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AITC Teacher of the Year Trades
The Combine For The Classroom
By MICHAEL DANNA
Farm Bureau News Staff Writer
IOWA, La. -- When your teacher was raised on a farm, your school is built on a rice field and the
building’s architecture incorporates a rice bin, there’s a good chance you’re going to learn
something about farming.
It’s here at Lebleu Settlement Elementary, in rural
Calcasieu Parish, that you’ll find Carla Denison Cormier
teaching her third graders about agriculture. The lesson
today, as it is most days, incorporates farming; not how
to farm, but why farming is important and how it crosses
cultural and economic lines. Her students know that rice
is a primary crop in Calcasieu Parish and that cotton is
grown in more northern parishes.
“They’re learning about the different crops grown here in
Louisiana, which parish grows rice, beef cattle and other
commodities,” she says as she moves from one
computer to the next.
It’s all part of Denison Cormier’s commitment to carry
on the lessons she learned growing up on her father’s
rice farm.
“I can remember hot summer days, climbing up that
rice bin in the morning, that hot metal rice bin, climbing
in the top of it to level the rice,” she recalls. And she
knows about her subject matter. “You really can’t teach someone about farming who’s never done
it, but if you have done it, you understand it. I want my students to both understand and appreciate
what farmers do for all of us.”
Denison Cormier has been named the Louisiana Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom teacher of
the year for 2009. For this Iowa native agriculture has been a way of life. Her passion for agriculture
and ag education has only strengthened since she traded the combine for the classroom.
“Just because these children live here in a faming community doesn’t mean they fully understand
it,” she continues as a student beckons her for a little assistance. Today her class is working on a
Powerpoint presentation that will profile their understanding of farming.
“How much cotton does it take to make a hundred $100 bills?” she asks one student. “Did you
include all the products made from corn in your summary?” she asks another.
Across her classroom the clicking of computer keys breaks the silence of an otherwise intensely
quiet group of third graders. Many are studying their screens intently. They’re enjoying this.
“It’s something different and it’s something interesting,” she says of her lessons on agriculture.
“And believe me, there are time when I know I’m doing the right thing.”
She relates a story of how two students once questioned the nature of corn.
“I was sitting at the lunch table and I heard a couple of the boys say, ‘Ask Miss Cormier, she’ll
know.’ We had corn on the cob that day. They said, ‘What animal does corn come from?’ And that’s
when I knew they did not know about where their food comes from and I needed to teach them that.”
For nearly 25 years Ag in the Classroom has helped teachers across Louisiana and across the
country instill in their students the importance of agriculture. But the program’s coordinator says
even after nearly a quarter century, there’s still much to be done.
“Everyday people get further and further removed from their sources of food and fiber,” says Lynda
Danos. “And if we’re not out there telling our story, no one else is going to tell it correctly for us.”
The Combine For The Classroom
By MICHAEL DANNA
Farm Bureau News Staff Writer
IOWA, La. -- When your teacher was raised on a farm, your school is built on a rice field and the
building’s architecture incorporates a rice bin, there’s a good chance you’re going to learn
something about farming.
It’s here at Lebleu Settlement Elementary, in rural
Calcasieu Parish, that you’ll find Carla Denison Cormier
teaching her third graders about agriculture. The lesson
today, as it is most days, incorporates farming; not how
to farm, but why farming is important and how it crosses
cultural and economic lines. Her students know that rice
is a primary crop in Calcasieu Parish and that cotton is
grown in more northern parishes.
“They’re learning about the different crops grown here in
Louisiana, which parish grows rice, beef cattle and other
commodities,” she says as she moves from one
computer to the next.
It’s all part of Denison Cormier’s commitment to carry
on the lessons she learned growing up on her father’s
rice farm.
“I can remember hot summer days, climbing up that
rice bin in the morning, that hot metal rice bin, climbing
in the top of it to level the rice,” she recalls. And she
knows about her subject matter. “You really can’t teach someone about farming who’s never done
it, but if you have done it, you understand it. I want my students to both understand and appreciate
what farmers do for all of us.”
Denison Cormier has been named the Louisiana Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom teacher of
the year for 2009. For this Iowa native agriculture has been a way of life. Her passion for agriculture
and ag education has only strengthened since she traded the combine for the classroom.
“Just because these children live here in a faming community doesn’t mean they fully understand
it,” she continues as a student beckons her for a little assistance. Today her class is working on a
Powerpoint presentation that will profile their understanding of farming.
“How much cotton does it take to make a hundred $100 bills?” she asks one student. “Did you
include all the products made from corn in your summary?” she asks another.
Across her classroom the clicking of computer keys breaks the silence of an otherwise intensely
quiet group of third graders. Many are studying their screens intently. They’re enjoying this.
“It’s something different and it’s something interesting,” she says of her lessons on agriculture.
“And believe me, there are time when I know I’m doing the right thing.”
She relates a story of how two students once questioned the nature of corn.
“I was sitting at the lunch table and I heard a couple of the boys say, ‘Ask Miss Cormier, she’ll
know.’ We had corn on the cob that day. They said, ‘What animal does corn come from?’ And that’s
when I knew they did not know about where their food comes from and I needed to teach them that.”
For nearly 25 years Ag in the Classroom has helped teachers across Louisiana and across the
country instill in their students the importance of agriculture. But the program’s coordinator says
even after nearly a quarter century, there’s still much to be done.
“Everyday people get further and further removed from their sources of food and fiber,” says Lynda
Danos. “And if we’re not out there telling our story, no one else is going to tell it correctly for us.”
Carla Denison Cormier shows a student how to construct a Powerpoint
page. Denison Cormier was named the Ag in the Classroom teacher of
the year for 2009. FB News photo by Michael Danna.
page. Denison Cormier was named the Ag in the Classroom teacher of
the year for 2009. FB News photo by Michael Danna.
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