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Welcome Back Everyone! The CTE department hopes you are excited to start your year as an agricultural education teacher in Washington State. We live in a truly beautiful location in the nation that has an abundance of agricultural products produced within our borders. Although the weather might vary with the seasons, one of the best parts about starting the school year is that we usually have great weather. On that note, we would like to encourage everyone to host outdoor activities as part of your back-to-school plan with your students. That might include conducting outdoor experiments, introducing them to local agricultural products that grow in your area of the state, visiting an outdoor facility on campus, or simply planning some opportunities to get to know your students in an outdoor setting. Whatever the case may be, breathing in the fresh outside air can have a positive effect on both you and your students.
Another bit of advise we would like to give is "Don't break in a new pair of shoes on the first day of school." Although we always try to look our best as agricultural teachers in the field, we also know the importance of wearing the proper footwear. Your best asset the first few weeks of school is a positive attitude, and that is always so much easier to maintain when you are wearing comfortable shoes.
In addition to these tidbits of wisdom, the September edition of the "Agricultural Education in Action" newsletter provides a variety of back to school essentials. We know how busy the start of the school year can be so we would like to encourage you to check them out at your earliest convenience. There is also a great resource available with tips for starting your school year off right. Good luck as you start this school year and please remember to reach out to Tamara Whitcomb, CTE Program Supervisor for Agricultural Education anytime you have questions.
Source: The Literary Maven, Accessed on 8/29/23.
Many thanks to everyone that submitted their Ag Ed End-of Year-Report this year! We had an outstanding turn out of 94% of agricultural teachers that completed their report in time for the data to be submitted on to the national level. The Agricultural Education End-of-Year Report data has been broken down into useful information and visuals to assist Washington state teachers and programs in planning for the future. We hope this data will also serve to help plan professional development opportunities for our agricultural teachers in the field and be utilized in creating more opportunities for all agricultural education students across Washington state.
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Career and Technical Education (CTE) has an active link on the OSPI website titled CTE Resources and Essentials. This website provides important resources for CTE agricultural education teachers that could prove useful this school year. Check out all the fabulous finds below:
Hello Ag Teachers!
We hope your new school year is off to a great start. We are excited to have a good group of Ag Ed students back on campus and others completing their student teaching internships or pre-internship experiences.
This year, we are excited to be working with two Master of Science in Agriculture Students who are on assistantship and working on projects with us. Kaitlynn Davis, from Pomeroy, Washington, is returning for her second year. We are also excited to welcome Nicole Michol, from Hagerstown, Maryland. These two students will be furthering their education in Agricultural Education while supporting the teaching, research, and outreach efforts of our program. We are grateful for their efforts and high-quality work.
We are preparing to submit applications for CASE Institutes for next summer. If you did not have a chance to complete the survey about preferred offerings at the WAAE Summer Ag Teacher’s Conference. Please take a couple minutes to complete this survey to better inform our application process to meet the needs our WA teachers. https://forms.gle/ieKcqZnBGbfVznJQ8
In an effort to make your jobs a little easier this year, look for the following resources coming across the WAAE ListServ from us:
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CAHNRS Media Round Up – Each Monday we will forward a list of current news articles related to current events and research surrounding all areas of CAHNRS. These are great current events to add to related lessons, include in current event reading activities, or inspire projects such as agriscience research, service learning, or ag issues.
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Teach Ag Activities – We have developed a lot of fun activities to promote our profession. In preparation for National Teach Ag Day on September 21, we will be sending a collection of resources you can use in your classrooms. Feel free to use them for National Teach Ag Day, as sub lessons, or any other time you are promoting careers in ag.
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CAHNRS Challenge – Be on a lookout for a special CAHNRS Challenge coming to a classroom near you.
Have a great school year!
GO COUGS!
Anna and JD
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Kaitlynn Davis and Nicole Michol
Happy Back to School Washington Owls!
Hope you are having a great first week back to school. I wanted to provide a few updates and information to assist with your planning needs.
Please make sure to send any district calendars to Randi Krieg by emailing her at randi.krieg@gsd404.org, so we can get calendars up to date. We appreciate your help with this.
WAAE Fall Executive meeting will be held via Zoom on October 13. Information will be sent out to District Presidents a few weeks before hand. Plan on having a potential start time of 4:00–4:30pm, so that we are done earlier in the evening. Please send any district concerns to your District Presidents or representatives ahead of time.
The WAAE FFA Committee will have a Zoom meeting prior to the WAAE Fall Executive meeting. Andy Williams will send out information to Ag teachers with regard to the date and time of that meeting. Any district FFA concerns should be sent to your FFA committee representatives prior to that meeting.
If you have any questions, concerns, or ideas to share, please contact Lori Sanderson at lsanderson@lrschools.org
Have a great year everyone!
Lori Sanderson
Lind–Ritzville Middle/High School
WAAE President
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 The NAAE National #TeachAg Day celebration will take place on Thursday, September 21, 2023. NAAE National #TeachAg Day is for anyone who wants to celebrate school-based agricultural education, share the story of agricultural education’s importance and effectiveness in the United States, and encourage students to consider careers as school-based agriculture teachers.
NAAE National #TeachAg Day is an initiative of NAAE as part of the National Teach Ag Campaign. Funding support for NAAE National #TeachAg Day is made possible by the CHS Foundation and BASF. Check out all ways you and your students can get involved this year as part of the National #TeachAg Day campaign.
Source: National Association of Agriculture Educators, Accessed on 8/29/23.
To assist all FFA advisors in the field. the FFA Association has provided links to common documents that are great resources when you are just starting out. These resources can also be found on the Washington FFA Association website.
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Washington FFA state staff are working to finalize the details for our fall state Career Development Events (CDE's). Registration will open on September 15. All events are currently on the state calendar and while there may be changes, our tentative dates and locations are listed so you can start planning.
October 10–State Rangeland (tentatively scheduled for Wild Horse Wind Farm awaiting conference room confirmation)
November 8–State Land Evaluation (Grant County)
November 15–State Tractor Driving and Potato Evaluation (Grant County Fairgrounds, Moses Lake)
December 6–State Apple Evaluation-Tri-Cities (Three Rivers Convention Center, Yakima)
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Evergreen Leadership Tour is the "kick-off" event to our membership year! Washington state officers and state staff spend the week traveling across the state of Washington hosting workshops, meeting members and advisors, and sharing our excitement about FFA. Check out the schedule provided to help with your planning.
Monday – October 2
9:00am – Colfax High School (District 6)
5:30pm – Deer Park High School (District 5)
Tuesday – October 3
9:00am – Quincy High School (District 9)
2:30pm – Okanogan Agriplex (District 7)
Wednesday – October 4
9:00am – Columbia Burbank High School (District 4)
Thursday – October 5
9:00am – SW WA Fairgrounds (Districts 3 and 8)
5:30pm – Enumclaw High School (District 2)
Friday – October 6
9:00am – Stanwood Camano Fairgrounds (District 1)
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Each year, agricultural education programs across the state plan activities for students to build their leadership skills. To document these activities, each school district that offers agricultural education courses is required to submit either an FFA chapter Program of Activities (POA) or turn in a Leadership Equivalency Program of Work (POW) by November 1. Resources are available on the Washington FFA Association website to assist your students in planning activities. Please submit documents as a Word or PDF version via email to Tamara Whitcomb at: tamara.whitcomb@k12.wa.us |
Washington state FFA chapters look forward to attending and competing at National FFA Convention each year. This year's convention is scheduled for November 1–4 in Indianapolis, Indiana. To prepare for your FFA chapter experience, you are welcome to visit the National FFA Convention and Expo website for information on registration, activities, and a preliminary schedule of events. National FFA will continue to update information on the website as we approach National FFA Convention.
National Convention Housing is also open for booking! Washington FFA has a state block open to only Washington FFA chapters. Hotel information, important booking dates, and additional details can be found on our website under Events/National FFA Convention or by accessing the link provided.
Tentative schedules for the Career and Leadership Development Events and the Finals Hall schedule have also been posted for planning purposes. For easy access, go to the "Event Orientation" for your CDE/LDE on FFA.org.
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National FFA Signs MOU With MANRRS
Last month, during the State Officer Summit, the National FFA Organization and Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANNRS) signed a memorandum of understanding to create a formative alliance to grow diversity, equity and inclusion in agriculture. Read more here.
Fall Semester–Long Grant: Application Open
This grant provides middle/high school FFA chapters with up to $1,200 per semester to implement a service–learning project in their community for one semester. The application closes Friday, September 8. Apply today!
2024 Next Gen Conferences Announced
The Next Gen conferences for 2024 have been set! Do you have students interested in ag communications, food products and processing systems, or environmental services and natural resources? Next Gen allows them to explore pathways through informational sessions, panels, and tours. Applications are now open.
Visit here for more information and to apply.
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