Spend a week in Belize with AEE/INTAG 499!

Are you looking to travel abroad? Are you interested in exploring the indigenous knowledge and agricultural education of a different country? Sign up for AEE/INTAG 499: Indigenous Knowledge and Agricultural Education and travel with Penn State to Belize over Spring Break 2019! 

Through this embedded course you'll consider the role of agricultural education by visiting examples of both formal and non-formal agricultural education!  Try something new by sleeping in a traditional Mayan hut and eating food prepared by local people. Think about agriculture in new ways by touring small and large scale agriculture operations and learning about traditional agriculture practices and their role in modern life.

Last year our students got to see what sustainable farming looks like in Belize, learn about their agricultural education, explore local markets, see how agriculture ties a community together, and spend time with locals who shared their knowledge and experiences.

This course is open to any interested Penn State student! 

Not only does this opportunity satisfy the INTAG Study Abroad requirement, but you can also find something in this trip that relates to almost every major!

You can check out reflections and comments from last years' #TeachAgBelize experience here:

If you're interested in traveling to Belize this spring to explore indigenous knowledge and Agricultural Education, applications for AEE/INTAG 499 are available until November 16th. Be sure to click here and get more information about this unique opportunity!

While you're at it, check out a sneak peek of what's in store for #TeachAgBelize this spring! 

 

Hunter Kauffman

Team Leader, @TeachAgPSU Communications

Wildlife and Fisheries Science

College of Agricultural Sciences

Joining the Movement to End Hunger with Greenwood FFA (@FFAgwood)

Jake Barton, a Greenwood FFA member,
shared one of the many stories of real people
 that struggle with hunger across the world.

Greenwood High School FFA (@FFAgwood) members joined the fight to end hunger with the community of the Millerstown area in Perry County on Friday, February 2nd as they held their 6th annual hunger event at the Newport Family Life Center.

This year, their hunger event was an Oxfam Hunger Banquet, through the Oxfam America organization. Oxfam Hunger Banquets give groups the opportunity to make a difference, both locally and globally. They are volunteer-led interactive banquets that bring statistics about poverty to life, and anyone interested in hosting a hunger banquet is easily able to do so. Representatives from various organizations in Perry County area were in attendance, as well as from Global Teach Ag (@globalteachag).

#GLAG17: The World at Your Doorstep

Agriculture Education is not just in the United States, but also across the entire globe concerning every country on the Earth. Throughout this week Penn State Global Teach Ag is hosting #GLAG17.

What is #GLAG17? It is a dynamic online learning experience consisting of asynchronous presentations being shared, starting Monday January 23rd, and synchronous presentation featuring two sessions, special presentations, and a keynote speaker. This learning experience is bringing together over 100 education institutional representatives from 30 different states and 5 different countries.

The asynchronous presentations starting Monday include the following:

• SmartFarm Learning Hub (Australia) w/ Amy Cosby University of New England, Armidale, Australia  
• Agricorps: An Innovative Global Immersion Option for American Agriculture Graduates w/ Haley Clement and Jon Velez, Oregon State University
• Implementing Student Centered Teaching Approaches in Ghana w/ Haley Clement and Jon Velez, Oregon State University
• Global Food Security Resources w/ Jane Hunt and Melinda Lloyd GrowNextGen.org and Columbus Council on World Affairs
• Creating a Cultural Responsive Classroom w/ Jeremy Elliott-Engel and Donna Westfall-Rudd, Virginia Tech
• Independent Undergraduate Research Abroad: Lessons Learned at the University of New Hampshire w/ Andrew Conroy
• University of New Hampshire
• Outback Wildcat: Capstone Semester International Immersion w/ Kendall Wright and Stacy Vincent, University of Kentucky
• Let Peace Corps Take the Mic in Your Classroom w/ Olivia Murphy-Sweet, Peace Corp

The synchronous presentations that are Friday January 27th from 1pm - 5pm include:

• Session- Globalizing Ag Ed at Home and Abroad
• Bringing the World Home: Lessons from Turkey, Nepal, and Kenya w/ Jeremy Elliott-Engel and Donna Westfall-Rudd, Virginia Tech
• Global Ag: New Tools for the K-12 Classroom w/ Heather Singmaster, Asia Society and Jennifer Manise, Longview Foundation
• Internationalizing Course Content w/ Jill Woerner and Celya Glowacki, Indiana Department of Education
• Session- Creating a Network of Global Connections in Agricultural Education
• Global Agriculture Immersion for All w/ Brad Kinsinger, Hawkeye Community College
• Contextualizing Agriculture Education in Uganda w/ Ben Meyer, National FFA
• Special Presentations

• World Food Prize w/ Makena Schultz, Michigan State University Extension and Keegan Kautzky, World Food Prize
• Where can GLAG Take You w/ Sasha Diederich, Penn State Extension
• Keynote
• Dr. Richard Slimbach, Author of Becoming World Wise, "Global Learning Upon a Generous Earth"

The partners that made this phenomenal learning experience possible include:

• Asia Society: Center for Global Education
• C.E.L.A. Belize
• Explorations by Thor
• Hawkeye Community College Global Agriculture Learning Center
• The National FFA Organization
• Purdue Youth Development and Agricultural Education
• Penn State Teaching and Learning with Technology
• Penn State, College of Agricultural Sciences, Office of International Programs 
• Penn State, Center for Professional Personnel Development in Agricultural Education
• Texas A&M Agricultural Leadership Education and Communication
• We! and Me: Collaboration
• The World Food Prize

Thank you for your support of this program.

Social Media Tags

PSU Global Teach Ag! Initiative: @GlobalTeachAg

Event Hashtag: #GLAG17

Platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

Additional Hyperlinks

Conference Website

Keynote Speaker 90 Second Video

Why GLAG Video

Global Teach Ag 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.    

Luke Kerstetter

Student Blogger

Twitter Handle: @lmkerstetter96

2020 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

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!