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Agriculture teachers educate, inspire students
Teaching agricultural mechanics is a favorite lesson for Alabama Teacher Shane Bryan
October 2007
Help Wanted: Agriculture instructor at mid-size high school, grades 9-12. Come join a committed team of teachers sharing a common passion for agriculture. Must love a challenge and thrive in a busy environment. Occasional travel required; FFA and leadership experience a plus.
More than a decade ago, Shane Bryan, just two years out of college with a degree in agriscience education, answered an ad that must have been similar, at least in spirit, to the one above. He’d been content teaching at a nearby middle school, but this was too tempting to ignore. The position they were looking to fill was at Falkville High School in Falkville, Ala., and right up his alley: His dad had held it for 30 years.
“It was the best career decision I ever made,” recalls Bryan, who now stands at the helm of Falkville’s agriculture program as both a teacher and an FFA advisor. “It’s been great. I love what I do.”
As an instructor for grades 8 through 12, Bryan teaches everything from agriscience to agricultural construction to field and wildlife management.
He teaches, mentors, grades, listens, administers, and does just about anything and everything else you might expect a busy ag teacher to do. He’s even coached football. It’s not an easy job, but it’s what he likes to do.
“If it weren’t for the FFA part of it, it wouldn’t be nearly as good,” says Bryan. “I enjoy the classroom and the kids are great. But with FFA, I sometimes feel like I get more out of it than my students do. I really enjoy it.”
Far away in Kismat, Kan., Carmelita Goossen showers similar praise on her career choice. Unlike Bryan, though, she’s just begun.
Goossen, a second-year agriculture teacher at Southwestern Heights High School, teaches agriculture mechanics, animal science, horticulture, plant and soil science, and several other courses.
“I always thought I’d be an elementary school teacher, but then I joined FFA,” says Goossen. Later, as a senior in high school, her older sister encouraged her to consider not just teaching, but teaching agriculture.
“She really knew me well,” Goossen says. “She knew what my passions were.”
Following four years at Kansas State University, where she graduated in 2006 with an agricultural education major and minors in international agriculture, animal science, and Spanish, Goossen landed the job she holds now.
“It’s been interesting, but it’s also been challenging,” she says. “You just can’t experience that in college. It takes that first year to really know what you’re getting into. Now I have a taste for what it’s really like.”
Goossen has also connected her other interests with her current career. Fully bilingual in English and Spanish, she focuses heavily on improving diversity in the chapter.
Choosing a career is no easy task. For most, it’s a process full of trial and error, of experimentation, internships, apprenticeships and moves from one job to the next. Some know exactly what they want to be from an early age. Others, well, don’t.
In Bryan’s case, having a father who taught – and a sincere interest in teaching agriculture – sure helped.
“I would tell somebody who’s interested in a career in agricultural education to not only look at it from the FFA standpoint, because that’s what gets everybody excited,” Bryan says. “Remember, you’re going to be responsible for teaching kids, and you’ve got responsibilities in all aspects of education. We’re looked at for test scores, student progress, and all those things that have nothing to do with FFA but have a lot to do with keeping your job. I would advise you to really look into the education field in general and to sit in on classrooms outside of ag class and realize that it can be a tough job.”
Still, says Bryan, he has no regrets when it comes to his career choice.
“I feel like it’s my calling,” he says. “I feel like I was placed here for a reason. I’m not always perfect – when you’re dealing with different personalities, you can lose your cool sometimes. But at the same time I don’t know what else I’d be doing. I love it that much.”
Story by Chris HayhurstRecent Comments
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