In order to increase awareness of the local agriculture program within the community, the students decided that they would like to partner with the local Tractor Supply to help promote the Scholarship Campaign they ran through FFA week. After talking with the manager, the students decided to dedicate Monday, their day off, to setting up a display at the store and strike up conversations with customers about what FFA is, and how it has been beneficial for them! They also decided that it would be best for every student to be wearing Official Dress. The response from both the customers and the management were beyond positive! At the end of the day we were assured that our presence helped a great deal with increasing donations to the scholarship campaign. I would highly recommend partnering with Tractor Supply to every program at any point of the year, but especially during FFA Week!
This week Tuesday was an in service day for Athens faculty. During the morning program we had a guest speaker presenting about how to integrate literacy into curriculum. I learned a lot of new and forthcoming information and techniques! Look for a blog about these strategies to be coming soon!
The original plan for Wednesday was for the school to participate in a Trivia Day. However, with the last two days of last week being snow days, the students didn't have all of the prep work and advertising of events done, so everything got pushed back to Thursday. The FFA/SAE class spent Wednesday planning for the rest of the week. Introduction to Agriculture reviewed the information that was covered the previous week since they had an entire week off from school to forget information, and then was given time to update AET and ask any questions they had about the program. I had one section of Horticulture that I had covered my introduction with last Wednesday and another section that I did not. We had work that needed done in the greenhouse, so my first section had a work period to get that taken care of, while my second section went through introductions of me to the students and of the students to me. I also covered my classroom expectations and procedures, and introduced the plant propagation unit to them.
Thursday was an extremely busy day. We had about three days worth of FFA Week activities crammed into one day! The day began with an early morning at the school to prepare for a faculty appreciation breakfast. Several students came in early to help cook and serve over 30 faculty and staff members breakfast and then clean up afterwards! The faculty were extremely appreciative! We then held Trivia Day, which entailed an agricultural related question being asked over the loud speaker at the end of every period, and the first student in the office with the correct answer received a coupon for a free chocolate milk! We also celebrated Blue/Gold day, and most FFA members who own official dress participated by wearing it to school! The FFA/SAE class put together a PowerPoint showcasing ways to get involved in FFA that they wanted to share with every ag class. Affiliate membership now means that every student in the ag program in an FFA member, however there are some that still refrain from being an active member. As a class, it was decided that in order to increase awareness amongst these members, they wanted to make sure they knew exactly was available to them. Every class period on Thursday was then presented this presentation by actively involved FFA members. The kids did an awesome job of sharing personal stories that really got teh classes attention! I was very proud of them! There was a regular scheduled FFA meeting during PM Advisory on Thursday as well, during which we had our group picture taken for the yearbook! Perfect timing for an awesome picture showing off a lot of blue and gold jackets!!!
Friday. Boy did that get here quick!! Throughout the week we had a sign up in every lunch period for a Pedal Tractor Pull competition. During each lunch period on Friday, then, we had those who signed up come down and compete against each other. The male and female winner from each period then came down at the end of the day for a pull off! The school had a lot of fun seeing who was the strongest and could pull the sled the furthest! Throughout the week there was also jars with teachers names who had volunteered to participate in a "Kiss a Cow" contest that were set out each lunch period. The teacher with the most money collected then had to kiss a cow at the end of the day on Friday!
Overall it was a packed full week! The students were pleased with the turnout and results they had from their very abbreviated National FFA Week! Next week should be a little more "normal!" I will begin working on a conservation poster project with my Introduction to Agriculture class, dig deeper into plant propagation with Horticulture, begin public speaking with FFA/SAE, and pick up Veterinary Science with a digestion unit! I am quickly learning that no plan will go exactly how you thought it would, but that planning ahead definitely pays off as you work through the last minute changes! This is such a learning experience, and even though it is a lot of work, I am truly enjoying it! At the end of the day, the students make it all worth it!
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