An Agriculture Teacher, that is the FFA Right?
As most of you know that my fiance works on the pipeline, he meets a lot of people. That being said, I don't usually get to meet all of the people that he comes into contact with. Usually I only hear stories, or what they do and where they might be from.
For those of you that don't know much about the "pipeline" people come from all over to work on gas sites. Kevin (my fiance), travels to different gas sites to sand-blast and paint the different parts of the gas well. In order for him to do his work properly there is a paint inspector to measure the amount of paint that is on the pipe. Each company requires a different amount of paint on the pipe, well-heads, and valves. I never get to meet the inspectors, but they seem to be really cool people from all over the country.
As I went to Kevin's work this past week to take him dinner as he would be painting until after 9pm. I pulled in and to my surprise his inspector was still there. I was actually able to talk to his inspector for a little over two hours. He really is a cool guy.
He asked me what I do, and I told him that I am a student teacher, teaching agriculture education. He said "thats the FFA?
" and I said yes, it is. He continued to tell me that he was an FFA member in 1974 till 1977. This man is from Louisiana, and talked to me about hunting alligators and craw fishing.
Long story short, agricultural education is everywhere. I never would have imagined that this paint inspector would have been an FFA member, still having his FFA jacket, awarded with his state degree. Who would have guessed, that I would be able to talk to someone for over two hours about something we both felt so strongly about. FFA is everywhere, even if I am not in the classroom right now I am still learning.
This past week I was able to be taught by a past FFA member, Lionel taught me about measuring wet paint and how paint shrinks when it drys. To be a good painter like Kevin, you need to do the math on how much the paint will dry and shrink in order to know how heavy to spray wet paint. Yes, I am not in the classroom, but Yes I am still learning. FFA doesn't just make farmers, it makes people.
For those of you that don't know much about the "pipeline" people come from all over to work on gas sites. Kevin (my fiance), travels to different gas sites to sand-blast and paint the different parts of the gas well. In order for him to do his work properly there is a paint inspector to measure the amount of paint that is on the pipe. Each company requires a different amount of paint on the pipe, well-heads, and valves. I never get to meet the inspectors, but they seem to be really cool people from all over the country.As I went to Kevin's work this past week to take him dinner as he would be painting until after 9pm. I pulled in and to my surprise his inspector was still there. I was actually able to talk to his inspector for a little over two hours. He really is a cool guy.
He asked me what I do, and I told him that I am a student teacher, teaching agriculture education. He said "thats the FFA?
" and I said yes, it is. He continued to tell me that he was an FFA member in 1974 till 1977. This man is from Louisiana, and talked to me about hunting alligators and craw fishing.
Long story short, agricultural education is everywhere. I never would have imagined that this paint inspector would have been an FFA member, still having his FFA jacket, awarded with his state degree. Who would have guessed, that I would be able to talk to someone for over two hours about something we both felt so strongly about. FFA is everywhere, even if I am not in the classroom right now I am still learning.This past week I was able to be taught by a past FFA member, Lionel taught me about measuring wet paint and how paint shrinks when it drys. To be a good painter like Kevin, you need to do the math on how much the paint will dry and shrink in order to know how heavy to spray wet paint. Yes, I am not in the classroom, but Yes I am still learning. FFA doesn't just make farmers, it makes people.
This was a fun read, Britton! I loved the connections both between the past and other content areas. How do you plan to bring this into your classroom? Maybe more, how does this inform how you think about teaching and learning and where these occur?
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to bet Dr. Haddad to punch.
ReplyDeleteNever forget what secret resources might exist in your community if provide ways for them to share with you and to plug into your program.
I look forward to future blog posts on how you are developing professionally as an educator in these new times!