California Career and Technical Education Standards

• ANR.FS.10.1 Understand the aims, purposes, history, and structure of the FFA student organiz...
• ANR.FS.2.0 Communications
• ANR.FS.9.3 Understand how to organize and structure work individually and in teams for effe...
• ANR.FS.9.6 Understand leadership, cooperation, collaboration, and effective decision-making...

California Academic Content Standards (Reinforced)

• ELA.9-10.LS.C.1.1 Formulate judgments about the ideas under discussion and support those judgments...
• ELA.9-10.LS.ODOC.1.6 Present and advance a clear thesis statement and choose appropriate types of pro...

• Lesson set up and hook - Hooks / Set

  "Yesterday we discussed examples of why to get involved in the FFA, who will share the 4 main categories with us?" Allow for sharing. Students were also asked to talk to their parents about the clubs/organizations they were in and why. Allow for sharing. Next ask students to think about the following question..."Great responses, thanks for sharing. As we move forward with this information on organizations, think for a moment about the answer to this question: What do you believe the most important event in our country's history is?" Allow for responses and ask them why they chose the given event. Ask them what they know about the event and why it is important to them? Where did they learn about this event? After some discussion, ask them, "How much do you really know about the FFA? Why are the jackets blue corduroy? Were girls always allowed? Does everyone in here need to raise an animal? Why is there an FFA and how did it start?" Allow students to share. Now ask students to think about how they would answer this question, "If you were asked in an elevator what the FFA was, what would you say?" Tell students that they are now one of the elite members of the FFA, it is a privilege to be a member and is limited to only students in agriculture classes. Today we are going to take a look at where the FFA came from, its most important events in history, and its purpose today.
• FFA Just the Facts Please - Lecture

  Use PowerPoint provided and handout to cover the basic facts about the FFA today. Feel free to modify the PowerPoint to include some basic information about your local program (perhaps an additional slide). This includes basic FFA dates, additional history may be added if the instructor wishes.

  • Student Handout [ Download ]
  • What is FFA PowerPoint1 [ Download ]
• What is FFA talking points - Assessment

  Now that students have been exposed to the basic FFA facts, split them into small groups (2-3) and pose the following question to them, "If you were in an elevator, and someone asked you what the FFA was...what would you tell them in 1 minute or less?" Tell students to assume that the person knows little to nothing about the FFA. The groups will have approximately 7 minutes to come up with a response to the question. They must determine, as a group, what information they would share and how they would share it. The group should write out a basic outline of what they would say and each group member should practice answering the question. When the group is called on, the entire group will answer the question, each member speaking for at least ten seconds but no more than 25 seconds. Again, this should be a group answer so that EVERY group member has buy in to the answer. The result will likely be many different approaches and perspectives to the benefit of the entire class. Use the attached rubric as an evaluation tool. Remind students of your expectations for group presentations/work.
• Review Summary - Closure

  Thank students for the outstanding presentations and for risking boldly presenting in front of the class. As students leave, ask them to think about what role FFA will play in their life, how would they personally answer the questions we practiced today? What family member could they inform about the FFA?

  • Optional Scoring Rubric [ Download ]