper, or any process that might normally accompany such an activity, he handed each one of us a remote control clicker. That clicker had buttons with letters and numbers (example: 1/a, 2/b,...) the corresponded with his answers. We were then able to "buzz" our answer's in and a little counter at the top of the slide allowed him to see when all 18 of us had responded.

I was just taken back by this concept! I remember seeing it first presented three years ago in my freshman survey class, but I haven't seen it used since then, and it was great to be reminded of how useful it really is as an educational tool.

Imagain if Ag Ed classrooms across the state of Ohio were equipped with a set of clickers and an Ag Teacher with the desire to use them! Students could answer questions honestly, without the fear of being wrong, and not only the fear of just being wrong, but of being wrong infront of their peers!

Right now, tools like this are probably not feasable within a high school agricultural classroom, but as advancements in technology continue to increase and the cost of advancements continue to decrease, who knows! Maybe in 10 years, we will see high school agricultural educations implementing this tool as part of their instruction!

For more information on clickers required in some classrooms, please visit: http://www.uaf.edu/sunstar/archives/20061010/clicker.html

--Hilary Bailey

Universal Document Program

To go along with the lecture from 532 yesterday, I wanted to share an option for word processing and other documentation that is FREE to use. I discovered OpenOffice.org after a lengthy debate with the manager at BestBuy.

After my dad and I purchased a new computer for my mom, we were under the influence that Microsoft Office came with the Vista OS. However, that was not the case and I wanted an explanation. The manager finally told me about OpenOffice.org.

The service offered by the website is free for download and is able to read almost any type of document. I have used it a few times and it seems just as user friendly as Microsoft Office. The website is operated by people who want to develop programs to offer an economical alternative to the Microsoft way. They take donations to keep their site running. If you have any problems with compatability of programs, or just don't want to buy the Microsoft Office program, this is a great alternative.

To learn more about OpenOffice.org or to download the program, visit:
www.openoffice.org

-Kurt Leber

lesson plans

Today we were discussing in our technology course about useful websites. Adam gave us a very useful website that I am sure we will all reference to once in our teaching career when pulling for information to teach about. Well over the years I have also been looking for possible lesson plans to use. I found a great website that gives us teachers some lessons, http://lessonplancentral.com/lessons/Science/Agriculture/index.htm. Now granted they are not in the format that we are getting drilled into our heads!! Guess you ll just have to change it around to best fit you and your needs! I hope you can get good use out of this one....add it to your bookmarks!

Edutopia website and a great article!

I did a google search today for, "benefits of applied learning" and one the search results was a website called Edutopia: Information and Inspiration for Innovative Teaching in K-12 Schools. Edutopia offers resources about adapting educational practices to our advancing world. It is also an online community. Educators have the opportunity to post comments about articles written by other teachers.

I came across one article on Edutopia written by a geometry teacher that relates to some of the things we've been discussing in 530 about Bloom's Taxonomy. Check it out!

http://www.edutopia.org/measuring-what-counts-memorization-versus-understanding

Jamie Zimmer

Ohio FFA Camp Muskingum

Since the block is travelling to Carroll County for a weekend of fun at FFA Camp Muskingum, I thought it would be helpful to post the link to FFA Camp for those who haven't had the opportunity to attend camp. My first experience with camp was as a high school senior, and that was one experience that I will always remember. My favorite parts were the high ropes courses, the tournaments, hanging out on Blue Gill Rock, and the dances. The website has all of the events that are offered at FFA Camp Muskingum, and I encourage you to check it out before this weekend to get a better understanding and visual representation of where we will be going. It's a pretty sweet place!

http://ohioffa.org/camp/index.shtml

Krista Cape

Welding tips and resources

Hey everybody!
As I was preparing my demonstration for 533, I stumbled across some really neat interactive PowerPoint presentations and resources. The Lincoln Electric website has very useful information from equipment safety to maintenance procedures. The link that I added below should take you to the page with the teacher resources. This site also has articles, expert advice, and metal project ideas. Check it out, and hopefully this helps with future lesson planning in the lab.

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/training/weldcurriculum.asp

New FFA Student Handbooks

Since we've all been in college for a few years and probably haven't step foot into an Ag classroom recently I wanted to let everyone know about the new Student Handbooks. I thought this was something that not only uses some pretty cool media but also goes along with what we talked about in our first class session and that is resources. In the Advisors Book are tons of items to use. They offer outlines of possible lessons plans having a reference column to the pages in the students book. They also have something which I think is really really cool, and that is 2 CD's that go along with all the lesson plans and items from the book. One of the CD's is actually a DVD with tons of footage from national convention, in the class activies and clips to help you enhance your lesson. The other CD has possible quizzes and tests to go along with the lesson plans in the advisors guide. These quizzes and such are also in hard copy in the back of the advisors guide. If anyone would like to see these books I'd be hapy to bring them to class or if you want a copy of the CD's let me know. Hannah Sundberg