Technology Resources

As our world is rapidly growing, so is the field of technology.  In the classroom it is important for teachers to know the latest and greatest technologies that are available to them and how to use them efficiently.  As an agriculture teacher, I find that the following items are very useful technology resources.  

1. Websites:  Websites can be useful for distributing information such as important dates and upcoming event reminders.  They can also showcase your program by displaying pictures and student involvement.  It is helpful to know how to design and maintain a website for your program.  This may be the best way of getting your name out there and selling your program to community members.  
2. Google Docs:  Many teachers already use this resource, but some do not because they don’t know how to create and share documents.  I find that this resource is wonderful especially in taking fundraising orders. 
3. Flip Cameras: What a great way to display student participation.  Not only can you use this in the classroom to record demonstrations, but at an FFA event too.  Flip cameras can also be used by the students to create video projects.  Using the camera and then putting a video on the computer to edit could be new to the students and gets them acquainted with new technologies. 
4. Animoto: Teachers can create a free account to allow their students to make videos.  This is a great resource for teachers to incorporate into their classroom.  Animoto helps to create videos by doing the work for you.  Simply upload photos put them in order, select a theme and you have a video.  Again, a good resource to promote an event or agriculture program.       

Many other technologies such as power point, document cameras, smart boards, and cps software are great technologies.  These are widely used in the classroom today, however as new technologies arise, teachers are finding new ways to create lessons.  

Planning for Professional Development

Selecting professional development opportunities can be a challenge. It seems that every year we get bombarded with more and more opportunities to learn. But the challenge doesn't stop here. Even after we've narrowed down which opportunities we're going to pursue, we still have some important decisions to make. Here are are my top 3 tips to get the most out of a professional development opportunity, whether it be a workshop, conference, or convention:

1. Have a Game Plan
At times I am extremely tempted to just show up at conferences and fly by the seat of my pants. After all, they seem to be one of the few breaks I get away from school--a mini vacation of sorts. Sometimes I also try and rationalize that with everything that's planned on the agenda, all I should have to do is show up; I'm bound to learn something. If you honestly want to get the most out of the professional development experience though, this is not the way to go. You'll end up leaving without any sense of accomplishment and probably drained because you wasted so much time trying to run around and find something worthwhile to feel like the whole experience wasn't a complete waste. As with any lesson that you teach, you need to begin with an end in mind.

Take a look at the agenda and consider these important points to plan your visit ahead of time:

• Why are you going to this event in the first place? Is it to simply get materials or curriculum for a new course? Do you need some additional textbooks or resources? Would you like some feedback on a project you are working on? Are you looking to expand your professional network? Do you need some new discipline or classroom management strategies? Lab ideas? Collaboration tools? Everyone goes to professional development events for different reasons, so just following your friends or roommates won't cut it if you want to get the most out of the event.
• What learning opportunities are available? Presentations? Demonstrations? Panels? You should make sure you are choosing several different presentation styles throughout the workshop. No matter how skilled the presenters are, sitting through 5 presentations all day will end up leaving you either bored or overwhelmed.
• What topics are available? Again, consider the purpose of attending the conference. Pick opportunities centered around these topics. During the initial planning, I usually circle titles of workshops that catch my eye, and then go back and take a closer look at the details (presenter, time offered, etc). I would also advise throwing in at least one wild card into your agenda--something completely left field. It can be a topic you've heard about but never had the opportunity to explore on your own or perhaps something extremely controversial or cutting edge. If nothing else, it will at least keep you abreast on what's out there.
• Who is presenting? Colleagues? Professors? Industry representatives? Politicians? Vendors? Do some digging on their professional lives if you don't already know them. What position do they take on the topic? What are they best known for? What type of feedback do other attendees have about their delivery methods or ideas? For instance, I would want to hear a fellow teacher talk about integrating technology into a lesson rather than a salesman trying to sell me a specific product because the teacher has experience with application in the classroom and might have some useful suggestions for troubleshooting.
• When are they offered? Sometimes workshops will overlap, so it's important to prioritize which one you think will be most beneficial.  
• How do you learn best? Some people do best listening to discussions while others enjoy a hands on approach or demonstration. Others learn best in more of an informal environment. Whatever the case, make sure you pick opportunities that best address your learning style. If you are unsure about a workshop, try sitting near the back so that if during the session you realize that you're bored in the first 15 minutes, you can slip out without distracting the rest of the audience. Remember, in most cases, you have no obligation to stay, so don't feel bad for leaving.

2. Avoid the Extra Baggage
Being away from home is exciting, but often times we let ourselves get bogged down by too many extras, both physically and mentally. To avoid feeling drained instead of inspired, pack light. If you're going to a career fair, carry only a small bag with some business cards, a writing utensil, and a small tablet. Try to avoid the salesmen who are passing out five pound bags of literature. Be selective about what you choose to take. Ask yourself--am I going to use this in the next six months? If the answer is no, save a tree and your shoulders and just say "no thanks!" Also, look for web links and other online resources you can access from home that can provide you with the same information. If you have trouble saying no, try to drop off your supplies in your hotel periodically and sort through them at the end of the day. Again, be sure to discard anything you know you are not going to use soon. Consider bringing mailing envelopes and stamps to have the materials sent home if you know you will be bringing back some heavier supplies or it is an especially long conference. Also, if groups are doing door prize drawings, enter using business cards instead of filling out their forms. Make sure you plan several mental breaks as well. Resist the urge to plan workshop after workshop to "get your money's worth."

3. Never Underestimate the Informal
You are ready for some serious learning--you have the day's agenda, you're at the workshop (early), you got a good seat, you have out your pen and a small tablet, and you are ready for the presenter--but did you say "hi" to the person sitting next to you? Do you even know his/her name? It seems so trivial, but this simple gesture could change your entire conference experience. In all of my professional development experiences, the informal connections I make with other people seem to be the most valuable ones I bring back to my classroom. More often than not, the people I bounce ideas off of are the people that I carpooled to a conference with, met in an elevator, or shared a hotel room with, not the workshop presenters. Why? Because presenters present. More often than not, you don't get the opporutnity to interact with them. It's a one way conversation, so you don't get a chance to share your experiences. You don't talk about your successes and failures. You don't tell travel stories. You follow a presentation outline, so you can't just talk. Let's face it, in today's day and age, you don't even have to be at the conference to get their presentation. Meeting new people and networking is one piece of the conference experience that you really can't get any other way, so don't get so caught up in your schedule and  that you fail to make these invaluable personal connections.

A Look at Agriculture from my Corner of the World

Agriculture has always been a major part of my life. Growing up on a family farm in Snow Camp, NC sparked my interest in agriculture at a very early age, and it has paved the way for my interest to grow. My family has farmed the same land for over 100 years and we still raise beef cattle and broiler chickens, as well as grow and sell hay. I lived and worked on this farm my entire life, until I started college in 2006 at NC State, where I would began to pursue a career in agriculture. Growing up in an agricultural community has given me the opportunity to see and experience various things in life that many people never get the opportunity to; and because of that, my view of agriculture may be different from those who live in different parts of the world.

Snow Camp is a very rural area located about twelve miles south of Burlington and twenty five miles east of Greensboro, NC. Nearly everyone in Snow Camp knows everyone else and because of that, it is a very close knit community. Surrounded by farms and rural areas, I learned early on in life that agricultural businesses are a vital part of day to day life and that a lot of hard work goes into making the food that you and I survive on.

I was one of the fortunate kids growing up in life who learned that food does not come from the back of Food Lion, or that just because a cow has horns does not mean that it is a bull. It frustrates me to hear about people, who do not know the difference between a cow and a bull these days, and I get a real kick out of the people who believe that just because a cow is brown, it produces chocolate milk. By growing up in an agricultural community, I got to see the ins and outs of agricultural businesses and I am very grateful for the knowledge I gained from it. Now don’t get me wrong, I completely understand that there is much more to agriculture that just farming. Through teaching, extension work, and other businesses that help support farming, agriculture is much bigger than just raising cattle, or growing crops.

However, when asked to write about my look at agriculture from my corner of the world, I am forced to focus on the very basics that I learned from back home. My view of agriculture paints a picture of getting up at 3:30 a.m. to go milk cows because I worked on a dairy farm for six years after I received my driver’s license. It forces me to think about the long days spent on a tractor while we worked in the hay fields, or working cattle in order to give them necessary vaccinations before they are sent to market. Although these things may not sound very glamorous, it is experiences like these that struck such a strong interest for me in agriculture.

I have now completed my degrees in Animal Science and Agricultural Business, and I am currently working towards a master’s degree in Animal Science. It is without a doubt, the experiences I had while growing up on a family farm is what lead me to pursue a career in agriculture. I realize that my point of view on agriculture may be different from many others out there, but my childhood gave me my own outlook; and this is simply my view from my corner of world…Snow Camp, NC.

Agriculture From My Corner of the World - Malaysia

It is hard to make a decision in life. When I decided to further my study in Master’s level I never thought of coming to North Carolina State University aka NCSU. I was thinking to further my study in my home country. But when I applied for the scholarship through my employer, they proposed to send me to some other country so that I can have a diverse experience in agriculture. It is a big challenge when I know that I will be in a different country with so many different things that I have to learn. Not only with the different culture, weather, food and surrounding but I have to talk in a different language. So I can say that I am coming to a new world.

When I arrived here in August 2010, I heard some friends saying that the weather was so warm (30⁰C at that time), but to me it is just a normal day because I used to this weather when I was in my home country. We are having a hot and humid weather all year round, with an average temperature of 27 °C (80.6 °F). But when it is nearly comes to fall, I just love the weather in here together with the colorful scenery of the coming fall season. It is such a lovely experience that I don’t have in my home tropical country. Being here for more than 7 months now, I really appreciate my experience living in four season country. Of course it is quite challenging for me but I can see that agriculture sector in this country are more challenging than in my own country. With the changing of climate every three months in here, putting up well planned program are crucial to grower in order to make sure that their farm can survive during the whole planting season and produce can be harvested and deliver to the customer on time. Else some other option can be made to store those produce for processing or future usage.

In here agriculture sector are commercially own by farmers compare to my home country. Malaysia is just a small country compared to the US. Most of our farmers are coming from a small farm industry but lately there is a trend that younger generation have an interest in commercial farming. We do have some commercial farms and they are capable to export their product internationally. Most of our vegetable production are consumed locally and some are exported to our neighboring countries such as Singapore. Some of our tropical fruits such as pineapple, papaya, carambola are being exported to Europe, Middle East, China and some other countries. For the year 2009, Malaysia has been producing rice for 2,611,043 ton of 674,928 hectare, tropical fruits for 1,602,687 ton of 249,994 hectare and vegetables for 623,457 ton of 41,078 hectare. We do produce some field crops, herbs, spices and coconut. We produce a lot of rice because rice is our staple food. Based on the given figure, I can say that we are just a small producer compare to the US but some of our products have been accepted internationally and some of the growers have been certified by GlobalGAP. We do implement our local certification for Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) and now working towards traceability for our produce.

So it is just nice having an opportunity to further my study in NCSU, not only for having a great time studying in a prestigious university, but also having good experience staying in a four season country with an advance technology in agriculture.

Teaching Conservation While Ensuring Ethical and Responsible Behavior

Hunter education is more than a class on the pursuit of game or firearms safety. These courses are an encompassing and exciting glimpse into conservation, wildlife management, and the important role modern society must play in an increasingly threatened environment. By teaching hunter education one passes on an important tradition and ensures a proven funding source for conservation efforts.

On 08 December 1908 during Theodore Roosevelt’s last message to Congress he stated: “The great body of our citizens shoot less as time goes on. We should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the military services by every means in our power.” This comment was made in reference to the National Guard of the United States but its relevance also lies in the area of wildlife resources conservation within the North American Model of Wildlife Management.

More than one hundred years removed by President Roosevelt’s remarks, wildlife management agencies are struggling with the fact of “the great body of our citizens shoot less…” The North American Wildlife Management Model is greatly dependent on hunting and the shooting sports for a funding source and overall support of agency and conservation policies. The North American Wildlife Management Model follows seven key concepts that include: wildlife as a public trust resource, elimination of markets (financial) for wildlife, allocation of wildlife by law, wildlife can only be killed for a legitimate purpose, wildlife are considered an international resource, science is the proper tool for discharge of wildlife policy, and the democracy of hunting. Urban sprawl and human population growth has created a societal shift away from a utilitarian view of wildlife resources. Excise taxes are levied on firearms, ammunition, and archery tackle to fund the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Program as a user pay and user benefit model. The loss of hunters and shooters will have an effect on the financial security of state wildlife agencies and also the thought processes of management.

Hunter education is one tool used to introduce people to hunting and help ensure society continues to enjoy wildlife resources. In North Carolina, hunter education is offered free in all one hundred counties. Many of these courses are taught at county extension offices or as part as the agricultural curriculum in middle and high school classes. There are approximately 230 schools teaching hunter education with in-school programs. A large portion of these courses are taught by volunteer hunter education instructors. In fiscal year 2009-2010, 772 volunteer instructors certified nearly 19,000 hunter education students in North Carolina.

To become a certified hunter education instructor in North Carolina is simple. First, a person should contact their local hunter education specialist. North Carolina is broken into nine wildlife districts. Each district has a Hunter Education Specialist who is responsible for coordinating hunter education activities. A few simple criteria have to be met 1) be a hunter education course graduate 2) be willing to complete a twelve hour instructor workshop (most schools will allow teachers to receive CEU credits) 3) submit to a criminal history check and an instructor applicant cannot have a class one misdemeanor, felony, or wildlife violation that required a revocation of hunting or fishing privileges 4) be willing to assist with one course every two years. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission will provide all necessary training for free. Once an applicant is certified as an instructor they can begin teaching the course in their school and/or community. The course is designed to be at a minimum cost to the instructor. The NCWRC will provide all necessary manuals, visual aids, classroom firearms and ammunition, televisions, paperwork, and hand out materials as needed.

If the instructor elects to teach hunter education in their respective school, the school is then qualified to field a Hunter Education Skill Tournament Team. The Youth Hunter Education Skills Tournament system is an incentive component of North Carolina’s Hunter Education Program. This program provides an opportunity to showcase outdoor skills and demonstrate safety, with events in rifle, shotgun and archery marksmanship, as well as an orienteering challenge and a wildlife knowledge test. Competitions are conducted on senior (high school) and junior (middle and elementary schools) divisional levels, with overall team and overall individual awards based on aggregate scores in all events. Nine district-level competitions are held in March, with hundreds of middle school and high school students taking part. Winning teams then advance to a state championship tournament in April at 4H Camp Millstone near Ellerbe, NC.

Hunter education and the North Carolina Hunter Education Skills Tournament are two examples on how to pass along conservation ideals to a future generation. By teaching hunter education students, will begin a journey that encompasses conservation, wildlife management, and the important role modern society must play in an increasingly threatened environment.

Special Events on NC State Campus

Having lived on campus for my first two years of undergrad and having been part of this university for the last six years, I have been a part of a lot of student events present on campus throughout the years. From NC State football and basketball games to numerous other varsity and intramural sports available on campus (to participate in or watch) to art and cinema and community service events, there’s something for everyone. There is also an array of over 400 student organizations that are active on campus. One can find groups covering a range of topics from religious to spiritual, political issues, cultural, media, recreational, Greek and other multicultural events.

By viewing the student organization resource center calendar one can find events provided by such groups. In particular I’m very fond of the free social dance lessons that are held most Tuesday nights in the Talley Student Center provided by Dances with Wolves ballroom dance team…a team I was a proud member of for most of my undergraduate career. There are also many club sport events to watch, club fundraisers like the upcoming drag show in late March provided by the GLBT Community Alliance group. There are also special events coming up such as the Red and White Soccer Classic whose proceeds benefit the V Foundation for cancer research. Moreover there are conferences available for numerous student majors.

For the month of March there are craft center work shops available free to students who like to create things from skateboards to photographs. The Witherspoon student center is a great place to view movies for only $1.50 I believe. One of this month’s movies is “The Town.” The dining hall often provides events such as the upcoming “Chill Out” chili bar and late night snacks during Midterm and Final’s weeks. Service NC State is always a good organization to be involved with if you are looking for a volunteer project near by cleaning up campus or preparing food for the needy. If youre interested in further education seminars there often are numerous workshops on campus which include improving interviewing skills and learning about instructional online technology for the classroom to say the least. CSLEPs is a great organization to find resources about volunteer projects going on around campus, around the U.S. and even abroad. A great way to spend a spring or summer break might I add! Whatever your into keep an eye open. A lot of groups and events on campus post flyers outside of classrooms, near offices and even outdoors around most of the university. Or just go to ncsu.edu and search for “special events” on campus. There’s no doubt you’ll find what you’re looking for. Happy hunting.

State in Spring!

If you didn’t grow up in the South, you may find our Spring seasons to be confusing. There will be one day of 80 degrees and the next day it’s back to 50’s. That’s just how it works in the South I don’t know the meteorology behind it, but I know Raleigh is no exception. The days it’s “cold” again; you can shut yourself inside to study and not get distracted by the warm breeze from outside, while hoping that the warm weather returns over the weekend. At this point you might be wondering, what exactly is so good about State in Spring that I’d want to write about? Believe me it only goes up from drastic temperature swings and studying all day.

What follows are a few popular destinations and things to do when you don’t have study to or can’t bring yourself to study any more. Click on the name of any of the events for links with more information. I hope you enjoy - Happy Spring!

For the sports fans there is plenty of basketball and hockey to be had in the Raleigh area this time of year. As you may know, the 05-06 Stanley Cup Winners, the Carolina Hurricanes are based out of the RBC center just down the road from the university. If you’re on a budget (what graduate student isn’t?) they also offer discounted tickets on College Night. There are also the college teams to watch. The Wolfpack has admittedly had better seasons, but both the men’s and women’s basketball teams are fun to watch. Also, check out the NC State Baseball team, now ranked 4th in the ACC. Other spring athletic events include a 5v5 soccer tournament in support of the V Foundation for Cancer Research in March. For those more interested in nontraditional sports there is also the Carolina Rollergirls Roller Derby Team that has bouts at Dorton Arena on the Fair Grounds not far from main campus.

For those interested in green initiatives on campus, I’m a huge fan of the Campus Farmer’s Market that happens in the Brickyard on Wednesdays from 10am-3pm. They offer a great selection of products and the convenience is unbeatable. There is also an environmental film series playing at the campus cinema during March and April this year. Those more inclined to spend their free time on scholarly pursuits might be interested in the NC State Graduate Research Symposium going on the 21st of March at the McKimmon Center. There are a few students from the Agricultural and Extension Education Department that will be there showcasing the interesting work we do here so you should check it out! On the other hand, the 14th annual Service Raleigh volunteer opportunity is a great way to spend your time giving back to the local community. Service Raleigh is a student run community service organization that hosts a day of service in March where groups of volunteers are sent to a variety of sites all over the city to make an impact in a multitude of ways from tree plantings to site restoration. It is a great way to not only give back to the community, but also get to see a part of the city you might not be familiar with.

Being a self-professed plant nerd I have saved my favorite for last - the JC Raulston Arboretum. (Photo Below).

This amazing place is actually part of the University and is home to boat loads of amazing plants, winding paths to walk, and plenty of places to have picnics and lay out in the sun if you’re in need of some relaxation. A lot of the cherry trees and daffodils are already in bloom and putting on quite the show. Finally, if you happen to be a graduate student with kids of your own it’s a great place to take the young ones to explore nature!

Enjoy this Spring at State - I hope this post has given you some inspiration!