Conference to kick off new teacher network
Written by Jonathan Eisenthal
Call it the home field advantage. This year’s National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference takes place here in Minneapolis. Without the usual travel expense, Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom decided to devote that amount of money to scholarships, to underwrite a full complement of 25 Minnesota teachers to attend.
While they are together, special events will provide an opportunity to get to know each other and bond over their shared interests in teaching and agriculture. It’s seen as one in a series of events for this cohort, to launch an ongoing network of peers who can act as resources for one another, strengthening their ability to hit their curricula marks using up-to-date facts and figures to do with agriculture.
“We’re hosting a Minnesota reception that Tuesday night )of the conference) that normally we don’t do for a national conference, but it’ll be a chance to network and let those teachers get to know each other,” said Keri Sidle, MAITC education specialist. “And we have a special, it sounds silly, but we have a special Minnesota shirt to wear on Tuesday so that all the Minnesotans can identify themselves. We’re trying to build for them a cohort of people who incorporate agriculture into their lessons, that they can have a relationship beyond just this conference.”
As the year goes on, MAITC has scheduled a series of virtual meetings to bring the 25 teachers back together.
“We’re looking at how to extend the energy that comes from this conference, to extend the connections that are made here, and take them throughout the entire school year,” Sidle said.
Modeled on the kind of networks that exist for FFA and 4-H alumni, and for Minnesota’s Agriculture teachers, MAITC hopes this peer network will take on a life of its own.
Sidle described the vision, “We’re hoping that, yes, we can create this special connection this year and then it may be something we continue to build on each year, bringing in a new cohort, and it can feature a more active Facebook community, so that they can connect with each other more often, whenever questions come up, or they want to run ideas by people who can act as a sounding board.”
