Agriculture (Ag) Cross-Curricular Collaboration

Monday, January 11, 2021, the Salem Hills High Ag teachers hosted our cross-curricular CTE collaboration. It was amazing to see the involvement and support from their FFA officer team. We had Career Technical Education (CTE) teachers from a variety of content areas from the jr high and high school, and counselors attend to gain a better understanding of what our Ag department has to offer. We focused on how we can connect our classes and have a better understanding of what goes on there. Christina Morgan and Corey Warren, our Ag teachers, educated us on the three-circle model of education, floral arrangements, mock FFA events, and ended by touring the animal lab. One of the great things they presented was how class/lab instruction, the FFA student organization (club), and supervised agricultural experience (SAE) are what make up an agricultural education program. 

The hands-on skills that are used in the classroom and labs, help students to apply what they have learned to their real-world SAE projects. These Ag classes and FFA club offers “Premier leadership, personal growth and career success through engagement in FFA programs and activities”.  The FFA officers demonstrated examples of what they do in competition like food science, horse judging, agricultural sales, and agricultural mechanics. It was great for all CTE teachers to realize their classes' connection to the agricultural science curriculum. We focus on intentionally applying multiple academic disciplines simultaneously, as an effective way to teach students transferable problem-solving skills, give real-world meaning to school assignments, and increase engagement and rigor.