Why XLR8? (Perspective by J. Wilson)

There's just over a month (Due 9/1) to get your applications in for the National Association of Agricultural Educators XLR8 Program designed for educators in their 7th through 15th year of teaching.

Our past NJAAE President, Jennifeur Wilson, shares her personal perspective on why it is a beneficial professional development experience.

I still feel participating in XLR8 has been the best decision I have made. I gained a perspective shaped from experiences that challenged me to my core and afforded opportunities for growth like none other. Coming up through FFA and feeling internal direction to teach, Agricultural Education was a natural choice. Seemingly impossible at first, I soon found my self in a supportive community among the like minded and the kind hearted much like I experienced in FFA. And much like FFA, the opportunities to receive State and National recognition for developing as a professional were endless. The door swung wide and I indulged. It was close to my seventh year in my career that I earned the opportunity to fly to Las Vegas during the school year for XLR8 training, and along side some of the best teachers in our country face the cold hard truth that I  put my career before every other aspect of my life. I didn't accept it at first. I was recognized by my district as teacher of the year and revisited the reality that I was the hardest working teacher in the school. I knew I had to do something, and began taking baby steps toward getting my life back. In the process, I lost the relationship I was in and nearly 70 of the 80 pounds I had gained. I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't initially failed, experienced success and fought to get it all back. XLR8 was a wake up call.

NAAE Region IV Saves the Best For Last

Great presentation by Officer Michael Matson.  Learned about a great career.  What an inspiration!

Some highlights, fun at UNH!

The morning lecture on Arborculture was informative.  The pitch was basically: arborculture is a great career, many opportunities, and it's become very high tech, using all kinds of interesting electronic technology, like drones, and the tree version of a sonogram.  Most of the jobs involve such skills as finding the value of urban trees, assessing health, and designing remediation, and analyzing trees for potential failure (you know, before they fall down, close roads, and land on wires, causing electric outages).    We learned the difference between looking for a career in forestry and arborculture. The presenter was from Bartlett, and when I find out his name, I'll edit this post. 

The second presentation I attended was about the potential for bee keeping, and how to make lip balm.  The presenters didn't seem to think it was a good way to support ones' self, perhaps just doing it as a hobby, but then again, tell that to the folks at Burt's Bees.  It was a fun activity, and I got to watch the queen (she had a white dot painted on her). 

How to increase membership?

A great discussion on advocacy... what do we need to bring in more members to NJAAE, and NAAE?  I'm the only member in Camden County, how can I get others to join?  How do we brand ourselves, so we can stand out?

Sherisa Nailor lead the discussion about how we promote ourselves, how do we collect data, and showed us a template to report out our information. 

NAAE Greetings

I've been madly in love with NAAE Communities of Practice ever since I was introduced to it about 4 years ago.  So, I'm biased.  But, having been in education all of my life (or so it seems), I've never experienced such a comprehensive and in depth desire to support each other, as the Ag teaching community.  It was great to meet representatives Julie Fritch and Sherisa Nailor.  Each state reported out with the highlights (good/bad/ugly, lol) of their programs.  It's great to hear what initiatives are being proposed an enacted in these other states, and what challenges other states face.  Of course, when given the opportunity, I'll tell a story or two, so I did...

New York talked about needing 80 teachers...

But, Maryland sounds like it is in the process of rebuilding, and doesn't share the same vacancy stress at this time. 

NAEE Region IV... First Night!

Our Sunday night entertainment:  Move over Garrison Keillor, Rebecca Rule, rules the New England story kingdom.  As a lifelong resident of Pennsylvania, there are things I didn't know about New England.  First of all, there is a place called Lake Mooselookmeguntic, and New Englanders have a lot of jokes about this place, and the Mooselook Wobbler lure, and old stoves. The New England accent adds value to these jokes, of course! 

NQPS, a discussion at NAAE Region IV Summer Conference

I was privileged to be on board with the field test of the online NQPS (National Quality Program Standards).  So, seeing it up and ready to go today was good news!  I used this with my freshmen, to show them what is expected in the program, and I had them complete the survey (I printed out the pages).  Of course, that would be the day the AP came for the surprise 3rd evaluation of the year!

The explanation of the changes was informative.  As a newbie, I wasn't privy to the old version. The rubric gives suggested evidence.  I hope to have my supervisor work with me on this, so he and I can dialogue about areas of concern, and target areas to focus on for the year. It sounds like this is a good idea. 

Kevin Keith and Karen Hutchinson walked us through the process, and showed us about the various topics covered.  The growth and planning portion is key.  It's one thing to beat yourself up in an evaluation, but getting an advisory committee that is hands on, seems to be key.  Picking 2 or 3 to focus on, is the advice.  They then showed us how to get through the website, and how to interface with the web based evaluation.  They finished up with a summary of best practices.