Recently, I was
located and ask to be friends with a few people from my first year of teaching
in the mid-70’s. Two of them said
the same thing, “Thank-you for being my teacher and thank-you for inspiring me
to be a teacher. You are the
reason I became one.” I was at a
loss for words. I had not talked
to either of them since I left that school 35 years ago. What impact do we make on our students?
Now jump to 2012 and
I ask myself the same question, “What impact am I making on my students?” I have had a couple come up to me and
say that because of Mr. Pasour and myself, they want to be teachers. Again the impact of our profession. I
am not just a teacher, I AM AN AGRICULTURE TEACHER!
In my SAE in high
school, I raised replacement heifers for our dairy herd. What is my SAE today, raising my
replacement? I sure hope so. I recently reviewed the NAAE Teach Ag
Video, http://www.naae.org/TeachAg/video.php. I am still taken back about the first
quote, “Teaching is not just a profession, it is a passion.” Agriculture teaching is my passion. I have been thinking lately about my life after
teaching. I cannot imagine. Have I raised my replacement to carry
on after I have gone.
Last week we have
gotten emails from the National Ag Ed Listserve, http://www.naae.org/about/usagedlistserve/, talking about openings. Just this
past week there are openings in North Dakota and Hawaii. There is a shortage of Agriculture
teachers across the nation. We have not been raising our replacements. If you do not think it is real, just
look at this site, https://www.ffa.org/ffaresources/career/teachingjobs/Pages/default.aspx.
Openings are everywhere. If
all the Agriculture teachers that are eligible in North Carolina retired, could
we fill the openings?
Teach Ag day is March
15. NCATA and NAAE are working to
make this a special day. We are
encouraging everyone to take some time and work on raising your
replacement. I am. I will set aside some time to talk
about teaching Agriculture. I will
even have a bulletin board up in the hall encouraging students to consider
teaching Agriculture.
When I ran for NAAE
president, I mentioned in my campaign speech, Mr. Cecil Proffitt, my freshman
Agriculture teacher. I also still
remember Mr. Red Huddleston, my other Agriculture teacher. I have copied one of
my teaching philosophies after Mr. Huddleston, “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and
they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” The impact they made on this farm boy from Sparta,
Tennessee. Mr. Proffitt is still
alive and still comes to our class reunions. Mr. Huddleston has passed away.
Just this past week,
an English teacher and a substitute teacher both mentioned that they wish they
had been in Agriculture and become one of us. They told me how we had a special bond with our
students. A bond different from
coaches in the fact that we worked all year long with our students and could
get things out of them that they nor coaches could not get. It is our passion.
To quote the last
person in the Teach Ag video, “Awesome, there is not another profession like
it.” I cannot think of anything
else I would rather do. I hope I
am raising my replacement, are YOU? Mr. Proffitt and
Mr. Huddleston raised theirs.
Roger Teeple
NCATA President
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