ND Teacher

[ND teacher]

Hello
I am an ag teacher in ND
THis is my 10th year of teaching(35years old)
Hobbies
Raising kids
Welding
Yard work
Lifting weights
Graduated from a large city but worked on and spent alot of time on the farm.
Looking to by a utility tractor

 

[Muhammad]

Hello ND teacher, welcome to TBN! Glad to see you posting. Hope you enjoy being a member of our community.

 

[smstonypoint]

Welcome.

Any regrets about entering the teaching profession? Having spent 30 years teaching (at the university level), I found it rewarding, but not without its frustrations.

One of the rewards for me has been talking to former students after they have graduated and have been in their careers for awhile. Hearing that you have made a positive difference in their lives makes the frustrations seem trivial.


Steve

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Welcome to TBN!!!

 

[LD1]

Welcome to TBN.

Do you teach AG at the HS level or beyond???

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Welcome and what kind of tasks to you plan to use the tractor to help you do?

 

[k3nn3y]

Welcome ND Teacher. :thumbsup:

 

[ND teacher]

Thanks for the warm welcome

I enjoy teaching, i wish the salary was better but i enjoy living out of the larger cities. The population is under 250 people my largest class i teach right now is 11 students. The funny thing about teaching is most kids take you for granted and dont realize how much work and effort you put into them. They will complain about the homework, tasks or are upset about adminstrational decisions and think the teacher is part to blame for them. Some days at the end of the day i think the kids learned nothing and i am wasting my time. THen the next day is great. I have thought in my 10th year now that every job has it good days and bad days and teaching is no different I love hearing years later how much my class has done for students or situations that seemed big then that we would laugh about now. I have though about changing professions and have turned down some better paying teaching jobs to move into larger communities. My parents graduated from this school my grandparents live on their farm 5 miles out of town and it feels like home here.
I teach 7-12 grade, i used to teach a class on line on ITV for about 5 years
Some of the areas i teach are
Welding, carpentry, building trades, electricity, plumbing, small engines, hydraulics, livestock, crops, ag sales, small animals, horticulture.
And i am an FFA Advisor

 

[smstonypoint]

Some of the areas i teach are
Welding, carpentry, building trades, electricity, plumbing, small engines, hydraulics, livestock, crops, ag sales, small animals, horticulture.
And i am an FFA Advisor

You have a full plate. Were you an Ag. Education major?

Steve

 

[ND teacher]

Yeah i majored in ag ed and NDSU fargo ND. I originally went to school for elemetary ed then swithed to ag economics and finally settled in ag education. I wanted to teach, didn't even realize they had a program for teaching Agriculture. I had the opportunity to teach ag mechanics college level or teach ag at the high school in Bismarck, but i graduated from Bismarck and the one thing i truely enjoyed growing up was spending time on the farm and helping out. Now im 5 miles from the farm the pay difference doesnt seem to be a big deal, the only regret i have now is if the school would close and then i would have to relocate when i could have retired in a big school and not have to worry someday in the back of my mind. I really do believe that you have to enjoy what you are teaching to enjoy teaching.

 

[smstonypoint]

I really do believe that you have to enjoy what you are teaching to enjoy teaching.

I couldn't agree more. I had the luxury of not having to teach the same courses year in and year out. After teaching a particular course for 5 years+, I felt that I was losing enthusiasm -- and students can detect it. Being assigned new courses helped my enthusiasm.

Steve

 

[ND teacher]

Yeah and i find myself trying to find a way to teach the same subject material each year, but i keep finding better info and update the curriculum and it seems like a lot of uneeded work, but it does keep me enthused

 

[blueriver]

Hey teacher welcome ... tell me what your 8th grade ag students are doing. My grandson lives with me and they just are not doing anything other than classroom ... seems to me when I was in the 8th grade ag (Now remember my "part-timers" may be affecting my memory) we actually where in the shop doing some kind of project.

 

[ND teacher]

The way most ag programs work in ND is that 7th and 8th grade do more book work, but its introductory stuff with labs mixed in. My 7th graders(I dont have 8th grade due to scheduling conflicts) have an exploring agriculture book which we do quite a bit of work out of. However i mix labs in with it. We also have some projects etc. We do a carpentry unit for where they only use hand tools and they build a stepstool, planter box and sometimes a tool box. This unit lasts close to 9 weeks(we are in school for 36weeks) We also raise a garden and sell produce at our farmers market. The 7th grades will help plant the garden in the spring, help harvest in the fall, clean out plants in the fall after freeze up. We do plant cuttings that they transplant into their planter boxes, and when we have the greenhouse for next year they will help out then too. They have to identify 36 different crops seeds by looking only at the seed. They have a checkbook unit where they have a checkook and write out checks, deposits, keep a ledger and reconsile the checkbook for 9 months. Alot has probably changed since you were in school, They want us to touch so many different areas instead of concentrating on one. Field trips are harder to do cause the students usually have to take most of the day off and then they miss there core classes and that seems to get them upset cause they are so worried about state standards. One nice thing about ag is that a teacher can pick and choose what they want to teach. I dont teach much at all about dairy, because we probably only have 2 dairy farms in the county. But we have alot of organic farms and cattle so i teach more towards the ag in our area

 

[blueriver]

Thanks for the info ... I like the programs you are offering your students. Who cares for the garden during the summer?

 

[wally040]

Welcome to TBN. Glad to see another NODAK aboard. Thanks for your teaching investment in our kids.

 

[Johndeere3720]

:welcome: to TBN ND Teacher!:thumbsup: Due to all the budget cuts my school has been dealing with, our small engine class was removed. I am in framing right now, I really enjoy the class since we get to learn basically how to build walls, do masonry work, etc. Now it isn't to hard for me since i do masonry jobs and build pole barns in the summer but it is on a good track. I am also in the FFA and am planning on making hopefully a trailer to haul my tractor as a project. Glad to have you aboard! :thumbsup:

 

[smstonypoint]

:welcome: to TBN ND Teacher!:thumbsup: Due to all the budget cuts my school has been dealing with, our small engine class was removed. I am in framing right now, I really enjoy the class since we get to learn basically how to build walls, do masonry work, etc. Now it isn't to hard for me since i do masonry jobs and build pole barns in the summer but it is on a good track. I am also in the FFA and am planning on making hopefully a trailer to haul my tractor as a project. Glad to have you aboard! :thumbsup:

Any plans for college after HS?

Steve

 

[Johndeere3720]

Any plans for college after HS?

Steve

I have been really thinking about becoming a Diesel mechanic but I'm still thinking about it.

 

[smstonypoint]

I have been really thinking about becoming a Diesel mechanic but I'm still thinking about it.

I wish you well.

Steve