Agricultural Communications
B.P.P.
(Big Points Project)
Purpose: The purpose of this project is to integrate topics discussed in this class with real world
applications. These applications come in the form of competitive events offered through our FFA
program. This assignment is made in place of tests throughout the year; therefore it will be worth
400 points. This will make a considerable portion of your grade, and should be treated as such.
There will be four options offered for this project:
1.
2.
3.
4.
An agricultural driven speech which could be either informative or persuasive.
The speech should last a minimum of five and a half minutes, with a maximum
of 8 minutes. This equates to 3 and a half to 4 typed double spaced pages. For
the purpose of the assignment, you should pay attention to detail and grammar.
The date of the speech contest is Thursday, November 8th.
A poster board that includes a title, 5 photos, and theme to be exhibited at the
Oklahoma State Fair (OKC) and the Tulsa State Fair contests. The pictures will
be based on composition, uniqueness, spacing, light, and other values discussed
in our class with photo quality. ***This project requires your board to be ready
for the Oklahoma State Fair (OKC), there will not be time in-between then and
Tulsa State Fair to make any changes or corrections to your boards.
A poster board covering a news story associated with the schools FFA
activities, or agricultural education. These poster boards are to be exhibited at
the Oklahoma State Fair (OKC) or Tulsa State Fair. This should result in a
typed double spaced news style article ranging from one to three pages and one
photo that is either black and white or in color. The news article will be judged
based on grammar, news worthiness, and other values discussed in class.
***This project requires your board to be ready for the Oklahoma State Fair
(OKC), there will not be time in-between then and Tulsa State Fair to make any
changes or corrections to your boards.
Judging livestock at the Oklahoma State Fair (OKC) and Tulsa State Fair. This
will require you to judge classes of market and breeding livestock of the four
main meat animal species, and either answer questions on select classes (OKC),
or give oral reasons over your placing on selected classes (TSF).
a. Note: these 4 assignments will hereby be refereed to the options in later
portions of this rubric. (Ex. Option 1= Speech, Option 2= Photo board, etc.)
Part 1: Pre-Work (100 points)
This part specifically refers to the amount of time and effort put into the final project
before construction of the project. Progress checks will be evaluated every two weeks to ensure
that the projects will be completed before the final due date of chosen activity. This can be
tracked in many ways:
Option 1: Progress checks on your speech can be in the form of providing articles from
research, an outline for the writing of speech, a speech from past years with an outline of edits to
improve speech, a copy of speech to be proofed and edited, a final manuscript, and being asked
to give the speech with the expectation of being able to answer questions on what’s being
discussed in the speech. Speeches must be completed by Wednesday, September 24th. The date
of the speech contest is Thursday, November 8th.
Option 2: Progress checks on photo boards will constitute providing photos to be sorted
through and critiqued, preferably before printing, then presenting photos to be applied to photo
board. There will be time allotted in class to work on photo boards, where students can cut
borders for photos, and attach photos to borders and boards. The pre-work phase of this project
needs to be finished with photos ready to attach a minimum of one week before the due date of
the board (Due date on board is ___________ (OKC)). Note: Mr. Murray can supply papers for
borders of the photos. Any extra art type stuff is your responsibility. Also, Mr. Murray is willing
to take the photos to get printed. However, you are responsible for supplying the photos on a
flash drive, and providing the money required to print said photos. Depending on number of
students, purchasing of the photo boards will be on a case by case basis. ***This project requires
your board to be ready for the Oklahoma State Fair (OKC), there will not be time in-between
then and Tulsa State Fair to make any changes or corrections to your boards.
Option 3: Similar to both options 1 and 2, students wishing to do a news story are
responsible for typing a news style report over an FFA event or involving agricultural education.
This report will need to be typed, and proofed before applying it to the poster board. Your story
needs to have been approved and have the final edit on it a minimum of one week before the
final due date of the board. (Due date on board is ___________ (OKC)). Note: Mr. Murray can
supply papers for borders of the photo and story. Any extra art type stuff is your responsibility.
Also, Mr. Murray is willing to take the photo to get printed. However, you are responsible for
supplying the photo on a flash drive, and providing the money required to print said photo.
Depending on number of students, purchasing of the photo boards will be on a case by case
basis. ***This project requires your board to be ready for the Oklahoma State Fair (OKC), there
will not be time in-between then and Tulsa State Fair to make any changes or corrections to your
boards.
Option 4: Progress checks on livestock judging are simply judging classes throughout the
semester and being expected to answer questions on the classes we work on or give oral reasons
over the classes. This will be routinely during in school and outside of school. Note: While this
sounds like the simplest option, it is not. This will require the most time and effort to put forth in
able to become competitive.
Part Two: Finished Project (100 points)
This part is simple made up of your final project:
Option 1: Your score will be based on your manuscript of your speech. The date of the
speech contest is Thursday, November 8th. Your speech is expected to be written by
Wednesday, October 24th. This date is designed to give you more than enough time to
memorize the speech for competition purposes. The points here will simply stem from having a
finished project ready to present to me/ judges.
Option 2: Your score will be based on completion of the photo board. The final due date
for this board is __________ (OKC). ***This project requires your board to be ready for the
Oklahoma State Fair (OKC), there will not be time in-between then and Tulsa State Fair to make
any changes or corrections to your boards.
Option 3: Your score will be based on the completion of your board. The due date of the
board is _______________(OKC). ***This project requires your board to be ready for the
Oklahoma State Fair (OKC), there will not be time in-between then and Tulsa State Fair to make
any changes or corrections to your boards.
Option 4: This will simply stem from completion of reasons and questions scores from
Oklahoma State Fair (OKC) and Tulsa State Fair. Dates for these contests are
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Part Three: Presentation (100 points)
Option 1: Your score will be based on the presentation of your speech. The date of the
speech contest is Thursday, November 8th. The points here will simply stem from presenting
your speech at a contest or in class. Speeches presented in contest will be graded based on
judge’s comments. I will keep in mind your experience level and other various factors when
assigning a grade for this portion. This will also apply when I or your class mates will listen to
your speech.
Option 2: Your score will be based on the quality of the photo board, and meeting the
criteria given in class. You will be expected to have 5 photos (photos being 5in x 7in and fitting a
desired theme by the creator), a title, some sort of outline for your photos, and timeliness of
completion. I will keep in mind your experience level and other various factors when assigning a
grade for this portion.
Option 3: Your score will be based on the quality of your board, and if it fits the criteria
given in class. This board will be judged based on grammar, the news worthiness of the article,
news article format, timeliness of completion, and a small portion will stem from the quality of
from the photo. I will keep in mind your experience level and other various factors when
assigning a grade for this portion.
Option 4: This will simply stem from reasons and questions scores from Oklahoma State
Fair (OKC) and Tulsa State Fair. Scores may be looked at and compared to others of similar age
and experience. (Ex. An experienced judger scoring a 37 or lower may affect your grade on this
portion of the assignment. However, if the top score on that set for the day is a 45, then it is more
understandable.)
Part Four: Reflection (100 points)
The reflection paper will be the same among all four options. This paper is expected to be
completed FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7TH. The reflection paper will be expected to be a
minimum of two pages, with no maximum limit. (Remember, the more you include, the easier it
is for me to give you points). This paper is expected to be 12 point, times new roman font,
and double spaced. All pages should be in paragraph format. The information to cover on
this is simply the steps you took to prepare your project (including time, materials used,
equipment, and other various aspects you deem appropriate), the things you learned during this
project, results (if you competed, then put results from contests, and how you feel you did),
things that you did that were beneficial, things you would change next time to improve, and if
you liked the project and would recommend doing it again.