New ways to teach in agriculture

PINE PLAINS — Earlier this summer, Christine Mac Neil, the Pine Plains agriculture teacher, attended the Region VI in the STICKS (Successful Teachers Inspire Character and Knowledge in Students) professional development conference for agricultural educators at the Oswegatchie Educational Center in Croghan, N.Y.“I love going to this conference,” said Mac Neil. “We also get hundreds of dollars worth of curriculum materials that we can actually use in the classroom.”Each participant received 30 hours or more of professional in-service time and materials that are valued at more than $400.According to a press release, the goal of this year’s conference was “to bring the agricultural educators of Region VI together for a dynamic professional development program focused on providing teachers with technical information and current teaching techniques necessary to provide instruction to students interested in careers within the diverse areas of America’s agricultural industry.”Region VI is composed of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.The press release said that the conference focused on “skills that the teachers can use to reconnect their students to nature and their local environment and which can be brought back into the classroom to engage and excite students to learn.”Some of the workshops provided during the four-day conference included “The Creative Side of Ice Cream,” “The Dirt on Soil,” “Backpack Science,” “Advanced Hydroponics” and “Global Hunger and Food Insecurity.”Attendants also participate in hand-on activities, like making homemade goat-milk soap.“There are always things that I learn every year that I can use directly in my classroom,” said Mac Neil. “One year I learned how to make boutonnieres and received all the supplies to do so. My eighth-graders now [make them] every year. This year I believe we will be making some goat-milk soap.”Professional Development Chair for the New York Association of Agricultural Educators Tara Berescik said, “Agricultural teachers impact the lives of students in countless ways, but the job is exhausting. Conferences help to refresh our spirits and ignite our passions for education. It’s great to work with others and to remember … the reasons why we are excited to go back to school in September.”Mac Neil said that her favorite part of the conference is the interaction and networking with other agriculture teachers.“Many of us work in single-department ag programs so it is really important for us to connect somehow,” she said. “[The conference] is so important for rejuvenation of your spirit. It makes you remember why you love doing what you are doing, the networking is invaluable, and it is a great way to bounce ideas off of others and get a ton of new ideas.”The conference was hosted by the New York State Agricultural Education Outreach Staff in partnership with the New York Association of Agricultural Educators Executive Council, the National Association of Agricultural Educators, the New York State Education Departments and Mohawk Valley Career Pathways.Mac Neil also acts as the FFA advisor in the Pine Plains Central School District.The FFA will hold its annual Fall Festival at the Stissing Mountain Middle/High School on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 7 and 8.Mac Neil said she will be applying all that she learned at the conference when classes begin again in the Pine Plains School District on Wednesday, Sept. 7.

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