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Raymond Pan – Recycling


Lesson Plans & Curriculum
90 minutes

This National FFA lesson plan uses the story of a student’s recycling-focused supervised agricultural experience (SAE) to teach students about recycling best practices and the challenges of recycling agricultural plastics. Through a video, articles, and two worksheets (“Stepping Up” and “The Agricultural Plastic Problem”), students learn what agricultural plastics are, why they are difficult to recycle, and possible solutions.

At a glance

Learning objectives
  • List recycling best practices.
  • Explain what agricultural plastics are and how they are used.
  • Identify barriers to recycling agricultural plastics and possible solutions.
Time required
90 minutes
Materials
  • A copy of the "Stepping Up" worksheet for each student
  • A copy of the "The Agricultural Plastic Problem" worksheet for each student
  • Internet access to play the video in real time or embed it in a PowerPoint ahead of time
  • Technology access for students to read articles and conduct research
Resources/References
Video: "Recycling SAE | Raymond Pan," https://vimeo.com/328425306; Website: "Tips to Recycle Right," https://www.recycleacrossamerica.org/tips-to-recycle-right; Article: "Agricultural Plastics — Boon or Bane?" http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/WastRed/AgWaste.html; PDF: "Agricultural Plastics: What Are They? Why Are They 'Hard Stuff'? Can the Challenges be Surmounted?"; Article: "Farmers Test New Equipment to Collect, Recycle Field Plastic"
Cross-Curricular Connections
English/Language Arts — Reading multiple articles, evaluating content and compiling information

Download Video

Raymond Pan’s Journey in Recycling and FFA

Raymond Pan shares his journey from Athens, Georgia, focusing on his Supervised Agricultural Experience in recycling. Motivated by a state convention, he emphasizes recycling’s role in reducing landfill waste. Despite initial challenges, he gained support from his teacher and involved more people. Joining FFA reconnects him to his agricultural roots, and he values the skills learned, such as teamwork. Participating in events like the state convention brings him joy and fulfillment.

Downloads & Links

Aligned Standards

AFNR Career Ready Practices

  • CRP.02Apply appropriate academic and technical skills. Career-ready individuals readily access and use the knowledge and skills acquired through experience and education to be more productive.
  • CRP.04Communicate clearly, effectively, and with reason. Career-ready individuals communicate thoughts, ideas and action plans with clarity, whether using written, verbal and/or visual methods.
  • CRP.05Consider the environmental, social and economic impact of decisions.
  • CRP.07Employ valid and reliable research strategies. Career-ready individuals are discerning in accepting and using new information to make decisions, change practices or inform strategies.
  • CRP.08Utilize critical thinking to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. Career-ready individuals readily recognize problems in the workplace, understand the nature of the problem, and devise effective plans to solve the problem.
  • CRP.11Use technology to enhance productivity. Career-ready individuals find and maximize the productive value of existing and new technology to accomplish workplace tasks and solve workplace problems.

AFNR Performance Element

  • CS.01Analyze how issues, trends, technologies and public policies impact systems in the agriculture, food & natural resources career cluster.
  • ESS.02Evaluate the impact of public policies and regulations on environmental service system operations.

Common Career Technical Core

  • AG-ENV2Evaluate the impact of public policies and regulations on environmental service system operations.

Common Core – Reading: Informational Text

  • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.3Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
  • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.6Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.

Common Core – Science & Technical Subjects

  • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.1Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions.
  • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.2Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; trace the text's explanation or depiction of a complex process, phenomenon, or concept; provide an accurate summary of the text.
  • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.4Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 9-10 texts and topics.

Common Core – Speaking and Listening

  • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.1.DRespond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.

FFA Precept

  • FFA.PG-J.Mental GrowthEmbrace cognitive and intellectual development relative to reasoning, thinking and coping.
  • FFA.PL-A.ActionAssume responsibility and take the necessary steps to achieve the desired results, no matter what the goal or task at hand.
  • FFA.PL-C.VisionVisualize the future and how to get there.

FFA Precepts

Green/Sustainability Knowledge and Skill Statements

NASDCTEc

  • AGPF01.02Examine and interpret public policies and regulations impacting environmental services to determine their effect on facility operations.

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