The steps of effectively utilizing community resources in an agriscience program

摘要

I was completely out of my comfort zone. I was a small-town ranch kid from West Texas living and teaching in a large consolidated school outside of Lincoln, Nebraska. I was in the same situation that many new teachers find themselves...a new location with few contacts or acquaintances. One advantage I had, however, was an experienced teacher already in the department who was able to point out those important community relationships, as well as introduce me to a successful method for seeking out andbuilding additional community resources. For an agricultural science teacher, these community contacts are not only important to the success of the program, oftentimes they are expected by school administrators, parents, alumni and constituents. The Local Program Success for Agricultural Education (LPS) lists several benefits of developing contacts within the community including enabling your program to accomplish more, increasing the impact of your program, and building credibility with administrators, legislators and business people. Other benefits include allowing your students to make valuable contacts, exposing your students to non-traditional agricultural industries and providing "real-world" experience to complement classroom teaching.