Owl Pellets: Tips For Ag Teachers

Nine seasons? Can you believe it? Tune in as the Owl Pellets Crew chat about how much this podcast has grown and share their favorite moment from this season. To our guests and listeners, thank you for an amazing season! Here's to season 10!

How do we engage students in all the involvement opportunities available in Ag Ed? The answer might not be to engage more but to engage differently. Tune in this week as Stephen McBride (Purdue University) challenges us to think about involvement and engagement in deep and meaningful ways. We'll chat about how we catch the kids we might not think about, how to use our rockstars, and how to ignite students' passions.   Journal Article: https://jae-online.org/index.php/jae/article/view/57

Tune in as Tre Easterly (University of Florida) and Brian Myers (University of Florida) help us walk a mile in our principal's shoes to think about the ways they need to manage resources in line with school goals. They will also talk through how we can ally with our principals, communicate what our programs do, and use our ag programs to support the school's mission.   Journal Article: https://jae-online.org/index.php/jae/article/view/113

Incorporating ideas outside of the delivered content can be intimidating, but Garrett Steede (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities) shares that it doesn't have to be! Tune in as Garrett shares resources (available at umnagricast.com) in both Plant and Animal Science to help integrate science communication and communication principles in agricultural content.   Journal Article: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/jhse/vol10/iss3/3/ Resources: https://www.umnagricast.com/

Am I an imposter? Whether coming into teaching or trying to establish a researcher's identity, this question is prevalent. We find ourselves prepared really well only to feel unprepared when we enter a career away from the support we had in preparation. Nicole Stedman, Jarred Shellhouse, and JC Bunch at the University of Florida explore these ideas and more as they help normalize developmental processes for everyone.   Journal Article: https://agdevresearch.org/index.php/aad/article/view/335

What do Oklahoma ag teachers need? Turns out, it's more than professional development; it's curricular resources, admin support, and respect. These needs span the ag program and the career, so Kayla Marsh and Kris Rankin (Oklahoma State University) challenge us to think about how we can balance professional development with reality, build networks through professional development, and garner respect from administration, all while challenging us to think about the teaching career as a hierarchy of needs.   Journal article: http://jsaer.org/2023/09/12/determining-the-needs-of-school-based-agricultural-education-teachers-in-oklahoma/

In this episode, the Owl Pellets Crew wrap up their mentoring mini-series. What better way to conclude a series than to add recommendations? Brain, Becky, and Mike discuss seven recommendations for mentoring programs. 

Have you ever heard of 8th graders enjoying accounting? In this week's episode, Neil Knobloch and Andrea Brown talk with the crew regarding their success in integrating an agricultural business management simulation into an eighth-grade classroom. They make double-entry accounting sound fun!    Journal article: https://jae-online.org/index.php/jae/article/view/1965

Alternatively certified teachers bring a variety of experiences to their practice of agricultural education that add value to their schools and benefit their students. Kellie Claflin (The Ohio State University) asks us to think about how we can better support teachers, but especially those new to the profession. She encourages us to be connectors; looking to understand the experience others bring to the table before jumping in with assumptions about what may be needed.   Journal Article: https://jae-online.org/index.php/jae/article/view/110

Virtual professional development is a reality of the post-pandemic world, and it's changed how we deliver and expect to interact with PD. Amber Rice (University of Arizona) shares great insight from CASE participants to help us think about what professional development participants have access to in terms of community development, content, and delivery modality, and the intentionality behind providing that access.

With a decline in the teaching workforce and a decline in teacher diversity, Matt Wood and Michelle Burrows at Utah State University wanted to know: what's the effect on ag programs? In exploring attitudes and professional development around Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (IDE), they found teachers were looking for PD to help them tap into students' lived experiences, curricular resources around IDE, and support advocating for minorities.

What are we recruiting to? Tiffany Marzalino and Aaron McKim at Michigan State University share how Michigan ag teachers are recruiting students to their programs--and it might be more straightforward than you think! Tune in as we talk about authenticity, inclusivity and belonging, empowering students to share their experiences, and the different learning experiences Ag Ed is situated to provide!   Journal Article: https://jae-online.org/index.php/jae/article/view/49

How can we evaluate mentoring? Do you know what purpose you are serving as a mentor or mentee? In this week's episode Brian, Becky, and Mike discuss how to assess and evaluate mentoring. Tune in as the crew continues their mentoring mini-series. 

Establishing integrated school gardens takes a champion to start, but a team to maintain. Jade Davidson (Oregon State University) and Jason Peake (University of Georgia) share a framework and the components necessary to integrate sustainable and integrated school gardens that are part of the school culture.   Journal Article: https://agdevresearch.org/index.php/aad/article/view/281 Resources: https://bit.ly/3t8OxFI

Geocaching is a treasure hunting community teachers can leverage as an instructional tool. Rachel Hendrix (West Virginia University) and John Rickets (Tennessee State University) join the crew to help us learn how to use geocaching to promote critical thinking, teamwork, and communication and to use geocaching as an instructional tool.   Journal article: http://jsaer.org/2022/10/12/gps-and-geocaching-integration-in-agriscience-the-impact-on-critical-thinking/

Understanding and experiencing culture is critical for young agricultural leaders, but there's often some anxiety around having culturally competent conversations. Never fear--Janiece Pigg (Tennessee Youth Development) is here to help us think about opportunities to expand our cultural lens.   Journal article: https://jae-online.org/index.php/jae/article/view/1952

Prepare to enter mentoring! Mentoring is a huge undertaking, and in this episode, Brian, Mike, and Becky explore what we need to enter mentoring and point to tools to support that process in formal mentoring relationships.

There are hundreds of ways to measure success in SBAE programs, and Haley Traini (Oregon State University) joins us to talk about them all! We'll chat about teacher and program performance, overwhelm, and career expectations in the jam packed episode!   Journal article: https://jae-online.org/index.php/jae/article/view/29

We all have students with special needs in our classes. Unfortunately, many of us also need additional training to support our SPED students. Tune in as the OP team chats with Raegan Ramage (Louisiana) as she shares tips for opening communication with SPED teachers, working with students, and involving SPED students in Agricultural Education.    Journal Article: https://jae-online.org/index.php/jae/article/view/29

We rely on a toolbox of instructional methods as agricultural educators. Blake Colclasure (University of Tennessee) and Jack Dempsey (University of Illinois & Cascade Reading) share how our belief in a method's effectiveness affects our use of that method. Spoiler alert: you've got to believe!   Journal Article:  https://agdevresearch.org/index.php/aad/article/view/235