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Motivating Teachers and Students Through a Placed-Based Experience

Posted on: Friday, 24 February 2006, 06:00 CST

By Martin, Mike

A critical component of successful teachers is the ability to motivate and improve their students. Sometimes teachers need to be inspired by motivating experiences to help them develop similar opportunities for their students. But where do teachers find their inspiration? For a group of student teachers in agricultural education students, inspiration came from a field trip-a place- based learning experience at three unique Pennsylvania agricultural education programs. The student teachers, who are now high school agriculture teachers, visited the Milton Hershey School, Conrad Weiser High School, and W.B. Saul High School. Each of these schools has unique agricultural education programs that served as models of innovation for these student teachers. This trip changed the way these beginning teachers think of the profession and their classrooms. The experience inspired them to, proverbially speaking, "think outside of the box."

Placed-Based Education

Place-based education is a relatively new term that builds on much older philosophical roots. Placed-based education combines ideas such as constructivism, experiential education, and problem- based learning. The basic concept of place-based education centers on a place, which provides a specific context for learning (Gruenewald, 2003). The place-based learning experience that inspired these student teachers centered on the three schools in Pennsylvania, and was grounded on the key components of placed- based learning such as being experiential, connecting the students to the community, and the content being focused on a specific location's social, political, and economic characteristics (Woodhouse & Knapp, 2000).

Milton Hershey School

The first stop on the four-day trip was the Milton Hershey School in Hershey, PA. The private school serves a diverse population of over 1,300 students, from 28 states, all of whom have some social and economic need. The backbone of the Agricultural and Environmental Education (AEE) Program is the use of the School's land-related resources..... located on 1,000 acres of land (Milton Hershey School, 2005, n. p.). The use of land laboratories as a hands-on classroom inspired one student teacher in particular. Lauren Bates, agriculture teacher at Heritage High School, found interest in the orchards and gardens set up for the students to learn using hands-on methods in environmental and agricultural education. Lauren was so inspired about this experience that she started working with Heritage High School to create these same types of orchards and gardens at their school. She believed that if this method worked for non-traditional agricultural students, then it would work for her school as well (Personal communication, 11/12/ 05).

Conrad WeiserHigh School

The second stop of the journey was the Conrad Weiser High School in Robesonia, PA. The school's agricultural program is comparable (or better) to some community colleges and small universities in its facilities and academic rigor. The agricultural education program even includes an agricultural library room, where students in the upper-level classes conduct advanced research projects in a wide arrange of topics. This attention to academic rigor and learning inspired Cherie Rogier of Okaw Valley High School. She compared her experiences in school to that at Conrad Weiser, and what she now envisions for Okaw Valley. Cherie explained, "The level of agricultural science taught at Conrad Weisner is amazing. The curriculum I saw being taught is content I learned as a sophomore in college. It has motivated me to emphasize more science content in my agricultural science course" (Personal Communication, 11/ 11/05).

Sarah Tweet, agriculture teacher at LaSalle-Peru High School, had much the same experience at Conrad Weiser. Sarah's current program at LaSaIIePeru has three agricultural mechanics courses, but she and her administration want a more scientific agricultural education curriculum. She wants to utilize the science-based curriculum model of Conrad Weiser and apply it to her school agricultural program (Personal communication, 11/15/05). Cherie and Sarah's placed-based learning experience inspired them to think beyond what is normally a high school agricultural education program and created a new vision for their agricultural education programs.

W. B. Saul High School

Finally, the group visited the W.B. Saul School in the heart of Philadelphia. The school has quite a unique campus, considering its location within a major urban center. The 200-acre campus possesses a small animal laboratory buildings, meat science program, school golf course, apiaries, dog kennels, and working farms (W.B. Saul High School, 2005). W. B. Saul is the largest agricultural program in the United States and largest FFA chapter in the world. The size of school left an impression on Cherie Rogier, but more importantly she was fascinated by the non-traditional agriculture students who interested in agriculture. One commonality in many of their agricultural classrooms was the hands-on learning that occurred. The instructors also gave students responsibilities in caring for many of the plants and animals at the school. This created interest and pride among the students as they internalized the curriculum.

A New Opportunity for Students

The whole trip was an immense learning experience for all those involved. Jennifer Herman, agriculture teacher at Jacksonville High School, described her experience on the fourday trip in relation to her current program. "The exposure to urban agriculture programs also allowed me to evaluate the traditional curriculum that is used in many rural agriculture programs.... In addition to this experience, I have participated in the Urban Agriculture Programs Conference and met with teachers nationwide who share a similar interest and passion for teaching agricultural education. These conferences have expanded my knowledge of agricultural education and provided the opportunity to network with others."

Jennifer plans to give students a similar experience she had as a college student. "Our chapter is also planning to participate in the Adopt-a-Chapter Program through the Facilitating Coordination for Agriculture Education in Illinois to send our students to an urban program for a few days and invite urban students to come to our school during this time as well. I am now more comfortable with this idea and look forward to the experience and the opportunity to expose my students to these urban programs that have been able to see. Traveling on the trips has allowed me to learn more about programs in my state as well as others that I can utilize in my own classroom and to give experiences to my students as well" (Personal communication, 11/ 15/05). Jennifer's inspiration from seeing the unique agricultural education programs first-hand has provided her the insight to create new opportunities for her own students. Agricultural educators who are inspired by real-life experiences are more likely to try to create opportunities to replicate them for their students (Neil Knobloch, personal communications, 11/21/05).

Get Outside of Your Comfort Zone

Place-based curriculum theorists argue that the placed-based education should aim for critical reflection and change for its students (Gruenewald, 2003). This was true for the four student teachers who experienced this inspirational field trip. It was a chance for them to reflect on their experience as a student teacher and to rethink the possibilities of their future programs. The place- based experience gave them inspiration to think outside the box-a conventional agricultural education program. These student teachers, now beginning teachers, were inspired to make lasting impacts on their local communities, school, and students through innovative ideas and effective teaching strategies.

Agricultural educators should step outside of their comfort zones and travel to new places and experience cultures that "do things differently." Radically different experiences can inspire and provoke innovative ideas. New places can inspire new ideas. New ideas can inspire and motivate students to learn and develop in ways they would not have had the opportunities to do so, expect for their agriculture teacher who was willing to step outside the comfort zone and be jolted into out-of-the-box thinking. What have you done recently to inspire new ideas for your program? You might need to get out your trip planner and organize an itinerary that will get you outside of your comfort zone and open your mind to an unknown world of new thinking about your agricultural education program.

References

Gruenewald, D. A. (2003). The best of both worlds: A critical pedagogy of place. Educational Researcher, 32(4), 3-12.

Milton Hershey School. (2005). Agricultural & Environmental Education (AEE) Program. Retrieved November 16, 2005 from: http:// www.mhs-pa.org/programs/academic/ aee/

Woodhouse, J. & Knapp, C. (2000). Place-based curriculum and instruction. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EDO-RC-00-6).

W.B. Saul High School. (2005). Welcome to Saul High School of Agricultural Sciences! Retrieved November 16, 2005 from: http:// www.philsch.k 12.pa.us/schools/saul/ index.htm

Mike Marti\n is a graduate student in agri-cultural education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Copyright National Council for Agricultural Education Jan/Feb 2006

Source: Agricultural Education Magazine, The

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