Growing up in a small town in
northeast Iowa, I was never blessed with opportunity to live on a farm. I never
knew the feeling of waking up at the crack of dawn to milk on a dairy farm, or
staying up until the wee hours of the night to help my Dad finish harvest
before the rain came. Something that I was blessed with however, was growing up
with a Mother as a high school agriculture educator. Typically, when sharing
this job title with people I get a response that goes something like, “What do
you mean? She teaches agriculture, like, as a class?” As this answer became
more and more common, it was apparent to me that a small percentage of people
actually know what it entails to be an agriculture educator. After years of
reflecting on this issue, there are many things I wish people knew about
agriculture educators.
I
wish people could see the varying roles that agriculture educators play. In
agriculture education classrooms, the curriculum taught in the class follows a
three-circle model consisting of three separate areas: classroom, leadership,
and experiential learning. Meaning, that along with teaching students about horticulture,
agronomy, and agriculture business they are tasked with also being an FFA
advisor as well as supplying students with hands-on learning experiences inside
and outside of the classroom. Agriculture educators are often looked at as the
“community experts” when it comes to parliamentary procedure, the weeds that
are growing in a farmer’s cornfield, and the feed ration that a farmer should
feed their cattle.
I
wish people could understand the time commitment that agriculture educators
have to make. Unlike most teaching jobs, agriculture educators begin their days
well before 8:00 AM and end their days well after 5:00 PM. Evenings, weekends,
and much of holiday breaks are set aside for leadership conferences, judging
contests, and community events. Many summer breaks are used for making supervised
agricultural experience project visits, attending county fair board meetings,
and preparing for the new school year with chapter officer teams. Much of being
an agriculture educator is taking time out of your personal time to ensure that
all facets of the program are running smoothly.
Mostly,
I wish that people knew how much agriculture educators love and enjoy their
jobs. I wish people knew the rewarding feeling that agriculture educators get
when one of their students finally understands a lesson. The feeling that
agriculture educators get when they know that a student has been struggling to
break out of their comfort zone yet, they finally are able to stand in front of
a class and give a prepared public speech. As much time as they give to their students
and their classroom, it all becomes worth it when a former student stops in
after their first week of college and thanks them for the life skills they
learned in their classroom. Agriculture educators have so much compassion for
their students.
As
an educator, they work hard to ensure that students have a positive experience
within their classroom. Whether giving up holiday breaks, weekends, or evenings
their students are always first in their mind. Even though I wasn’t blessed
with the opportunity to grow up on a farm, I couldn’t feel more blessed to get
my passion for agriculture from an agriculture educator. 
