Agriculture Communications and Leadership

Agriculture Communications and Leadership

Course ID: 19

A-G:  Area G College Preparatory Elective*

CSF Course: List III

This course is designed to promote and develop leadership in the Agriculture Industry. Ag Communications and Leadership is a concentrator course for our CTE Ag Business Pathway and is a project-based course aimed at increasing students’ leadership capabilities. Through the planning and execution of numerous events for the school's FFA chapter, students will discover how to best effect change in their communities. Students will read extensively about the nature of leadership and its different styles. Additionally, students frequently write – critically, reflectively, persuasively – and speak about the real-world issues in Agriculture. Topics will include current issues in Ag legislation, development of personal leadership skills, FFA operations, FFA Judging Teams, and exploration of past and present needs in the Ag Industry and its leaders. A supervised Agricultural Experience project is required and will be developed with the aid of the instructor. Students will help plan, organize, and put on events in FFA. Students are required to complete 20 hours per semester. FFA participation and SAE, Supervised Agricultural Experience, Project will be part of the grade for this course.

Communications and Leadership has two goals. One, increase the positive school's FFA chapter's culture through academic and social events. Two, help students enrolled in the class become more effective leaders. This includes mastery of the following core leadership skills:

Communication, Planning/Organization/Forward Thinking, Problem Solving, Constructive Feedback/Evaluation, Writing: critically, reflectively, persuasively, Creativity, Professionalism, Confidence/Public Speaking, Persistence, and Empathy.

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Agricultural Communications is an intense introduction to a variety of communication styles associated with agriculture with an emphasis on writing styles commonly used today in newspapers and magazines including feature writing, news writing, and opinion writing. In addition, students will learn how to write with an understanding of audience and purpose, how to gather information from a variety of sources, how to analyze complex information, and how to present it in an appropriate written, visual, and/or oral format depending on the objective. Students will also learn to deliver polished formal extemporaneous presentations that combine the traditional rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description.

*Pending A-G Approval