The teaching of agriculture is a rewarding, engaging, and complex endeavor. Nearly 9,000 schools in all 50 states and Puerto Rico provide instruction in agriculture, food, and natural resources. Some 13,000 teachers of agriculture deliver high quality teaching and advising to well over one million students every day. Agricultural content, modes of delivery, and people involved in agricultural education are as varied as our geography and people.

To help meet the demands of providing this robust instruction, enterprising agriculture teachers, state staff, teacher educators, the National FFA Organization developed and wrote the Agriculture Teacher’s Manual (1998). The Agriculture Teacher’s Manual encompassed many promising and effective practices necessary to deliver the total agricultural education model, including classroom instruction, FFA, Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE), and community and stakeholder engagement. Agriculture teachers, teacher educators, state staff, and aspiring preservice agriculture teachers have relied on the Agriculture Teacher’s Manual for ideas and guidance on agricultural education.

In 2018, the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE), approached the National Council for Agricultural Education (the Council) about updating and revising the Agriculture Teacher’s Manual. The Council substantially justified the need for and enthusiastically endorsed updating the publication, commissioning the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE) to develop the revised manual as a project of the Council.

In August 2019, the initial writing team, comprised of agriculture teachers, state staff, and teacher educators assembled in Lexington, KY, to revise the Agriculture Teacher’s Manual (see Table 1). After a thorough review of the 1998 publication, the writing team decided to start with a fresh outline of concepts and practices necessary for a beginning agriculture teacher. The result of those decisions and efforts is this Agriculture Teacher’s Resource Guide (2021).

The Resource Guide intends to provide a compilation of promising and effective practices related to delivering today’s total agricultural education model. Woven throughout the Resource Guide is the combined knowledge and practices of literally years of combined experience and wisdom. This version of the guide will be updated frequently as technology, agriculture, and knowledge of teaching and learning processes advance.

We hope you find the Resource Guide to be useful in your preparation for a fulfilling and accomplished career in agricultural education. The Resource Guide is intended to help you “endeavor to develop professionally through study, travel, and exploration, (Ag Teacher’s Creed)” and we expect it to enhance your “own ability to work efficiently and think clearly, with such knowledge and skill as [you] can secure, (FFA Creed)” as you teach and embolden future generations of agriculture, food, and natural resources professionals and leaders.

May you open and inspire young minds with the wonders of agriculture, food, and natural resources.

Sincerely,
Travis Park
Agricultural Teacher Educator,
North Carolina State University
February 22, 2021

Agriculture Teacher’s Resource Guide writing team

NAAE

Jay Jackman
Jessie Lumpkins
Alissa Smith*

*Indicates leadership team for development of the Agriculture Teacher’s Resource Guide.