Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Session 18- Proficiency Awards

Hello AEE 311! I hope each of you enjoyed the presentation from Mr. Kevin Keith yesterday morning. After attending National FFA Convention last week and seeing two students from my cooperating center up on the big stage for being chosen as a National Finalist in their proficiency area, I am honestly dumbfounded that more ag teacher don't utilize this method of student recognition! If you will have questions on this, PLEASE ask! Proficiencies are a great tool, especially for new teachers!

What are we curious about?

  • Could we provide SAE type workshops when it comes to leadership workshops?
    • Absolutely! Today actually Dr. Foster and I were discussing the concept of an SAE Fair! Students set up displays during a state-wide leadership conference and share what their SAE is and how they came about developing it! This gives us a chance to celebrate the students' success as well as educate other students on their possibilities.
  • What keeps students involved in SAEs?
    • The key is that an SAE needs to be student driven. One misconception that causes students to often lose interest is that SAE=Recordbook. THIS IS NOT THE CASE! SAE is the experience that a student is passionate about and is self driven. How to we find out student passion? Home visits or one on one conferences! If you start off by identifying student interests, involvement will be easy!
  • Best practices for tying proficiencies in with the rest of the three circle model
    • Proficiency awards can count for all three on their own! The SAE itself should stem from instruction and skills learned in the classroom (and expanded upon through the project). If a proficiency makes it to the National (and some state) levels, an interview process occurs as well, tying in the leadership/FFA component. Woohoo! Yay three-circles!
  • How can we better understand students' interests?
    • I noted this above, but SAE visits are CRUCIAL!!!! 
  • What we will be looking for while reviewing SAE grants?
    • Seriously, SAE grant review is really fun! The student responds to multiple open ended questions discussing what their SAE is, their goals and how the grant itself will assist in achieving those goals. Reviewing SAE grants IS NOT about how perfect the application, you will essentially be answering the questions "did the student really think about the use of this grant?"
  • How to implement proficiency awards
    • Given that SAE should be a required portion of your ag ed program, a great way to implement this would be to use a completed application as a form of assessment at the end of a class. Now that PA is at 100% AET access, if your student is keeping up with their records, this should be very simple.
  • Various examples of proficiency awards
    • Each of the award areas are listed here
  • How to build resources for help with proficiency applications?
    • Seriously, contact Kevin Keith! (kkeith@ffa.org). He has a wealth of knowledge and is always willing to help!
  • How does one get the opportunity to work for the National FFA Association?
    • Apply! Their job postings can be found here. They actually have multiple short term employment opportunities for college students as well! Check it out if it's something you might be interested in and let me know if you have questions! I had a blast year working for them as a 212 Conference Facilitator!



What did we learn?

  • Proficiency awards
  • How easy it is to fill out proficiency apps using AET
  • Using proficiency awards as a class grade to help motivate students


What do we want to learn more about?

That's all folks! Thanks for a great session, see ya Thursday!

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