Winter 2022 Newsletter

NAAE Conference

Ohio had 6 members attend the NAAE conference in New Orleans the first week of December. The conference included several interesting workshops, keynote speakers and allowed collaboration to occur between the many state associations represented. Ohio had 3 regional award-winning teachers recognized during the conference as well. Stephanie Jolliff received the regional Outstanding Service Citation, Abby Campbell was the regional winner of the Ideas Unlimited award and Blake Campbell was Ohio's representative to NAAE Teachers Turn the Key program. Congratulations to all of our award winners!

Three of Ohio's own teachers also presented during the NAAE and ACTE conference. Abby Campbell presented her Regional Winning Ideas Unlimited lesson and Blake & Abby Campbell teamed up to present GMO's: What do you know? A Breakout Room Experience. Wendi Mizer Stachler and her co-teacher, Rebekah Milstead, presented All Hands on Deck? Making Courses Accessible to All at the ACTE conference. It was also announced that Deanna Thies, our recent Region IV Vice-President, is the current President-Elect for the NAAE organization.

OAAE member Stephanie Jolliff was recognized at this year’s NAAE Conference for the Outstanding Service Citation Award on behalf of Region IV!

Blake earned the Teacher Turn the Key Award and was able to attend multiple workshops with other educator-recipients of this award!

Abby was the recipient of the Ideas Unlimited Award! While at the conference, she was able to present her classroom lesson "Concrete isn't Scary" as a part of her recognition.

ACTE Spotlight

Wendi Mizer Stachler of the Miami Trace Great Oaks Ag Ed Program collaborated with Rebekah Milstead, Miami Trace Special Education Intervention Specialist and AFNR teaching partner, to share their presentation entitled, "All Hands on Deck: Making Courses Accessible to All" at the 2022 ACTE VISION Conference in New Orleans in December. Their workshop focused on opening up curriculum for students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities because many secondary and post-secondary courses are thought to be all-inclusive, but are they really? Sometimes it takes a little modification or adaptation to make courses accessible to all groups of students--including those with significant cognitive disabilities. The pair discussed practical methods to easily adapt or modify instruction to meet the needs of students with mild, moderate, and significant cognitive disabilities. This co-teacher elective and special education partnership have been excited about adapting and modifying curriculum to make it accessible to students with significant cognitive disabilities. In order to test potential obstacles, challenges, adaptations, and modifications, participants had to complete a group task while team members simulated cognitive disabilities such as visual impairment, motor impairment, multiple disabilities, autism, and tourettes.

OAAE Awards

We know Ohio has some of the best Ag teachers and we would like to make sure they get recognized. Please help us by nominating another teacher that you feel is deserving of an award, or apply yourself for an area in which you excel. Interested in learning more about the award categories, click here. Click here to complete a nomination form. Nominations are due February 8th and applications will be sent on February 11th.

100-Year Banquet

OAAE Member Spotlight

Attending the NAAE Convention as an educator gave me a chance to network with agricultural educators from across the country, strengthen relationships with our Ohio educators, and take home fresh ideas for my program. The best part of NAAE is the idea sharing that takes place, some of the best ideas come from the informal table conversations before or after a session. In addition, it is incredibly refreshing to be surrounded by teachers who have a similar desire to improve their programs and are open to a growth mindset.

It is encouraging to know that other teachers are experiencing many of the same problems whether it be burnout, or finding work-life balance. I left NAAE with new friendships and lots of new social media "friends", I love seeing their ideas on chapter Facebook and Instagram pages. When I first traveled to NAAE as part of the Future Agrisicence Teacher Symposium I had no idea when I would be back as an educator. I have grown and changed so much since then, but NAAE remains my favorite professional development.

It was an honor to represent Ohio. I would not have applied or even thought my "idea" was noteworthy without the encouragement of Sabrina Stalder. We are so grateful for her leadership in District 10 and beyond. You have no idea the impact of reaching out to a fellow teacher and especially encouraging an early career teacher, it truly makes a difference!

Legislative Update

With the release of the first foundation payments to Ohio schools last week there are several items that Ag Teachers should be looking for or at least be aware of.

1. Everyone should be checking their funding amounts on the ODE website because funding is no longer frozen.

2. Teachers should also be checking their FTE amounts. This is what the funds are based on to make sure that amount is correct. This we can control.

3. All of these things are based on your EMIS reports on concentrators from your school. So this should be checked as well. This we can control.

4 The CTE Transition Guarantee ended after FY18, which could affect funding. We can't do anything about this.

5. We also need to be aware that our schools' State Share could have changed up or down, which can also affect the amount of funding we will get. We can't do anything about this.

There are many places where an error could occur so checking is always a good idea. OAAE is looking into hosting a workshop/seminar to help us all understand these very important factors better. Keep an eye out for updates on this in the near future.

For more information please don't hesitate to reach out to our legislative-executive team member, Scott Sharp, at [email protected].