Using SCED 4200 in my Teaching

SCED 4200 has been my favorite secondary education class. I have learned the most from the interactive activities and assignments in the class. I had not thought much about reading and writing in agriculture, and not only do I know it is possible, I know that it is very important. I have already included many of the activities in the lesson plans I have made for student teaching. In a lesson plan about livestock diseases and parasites, I have included an activity called "Poisoning Balderdash", which has the students guess the definition to poisoning terms like Alfatoxin Poisoing or Pine Needle Abortion. In another lesson plan, I have included a digital literacy activity about careers in the livestock industry that has students look up and watch videos on livestock careers after I show them an example of one. They will then teach the information from the videos to their classmates. Also in the diseases and parasites lesson plan, I will have them create a fact sheet on a parasite. I will provide before, during, and after writing instruction through showing them an example of a fact sheet, having them creating a word web of their ideas that they have learned about that parasite and having them use a rubric to grade their own fact sheet.

Additionally, I have learned how to make writing, reading, critical and digital literacy are essential to student learning. I plan to use critical literacy to teach my students about issues like global warming, factory farms, vegetarians and vegans, animal care, and other controversial issues. I plan to use digital literacy to have them learn about agricultural advocacy online and how to find out more about agriculture topics through online applications and using powerpoint, excel spreadsheets, and other digital media. I want my students to read and write more than they have in their previous agricultural experience.

I am excited to go out and use these strategies as I student teach and teach in my own classroom!

As Written By Ashley Buhler

As Written by Ashley Buhler

Starting in November of 2004, I wrote my thoughts of the day and what I did everyday for four years. I filled up four journals worth of personal writing. As a child, I also wrote songs and short stories. I wrote a few chapters of a book about an underground migrant network for getting Mexican children into the U.S. I think I started writing it after I read Esperanza Rising. My journals mean the world to me. I occasionally read what I wrote on the day in years past to reflect on my experiences and growth. It has been fun to compare my journals with my husband's and see what we were doing on the same days miles apart. I consider myself a writer beyond my journals, as you've probably noticed through my blogs. I love to write my thoughts. It gets them out of my head and somewhere useful where I can sort through them. 

In high school, I loved writing papers. In my senior English class I wrote a 10 page paper on food in Hamlet and Madame Bovary. My thesis statement was: Although different foods represent motifs in Hamlet and Madame Bovary, food plays a role in the downfalls of Gertrude and Madame Bovary. I loved doing the research for the paper and writing about food in classical literature. The words just flowed as I wrote. It turned out being twelve or thirteen pages. While I enjoyed writing English papers, I disliked writing proofs in math. I did not think "Side Angle Side" was a very interesting or exciting thing to write about. My husband loves writing in math, but that's his discipline, not mine. I don't really remember writing anything too in depth in my agriculture classes in high school. When I took English 2010 a few semesters ago and disliked the unguided methods for the papers I was assigned to write. 

Now I write things geared toward teaching and preparing for student teaching. I actually enjoy writing lesson plans and these blogs. I write papers for my Multicultural Foundations and Assessment classes. I try to write in my journal when I get a chance. I update my Facebook status about once a week, but it is never really anything lengthy. 

From what I've learned in high school and college, I want to give my students options in their writing. My high school English teacher gave us options and freedom to write, but within specified guidelines. My English 2010 teacher did not give us enough guidelines with which to know what was expected. I want to give my students freedom, but with defined expectations of their writing. I also want them to do daily quick writes about the topics they are learning about and also about their Supervised Agricultural Experiences that they can use in their record books. 

Why I Read...

Since I was a child, I have loved reading. I do not get to read for enjoyment as often now, but I'm currently reading three books when time allows and listening to a book on tape when I go to work at the dairy. From 8th grade until I went to college, I read 132 books. I recorded the books I read in each school year and summer. I love to read fiction novels. I read a lot of Anita Stansfield and Nicholas Sparks. I also read any books that my husband's cousin writes. Check her books out at www.kearytaylor.com. In school, I loved reading when we got time to read our own books. I didn't mind reading anything that was assigned. In high school, the only book I did not finish reading as assigned was Pride and Prejudice. I love the movie, but I just couldn't get through the book. I didn't like the negative, whiny tone of the book. I read books almost every night as a kid. Sometimes my mom would take away my books for a little while because I wasn't getting enough sleep because I was up reading. I read the 5th Harry Potter book in 2.5 days. My family, especially my grandma and cousins, encouraged me to read the Harry Potter books. My mom and church leaders encouraged me to the Book of Mormon. I've read it most nights since I was 8. Church leaders also encouraged me to read the Bible and other scriptures. Sometimes I really don't like reading scriptures because they are boring and hard to understand, other times I become so happy after reading.

From my experiences, I can help my students find joy in reading. I actually do not read much in the field of agriculture. Sometimes articles about agriculture interest me and I read those. I should start reading more about agriculture so I can be an example to my students of an interested reader of agriculture topics. I quite enjoy reading fact sheets from the extension website when I need or want to learn new things. I can definitely encourage my students to love reading, not matter what it is. I will also encourage them to learn through listening to books on tape. I want to foster a climate in my classroom that allows students to enjoy reading. From my experience with my mom taking my books, I want my students to know that there is a time for reading and a time to do other things. In my 9th grade English class, two boys who sat next to me read the entire class period every day with the teacher's permission. I want my students to be engaged in the lesson. If they enjoy reading so much, I can give them my notes for the day and they can read along as I teach. I could also assign students research projects to read about subjects they are interested in and apply it to agriculture. I will use the reading comprehension strategies we've learned in class to help my students get more out of what they read and feel confident in their reading abilities.

Agriculture from the Dawn of Time

With my parents' engagement picture looking like the one on the right, how could I avoid agriculture? I visited my grandparents' pig farm when I was a week old, showed pigs in my dad's arms at six months, and joined 4-H and FFA like my parents did when they were kids. As the daughter of two pig farmers, I learned the importance of agriculture advocacy. My parents taught me that too many people in the world do not know where their food comes from. They also taught me that we as agriculturalists have the responsibility and privilage of keeping our livelihood alive. My mom raised us in the city, but I do not think there was I day that I didn't hear her talk and dream about having a plot of land to have a farm. When I was in junior high, I wrote on a list of goals that I wanted to never give up my piece of land. I learned from my parents to love 4-H and FFA. My mom was the bigger influence in 4-H and my dad in FFA. My mom enrolled us in all the camps, trainings, and contests we could find time for. She was a 30 year 4-H leader. My dad, on the other hand, admired his agriculture teacher as one of the most influenial people in his life. He cried when I told him I was going to be an ag teacher. He has been so proud of me throughout my years at USU because I took his advice and aspired to be involved in agriculture. I will use the influence my parents had on me to inspire my students to take every opportunity given to them. If my parents wouldn't have helped me seize every 4-H and FFA activity, I would not be where I am today. I got a scholarship to USU from my service as a 4-H ambassador, which was one of the biggest reasons I came to USU. I can use what my mom taught me and what my dad continues to teach me to be the best agricultural advocate I can be.

Intro-This is Me!

Agriculture is 4 Everyone

I'm Ashley Buhler!

Why Ag? I am an agricultural education major because I love FFA, but one day my ultimate goal is to become an 4-H agent. If you don't know what either of those are check out ffa.org or 4h.org and you will discover that Agriculture is 4 Everyone! Yes, I did grow up on a pig farm and the smell radiating from our farm smelled like money to me. Not the actual smell if you were to pick up a dollar bill and sniff it, but the smell of the money my family was making and our successes. We raised pigs for research at the U of U and to show them at the Utah State Fair and other stock shows and fairs. I love agriculture because it has something for everyone. You may not think you are a part of it, but take and look around and you will discover you are not far off. I hope you ate breakfast this morning. Was it bacon, or yogurt or cereal? A wonderful farmer somewhere made your breakfast possible. I made someone's breakfast possible yesterday morning by feeding dairy calves at 3:45am. One day they will produce the milk  that you poured on your cereal or that went into your yogurt. Agriculture is very important and that's why I want to educate people about its impacts.

Who Is this crazy curly haired girl? I grew up in American Fork and ventured to Lehi where the pig farm was located. My mom got me involved in 4-H and FFA and that's what started my love for agriculture. I started school at USU in Fall 2009 to study agriculture. My mom supported me fully until she passed away in a car accident on our way back from my younger sister's FFA State Degree Ceremony. She supported our agriculture endeavors full force. She was a 25 year 4-H leader and a past chapter FFA president. She lived for my sisters and I. Her sacrifices mean the world to me. I went back to USU immediately after her funeral and I met my husband 6 months later. We were married May 28, 2011 in the Idaho Falls, Idaho Temple. We enjoy playing board games, Wii games, watching comedy shows like 2 Broke Girls, The Big Bang Theory and Mike and Molly and others like Covert Affairs and Master Chef. We love going to Aggie Football and Basketball games.

What about literacy? I believe that literacy in agricultural education is important, but not the main focus. In my classroom and labs, students will spend more time doing hands-on activities than reading texts to learn the information. I plan to use textbooks, articles and data sheets to teach the students what they will be doing in the labs. My current definition of literacy is one's ability to read, interpret, and apply texts.