Hired! Teacher Candidate Olivia Murphy-Sweet Hired by Peace Corps #psuaged16

Name that place: 

Area:  196, 722 square miles, slightly smaller than South Dakota
Climate: tropical, hot and humid 
Population:  13,975,834 
Last Hint: Will be the new home of a Penn State Teacher Candidate?  

 If you guessed Senegal, you guessed correctly!  Ms. Olivia Murphy-Sweet has been selected to serve as a Sustainable Agriculture Specialist Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal departing in September!

Throughout her time at Penn State, Olivia was engaged in academics and student organizations.  She was involved in Teach Ag! Society and the Omega Phi Alpha Community Service Sorority.  Olivia has an  International Agriculture minor which led her to Belize to conduct undergraduate research.  It was this experience that led her to the Peace Corps.  "After doing my research project in Belize this past summer, I knew that I could do Peace Corps because of my passion for agriculture and working internationally in different communities. I enjoy integrating myself in new cultures."  She credits Melanie Miller Foster for pushing her through her research and out of her comfort zone.  After completing her research Olivia, with the help of International Agriculture Instructor and Minor Coordinator Dr. Daniel Tobin, applied for the Peace Corps.  

Olivia will participate in various projects in Senegal serving
with the Peace Corps. 

Olivia will be living in a Senegalese community engaging with local community members and farmers to improve their food security.  The goals of the agriculture project in Senegal include: improving crop management skills and intensifying fruit and vegetable production.  These goals are accomplished through various community projects with the help of Peace Corps volunteers.  "Peace Corps allows me the time to fully integrate myself into a community and then they allow me to work on my own projects."  Olivia is most excited to meet new people and see how her experiences gained as part of the Penn State Ag Ed program will benefit both her and her community.  

Olivia has spent the last 15 weeks student teaching at Walter Biddle High School with Ms. Tiffany Turrentine and Ms. Jessica McAtemeney.  "Ag Ed has taught me numerous ways of planning and mapping out problems to finding solutions." Through her training at Penn State and also her student teaching experience in Philadelphia, Olivia has gained more skills in patience and observation before altering any situation. "Ag Ed skills are crucial in international development if you are working in the agriculture sector."  

Ms. Tiffany Turrentine and Olivia with the ferrets from the
animal lab. 

Her skills in agricultural education and experiences internationally will guide her as she discovers different perspectives throughout Senegal. A new language, new community and new ideas can come with a little hesitation.  Thankfully Olivia has her Penn State and immediate family behind her 100%.  "I have a strong network of family and friends." Olivia's advice?  "Don't be afraid to do your own thing.  It's okay to be selfish and see the world!"  Good Luck Olivia, and Congratulations!  If you would like to read more about Olivia's experience and her future work in Senegal, check out her blog and the Peace Corps Senegal Website.  

To learn more about starting on the path to having a career that makes a positive impact on the lives of students across the globe by becoming an agricultural educator, please contact the agricultural teacher education program at teachag@psu.edu. Follow us on Twitter at TeachAgPSU, on Facebook, or on our blog.

Kayla Hack

Student Blogger

Twitter Handle: @hackkayla

2017 Agriculture Education Student Teacher

Are you ready to impact the world? Global Learning in Agriculture Conference 2016 (#GLAG16)

" #GLAG16 is over. Let's stay motivated to continue to make Ag Education our focus point," was one of the many tweets in the Global Learning and Agriculture Conference twitter challenge. Gaspari was a participant and presenter at the Global Learning and Agriculture Conference hosted online by the Penn State Teach Ag! Team.  The Global Learning in Agriculture Conference, GLAG for short, is a place for innovation and collaboration, and a time for educators to come together to develop global learning. This year’s conference was hosted in an online format which allowed stakeholders from all over the country and world to share their experiences in global learning.  

Megan Miller and Pat Henne, Agriculture Teachers
from Michigan were 2 of the presenters at #GLAG16

A virtual conference?  How does that work, and how is it engaging?  From presentations pertaining to taking high school students on an immersion experience abroad, to learning how to bring the World to our classrooms, the day was packed with intriguing topics, including a keynote address. Dr. Caitlin Haugen, an Education Program Specialist with the Peace Corps shared her expertise on “Curating Partnerships in Developing Global Competence: The task of  21st Century K-20 Educators”  delivered by Dr.  Caitlin Haugen, an Education Program Specialist with the Peace Corps.

"Conference in a Box"
"Thank you" to all our
vendors!

The day didn’t stop there, throughout the presentations all of the participants could participate in questions posted by presenters as well as enjoy their "Conference in a Box" sent ahead of time.  Participants didn’t have to worry about not having someone to share their ideas or ‘light-bulb’ moments with, over 370 tweets were shared before, during and after the conference to keep the conversation rolling.  Check out the archived conversation is archived conversation here: #GLAG16.  

Top 5 Resources:

1. Mapping the Nation: A perfect resource to show your students how global your state is!

2. Test your Hunger Knowledge: Find out your hunger knowledge, more about your personality and how YOU can fight hunger. 

3. VIF International Education: Develop yourself as a Global Educator and learn how to continue globalizing yourself and your classroom in an online format. 

4. Experiential Tools:  This website and resources are perfect for reflection practices while traveling abroad with students. 

5. Peace Corps World Wise Schools: World Wise Schools promotes global learning and allows teachers to connect with return or current Peace Corps Volunteers.  Dr. Caitlin Haugen,  Education Program Specialist for the Peace Corps and keynote speaker at the Global Learning and Agriculture Conference, spoke very highly of this program!

Top 5 Tweets:

#GLAG16 kicks off in just 24 hours!! Have you seen all of the sneak peeks from our presenters yet? Check them out! https://t.co/TtwfTC0afW

— Global Teach Ag (@globalteachag) January 7, 2016

@HeinertSeth Would be awesome if chapters/teams could earn xtra points for connecting their Ag Issue to a Global Issue? @skvincent1? #GLAG16

— Daniel D. Foster (@FosterDanielD) January 8, 2016

"It's not the same in every country, and it shouldn't be" @4H @kirkastroth I love this acknowledgement. #contextmatters #GLAG16

— Paige Castellanos (@paigec_psu) January 8, 2016

"Global competence is thinking beyond your own 'filter'" #GLAG16 Fantastic statement

— Blaze Currie (@BlazeCurrie) January 8, 2016

LOVE the idea of 4-H and FFA working TOGETHER #GLAG16 let's expand our reach for international experiences @4H @NationalFFA

— Sarabeth Royer (@sb_royer) January 8, 2016

To learn more about starting on the path to having a career that makes a positive impact on the lives of students across the globe by becoming an agricultural educator, please contact the agricultural teacher education program at teachag@psu.edu. Follow us on Twitter at TeachAgPSU, on Facebook, or on our blog. 

Kayla Hack

Student Blogger

Twitter Handle: @hackkayla

2017 Agriculture Education Student Teacher

World Wisdom with Weaver - Wrapping It All Up!

Kayla Hack and I at World Food Prize (October)

"Wrapping it all up" - do you see what I did there?!  :) 

Happy December to you all! As 2014 draws to a close and many of us begin the holiday festivities, I know that we can't help but reflect on the year that has unfolded. This has been one of my best, and most challenging years - I had a baby, I took a semester off of teaching, and I took the role of PSU Teach Ag! Fellow while completing my M.Ed.

Last December, I had decided that I wanted to finish my M.Ed. but had no idea how it'd be possible to accomplish this with a baby on the way and no ability to take summers to study at PSU. Then came the idea of the educational leave. My school was so generous to grant me this opportunity and I'm thankful that I was given this chance to improve myself personally and professionally. It's amazing to me how things somehow work out!

The biggest question I ask myself is "would you do it all over again if you had the chance?"and the response would be YES! Now, I was naive about some things - I didn't quite realize the learning curve I had for becoming a mother, which complicated the learning curve I had as a grad student - but I think this experience has made me stronger, more confident in myself as a person and teacher, and has reinvigorated me as an educator. I look forward to returning to the classroom and employing what I've learned to my students.

Through my work, I met amazing people like the coordinators for World Food Prize and the state youth institute coordinators. Amazing people doing amazing work to help our students grow in global competence. Through  my work as a grad student, I hope to bring those same opportunities to more of our Pennsylvania students so they can experience the amazing program that is the World Food Prize and Global Youth Institute.

My wonderful husband, Jesse!

I'm forever a changed person from this experience and I'm so thankful that I was given this opportunity. I wish to thank my professors and mentors at Penn State who guided me through this process and who will push me this spring to finish my research and walk across that stage in May! I also want to thank Twin Valley School District for believing in me enough to let me take off a semester and go "do my thing." It's not everyday that you find yourself working for a district that "gets you" and lets you wander off for a few months! I want to thank my mother, father and sister who traveled to PSU several times to help me take care of my son, and who also were his primary caregivers during my multiple trips! And of course, I'd like to thank my husband and son who were flexible, supportive and overall just wonderful for sacrificing so that I could do this.

Finally, I'd like to thank you, reader, for taking time out of your day to check out my blogs. If you ever want to look back at them, go ahead and CLICK HERE! and you'll find them! I know my mom (in true mom fashion) has kept a printed binder of all my posts, so you could always ask her, too! There are some pretty good little nuggets of ideas and curriculum for incorporating global learning into your classroom. I hope that in the new year you'll employ a few and work towards improving global competency among ourselves as professionals as well as our students.

David wishes you all a Merry Christmas! (photo: CarrieKizuka)

As for this experience, would I recommend it to others? Absolutely! As part of my duties as a fellow, I developed a description of the position so that, while I was the first Global Teach Ag! Fellow, I will hopefully not be the last! This is a remarkable experience and I hope that other Ag. teachers in PA will realize that every so often, we need to take a break to reinvigorate and re-inspire ourselves. It can be daunting to do what we do year in and year out; we work harder than a lot of teachers just by the nature of our job, and we need the ability to charge our batteries and come back stronger. These last few months did that for me!

Although this is my last official post, I am still around if you need me and always willing and passionate to talk about global learning. Over the next few months, I'll try to stop in and share some of what I'm doing in the classroom. I hope that the last few weeks of 2014 are blessed and happy for you and your family and that 2015 is your best year yet!

(photo: Carrie Kizuka photography)

Agriculturally Yours,

Nicole Weaver
PSU Global Teach Ag! Fellow
Agricultural Science Teacher

@TeamWeaverFever
TeamWeaverFever@gmail.com

Digital Early Field Pre-Service Teaching Experiences: A Virtual Partnership between Minnesota & Penn State

They say never say “never”…..and it rings true!  I have always said, I never want to take an online class and I would never want to teach one, well… I was wrong!  This semester Janae Bickhart (@JanaeBickhart) and I were give the opportunity to be teaching assistance for a class in Minnesota from Penn State!  Yep, it all happened in Ferguson Building room 206 on Penn State's campus at University Park. It was unique, it was real and it was innovative.

Mr. Eric Sawatzke (@ESawatzke), Agriscience Teacher and FFA Advisor at Dassel-Cokato High School leads a unique, real and innovative program in Minnesota.  Eric will take a group of students to South Africa in August to engage in international agriculture.  To develop global agriculture learning objectives and asses global competency in a high school Global Agriculture and Agribusiness classroom, Dassel-Cokato Agriculture Program and Penn State Global Teach Ag! formed a partnership.   Janae Bickhart, 2015 AEE student teacher candidate and myself, Kayla Hack, 2017 student teacher candidate signed up for the challenge. 

How did this happen?

"The ability to talk to someone outside of our school.
 Gave us a second view on things."- Dassel Cakota Student

Every Friday the teaching assistants would video chat with the students in MN to teach a lesson.  The focus: Global Agriculture.  Lessons ranged from hunger issues worldwide to the importance of cooperatives as an agriculture business model for developing nations.  As teaching assistants we engaged virtually in the classroom Fridays and assisted with other 
grading and homework guidance. 

"It was something different, it made class more fun. I actually looked forward to Fridays not just because of the week end, but because of being able to talk to Penn State. It made the class way more interesting!"- Dassel Cokato Student

This opportunity was unique, it was taught from an office weekly to students across the country. 

It was real, the students through video were real, interactive, funny and impressive high school students that took an interest in global agriculture. We received real experience teaching lessons and using innovative technology.

It was innovative, when something is new creativity ripples, adapting lessons to be taught virtually while students were still able to have concrete and reflective experiences in class took creativity. This opportunity provided professional development for a pre-service agricultural 
educator and a twist on classroom learning. 

Unique. Real. Innovative. - Penn State Teach Ag!


To learn more about the PSU Global Teach Ag! Initiative check out our website: http://aese.psu.edu/teachag/global.  

Yours in trying new opportunities,

Kayla



Kayla Hack
Global Teach Ag! Intern
2017 Agricultural Education Student Teacher Candidate
@HackKayla

World Wisdom With Weaver - More Global Classroom Activities!

So, I've been working feverishly on my M.Ed. project and finding resources left and right. I came across one that I think has some really fun potential and wanted to share it! It's some curriculum that is global and STEM related. What great buzz words!

The group is called "Practical Action" and their main goal is to use technology to alleviate poverty in developing countries. They work in over 45 developing countries around the world.

One section of their website includes lesson plans that utilize problem solving and critical thinking to develop solutions to real-world global issues. The one I found first is called The Squashed Tomato Challenge and deals with tomato farmers in Nepal. Did you know that tomato production is HUGE in Nepal?! Well, it is! This lesson teaches students about the tomato industry in Nepal and a common problem that farmers in the higher altitude regions face when harvesting and transporting their product to the local markets. The lesson includes links to teacher notes, students, certificates and helpful videos. I plan to try this out in my classroom!

Want something else? Well then check out their STEM Challenges Page. It includes lessons for "Beat the Flood," "Wind Power," and more! 

Another link under the Global CREST Challenges includes even more activities. From their website:

Global CREST challenges are based around Practical Action's work, which uses science and technology to address global issues such as energy, water and food. They give students a real insight into how science and technology can be used to tackle challenges faced by communities in the developing world, and how they can be part of the solution. 

Check it out and I hope it helps you in the classroom! Let me know if you use any of these lessons! I'd like to see what is done with the challenges!

Agriculturally yours,

Nicole Weaver
PSU Global Teach Ag! Fellow
Agricultural Science Educator

@TeamWeaverFever

World Wisdom With Weaver - Multicultural Activities for the Classroom!

I know from years of teaching that this time in the school year is such fun - class holiday parties, assemblies, decorations throughout the halls. But these next few weeks can also be frustrating when trying to maintain focus, discipline and the drive to continue with the curriculum when the students have turkeys, cornucopias, sugarplums and holiday breaks on their mind.  I also know it's frustrating when family vacations coincide with these weeks and take students out of class for long periods of time.

My challenge to you is to see this time as a chance to broaden student minds. Take advantage of those days of "holiday ennui" when the students are antsy and you are just waiting for that bell to ring. I am supplying you in this blog with some activities you can use in class to promote multicultural learning and help students with cultural perspective. Most are lighthearted on the surface, and can help to get excess energy out, but they lead to good and deep discussions. 

Keep these in your toolkit to pull out when necessary. And hey, add one that I may have missed (just comment below - I'll even send you a little something if you do! Well, I mean as long as you email me your address!)

• BARNGA - We played this game at the Global Learning in Agriculture Conference (#GLAG14) that was held November 7-8. It was a blast! It's a basic card game that has a great deal of teachable moments and discussion starting points. Most kids will get wrapped up in the game, but will then will have their minds blown when you start to point out some of the inner workings of what is happening. I have linked a few resources on the Global Agriculture Space on NAAE Communities of Practice. Check it out! 

• Penn State Resources - the College of Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Research and Cooperative Extension has developed (from what I could find) these two online resources that includes over 20 different activities. Not all are gold, but there are some good nuggets in there. Most are generalized, but can be tweaked to be more "global" and agricultural with some slight changes. Here are some of my favorites.

1. Diversity Activities - My favorite from this one is Proverbs. It's a neat activity that could potentially lead to some other discussions or lessons. As an extension, it might be cool to research some of these sayings and find their origin in the culture.
2. More Diversity Activities for Youth and Adults - From this one I liked Unequal Resources. It's made to fit economic diversity as I interpreted it, but easily you could change this to different "resources" that are unequal. 

• Global Education Activities - This WEBSITE has links to all kinds of activities. These ones are more agriculturally minded, but have some great messages. Not all are for High School level, but there are several that are and can be used effectively in an Ag. classroom.

Enjoy the time leading up to these next two holiday breaks!

Agriculturally Yours,

Nicole Weaver

PSU Global Teach Ag! Fellow

TeamWeaverFever@gmail.com

@TeamWeaverFever

World Wisdom with Weaver - Global Learning in Agriculture #GLAG14

Well, it seems that the temperatures in the north are starting to really match up to the time of year. This weekend I spent my time in blustery, but fun, Penn State!

From November 7-8, the College of Agricultural Sciences hosted the first "Global Learning in Agriculture" (#GLAG14) conference. Over 50 teachers, undergrads, professors, and professionals met at the Atherton Hotel to learn together.

I was fortunate enough to be a part of this two day event and was able to learn so much from those who spoke and shared.

Krista Pontius shares her travel experiences.

The first evening kicked off with some keynote presentations on lessons learned from experience by Dr. Kenneth Cushner (Kent State) and Dr. Kirby Barrick (UFL).

Dr. Melanie Miller Foster (@GlobalMelanie) shared with us a very fun presentation on Risk Management. Although a serious topic to consider when taking students abroad, she definitely managed to make it an engaging presentation.

I also enjoyed the two group presentations of the night. The first was led by Eric Sawatzke (@ESawatzke), an Agricultural Science teacher from Minnesota. He's currently working with our very own Kayla Hack (@HackKayla) and Janae Bickhart (@JanaeBickhart) to develop curriculum for his classes that involves distance education from these two amazing young ladies. They reflected on their experiences with this class so far and all that they are learning and creating.

The group assembles and mingles!

After that, Megan Merrill (@megan_merrill), an Agriculture Science Teacher from Springport, Michigan, and Jeff Garrison of the AEC Spanish Institute discussed their experience working together to provide Megan's students with a study abroad opportunity to Turrialba, Costa Rica. It was really interesting to hear how Megan put the trip together so quickly and was able to provide such a unique and engaging experience for her students.

On the second day, we got down to the nitty-gritty!  

(L-R) Jeff Garrison, Eric Sawatzke, David Bittner

Dr. Cushner led an AMAZING learning experience for the group. We discussed the concept of Intercultural Development and the hangups that we have to consider when learning to become more intercultural in our thinking and teaching. To illustrate some of the concepts, we played a game called "Barnga" and considered perceptions and misconceptions can cause barriers to our growth. We learned about Robert Hanvey's Dimensions of a Global Perspective and worked on ways to integrate these concepts into our lessons. 

After lunch, we were treated to a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Andrew Thoron of the University of Florida. The panel consisted of a professor (Dr. Dennis Buffington, PSU CAS Professor Emeritus of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Distinguished Professor of Moscow State Agro-Engineering), a current Ag. Teacher (Krista Pontius, Greenwood PA Agriscience Teacher, NAAE Region VI Vice President, Past PAAE President, @KristaPontius) and a current AEE undergrad (Jasmine Graybill, PSU AEE Major, 2015 Student Teacher, @JasmineGraybill). This panel discussed their experiences with traveling, learning and teaching abroad and their plans and dreams to incorporate global learning into classrooms.

Dr. Cushner is just amazing!

We ended the day with some excited group brainstorming sessions and some challenges from the group, specifically, "Wouldn't it be cool if". Each participant walked away with a vast amount of resources, prizes, and a text on Global Learning. 

In the coming months, we plan to continue our growth by discussing the books on NAAE CoP as well as posting lessons and ideas to the site as well (Space: Global Agriculture).

It was an exciting and inspiring weekend. I like that it was a mix of people at different places in their careers and working in the field of global learning and competency in different ways. It was an atmosphere of sharing and collaboration and I feel confident that good things are to come from this group of highly motivated and global-passionate people!

If you didn't attend, you truly missed out! 

Agriculturally Yours,

Nicole Weaver

PSU Global Teach Ag! Fellow

Agriscience Educator

TeamWeaverFever@gmail.com

@TeamWeaverFever

Got to share the experience with my wonderful former student, Jill Gordon!

World Wisdom With Weaver - Global Learning Blogging!

I'm a surfer. No, not the sun-kissed glistening skin, bleach blonde, "gnarly" dude surfer. I'm a web surfer. Yes, the internet can suck you in to a vortex of funny cat videos, kids being adorable, 50 pins that I'll never actually do, etc. But, it can also be a realm of knowledge, growth, and new ideas to challenge and expand your horizons.

And it connects us to people from all over the world - different cultures, races, religions, ideas - who can share ideas.

In short, global learning and the ever-expanding internet are pretty much hand in hand.  Through this blog series, I've found that to be an ever constant fact. I'm honored to share my insight and discoveries with you, but there are plenty of others out there who are more well-traveled, more eloquent and writing more about global competency!

For this entry, I sought to find other bloggers who are using the Internet to share their ideas and experiences of global learning.

In particular, I'm going to highlight five resources:

1. Matador Network - @MatadorNetwork (also @MatadorU) This isn't a blog per se, but it is a vast resource of travel information and first-hand experiences from people who are living, working, thriving, and writing about travel. In particular, I found an interesting article written about the American vs. European view of travel (Americans Need a Thesis Statement for Travel). I enjoyed the article thoroughly. Now, teachers, some of this content is not G-rated, so I suggest pre-viewing before sharing. But it has some great insight from people who travel. A great resource to use with students. Their contributors come from all over the world and share stories about travel, living in other countries, learning culture, and taking photographs. 

2. Education Week - @educationweek Yes, once again, this isn't a blog I've given you, but please open THIS LINK. On the page are several blogs about teachers and international education/global learning. You have to register to read the entirety of most of the articles, but they have a FREE option (it lets you read three articles/blogs per month. Or you can subscribe for about $60 a year). Some ones of note?

• A Global Artology Program - Guest blogger Jamaine Smith discussed this program developed by a Build A Bridge initiative. Students from Philadelphia spent weeks over the summer in an experiential learning program. It enlisted the help of artists, science teachers and medical students to develop the curriculum. They worked in and around Philadelphia doing various activities and then got to speak to students from Ecuador as part of the program. I highly recommend the read - cool stuff happening here!
•  Real World Connections to Global Learning - I like how this blog discusses how the blogger's school has incorporated global learning into multiple academic disciplines. Meghan Sullivan covers efforts from the World History teachers to the French teacher and even discusses how they partnered with Proctor and Gamble in regards to clean water. They have typically done a lesson on water where they collected water to test the quality. Proctor and Gamble provided them with a lesson on "Children's Safe Drinking Water Campaign" and water filter packets. The students then had to clean the water with the packets provided.

3. The NEA Foundation - Global Learning Fellow This blog series (you have to scroll down toward the bottom of the page to link to the blogs) followed a group of 30 teachers who traveled to China in June of this year. It was part of a year-long fellowship. There was one in 2013 to Brazil. 

4. Global Learning Partners - BLOG - "Speaking of Dialogue" This blog has some fun posts about global learning. I encourage you to stop by and check out a few!

5. Shady Side Academy - Global Learning Blog This one is so cool! The students at Shady Side Academy are able to participate in diverse travel programs that take them across the globe and involve them in culture, service experiences and more! This blog is in the words of the very students who are traveling - a great way to show your students the benefits of travel!

Do you have any to add? Please comment below! 

Oh and hey! Have you checked out the NAAE CoP Global Agriculture page? You haven't?!? Well, HERE IS THE LINK - Global Agriculture Space. It's a great place to collaborate with other teachers, share your ideas/curriculum and get ideas from others regarding global learning in agriculture! Let's make it a great resource for everyone!

Agriculturally Yours,

Nicole Weaver

PSU Global Teach Ag! Fellow

Agriculture Science Teacher

@TeamWeaverFever

#TheNextNorm World Food Prize: Perspectives from the Global Teach Ag! Intern

The World Food Prize is an event to recognize those that are taking on “The Greatest Challenge in Human History”, feeding the world by improving food systems and quality.   Norman Borlaug is at the heart and history of this event.   Dr. Borlaug is known as the father of the green revolution and credited with saving millions of lives because of his research.   He was a Nobel Peace Prize winner and hoped to have an award to recognize others in food and agricultural improvement.  The World Food Prize was started as a result of that.  Paired with the World Food Prize was the Global Youth Institute, where students from across the country took on “the greatest challenge in human history”, researching their way to being #TheNextNorm

So what is this hashtag #thenextnorm all about?  It is about giving students opportunities and avenues to find and research ideas to become the next Norman Borlaug, and to challenge the norm of society around the world.  I have no doubt the roomed filled with over 150 students held “The Next Norm”.  

Students sharing their research!

These “next norms” are innovative, inspiring and they are our future. As one of the speakers said, in some generations put a man on the moon or created the computer, this generation will  feed the world.  The students at the Youth Institute did not take that lightly, they chose a developing country, one factor effecting that countries food insecurity, and came up with solutions to improve food systems through anything from education to infrastructure.  As they shared their findings with a panel of experts,  their passion and determination filled the room.

Agricultural Education around the country differs, but if we want one thing to tie it together, maybe it should be Global Agriculture.  Why?  My question is why not?  These student proved it to me this week, as a high school student stood in front of laureates, expert faculty and his peers and said, “We came up with a whole list of problems… ..but we came up with two pages of solutions.”  They made me want to learn more on my own, research on my own and join them.  

2014 Laureate, Dr. Rajaram shared a conversation that happened between him Dr. Borlaug, and it applies here as well. He said, It didn’t happen right away but it was a process involving a global team.  We have a team, are you willing to join us?

Check out what Secretary Vilsack had to say to encourage young people in agriculture!

World Wisdom With Weaver - Global Learning with Infographics

Yes, I know, Diane Glock-Cornman is our tech guru...but at the World Food Prize/Global Youth Institute, I had the awesome opportunity to take part in a teacher's professional workshop hosted by Donna Nesbitt (Director of GlobalEd Network of Central Ohio). She is also a consultant with the Asia Society. Although this organization is devoted to promoting understanding and developing relationships between Asia and the United States, they have a large collection of education materials that can be applied to global learning in a much larger context. Check out their Educational Resources for some ideas.

At the WFP/GYI, Donna led a group of educators from around the country in a lesson centered on infographics.  First, Donna defined global competence - "The knowledge, capacity, and disposition to understand and act on the dynamic interrelated global issues that confront humanity."

Then, we discussed 4 aspects of a globally competent student - the ability to Investigate the World, to Recognize Perspectives, to Communicate Ideas, and finally to Take Action. (Global Competency Matrix)

Finally, Donna provided us with an activity to develop an infographic. Not sure what an infographic is? I'm sure you've seen one...

Infographics are  visual way of representing information to an audience. These can be used for a variety of topics, but are utilized quite well for the concepts discussed in a global leadership curriculum or class. Infographics are also a way for the lesson to be SAGE (Student Choice, Authentic Tasks, Global Impact, Exhibition to an Audience). These are absolutely relevant and authentic tasks as they are used in a wide variety of professions. Students are probably pretty well-versed in these already! This lesson would be great to culminate a unit on global issues.

So, how do you use this in class?  Start by introducing infographics as a way to represent data. Then students will do this:

• Choose an issue
• Define your position on the issue.
• Gather numerical data.
• Identify your audience
• Choose the best format to tell a story with the data.
• Choose design elements like colors and symbols
• Create the infographic
• Get feedback on your infographic.

You can provide students an article or source of data, or you can give them free reign on the issue/information.  Be sure to check all sources for validity.  

As far as making the infographic - there are many options! Students can choose "old-school" and can make one with paper. Particularly artistic students may even prefer this as they can cut apart  magazines or create drawings and juxtapose images with content. Students who are kinesthetic/artistic may prefer this method. Student who prefer technology can try their hand at creating one on the computer. They can simply use Publisher, Powerpoint, or Word. If they want to get a little more creative, here are some websites that provide free (or free versions) programs to help create infographics:

• Google Developers - You can create a website that is is an operational infographic. 
• Easel.ly (get it?!) This is a free web-based infographic tool that offers a dozen or so free templates to start, and these are able to customize to fit your needs. There is a library with shapes like arrows and shapes and you can even upload your own graphics and photos to use.
• Piktochart - This is the one a fellow teacher at my worktable recommended to me. She has been using it for a while and enjoys it. You can modify fonts and color schemes, and it has some pre-loaded graphics and basic shapes and images. There's a free version of this, or you can really commit and upgrade to a pro account (about $170 per year)
• Visual.ly (get it?!) This site makes infographics, videos, web experiences, and presentations. This one is cool because you can easily share the infographics you create on social media (There's that "exhibition to an audience" piece!!)
• Venngage - This one was pretty awesome and I think the one that I'll be using in my International Agriculture Leadership class the next semester. It's easy, it's free and you can publish your infographics! You can even animate them!

So, get started! Your students are sure to love this engaging and interactive way to use technology and data to learn more about global agriculture. Please share your results in the comments, or even tell us about other infographic websites we can use! Sharing is caring :)

Agriculturally yours,

Nicole Weaver

PSU Global Teach Ag! Fellow

Agricultural Science Educator

@TeamWeaverFever

World Wisdom with Weaver - Ms. Weaver goes to World Food Prize!

Des Moines @ Night (view from Hotel Room)

Oh readers! The last ten days have been some of the most remarkable of my life! I am beyond excited to share my experiences with you, so sit back, relax, and enjoy reading my tales of World Food Prize!

Each year, the humble city of Des Moines, Iowa busts at the seams as hundreds of scientists, politicians, professionals, researchers, students, teachers and others descend upon it for the World Food Prize. Begun in 1986, this event was initiated by Norman Borlaug to (from the website): "recognize - without regard to race, religion, nationality, or political beliefs - the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world." 

Each year, since 1987, a Laureate has been named and awarded a monetary prize through a sponsorship funded by businessman and philanthropist, John Ruan. The World Food Prize event allows committed parties from all over the world to come together, share, challenge, and try to solve the issue of providing food for the population. 

Kayla and I in the lobby 

I arrived Wednesday night and was soon joined by my roommate and partner-in-learning for the event, Kayla Hack (@HackKayla), the PSU Global Teach Ag! Intern. We were both a little nervous and unsure of what to expect, but we're both adventurous, so we were ready to see what WFP had to offer! Our first day there, we traveled to the Marriott Hotel and were immediately immersed in the hustle and bustle of the event. We zoomed up to the 2nd floor and joined one of the Borlaug Dialogues being held there. The first was a round table discussion on Soil Health and Fertilizer. Then we were honored to hear Dr. Pamela Anderson (Director of Agricultural Development, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) address the group.

Kayla and I were lucky enough to meet Dr. Emma!

Next, came a presentation regarding the development of the African smallholder and women's education. This was also my favorite presentation of the entire event. Dr. Emma Naluyima Mugerwa was dynamic, interesting, inspiring and humorous all at once! Her presentation was magical and had every person in the room wanting to drop everything and return with her to Uganda to help her realize her dreams! If you can, I recommend you checking out the WEBCASTS from the event. They were all so interesting.

At the luncheons we were served meals that centralized or highlighted particular foods or people - our first meal centered on the soybean, and the other meals honored the keynote speakers including Dr. Rajaram, the 2014 WFP Laureate! Delicious meals and great company! We met a family farmer from England who had been nominated to attend by his county, a specialist in animal genomics and biotechnology who makes educational parodies of hit songs, and an adviser for a company that provides micro-financing to name a few!

Dr. Rajaram receives his award at the luncheon

But, the World Food Prize wasn't the only event occurring! In addition to the esteemed participants of the event, there were 170 students accompanied by their teachers, parents or advisors attending the Global Youth Institute. These students had developed a research paper detailing information on a country and issue they chose. These ranged from water quality in India to infrastructure of Japan and providing hot lunches to children in Bolivia. They mingled with the World Food Prize participants and participated in learning sessions during the week.

Borlaug and Ruan family members!

Teachers also challenged themselves. There was a teacher professional development workshop that I attended with Kayla. We learned some techniques to incorporate global learning into the classroom (I'll share in a future blog!).  We even met up with fellow Pennsylvanian Tiffany Turrentine (teacher at W.B. Saul HS in Philadelphia)! She made PA proud by sharing her expertise and creativity with the group!

Tiffany share her visual of global issues

On Saturday, the students had their chance to shine! They were split into several smaller groups consisting of 7-10 student presenters, 3 panel members, and a mediator. Teachers, parents and guests were able to move about the rooms. There, each student summarized their research and recommendations in a 3-minute presentation. The panel members (consisting of field experts from around the world) then made comments and asked questions. After all presentations, each group then elected a representative to share out to the whole group later in the day.

On Saturday, I also saw the posters and met some of the 23 Borlaug-Ruan International Interns from this year. Three accomplished young ladies were kind enough to share with me on video their experiences. Students attending the Global Youth Institute are eligible to apply for this amazing experience. Why would any student not want to take advantage of this opportunity?!

I want to personally thank Jacob Hunter, Keegan Kautzky, Lisa Fleming and Libby Crimmings. These amazing people have made this event possible and were so kind to welcome Kayla and me in and teach us about the program. 

Students and teachers, I absolutely encourage you to investigate this opportunity. The students I met during this event where poised, creative, respectful, mature and full of amazing potential. We ABSOLUTELY have those qualities in PA students! Students can apply to be interns internationally or can work stateside with the Washington Carver Internship. Please check it out, you will not be disappointed! 

Kayla & I and the WB Saul reps got to meet Dr. Rajaram!

As always my friends, keep looking for those great opportunities to travel, share, grow and learn. Although I traveled to a destination within the US, the things I experienced have changed me forever. Travel, meeting people of diverse backgrounds, challenging yourself in new situations and simply putting yourself out there can have positive and lasting affects on your life!

Agriculturally Yours,

With Dr. Ngumbi of Auburn University (originally from Kenya)

Nicole Weaver
PSU Teach Ag! Fellow
PA Agriculture Teacher
Hooked on World Food Prize!
@TeamWeaverFever
TeamWeaverFever@gmail.com