My name is Amanda and I am currently "tagged to teach Ag!" What does being "tagged to teach ag" mean?
This means that several years ago I decided that I wanted to be an agriculture teacher to help share my passion for agriculture with students!
It is one thing to say I want to be a teacher and another to hike that mountain to be a teacher. I started my hike back in 2014 as a state FFA officer for the Connecticut FFA Association where I sat on a committee with other FFA members from around our country and looked at how to get students from the "tagged" stage to the path to being an educator. From serving on committees while being in Connecticut to now being in my 3ish year at Penn State I have had quit the hike up this mountain to being an educator. At Penn State I am part of the elite 11 graduating in the 2020 cohort from the agriculture and extension education major! I have had quite the experience at Penn State so far.
I have done many facilitation gigs such as going to Virginia to facilitate with Dr.Foster and Ms.Boltz (#Psuaged19) about parliamentary procedure, going to Indianapolis to facilitate my workshop "Superhero Strengths!" to hundreds of FFA members from across our nation and working with several state FFA associations to facilitate to FFA members focusing around several topics.
When I am not studying and focusing on teaching I spend a lot of time in the barn. I love teaching horseback riding lessons to children (especially equine therapy). I have a few beginner students currently when I am home. I grew up in a large city in Connecticut! I am about an hour from NYC and 30 minutes from Connecticut's capital.
I love learning about urban agriculture. When working with local high school agriculture programs I find it very interesting to watch students find a connection to agriculture that is not production! I feel this is a great way for students to find a passion for the agriculture industry and a hook to get them to want to learn more!
In this blog I will be sharing more about my journey to being the best agriculture teacher I can be and I hope you will join this journey with me!
