TEXAS 4-H AND YOUTH DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT GUIDE

CURRICULUM - COMPLETE SECTION

MANAGEMENT GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS
	Management Overview
	Program Development
	Membership Units
	Volunteer Development
	Risk Management
	Collaboration
	Curriculum
	Resource Development
	Diversity
	Recognition
	Interpretation
CURRICULUM UNIT SECTIONS
Designing Your County 4-H Curriculum Plan
Targeting Life Skills Curriculum Model
40 Developmental Assets Curriculum Model
Texas 4-H Enrichment Curriculum Catalog (PDF) (WordPerfect)
Texas 4-H Publications Website (Link)
National 4-H Curriculum System (Link)

DESIGNING YOUR COUNTY 4-H CURRICULUM PLAN

A key element of a well managed 4-H program is a “comprehensive” curriculum. 4-H curriculum is the total of all learning experiences and resources available to support the 4-H and Youth Development program in Texas.

Curriculum support can be classified into the following:

• Technical Subject Matter Content
• Educational Delivery Methods
• Teaching Aids and Other Resources

Technical Subject Matter Content

The 4-H and Youth Development experience starts with specific goals, in terms of knowledge and skills to be gained. For example, first-year members enrolled in the Foods and Nutrition project may be expected to learn the Food Guide Pyramid and be able to accurately measure ingredients. Project areas with support materials and learning objectives are listed in the current Texas 4-H Clover (link).

Designing Curriculum

After reviewing Texas 4-H Curriculum, National 4-H Curriculum, and commercial curriculum offerings, you may decide that designing a curriculum in your county may be the best option to fit your local needs. When you do this, it is suggest that you include the basic components listed below. When developing curricula to use in schools, be aware of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Your district office has a copy of the TEKS and they are also available on the Texas Education Agency website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/teks/ . When curricula is coded using the TEKS, school administrators and teachers are more receptive to utilizing the materials and/or allowing you to provide educational programs for their students.

There are some basic components of developing a lesson/curriculum. Every lesson should include the following:

1. Title -- use a title that is descriptive of the lesson topic.
2. Author(s) name and contact information.
3. Objectives -- objectives should be specific to the program content.
4. Youth Development Objectives -- coding lessons for TEKS, Life Skills Model or 40 Developmental Assets to identify life skills and developmental elements achieved through lesson processes.
5. Time required for lesson.
6. Equipment/materials needed to conduct lesson.
7. Safety considerations -- any specific concerns that may need to be addressed.
8. Roles for teen leaders and junior leaders.
9. Potential parental involvement in reinforcing the lesson.
10. Lesson plan outline -- a good strategy is to use a "say" and "do" format.
11. Lesson narrative -- contains more lesson content than the outline to assist the instructor with the material.
12. Summary Activity that will tie the lesson together and form a concluding (and perhaps previewing of the next one) event for the lesson being presented.
13. References
14. Community service or giving back activities -- project/activity related activities that can be used in community service or promotion/support of the discipline area being considered in the lesson.

Educational Delivery Methods

Educational programming is based on the premise that learning is most effective when youth are active participants in the process and are exposed to subject matter through a variety of techniques. For example, the standard approach for teaching in 4-H is to model knowledge and skills and show mastery by demonstrating knowledge and/or teaching others. Teaching techniques include demonstrations, field trips, displays, conducting research projects and hands-on experiences.

The primary educational experience is provided via the 4-H project. Generally, youth are interested in joining 4-H to “learn to cook,” “raise an animal,” “fix a bicycle,” “launch a rocket,” “model in a fashion show,” etc. The educational experience provided to them on the way to one of these goals is where learning takes place. This is know as Experiential Education, where a youth experiences the project first, then processes what they learned and how to apply it to everyday life. 4-H has a great history of success using this process.

Volunteers, parents, teachers and youth need support from the county Extension office to plan project/curriculum development. Ask these questions to determine if you are on target with your project/curriculum plan:

1. Is the project or experience age appropriate?
2. Are the resources used for the project research based?
3. Is experience learned or planned?
4. Do youth have an opportunity to lead?
5. Are community service activities planned?
6. Are project and/or activity leaders trained?
7. Is the project affordable?
8. Is recognition planned (at all levels of the recognition model)?
9. Is record keeping taught?
10. Do youth gain positive self concept?
11. Do youth learn respect and how to get along with others?
12. How is career exploration included?
13. Do youth set personal goals?
14. Does the project cause youth to acquire knowledge in certain areas of agriculture, natural resources, science and technology, communication, family and consumer science or community development?
15. Does the project promote healthy lifestyles?

Teaching Aids and Other Resources

The primary sources of information supporting educational programming are:

• Printed materials are available from the Texas AgriLife Extension Service bookstore -- . http://tcebookstore.org/\
• TCE Educational Resource Library -- a listing of videos and slide sets available on loan from the Extension Audiovisual Library.
  http://av-library.tamu.edu/
• District Extension Office Resource Library -- exhibits, videos and curriculums may be checked out from your District Office. Contact your 4-H Specialist or Regional Program Director for 4-H for more information.
• CYFERNET website -- a reliable reference for printed materials from other states that have been reviewed and recommended for use throughout the United States. http://www.cyfernet.org/
• USDA website -- searchable website for USDA publications http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome
• National 4-H Curriculum System -- Counties receive a discount when ordering through the pre-press order system which is done each spring. http://www.n4hccs.org/
• National 4-H Council Supply -- curriculum and other program resources available for purchase.
  http://www.4-hmall.org/
  

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TARGETING LIFE SKILLS MODEL (TLS)

Source: Developing Youth Curriculum Using the Targeting Life Skills Model. Patricia A. Hendricks, Ph.D., Iowa State University, November 1996.

ATTACHMENTS
	TLS Model
	TLS Graphic (JPG)

Youth development is a process of mental, physical and social growth during which young people prepare to live a productive and satisfying life within the customs and regulations of their society. People who develop programs and curricula for youth are in the business of providing educational opportunities through which youth can learn the information and skills they need.

Youth development experiences of high quality don’t just happen. The best experiences are carefully planned to encourage life skill development while delivering subject matter content, and achieve specific results. It has become increasingly important to be accountable for resources expended by documenting program impact. By clearly stating desired changes as program objectives, youth development experiences can be evaluated more effectively to determine if the program succeeded in making the intended difference in the lives of youth.

A skill is a learned ability to do something well. Life skills are defined as skills that help an individual to be successful in living a productive and satisfying life. In the Targeting Life Skill (TLS) Model, categories of life skills are identified and divided on the basis of the familiar four H’s from the 4-H clover that represent head, heart, hands and health. Two general categories of skills are included under each of the four headings.

4-H Clover Categories	Life Skills Categories
Head	Thinking, Managing
Heart	Relating, Caring
Hands	Working, Giving
Health	Being, Living

The goal of youth programming is to provide developmentally appropriate opportunities for young people to experience life skills, to practice them until they are learned, and be able to use them as necessary throughout a lifetime. Through the experiential learning process, youth internalize the knowledge and gain the ability to apply the skills appropriately.

There is not complete agreement on the specific life skills needed by youth, or on a set of desired behaviors that ensure success in life. It is easier to identify the problem behaviors that occur when the youth do not reach the expected societal goals. By reviewing a number of models proposed by several authors, certain consistent categories of competencies emerged. These categories serve as the basis life skill development. Authors generally agree that life skills are learned through experience. Life skills often must be practiced over and over before mastery is achieved.

The Value of the TLS Model

The TLS Model provides a format incorporating major points of youth program planning:

★ assisting youth to reach their full potential through a positive approach to life skill development.
★ delivering information and skill practice at the appropriate developmental level for the target audience.
★ writing specific learning objectives for life skill development that are measurable.
★ completing an instructional plan that creates experiences based on experiential learning theory to achieve life skill development and identifying observable indicators of change.
★ using these indicators to effectively evaluate program impact.

Program Planning Using the TLS Model

The TLS Model uses key steps in planning a program or curriculum. These steps may not always follow in the same order, but all steps need to be considered, included and correlated to plan a program or curriculum. For example, one developer might begin with the subject matter content in mind while another may begin with a desired life skill. Some examples are shown in the following table.

Integrating Objectives in Achieving Desired Impacts

LIFE SKILL	SPECIFIC LIFE SKILL OBJECTIVE	SPECIFIC CONTENT OBJECTIVE	OBSERVABLE INDICATORS
Marketable skills/use of tools	Youth will correctly measure using a ruler	Youth will construct a birdhouse in a woodworking project	Pieces of birdhouse fit together well and are of designated size
Healthy lifestyle choices	Youth will learn to measure an appropriate half-cup serving size portion	Youth will prepare and serve vegetables	The portion of vegetables cooked and served is appropriate for the number of servings needed
Wise use of resources	Youth will compare prices on four similar varieties of cereal and make an economical choice	Youth will determine cost per serving for four similar kinds of cereals	The cereal selected was least expensive per serving of the four kinds examined
Teamwork	Two youth will share responsibility for designing and completing a creative project	Youth will demonstrate use of video technology to record information	Team members combine their talent and creative effort to produce a video documentary
Communication	Youth will organize information for a five-minute speech on an issue of interest	Youth will gather information on environmental concerns	Each youth effectively presented issues related to environmental concerns and the consequences of continued inaction of a local service club

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40 DEVELOPMENTAL ASSETS

Search Institute's 40 Developmental Assets are concrete, common sense, positive experiences and qualities essential to raising successful young people. These assets have the power during critical adolescent years to influence choices young people make and help them become caring, responsible adults. http://www.search-institute.org/assets/

The Developmental Asset framework is categorized into two groups of 20 assets. External assets are the positive experiences young people receive from the world around them. These 20 assets are about supporting and empowering young people, about setting boundaries and expectations, and about positive and constructive use of young people's time. External assets identify important roles that families, schools, congregations, neighborhoods, and youth organizations can play in promoting healthy development.

The twenty internal assets identify those characteristics and behaviors that reflect positive internal growth and development of young people. These assets are characterized as positive values and identities, social competencies, and commitment to learning. The internal Developmental Assets will help these young people make thoughtful and positive choices and, in turn, be better prepared for situations in life that challenge their inner strength and confidence.

ATTACHMENTS
	40 Developmental Assets for early childhood (ages 0-5)
	40 Developmental Assets for middle childhood (grades 4-6)
	The 40 Developmental Assets for adolescents

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Page last updated: November 6, 2007