This publication is the first in a series of five designed to be used in teaching basic vocational agriculture courses in secondary schools of Mississippi. The materials are designed to assist teachers in providing training that is directly related to the preparation of a student for employment. As far as possible, the lesson plans are skill oriented, devoted to teaching a student how to do something; however, the lessons also attempt to provide knowledge of basic principles associated with the skills. Each of the lessons consists of an introduction, terminal and specific objectives, instructional procedures, learning activities, supplementary learning activities, and supplementary learning aids. There are seven lessons contained in this Section I of the curriculum materials. They focus on the nature of vocational agriculture and the agriculture/agribusiness industry, supervised occupational experience programs, and the FFA (Future Farmers of America). The seven lessons include the following specific topics: orientation to vocational agriculture education; careers in the agriculture, agribusiness, and natural resources industry; selecting a supervised occupational experience program; planning a supervised occupational experience program; keeping records of supervised experience programs; orientation to the FFA; and instructional activities sponsored by the FFA. (KC)