Learning a Lesson through Lesson Plans

Ahhhhh, the sweet smell of new curriculum. Ill be completely honest, when I first dove into our reading assignments for this week, I was overwhelmed by the amount of curriculum talked about. But, as I started going through the paperwork, some common themes began to stick out to me.

EMPHASIS ON STANDARDS
Whether it is the actual government based curriculum standards, or the act of us as Agricultural Educators holding ourselves to our own standards, we must always have an accountability system to judge ourselves against. I believe as Ag teachers, while we might never be able to make a national standard, I believe locally working with other teachers, and working with other teachers in your school, one can develop a local standard that will prepare your students with the knowledge to help their community and surrounding area.

EMBRACE STUDENT DIVERSITY
Both the Ag Ed Magazine, and the PA Academic Standards address the need to embrace student diversity and to make sure that all students needs are being filled. With Agriculture becoming an increasingly international affair, and all cultures working together to fix hunger, its important to remember all perspectives when teaching students, that way they learn to have an open mindset.

STUDENT EDUCATION COMES FIRST
While this one seems obvious, but sometimes when developing curriculum, we get so caught up in what we want to teach, and what we want our students to learn, we forget that our students can and should have a say in what they learn, and we should try to incorporate their interests into what we learn. The more a student feels that they are in control of what they learn, and they influence their education the more they will care. The University of New South Wales in Australia highlights that aspect in their Guidelines for Learning.

I believe that these three themes are important not only for proper curriculum, but for student achievement as well.