Stossel in the Classroom DVD: 2011 Edition
Use segments from John Stossel's television programs—specially selected by John for your classroom—to spark thoughtful, engaging, curriculum-driven class discussions. Here's what you get free with the 2011 EDITION STOSSEL IN THE CLASSROOM DVD:
 
FREE 38-minute DVD, which includes six segments from John Stossel television programs, chosen and edited specifically for the classroom. The two segments that would be relevant to our ag classrooms are:

Food Irradiation: Who should we believe when some people tell us food irradiation is bad and others tell us it's good? Are people who support food irradiation in the pockets of big business? Are the opponents just alarmist kooks? What about the science? What does it show? This segment looks at the debate over food irradiation.

Endangered Species: How can endangered species be saved? Why are they at risk of becoming extinct? What's the solution? This segment questions the commonly accepted solutions and presents a non-traditional answer to the diminishing numbers of certain animal species.

FREE downloadable and printable Teacher Guide (available in English and Spanish) with suggested discussion topics and activities for your classroom to supplement your "2011 Edition" video segments.

To order, visit: http://stosselintheclassroom.org/index.php?p=dvd11_descriptn.html

Below, you will find the powerpoint that was created by Mr. Michael Coley for the technology-based workshop at the Tennessee CTE Conference a couple of weeks ago. For the TN teachers that have been looking for this, I sincerely apologize for not getting it uploaded quicker. Mr. Coley did an exceptional job in compiling the materials and information for this ppt. Included, you will find valuable information regarding Google tools that you can use for your classroom/FFA chapter, as well as other programs that can be beneficial for specific areas (i.e. horticulture).

I wanted to share a technique that I allow my students to use to earn prizes for their internet searches for the various reports and projects that I require them to do.  While this actually holds no educational value, my students enjoy using it and redeeming for a variety of prizes. My students are continually using  this and are earning quite a few Swag Bucks each semester.

The program is called Swag Bucks. The way it works is every time you do an internet search (which is powered by Google and Ask.com) you can earn swag bucks (basically internet cash).  The swag bucks may be redeemed for a variety of things like movie posters, gift cards, video games and consoles, MP3’s, books, shirts and more. There are actually different Swag Bucks sites that your students can search from and win exclusive prizes from them like Lady Antebellum, the WWE, Darius Rucker, Miranda Lambert and a whole slew of sports teams.

My students sign up under me and I earn the exact amount of Swag Bucks that they earn. So, I actually get something out of it, too.

If this is something that interests you, I have included a banner below, which contains a link to sign up to join Swag Bucks. Its free!

Thanks for reading,
Michael Southerland
 

Over the past ten years, the technological advances made that benefit education are astonishing. Teachers do not have to just depend on lectures and textbooks to convey the subject matter anymore. Internet search engines, computer programs such as PowerPoint presentations, online study guides formulated by teachers and students and discussion boards are commonly used by today's teachers in their classroom. One teaching tool that is now being embraced by many educators and students is video blogging.

Video blogging, or vlogging as it is sometimes referred to, began during the early part of this decade. The forerunner for this form of blogging, YouTube, was founded during February of that year and officially launched during the fall 2005. The popular search engine, Yahoo!, also has its version of vlogging called Yahoo! Video. With each of these brands, users can upload their own videos, watch other user's videos and share them with each other. These videos can include television clips, music videos or home movies. In order to view these videos properly, a high speed internet connection would be required. Otherwise, the time for a video to upload will be lengthy.
In doing research on each of these web sites, I found that teachers from all grade levels and even college professors are using this method to teach certain aspects of their course content. I found videos online designed to teach kindergarten students the letters of the alphabets. There are videos that cover different aspects of science, such as space, the structure of atoms and gene splicing. I found several videos pertaining to my career, agriculture education and FFA. Several FFA chapters and/or agriculture instructors have posted videos to YouTube promoting the various activities that they take part in. This is a great way to gather ideas for your own chapter to use. The FFA Creed is a very popular topic on these vlogging web sites. There are several renditions of the FFA Creed presented by FFA members from all across the country. This could be one way to show a freshman the proper way to speak, stand and present the Creed when preparing for that career development event.

I was lucky enough to find six videos that someone had posted on YouTube that dealt with 4-H poultry judging. Each video depicted a specific class that members would be responsible for judging in an actual contest and detailing what they need to look for in order to succeed. I created my own account (www.youtube.com/dmsouther) and created a favorites folder. I added each video to my favorites and have asked that each of the members of my poultry team view these videos before we participate in the various poultry contests that take place each year. These poultry judging training videos are being used as supplemental material for them to use when completing tasks that need to be finished before our next scheduled practice.

While I find this teaching tool fascinating and very beneficial, there are some important drawbacks that I feel need to be addressed. First, and most important, is the amount of inappropriate content that are present on these sites. Before setting up an account, your age must be verified to ensure that you are old enough to start an account, but that can easily be worked around if the intending user gives a false date of birth. By setting up my own account and posting the videos that I wanted my team members to see to a favorites page, I strove to prevent them from searching for topics that might lead them to finding some of this inappropriate material that I spoke of earlier. High school students are very smart when it comes to technology, so they know ways to get around things like this. At least I feel good about what I did, though. My second problem with using this form of technology in my classroom is that YouTube and Yahoo! Video are blocked by our school system and cannot be accessed on any computer. A factor that I have to take into serious consideration is that at least 50% of my students do not have a computer at home. So, I cannot require my students to log onto the internet at home to view something and expect everyone to be able to participate.
With new technological ideas becoming reality on a daily basis, I am waiting for someone to take the initiative to create a web site just for educators to post and share videos. Many teachers will admit that there days do not always start at eight and end at 3:30. And, with more and more requirements being handed down from the State Departments of Education, the time to prepare lesson plans and teach our competencies is being drastically reduced with each passing year. It would be very beneficial to this profession to have another outlet for teaching our material and I think video blogging is the way to go.

Learn more about how to use video blogging in your classroom by visiting http://www.squidoo.com/Video-Blogging-In-Education

Thanks for reading,
Michael Southerland