FCCLA Free Publication

National FCCLA is offering one FCCLA publication, FREE OF CHARGE, for all chapters that affiliate before November 1, 2012. To receive the incentive, advisers must be affiliated before November 1 and MUST fill out the Incentive Request Form upon affiliating online. Advisers must indicate their preferred publication by marking their highest preference with 1 followed by their remaining choices. (PLEASE NOTE: that the number of publications is limited and availability is based on first- come first-serve basis).

Additionally, be sure to affiliate early to start receiving issues of Teen Times and The Adviser.  Do not miss out on the opportunity to provide all  that FCCLA membership offers to your students and to you, as the adviser.  For more information about the FCCLA affiliation process, please visit the Join FCCLA page on our national website.

Creative Chapter Meetings

By Kristi Christy and Beth Goforth, National Executive Council Advisers

No one wants to go to a boring meeting and just sit and listen.  No matter when your chapter may meet, before school, after school, or during school, if you want members to be excited to come to chapter meetings, you have to make the meetings fun!  How do you add excitement? Here are eight things you can do. 

1. Have music playing as students enter the room or the area where the meeting will be held. 
2. Have food.  Teens love to eat! 
3. Be prepared! Have an agenda and make sure the officers know what they are responsible for speaking about. 
4. Don’t be afraid to use technology!  Instead of just having someone talk about an upcoming event, use QRvoice to make multiple QR codes that gives the same information.  Post the QR codes and have the members go on a scavenger hunt to scan each QR code and learn about the upcoming event. You can also have officers make a cheesy video with a flip camera or use the Puppet Pals App to create a funny animated video about an upcoming event that will tell members the information they need to know. 
5. Have team-building activities or ice breakers so members can get to know each other and work as a team. 
6. Always let the members vote on something.  Voting lets the members feel that they have a say in chapter activities and feel part of the group. It does not matter if they are voting to do a particular community service project or just voting on the color of a shirt; just give them something to vote on! 
7. Give out a couple of door prizes at each meeting.  
8. You and your officers should have a positive attitude about the meeting. You can’t expect your members to want to be at the meeting if you and your officers don’t want to be there.

Also, before school started this year, the FCCLA officers had a planning meeting to develop an annual Program of Work.  In this planning session, officers pick a different FCCLA National Program that relates well to the curriculum for each of the classes being taught.  In the first six weeks, each class uses the FCCLA Planning Process to develop a plan for the chosen project.  Each class then takes the lead to oversee the whole chapter in carrying out the project. All the national posters hang in the FACS room in order to keep each program visible. This also helps to visually keep track of progress. Many great projects help students gain leadership skills by completing these projects.

What are some chapter meeting ideas that have worked well for your organization?

Attending a National Cluster Meeting?

Are you planning to attend one of the 2012 FCCLA National Cluster Meetings?  Then we need YOU!  FCCLA is looking for enthusiastic and energetic chapter advisers, state advisers, alumni, and members to present Adviser Networking Round Tables.  The 15-minute round table presentation topics might include FCCLA Integration, Membership and Recruitment, New Adviser Resources, or STAR Event Hints.  

Advisers can use this opportunity to present chapter ideas or projects that have proven successful.  This is also a great time to utilize student leaders within your FCCLA chapter that may have some ownership of a project or are just really great public speakers.  You know, as an adviser, that learning from each other is one of the best ways to benefit your local chapter and implement new and different ideas.

Please keep in mind that advisers have requested this opportunity in the past, and National FCCLA needs your help to make this idea a reality.  Without presentations and support from chapter advisers, this incredible networking experience will not be possible.

Chapter advisers, state advisers, members, and alumni interested in presenting a round table should complete the proposal form by October 19, 2012.  Don't miss out on this opportunity to showcase what your state or chapter does best!

Integrating Competitive Events

How does an adviser balance it all; developing lesson plans, teaching, grading, advising FCCLA members and coaching competitive events?  There seems to be too many things to complete in a 24 hour day, much less have a family and/or personal life.  So, what if there was a way to accomplish more and still maintain balance?   Balance can be achieved by integrating competitive events in the classroom.  So, where do we begin?

The first step that an adviser needs to look at is which events match up with the course standards.  Every course has certain requirements that need to be met, whether these are state requirements or the national standards.  When these standards are studied, it is clear that they match up with the objectives of different competitive events, whether these are STAR Events, Online Events, Skills Demonstrations or even the FACS Knowledge Bowl.  Some examples of these are: 

• The STAR Event Nutrition and Wellness can be matched up with the national standard:  demonstrate nutrition & wellness practices that enhance individual & family well being.

• The FCS Knowledge Bowl can be matched up with several national standards, like evaluate management practices related to the human, economic, & environmental resources. 

Once you match up your standards to the events, you can look at how to integrate these into your curriculum.  Most of the FACS classes are project based classes.  As a FACS teacher, I require all my students to complete a STAR Event project for every class.  Although not every student will be competing with it, the students learn time management, organization & planning skills, communication and presentation skills.  In addition, the grading for the projects has already been set up with the rubrics that are provided in the guidebook.  I even invite parents and community members to come in and listen to the presentations.  This is a great marketing tool that not only promotes the FACS Department, but also the students and school. 

The FACS Knowledge Bowl is a great way to recruit members to join FCCLA.  You can set it up where different classes compete against each other to win an ultimate prize, like a special field trip, class party, gifts cards, and/or attending the National Leadership Conference.  The winning team could attend the National Cluster Meeting, representing their school, to compete for eligibility to move on to competition at the National Leadership Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. 

As a FACS teacher, I am required to teach the National and State Standards for all of my classes.  I can spend hours planning the activities to meet these standards or I can utilize the resources provided by FCCLA Competitive Events, which will provide my students better opportunities and training than I can create myself.  Integrating Competitive Events in the classroom was one of the best suggestions that has made my job easier and more fulfilling.