Education is limitless.

I learned this during my time as a Principals of Agriculture, Food

and Natural Resources (Prin of AFNR) classroom aide. I started my time as a class aide in

August of 2018 while I was a junior at Bland High School. This year, for my Introduction into

Teaching class that I took through Paris Junior College, I was required to get at least 16 hours of

classroom observation time. For this assignment, I became a classroom aide for the Prin of

AFNR class again my senior year. I believe that the things I have learned through my time

teaching freshman, as well as what my teachers, Micah Fry and Colton Douglas, have taught me

have helped me figure out that becoming an Agricultural Science teacher was my calling.

When a freshman walks through the doors of the ag building, the teachers always greet

the kids with a big “Good Morning,” and a large smile. The class is the second period of the day,

so kids are usually just now waking up. During the first couple of weeks, our goal as teachers is

to tell them what our goal is in this class, as well as encourage them to pay their FFA dues, all

while getting to know the kids and allowing them to get to know us. On the Friday of the first

week of school, we take the kids outside and into the shop and play, what we call “Ice Breaker”

games. We try to show the kids that the ag classes they take are more than just work and that we

know how to have fun. This is definitely something that I have never seen done in any other

classroom, but I am most definitely going to implement it in mine.

For me as a freshman, I was more engaged by the second week of school than I was the

first. I knew ahead of time that I was going to love my ag, but I didn’t know what opportunities I

had within the organization. This is where my love for the organization began, during the second

week. We were shown all the awards and that’s where my mission to rise to the top began. As I

sat through the classes observing, this time as a teacher’s aide, I saw myself in the eyes of a few

of the kids in the classroom. The fact that my own experience as a student in the class helped me
see the future of other students who had not finished the course yet was very inspiring. This

helped me see that I was very well capable of becoming a teacher and that the line of work

would be perfect for me.

I obviously did more than 16 hours of classroom experience, but the time that I logged to

turn in for Introduction into Education was completed over the week of The District Two FFA

Leadership Development (LDE) contest. Throughout the end of October and all of November,

my job as a freshman class aide was to help train the junior skills LDE team because I was on the

senior skills team that had went to state the year before. I revised the script and gave it to 7

freshmen to memorize. Of the 7, there were 3 that quickly rose to the top. Those 3 went on to be

the team. Every morning at 6:30 the junior skills team would come watch the senior skills team

complete the demonstration on how to set up a sprayer. Then, once we were done, the junior

team would perform. After morning practice, the team went to school then came back in during

their 45-minute class period, as well as during their free period to practice. This amount of

practice is ultimately what lead them to win the District Two competition on November 11th. The

team went on to the Area V FFA competition on November 20th to get first place and advance to

state. They will be competing in the state contest December 6th in Huntsville, Texas.

To help train an LDE team was an experience I will never forget. The team doesn’t

understand how much of an impact they had on me, or how much experience I was gaining from

training them. This opportunity personally got me excited to be able to teach my own teams one

day in the near future.

Overall, my field experience time was very helpful to my future career. I am thankful to

have such great mentors and great students to work with as well. After my time as an ag aide for

the past two years, I have learned that teaching is definitely the job for me!