4-H 692
The Rural
Crisis
Comes to
School
Leader’s Guide for Videotape
Sample Introduction to Program
The videotape you're about to see reveals much of the pain rural Iowans are feeling today and shows how that pain comes to school.
Students and staff in four Iowa schools talk about the agricultural economic crisis and what it means to them personally and in the school setting. After we've watched the tape, well have some time for discussion. Much of the information in the tape is also in the handout, so concentrate on watching and don't worry about taking notes."
(If this is a two- or three-hour workshop, add that activities also will be done that will provide teachers with some techniques and activities to take back to their classrooms.)
Background Information on Emotional Aspects of Crisis
See Appendix A for background information on the emotional aspects of the agricultural crisis. This may be helpful to include in your introduction if you or the participants want more of an understanding of how parental stress in farm families affects children.
This program can be done in one, two, or three hours, depending on which of the following activities you include.
After reading through this leader's guide, read the handout (The Rural Crisis Comes to School FE-F-267) to familiarize yourself with what participants will be given. Information needed for some of the activities is found only in that handout.
One-hour Program
The one-hour program includes:
•	Introduction (2-5 minutes)
•	Videotape (28 minutes)
•	Discussion questions (20-30 minutes)
Discussion Questions
1.	Is personal communication, referred to by the teacher at Nashua, being dealt with in your school? The school principal and AEA specialist in Gowrie referred to the importance of spending time on the "affective domain." How do teachers in your school deal with this domain?
2.	How does stoicism, referred to by one of the teachers, affect children that you know?
3.	What kinds of "negative coping" do you see children or teens in your school using to deal with stress?
4.	One of the youngsters whose family farm is going under talked about not being able to farm when he is through school. How do teens react when their future plans are in jeopardy?
5.	What does loss of the farm and rural lifestyle mean to children/ teens?
6.	A student from Lohrville whose father is a banker wrote about changes in her family. What other youngsters besides farm youth are affected by the rural crisis?
7.	What are the obstacles for talking about the rural crisis in the classroom?
8.	Are there ways to overcome some of these obstacles?
9.	How does time spent talking about the rural crisis relate to overall educational goals?
10.	What extra expenses are there in your class or in your school that might be a problem for farm youth whose families are in financial stress? Are there alternatives so that students are not embarrassed by lack of money for projects and activities?
11.	What symptoms have you seen in your years of teaching that seem to be signs of stress? Are you seeing any different or increased number of symptoms in farm youth in the last year?
12.	A boy from Lohrville whose family is losing their farm spoke of changes he saw in his father. How does the loss of a farm affect the relationship between parent and child?
Purdue University, Cooperative Extension Service, West Lafayette, Indiana