President's Message
Tell the Story and Put your Summer Experiences to Task!
The beginning of the new school year is a prime time to share your summer experiences and use them to advocate for your program. With the recent release of the NAAE award winners, many programs and individuals have been recognized for excellence within the profession. If that’s you, please take the time to share that recognition with your local media as well with community, state, and federal leaders. Now is the time all parties need to hear what you’re doing to enhance the performance of students.
This summer I had the opportunity to attend the National FFA Alumni Conference in Arkansas. It was another fine example of a support network that believes in the job we do daily. The alumni are enthusiastic about what is happening in agricultural education and FFA. I am excited about the alumni’s plan to advocate locally, statewide and federally about the success of the three-circle model. They are one more voice in the unified effort to promote agricultural education.
Another way we can advocate for our programs early in the school year is to share our students’ performance on assessments, especially in those agricultural science classes that link to STEM. Administrators need to be kept up to date about the impact we are making through our advanced science curriculums and the CASE Model curriculum. Many times we highlight our trophies from student leadership activities. We need to share the story of both the leadership and academic success to show the entire picture of agricultural education.
Finally, talk about the professional development workshops you have attended this summer. I have greatly appreciated the effort of each of the hosting states of this summer’s regional meetings. The tours and events were a great learning experience as well as a time for educators to share success stories and concerns we are all experiencing.
It is time to put our summer experiences to work in agricultural education! I believe the quote by Teton Lakota best explains our focus in education: “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I will learn, involve me and I will understand.”
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