Teacher of the Year
The annual Excellence of Agriculture Education Award recognizes a Louisiana teacher for his/her achievements and efforts in teaching students the importance of agriculture.
How to Apply
To apply, simply print and complete the application form.
Who is eligible?
Any certified teacher integrating agricultural concepts into non-agricultural curricula at the Pre-K through 12 grade levels.
What will the winner receive?
- Trip to the National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference, June 19-22, 2012, in Loveland, Colorado (Valued at $1,200)
- Trip to the Louisiana Farm Bureau Convention, June 28-30 at the New Orleans Marriott
- $500 Cash Award
What to include with the application?
- A completed nomination outline.
- Program description statements.
- Written permission to use submitted materials at future AITC functions, on the website, or other appropriate public forums.
- Any additional supporting information deemed essential to clarifying a nomination may be included in an appendix. The appendix should not be used, however, to provide additional program descriptions. The appendix is only for supporting information such as pictures or student-generated projects.
How can applications be submitted?
Applications must be submitted by certified mail postmarked no later than March 10, 2012 to:
Lynda DanosAITC Coordinator
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation
PO Box 95004
Baton Rouge, LA 70895-9004
2011 Teacher of the Year
Lisa Wiggins
Northwestern State University Elementary Lab School
When Lisa Wiggins’ third grade students read “In The Garden with Dr. Carver,” they didn’t want the story to end.
So they re-wrote the story of Dr. George Washington Carver and transformed it into a stage play. And if that weren’t enough, they decided they wanted to see Dr. Carver’s discoveries for themselves.
So they planted a garden with tomatoes, squash and Dr. Carver’s famous peanuts.
“Dr. George Washington Carver loved plants,” Wiggins tells her class as they read the book and review Carver’s work. “His work took tired soil and turned into soil that would grow things many thought it never could.”
Some 20 minutes later a half-dozen of her students are in period costumes, acting out the story of Carver’s life and scientific successes in a makeshift theatre. The performance and the school’s garden are just some of the efforts that earned Wiggins the Louisiana Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom Teacher of the Year honors for 2011.
“Kids getting their hands dirty is a highlight of the lesson,” Wiggins said of the time her students spend in their small garden on the grounds of Northwestern State University’s Lab School. “For them, getting a chance to put their hands in the dirt and make a huge classroom garden has been wonderful. We like to see agriculture not as an isolated (learning) unit, but something that can just spread into everything we teach.”
As school librarian, Wiggins said she often urges her students to look beyond the pages of books, taking their stories as inspiration for other lessons.
“The story of Dr. George Washington Carver really stuck with them,” she said. “It just kind of spring-boarded the rest of our lessons. It was the foundation for all of the things that we’ve been doing. They came to me after we read the story and wanted to do more. They wanted to keep the story going.”
As the AITC Teacher of the Year, Wiggins attended the national ATIC conference June 22-25 in Fort Lauderdale. In addition to being named ag teacher of the year, Wiggins was also a winner in the White-Reinhardt scholarship, an American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture program that recognizes top ag educators across the country.
