Take Teaching to the Next Level

A perspective from a multiple-teacher program

Parker Bane, Pontiac High School

This is going to be the year…As we start back to school, how many times have we all made that statement throughout our careers? I don’t know about you, but I have made that statement more times, about more things than I ever care to remember.

This year, though, I am starting up a new school year feeling invigorated and more confident than ever because of the experiences I have had with CASE. My teaching partner and I have been struggling for the past few years with trying to turn ownership of our curriculum over to our students. After a lot of discussion, I made the leap and registered for the CASE Introduction to AFNR Institute at Oregon State University.

I’m not going to lie. I was skeptical at first. It seemed like whenever I visited with any of the CASE teachers out at NAAE Conference or Region IV, they all told a pretty similar story, and it sometimes seemed to me to be too good to be true. I couldn’t help but wonder how people could give up 80 hours of their summer programs of work and family time and be so happy about it. I’m a single father, and I’m gone so much already for FFA activities. How could a CASE Institute possibly be a good use of my time? I would soon find out.

The first thing that struck me at the AFNR Institute was how logical the major concepts and lesson design principles seemed to be. I’ve been to a lot of conferences and a lot of professional development sessions where I’ve received an hour of training here and a binder of “stuff” there, but the curriculum design of CASE was impressive to me in that it took that “stuff” and synthesized it into a nice package that included high impact, student directed teaching activities. In my own experience, I am ashamed of how much I have relied on lecture. With CASE, I am happy that the days of “PowerPoint Parker” are now behind me.

The second thing that made the AFNR Institute so refreshing to me was the collegiality that developed with our group. Not only was I able to impress my administration by showing them that I had become a part of an ongoing professional learning community, but I was amazed at the group of teachers who had committed themselves to 80 hours of professional development. From 0 years experience to nearly 40, I was surrounded by colleagues who were very passionate about improving their programs by improving their instruction.

I was so impressed by the curriculum that I called my principal and said “We’ve got to get into this a lot deeper.” Within a few days, I was registered for the Principles of Agricultural Science - Plant Institute hosted by Rutgers in New Jersey. Needless to say, I have bought into the CASE model.

Don’t get me wrong. I face challenges as I am starting a new school year and trying to implement CASE into our program at Pontiac High School. It’s been an investment of time and money for me and my school district, and there are some challenges that we will face in budgeting for CASE. However, I am fortunate to have a supportive district, access to grant resources, and the assurance of other CASE teachers that by purchasing items over time in a staged approach, our program can afford the equipment and thrive. As far as time goes, I have already seen the benefits of the CASE package in my classroom as I no longer have to strain to create meaningful, non-lecture based actions for my students. I can focus my time on working with young people, which is what I love to do.

In our program, we are moving forward with the AFNR curriculum in a very smooth fashion. Due to our school and program structure, I am utilizing the Plant Science curriculum as a model from which to reshape the scope and sequence of our sophomore level courses, which takes some work, but after attending two institutes, I feel very comfortable with the curriculum and lesson design principles. The training has made this process significantly easier for me.

This will be the year I take my teaching to the next level...I’ve been making that statement for nearly a decade, but thanks to CASE, I’m making it a reality. After two days of classes, I can already see how my students are taking ownership in their own learning. I know that it won’t always be easy, but I am so glad I made the leap of implementing CASE.

To learn more about CASE, visit www.case4learning.org.