This artifact is a lesson plan for an Intro to Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources course. It takes place during the third unit of the course, called “Preparing for Your Future.” The lesson is designed for 9th-grade students who are beginning their time in my ag program. It focuses on WBL opportunity exploration, which is appropriate for students at this phase in their ag program journey.
My lesson shows work-based learning as an integrated part of instruction. The lessons before this one involve students exploring career interests and mapping out their high school coursework. A logical next step for them is to then explore opportunities for extended learning through WBL internships, job shadows, and SAEs. This lesson gives them supervised time to think about how they can match their career interests with WBL in the community. ACTE High-Quality Element 11.d is satisfied by this intentionality in aligning WBL with education and career goals. It also directly aligns with standard AFNR.HS.20.3.c, which calls for work-based learning opportunity exploration. This artifact suggests that classroom content and standards-based lessons can be the foundation for WBL opportunities.
This artifact demonstrates my ability to view work-based learning as a continuous process that begins in the introductory course. In my opinion, there should be a structure and process to work-based learning, including identifying career interests and related opportunities during the intro class. As I move toward student teaching, I will strengthen my WBL integration by continuing to incorporate it into all my classes and adding frequent check-ins. I am also excited to learn from my CT, who does a great job at WBL integration.