Jourdan Tucker Page !

Philosophy of Agricultural Education

I believe in the future of agriculture with a faith born not of words but of deeds. The first

line of the FFA creed, written by E. M. Tiffany (FFA Creed) is known by many inside and

outside of the world of agriculture. His words inspired us then and continue to do so now. I

personally believe in the future of agriculture; however, it is of a faith of both words and deeds.

The FFA creed was written in a time when actions alone spoke louder than words. Today it is the

lack of words or knowledge and too many uneducated actions that lead to so much trouble. There

is a disconnect between agriculture and the general public. It is my goal to teach the next

generation and bridge that gap, and every goal deserves a plan of action. Goals without action are

only wishes.

To advance the future of agriculture and enhance knowledge of agriculture will require

three components (Agricultural Education). The first will be classroom and laboratory

instruction. Inside the school is where learning will begin but not where learning will end. The

second component of successful agriculture education is the organization known as The FFA.

What once was known as The Future Farmers of America (FFA History) is now known for its

leadership development and is the largest student-led organization in the world (National FFA

Leadership). The third component is that of supervised agricultural experiences or SAEs

(Supervised Agricultural Experiences). These are so vital to an agricultural education program as

well as to the students and the community. Combined, these three things will produce

knowledgeable graduates we will be proud to send into the world to make a difference.

In the classroom I want my students to have learning experiences unlike any other. I

understand that requirements such as TEKS (Torres J.) need to be met and school policies must
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be followed, but I have a dream that extends beyond that. I remember when I was in high school,

most students felt like they were in prison. In our high school minds, we had everything but the

razor wire. Students felt trapped and bored. I don’t want my students to feel that way. I want my

classroom to be their safe place and comfort zone, and the material I’m teaching to be fun and

engaging. Learning does not have to occur through lecture and writing papers. I’ll save that for

college professors, although all of mine have been fantastic! I believe learning can and should

occur in many ways. In 1987, Dr. Neil Fleming developed a questionnaire to help identify the

different ways in which people learn (Introduction to VARK). He called his questionnaire VARK

with stands for visual, aural, read/write, and kinesthetic. Each of these are modes of learning.

Personally, I am a multimodal learner, meaning I can learn new information in many ways and

no one mode is particularly better than another. Knowing these different ways of learning I can

teach them all as well. As a sophomore in college, when I discovered I wanted to teach the best

piece of advice given to me was from Dr. Reed. He told me that everyone will enjoy and have

fun in your classes if you teach to all the learning types. This helps everyone and leaves no one

behind.

The best way to get any learner to go deeper into the subject matter is to get them

involved in the other two components of a successful agriculture program: FFA and SAE. I group

these two things together because both are outside of the classroom activities and can appear to

be analogous. However, they differ in just as many ways. As I mentioned before, FFA is a

student-led organization. Through the FFA my students will learn things such as public speaking,

leadership, professional attire, and much more. Through the FFA students can compete in career

development events or CDEs and leadership development events LDEs (Career and Leadership
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Development Events). Some of these events are creed speaking, where students memorize and

recite the creed for a panel of judges. There a two different public speaking LDEs, one that is

prepared and the other extemporaneous. CDEs such as veterinary science allow students to

demonstrate knowledge and skills gleaned from classroom instruction. I want all of my students

to participate in as many events and contests as possible. Even if we never bring home a single

award it will be worth it for the students. Those competitions were some of the most wonderful

experiences I had in high school, and I will always remember them. It’s never about how good or

bad students do at a contest. The important part is what the students take away from it. For

example, I want all of my future junior and senior students to participate in the job interview

LDE. Winning is not my goal behind this plan but rather having students graduate knowing how

to conduct themselves during a job interview process. Through FFA students can also earn

awards known as degrees. There are 5 degrees students can earn, and they all build upon each

other. The degrees are the Discovery degree, the Greenhand degree, the Chapter degree, the State

degree, and the American degree (State & Chapter Degrees). Each of these has requirements for

students to meet; however, students can only attain these degrees if he or she knows about them.

My agriculture teachers never told me about the State degree for Texas which is called the

Lonestar Degree. I also had never heard of the discovery degree while in my high schools FFA

program. I would have applied for every award and degree I could get my hands on if only they

had told me about it. It is my desire to inform my students of these opportunities and encourage

them to apply for all of them if they are eligible. These degrees are something they can take

home and show their parents, they are something the students can be proud of, and they come

with pins the students can wear on their FFA jackets to show what they have achieved. At the end
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of each year, an FFA banquet will be held to display these awards and achievements to parents

and friends. This event has always brought chapters closer together because everyone is a part of

it in some way. So even at the very end of the year relationships made through and with FFA are

made strong.

The third component of successful agricultural education programs is supervised

agriculture experiences or SAE. There are four types of SAE’s that students can participate in.

These are foundational/exploratory, research, placement, and entrepreneurship. These

experiences give students opportunities to look into careers they may want in the future. I look at

them almost like internships. You get to experience real and hard work and figure out if that is

something you would want to spend the rest of your life doing. People usually expect their

students to graduate high school and either go to college or go straight into a job if they don’t

have one already. If a student does not go to college they have to find a job quickly if they wish

to be independent. If they go to college they must choose a field of study and dedicate

themselves to it for the next four years. They can change their minds but the longer it takes for

them to figure out what they want to do the harder that change is to make.

Participating in SAE’s gives students opportunities throughout high school to try different

job experiences. No matter what type of SAE and regardless of if it is paid or unpaid, the

experience will be priceless. Another aspect of SAE’s is that they are completely up to the

student. As the Ag teacher, I merely supervise and guide the student, the rest comes from them.

Therefore SAE’s are opportunities to grow in responsibility, independence, decision making and

so much more. Similarly to the FFA, these learning experiences are vital to a complete

agriculture program. Another similarity is that the students can also win proficiency awards for
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their hard work in their SAE (Agricultural Proficiency Awards). Again, it will never be about the

awards but they can build students confidence in themselves and if I can achieve that as I teach

that will be a real win.

In conclusion, I believe that agriculture classes should be unique not only in what we

teach but in how we teach it. Students should not feel the same in my classroom as they do in

their other classes. I believe that the activities and events outside of the classroom are just as

important as my teaching because it will make what I’m teaching even more relevant. Lastly, the

most important part of any agriculture program is the students. If we are not trying to do our best

for them then everything in these pages is meaningless. The students are what's important. They

are why we do what we do. The classroom instruction, having FFA chapters and supervising

SAE’s is all for them.

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References

• Agricultural Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ffa.org/agricultural-

education/

• Agricultural Proficiency Awards. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ffa.org/

participate/awards/proficiencies/?portfolioCats=22

• Career and Leadership Development Events. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://

www.ffa.org/participate/cde-ld

• FFA Creed. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ffa.org/about/ffa-creed/

• FFA History. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ffa.org/about/what-is-ffa/ffa-history/

• Introduction to VARK. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://vark-learn.com/introduction-to-

vark/

• National FFA Leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ffa.org/our-leadership/

• State & Chapter Degrees. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ffa.org/state-chapter-

degrees/

• Supervised Agricultural Experiences. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ffa.org/

supervised-agricultural-experiences/

• Torres, J. (2018, August 24). Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Retrieved from

https://tea.texas.gov/curriculum/teks/