Written by: Carley Snider
Felicity, Ohio
Agriscience Education
Senior
On November 28th, I travelled to Las Vegas, Nevada to attend the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE) Convention as a member of the “Future Agriscience Teacher” Symposium. Along with 23 other undergraduate students from around the country, I attended various professional development meetings and workshops to better myself as a future educator. I was happy to represent Ohio State and the Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership as a part of this program.
Photo credit: @j_hole_nwmsu on twitter
The first day of the program focused on teaching us about inquiry-based learning and how to incorporate it into our classrooms through various teaching techniques, activities and laboratories. Inquiry-based learning is a great tool in reaching all students in the classroom. We also engaged in a session about the CASE Institute to learn about how we can utilize that curriculum to increase learning opportunities for our students.
I attended various workshops geared towards increasing my content knowledge, classroom management skills and abilities to successfully advise an FFA chapter.
Two of the sessions I attended were hosted by Lincoln Electric. One focused on activities to use when teaching welding in the classroom and the other on successfully teaching mig welding. These were really helpful workshops, as I’ll be teaching welding next semester during my student teaching.
I also attended a great session discussing the inclusion of LGBTQ community members in agricultural education classes. It was great to hear about how agricultural education and the FFA are working towards being more inclusive to all students. I aspire to run an agricultural education program and FFA chapter that is welcoming to all students in my school.
Thanks to CHS, DuPont Pioneer and Growth Energy for sponsoring my time at the NAAE Convention. I’m grateful for opportunities to grow as a pre-service educator!
Photo credit: @RCMcLean on twitter