Sophia Hortin (University of Illinois)

​Hello, again!
This is Sophia Hortin checking in with new experiences from the second semester of my senior
year at the University of Illinois. As a student completing an Illinois teaching license alongside
my degree, this semester is untraditional. I am a student teacher at Sycamore High School in
Sycamore, Illinois. Because I am student teaching, I am not on a traditional college campus or
attending traditional college classes. Instead, I am teaching agriculture courses daily, as a career
teacher would, under the guidance of three experienced agricultural educators within Sycamore's
local school district.
The shift in setting that comes with student teaching also challenges me to think of the
grain and feed association industry immersion experience from a different angle. Specifically, I
am reflecting on intersections between agricultural education and the grain industry within
Illinois. Part of this reflection includes a written discussion on how educating about the grain and
feed industry can be integrated into each of the three main components of agricultural education
programs. Agricultural education in Illinois models after three main components: classroom &
laboratory instruction, FFA, and supervised agricultural experiences (SAE). Ideally, these
components will intersect in some activities and events as student involvement in all three areas
creates a holistic agricultural education experience. This model is called the "three-circle model,"
with one circle for each principal component. Throughout my student teaching experience, it is
abundantly clear that there is space to incorporate grain and feed industry education within each
of these circles or components. Doing so is mutually beneficial for both the agricultural
education program and Illinois' grain and feed industry. Through student teaching, I also found
many ways in which I learned about the grain and feed industry or skills applicable to grain and
feed careers, which I will outline more thoroughly towards the end of this discussion.
Classroom & Laboratories
The grain industry touches many different arms of knowledge and skills, which
incorporate into course curriculums in many ways. For example, science-based agriculture
courses can incorporate feed science and grain quality topics from a scientific approach.
Agriculture business classes can include lessons on commodity markets, merchandising, and
origination topics. Technical courses like agriculture mechanics, welding, and physical science
systems, can expose students to the application of skills within the grain industry, such as
operations and technical systems, that they are learning in their coursework.
Critical topics like safety and career exploration are broad enough to be incorporated into
almost any class. For example, safety in agriculture, which includes grain safety topics, is critical
to all people who might encounter grain or a grain handling facility. Therefore, grain safety
topics would be an excellent candidate for incorporation into an introduction to agriculture class,
the foundational agriculture course with the broadest audience.
Lastly, exposing students to career paths, including those in the grain and feed industries,
is integral to a well-rounded high school educational experience. While it is not the role of the
educator is not to recruit students to a specific sector, it is crucial to encompass a variety of
careers in agriculture. Students often think of farmers, veterinarians, agronomists, repair
technicians, and others as being the traditional "careers in agriculture." Yet, industries like the
grain industry house careers in merchandising, origination, operations, safety, and more that
often suit students' interests and skills, even though they may not be a career that the student is
aware of. At Sycamore, I learned a great deal from observing their Agriculture Academy course.
This course is a senior-level class that focuses on career or college readiness and career
exploration. Students in this course visit agricultural businesses in the local area, hear from guest
speakers, and complete job shadow experiences (like those in the GFAI industry immersion
program). I found that even at the senior-level stage, where students choose a career pathway,
they are still searching for what suits them. Exposure to agriculture careers, some of which were
in grain and feed, was critical to developing their decisions about the next steps after high
school.
FFA
From a teaching perspective, FFA is a great space to provide students with stated
interests in agriculture with exposure to grain and feed industries outside the classroom. These
learning opportunities could come in the form of business and industry tours, attendance at
workshops during conferences and conventions, and career development events.
FFA is also a space where students develop leadership and communication skills. Based
on what I experienced during student teaching, teachers must provide context regarding how
those skills translate to applicable settings or careers. Students possess more "buy-in" to learning
these skills and retain them longer when they see purpose in their investment. One way to
provide them with context is through interactions with industries, like grain and feed, where they
see professionals using those skills and have opportunities to practice them during their
interactions.
SAE
Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs) are work-based learning programs for students.
Teachers can create another intersection between agricultural education and the grain and feed
industry by fostering connections for students to complete work-based experiences or projects in
related fields. “Doing to Learn” is a portion of a motto used in describing the work of
agricultural education. The idea is that there is a great deal learned by immersion into the
working environment, which is why SAEs are an integral part of students learning about
agriculture, including the grain and feed industry.
Learning as a Student Teacher
I would be remiss if I did not also reflect upon how my personal student teaching
experiences impact my relationship with the grain and feed industry. Even though I do not plan
to become a teacher upon graduation in May, the skills I learned during student teaching are still
valuable. For example, teaching high school students about agriculture required me to fine-tune
my ability to break down technical information and present it clearly. This skill will be valuable
in other career fields, including the career fields I experienced during my grain and feed industry
immersion tours and job shadows. Many professionals I encountered during these experiences
expressed how important it is to communicate technical information to their farmer patrons or
colleagues to ensure all parties' well-being and that tasks are performed safely and successfully.
Other skills acquired include collaboration between multiple organizations to achieve a common
purpose, skills to show the value of agriculture in work settings in which many are unfamiliar
and more.
Reflection throughout curriculum development and assisting with the daily facilitation of
an agricultural education program helped solidify connections, concepts, and ideas about the role
of grain and feed in our world. A mentor once told me, “Action without reflection is a waste of
time.” They meant that reflecting upon our past experiences is where we learn to use those them
for further development, action, or to derive opportunities by reconnecting in some way. During
student teaching, I often revisited or reflected upon my experiences as I incorporated them into
lessons, conversations about careers and opportunities with individual students, or in seeking
ways for community professionals to engage with the agricultural education program. Specific
grain and feed experiences I frequently revisited include internships, personal interactions
through my farming background, and the industry immersion scholarship program. Reflecting on
these experiences from a new setting required me to think about them from a new angle,
broadening and deepening my takeaway points as I look back.
Lastly, studies show that an excellent way to learn information is to be in a situation
where you must teach that information or explain it to others. Teachers even use this as a
learning strategy in their classrooms. Challenging students to teach or explain a concept to one
another, an evidence-based strategy to support students in mastering content. I also experienced
this strategy in action personally as I acquired content knowledge and transformed it into lessons
for my students. For example, during a pre-student teaching clinical field experience, I developed
and taught a multi-day lesson about assessing feed quality, which directly intersects with the
grain and feed industry. Before conducting the lesson, I was entirely unfamiliar with assessing
feed quality. Yet, even months later, I still retain what I learned about feed in delivering that
lesson. This feed quality lesson is just one of several examples where teaching strengthened my
knowledge of grain and feed topics as I put together learning content and lessons for students.
Although my industry immersion experience happened through the shoes of an
agricultural educator rather than a local grain professional, I still find many connections as to
how this experience strengthened my knowledge of grain and feed, the skills required to become
an industry professional, and my ability to pass on learning about the grain and feed industry. I
am very grateful for the plethora of investments and experiences throughout the grain and feed
industry immersion scholarship program, which deepened my knowledge of a vital agricultural
industry and sparked an interest in grain and feed careers. Thank you, Grain and Feed
Association of Illinois!