The garden may seem an unusual venue for a lesson in geometry, but Buffalo high school math teacher Elizabeth Kent has found it is a useful way to integrate math formulas and hands-on learning, by designing garden layouts and building raised beds. It’s also a way to integrate the cultures of her students, 70 percent of whom speak English as a second language. She grows vegetables, fruits and herbs native to their home countries, which allows the students to share a bit of their culture with their peers - and take the bounty home to their parents.
Kent was one of six teachers from across New York honored at a recent National Agriculture in the Classroom conference in Minneapolis, MN. The teachers were recognized for their exemplary work in teaching about agriculture and increasing their students’ agricultural literacy. The conference also gave them the opportunity to experience agriculture in another part of the country, connect with other educators, and garner ideas, inspiration and resources to include in their classrooms.
They were selected by New York Ag in the Classroom, a program hosted within the Department of Horticulture.
“An agriculturally literate student has an awareness, understanding and appreciation for our food and fiber systems through experiencing and developing connections with farmers and food production,” said New York Ag in the Classroom coordinator Katie Bigness. “Teachers are a vehicle for instilling this knowledge within our next generations so that they are able to make educated choices as future consumers.”
St. Regis Falls school counselor Danielle O'Mara, who helped start garden and nutrition programs at her school, said the conference inspired her to start using the garden as a counseling area.
“I can bring my students out to the garden to have a session in nature,” O'Mara said.
Other participating teachers were:
New York Ag in the Classroom Teacher of the Year Amy Parr and librarian Michelle Hitchcock, both from Cooperstown; Dawn George, agriculture teacher at George Junior Republic UFSD in Freeville; and Cathy Carr, a second grade teacher at Banford Elementary School in Canton, who was one of nine teachers nationwide to receive an American Farm Bureau Foundation White-Reinhardt Award.
