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My Philosophies

When I start teaching, there are many goals I’d like to see accomplished. One goal would be for me to have a teacher/student relationship that is the best possible for the students. I’ve been through many situations where the students just don’t get along with the teachers, and the classroom situation really doesn’t work. If the classroom setting doesn’t help the student, that means the students aren’t learning in my opinion, and this is one thing I do not want to happen when I teach. I really want my students to trust me. I want them know that if they have a problem with what’s going on around them, they can come to me and tell me about it. Another thing I like to accomplish is to have a successful FFA program. I come from a very successful FFA program back at Mandan Senior High, and with having that success, this is something I want to pass on to my students. But, I also have the experience where the students just do not like the advisor present, and the FFA program has reeled from those feelings. I hope that I can take those rather negative experiences and turn it into something positive. I guess I see FFA in this way, it is a program that can provide many positive aspects for a young person. It can help you decide on a career like it did for me. If it wouldn’t have been for me taking vocational agriculture my junior year, I would never have had the chance to do something like welding, or go around North Dakota for contests. It can give you an experience you would never have a chance at before. It can allow a student from the city to witness what it is like to run a farm, or judge livestock. I just hope that I can get that point out to them that taking a class like vocational agriculture is going to do that. If I can accomplish that much, I think my main goal as a teacher will be met.

I guess the best way to accomplish my goals is to let students know that nothing is impossible. If they set out at the beginning of the year to win in Dairy Judging, I’m not going to discourage them. I think the best way is that my students are going to have to know that they are going to have to get things done as a team. I think teamwork is the best way to accomplish things, and that is the way it is in most work places today. I believe that they should set goals also, because I know I can’t tell them what they are supposed to do, they have to make the decisions by themselves. I think that my college education has changed my point of view since I was in high school. I have had a variety of subjects since I’ve come to college, ranging from the general required courses to ones that I will use once I become a teacher. The main thing that has really changed my thinking since I’ve come to college is the internship I did this summer with the Cass County Extension office. One way my thinking has changed is that people in the community need to take more of a leadership role. I learn that without people in the public taking some initiative, and volunteering their time to help with numerous events, the extension office probably could not get what is needed to be finished. With that, I have also learned that if you are an agent, you just can’t do the work by yourself, especially in a community like Fargo-Moorhead. I also think that has to take place with the Ag. Education field also. I know that I won’t be able to teach everything that is required of me when it comes to FFA, but with the help of volunteers who have experience in areas where I don’t, I know that my FFA program will thrive.

In my opinion, the best way for learning to happen is to let the students learn by actually doing things. Take the situation they are in, and let them go at their own pace. I think this is the main thinking behind most agriculture programs. The FFA Motto proves that by itself: Learning To Do, Doing To Learn, Earning To Live, Living To Serve. I really believe that a student should be able to take classes that they feel that will help them out in the future. I really think that a student should have a requirement of core classes, because in that way, they may find something that may really interest them. I really think that if a student doesn’t find something that doesn’t interest them in the core subjects, they should be able to take something that is completely different. For an example, take my High School education. I had my share of core classes, and I know that they will help me out a lot. But, if it weren’t for my High School offering vocational classes, and a different curriculum other than just the core subjects, High School would have been really boring for me. Because of the different choices for classes, I was able to take classes that really interested me and would really help me in the future, whether that was going into some kind of technical field or the teaching field. I think you have to take your experience you gain in class and put them to work in the real world. I think this is very vital to today’s world, especially in agricultural related areas. I also know that being able to chose my own classes, I was also able to get out more than I would with just general classes. I really think that it should be up to the student to decide which classes to take, and not ones that some authoritative figure says they have to take. I guess the point that I am trying to make is that it is the students’ education and future, and it should really be up to them to decide what path they have to take.

As for effective management, I’m not really sure what kind of stance I can take. I believe that a classroom should be somewhat civilized, but I don’t think students should be in a situation where a classroom is like a boot camp, where students can’t speak what they are thinking. I believe in letting the students have a little free range with the way they are learning, because it is their education. I really think there should be rules to follow, but not that it’s so strict that the learning process is restricted.

So in a summary, I think that a student should have a core curriculum and a choice of taking vocational programs and some academic specialization, too. I also think that a school should play a really big part of with the community, and that the community should really support their school when the school needs it.