One of my earliest memories of learning was when I was a young kid taking swimming lessons. My instructor, Kim, was always by my side, offering (usually yelling) advice to me about what I could improve. Another early memory of learning was when I first rode my bike. Similar to swimming lessons, my parents were at my side the whole time to offer guidance. But, in both situations, I, as the learner, was the one who determined the outcome, no matter how many resources my teachers gave me. I’ve realized that teaching is not about “making” learners learn, but instead, facilitating learning by providing knowledge and resources to students. Learning, on the other hand, is gaining new skills and knowledge by using available resources. Learning can take place anywhere from anyone or anything. We can learn from other people, from books, from social media, and more. But there must be a motivation for a learner to learn something – without motivation, learning won’t happen. At swim lessons, my motivation to learn was so that I wouldn’t drown. When learning to ride a bike, my motivation to learn was not wanting to be the only kid who couldn’t ride a bike. For this reason, I think a teacher acts as a catalyst for learning. If a learner is struggling, the teacher is there to support them. However, you can give a student all the information they need to learn, but in the end, you can’t make them learn unless they have a motivation to do so.
Therefore, my role as a future agriculture educator in developing learners will be to first help students find motivation for learning, and then, second, provide them with knowledge and resources so they can actually learn. To do this, I have developed here at UNL so I can be a resource for students about different areas of agriculture that they’re interested in. If I don’t seem knowledgeable or interested in the subject matter I’m teaching, my students will be less likely to listen to me and what I’m teaching them. As of right now, I view my role as an educator as someone who shows students why they should learn what I’m teaching and as a resource available to support the needs of learners.
I think that my role in developing learners can take place outside of the classroom as well. I will be responsible for assisting FFA members with competitions and SAEs. In these two areas, I think that the motivation for learning will be more easily uncovered in the students because competitions and SAEs are not required. I aim to allocate more time to deepening students’ knowledge and skills and less time to motivating them in these activities.
In order to motivate students’ learning and be a resource for them, I need to use a variety of activities to support them. Students absolutely do not all learn best in the same ways. Some students do well in traditional lectures, notes, and quiz-structured classes, while others don’t. My students all come from different backgrounds and all face different challenges in their lives. Therefore, I need to use individualization to connect with students and support their learning as they need it. I may need to offer different options for assignments and assessments so that students can best show me what they know. Additionally, I need to be prepared to support learners with disabilities just as much as I support other students. Supporting the needs of my learners will be vital to my future success.
An ideal I will try to incorporate into all my classes is that failure is not a bad thing, and it is necessary to learn. To accomplish this, I will start each unit by asking students to complete an activity that they will likely fail at. The purpose of this is not to make them feel bad, but rather to show them what it is they don’t know. At the end of the unit, we will revisit that activity, and after completing the tasks of the unit, the learners will be able to do much better in the activity and realize all that they learned during the unit. This was something my high school chemistry teacher did, and students, including myself, loved taking that class. I will also try to use engaging activities that support applying skills learned, not rote memorization. Whether I’m using a Blooket, lab activity, presentation, or anything else, I will try to keep my students engaged and using higher thought processes. In a lot of my high school classes, we sat through lectures, took notes, and then took quizzes and tests. A lot of students simply didn’t try to learn because they couldn’t see how the lecture topics would help them in the future, and they weren’t engaged. This is something I will try hard to avoid.
As an educator, I am someone who is there to assist motivated learners in learning. Like my swim instructor, Kim, and my parents, I’m not able to make students learn unless they are motivated to do so. But, if I can help students find that motivation, I will be strongly prepared to help students learn through engaging activities and find where they belong in the agriculture industry.