When looking back at my high
school career, I was blessed to have teachers that supported my different
learning styles and pushed me to be the best person I could be. After discussing
with my peers about their experiences in high school once I went to college,
some had different responses that I didn’t think were possible. Some of their teachers
pushed them through the system to make sure they passed the state exams and
unfortunately some students had teachers that didn’t even know their names upon
graduation. There was one common thread that stood out to the student
population that I talked to. Their Agriculture Education teachers knew who they
were, helped develop them on a personal and educational level, and made them
feel important like no other teacher has ever done for them before.
Questions popped into my mind
such as, how did we get to this point in the education system? When did
quantity overpass quality of students we get through the walls of a school?
Where have WE as a society and population of teachers failed? At that very
moment, that is when I knew I wanted to be a teacher, but not any sort of
teacher. I wanted to become an Agriculture Education teacher.
If you know me you know that I am
not from a farming background, I wasn’t involved in FFA all four years of high
school, and my family (myself at one point) thought that agriculture was just
about farming and livestock. So why agriculture education you may wonder? Someone
told me before my junior year of high school that there was this section of my
high school that revolved solely around agriculture and leadership development.
Coming from a school where my graduation class was in the upper 600’s, I knew
little about the program that only had about 100 kids. She introduced me to the
agriculture education teacher that next day and I was in for a whole different
type of personality that I had never met before. This teacher sat me down in
his office and asked me to explain who I was, as well as, why I wanted to join
the program. Without hesitation, I answered his questions and he placed me in
the leadership class that year. Welcomed with open arms, I became part of a
family that asked for my opinions, pushed me to be my best, and genuinely wanted
me to succeed. My teacher taught me strategies how to study best for my own
learning and it showed when I took tests and quizzes in his classes. I excelled
in the program and continue to push myself now as a junior at Penn State.
Through all of these experiences,
I knew that this profession was for me. I want to push students and help them
succeed through their own learning techniques even if takes more time during
the lesson. By showing that these students matter, they will in turn, show
their appreciation in your classes by being the best they can be. Being a teacher is more than
being the status quo. We need to be cheerleaders, advisors, activists, and
prove to our students that we want what is best for them. I hope that when I
enter into this field, I can do just that and more.
