NEWS A Texas Team Ag Ed Publication
March 2016
Are You Making The Most Of Your Chances? Ray Pieniazek, East Central
The spring semester is in full swing and, if you are like me, it can be difficult to juggle everything. Our time is consumed with instruction, livestock shows, CDEs and speaking events. Additionally, some of you have even identified your next potential district, area or state officer candidate. There is probably one right under your nose just waiting for encouragement to step-up to the challenge. We all know that kid who would make a great officer at another level. Offer that challenge to take a chance at serving the FFA in a higher office. Who knows the next state officer might be sitting in your classroom. At the beginning of the month I had the pleasure of speaking to the student teachers at Texas State University under the supervision of Dr. Morrish. He wanted me to talk to them about training teams. I jumped at that chance because I love coaching CDEs in the spring. It was a small group but it gave me an opportunity to encourage young adults who will be the future of our organization. I spoke about my approach to training teams, which CDEs I prefer and how I encourage team members to grow with each practice and contest. I offered encouragement
and advised them to really shadow their supervising teacher. I also advised them on the importance of absorbing as much as they can from the student teaching experience. A few thought provoking questions were posed, for example what makes teaching worthwhile to me? I spoke of witnessing a kid’s face lightup when they have their name called out at a contest when they doubted they were good enough. In fact, the student that I was referring to was sitting in the room at that time, and I watched their expression transform when they realized I was referring to them. Another thing that keeps me going is when a student tells you that you are their favorite teacher. I hope that each of you have made a connection with a student like that and they share that with you. I also asked the college students why they wanted to teach. Almost every one of them mentioned that they were inspired by a great ag teacher. That should be an inspiration to each of you. Surely there is someone in your classroom you could encourage to teach. There are many of us that are reaching retirement; therefore, we should be looking for excellent
replacements. Take a chance to tell someone that they would make a great teacher. Someday they could be your teaching partner or your replacement. I actually had the pleasure of having a former student of mine as a teaching partner and I also had the privilege to be the teaching partner of my high school ag teacher. Both were great experiences and made me the into a better teacher and FFA advisor. You could be the inspiration for the next generation of teachers. Have a great spring semester, spring break and keep taking chances to inspire your students.