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Written by Wes Crawford
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Monday, 06 September 2010 00:00 |
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 The latest Old Yeller is now available. You can find it under the Files and Downloads (click to see).
Things to see:
- Starting Off the School Year ideas
- CASE Institute at OSU
- President's Message
- Welcome Dr. Lambert! - new OSU Ag Ed faculty
- Who's that Puppy in the Window?
- The return of Marty Campbell
If you have something to contribute or you'd like to see, please let us know! |
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Written by Kristina M. Haug
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Monday, 06 September 2010 09:44 |
As Brian Arp and I open the doors at 12:53 pm and cruise up the stairs in the oh-so-familiar building known as Strand Hall, time slows a little. It has been only two short, yet jam-packed years since my home away from home, Strand 33, was filled with questions about teaching strategies, lesson plans and some random letter Shane received while student teaching. (We never could get to the bottom of that one?) Ahead to the left is Betsy's office, our  OSU ‘Oriental Trading Company' that lights the publicity fuse for the College of Ag's network of great people around our state. We'll have to stop in for a chat and some heat detection pencils later. At the far end of the hallway, we see Dr. Thompson, using his most elaborate trailer backing, hand motions as he flags those of us loitering his way. "Hurry, you're going to be late for class!" he cleverly projects, as his voice carries into the door of a room full of testing music or psychology students across the hallway. A bit of a showman, as always! Quickening our stride, we shuffled into the newly refurbished classroom and began to look around to find that perfect seat out of the spotlight/question zone. Little did we know, we needed to be here fifteen minutes ago to get the coveted seats Kris and Curtis have already claimed at the back of the classroom. Alright, front row next to Brian from New Jersey and Gail from CCC it is. Let the CASE learning begin...
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Read more: CASE in Point - OSU CASE Plant Institute 2010
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Written by Dan Jansen | OVATA President
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Monday, 06 September 2010 09:38 |
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Who is out there in that classroom?
 Summer is gone and with it goes flexible schedules to accommodate all of the things neglected from the previous nine months. Those who attended State Fair have now run out of excuses to avoid the painful teacher in-service meetings the week before the start of classes. So what is left to look forward to now that the three-months of bliss is over?
I envy the classroom teacher. I personally miss the beginning of school since I have left the formal high school setting. Well maybe not the first week as that was a harsh reality check of getting back to a structured life. However, professionally I was always excited. I viewed the start of a new school year as a measure of my individual growth and a gauge of the strength of my program.
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Read more: President's Message - Back-to-School 2010
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Written by Wes Crawford
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Monday, 06 September 2010 09:23 |
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If first impressions are key, then the first day of school may be vital when you are teaching elective courses. We asked a few ag teachers across the state what they do on the first day. Here are some ideas for the next time you are starting anew with a group of students.
Rachel Kostman (Phoenix HS) - Rachel’s goal is to know everyone student’s name by the second day. In order to get to know her classes, she uses a “Getting to Know You” activity page to get students out of their seats and comparing with each other. At the end of the activity every student shares one item about themselves, and Rachel does the same about herself. See Rachel’s handout here at www.ovata.org under the Resource Share.
 Dennis Clark (Union HS) - Dennis uses technology to engage his students on day one. Using TurningPoint clickers, he uses an interactive welcome to get kids hooked. See his PowerPoints here and here in the OVATA Resource Share.
Nick Nelson (Blue Mountain CC) - Nick wanted to know every student’s name by the end of the first period, and made a competition of it. He took students outside and put them in a circle, then had then go around a put an agriculture or animal term with their name that started with the same letter. The challenge was to see if he could repeat everyone’s names by the end.
He also ‘tested’ the students the first day with his Keep-Cull test to see “if” they could stay in the program, albeit with a bit of tongue in cheek. Check out the Keep-Cull test, now used on college students, here at ovate.org.
Need more ideas? Check out NAAE’s Communities of Practice. A particularly useful post can be found here. Icebreaker activities and a pig personality test are just some of the ideas!
Enjoy the first days of school!
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