Starting this week, 40 new ag teachers will be Illinois instructors after a specialized two-day training event at Heartland Community College in Normal.
The newbies received two days of training to gain skills in classroom management, working with FFA members and developing a curriculum for the coming year at a program as part of a Facilitating Coordination of Agricultural Education (FCAE) program taught by its program advisers.
Among those attending, Rhett Ellis is ready to start his first year teaching at the Sesser-Valier school district in southern Illinois. He said that while he is comfortable with the curriculum, lessons at the two-day conference will help him schedule weekly and monthly content.
Being from a row crop background, he said the animal science information was also especially beneficial.
“Ag is my passion,” said Ellis, who noted FFA has done a lot for him, so he wants to give back as a teacher by inspiring other students.
In an open question session, the new teachers asked about how to budget, how to handle fundraising, tips for working with a team of ag teachers, how to get started in a single-teacher program and how to best help students.
John Heiser, a FCAE program adviser, offered tips on how to set boundaries. He advised that unless it was at a convention or an emergency, never contact students after 7 p.m. and only text students in groups or with parents. He also advised not to answer parents’ emails that arrive on Sunday afternoons. If teachers do that, people expect it, and will get upset when they don’t.
“Put personal time on your calendar. Your life matters. Your mental health matters,” Heiser said.
As far as setting the tone for the classroom, Megan Coy a FCAE program adviser, said it is better to start tougher. Sometimes new, young teachers “may get a little run over” because they want students to like them. But if a classroom gets out of control, “it’s hard to get it back,” said Coy of Sullivan in Moultrie County.
She said communication with parents and administration is vital.
“In ag education today, teachers may teach floral design, welding and hunter safety — all one year,” said Jenny Wold, an FCAE program adviser.
She remembers attending first-year teacher training 20 years ago. In the years since, she has gathered varied teaching experiences which helps make her an ideal resource for new teachers. She has taught downstate and with urban students near Chicago, was an Ag in the Classroom county coordinator, taught in a Catholic program, led a single-ag teacher program and was part of a three-member teaching team.
Wold said the conference gave new teachers a little of everything, so they have resources at their fingertips. Once the school year begins, she and the other FCAE program advisors will visit the new teachers in their classroom and provide resources as needed.
