\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I will tell the backstory in order to get to the next story.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I grew up in Shattuck, America.\u00a0 Shattuck had a local Ag Teaching legend–\u00a0 W.E. Bradley. He taught there for a lot of years.\u00a0 There were a lot of big name ag teachers that student taught at Shattuck, under Mr. Bradley.\u00a0 Larry Brady, Fred Krasser and Jimmy Harrel, just to name a few.\u00a0 He was already retired by the time that I was old enough to be in ag ed class.\u00a0 However, I made several Tulsa premium sales with steers from Mr. Bradley and I did some work for him, from time to time, when he needed help.\u00a0 Breaking calves, hauling hay, etc.\u00a0 I saw from a young age, the value of a strong ag teacher.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0When I headed off to OSU, ag-ed was my major and I never changed.\u00a0 Sure, I could have chose other majors\/career paths (I’m a really good test taker) but I new what I wanted to do.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 In 1993, there weren’t many ag teaching jobs open in Oklahoma.\u00a0 I turned down a few in SE Oklahoma.\u00a0 I knew that I wasn’t a fit so why do it?\u00a0 Eventually, I got the job in Billings, OK.\u00a0 Little town with a crappy school but a lot of really good people.\u00a0 I learned about proficiency awards and public speaking.\u00a0 I served a 3 year sentence and then moved.\u00a0 We moved because Kela was getting ready to start school and I wanted her to learn to read.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 In 1996, I took the Waynoka job.\u00a0 Strong FFA history in a really good small school with lots and lots of great people.\u00a0 There, I learned how to win at all facets of the FFA game.\u00a0 I also had to learn how to co-exist with other strong programs–home ec, tech ed, football, baseball, etc.\u00a0 Great environment that I have a lot of fond memories.\u00a0 I taught 9 years at Waynoka.\u00a0 We moved from there because Kela wanted a more challenging academic environment.\u00a0 So, in 2005, I took the job teaching at Fairview.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Fairview was\/is a strong school with an intense FFA heritage and lots of really good people.\u00a0 This was now a two teacher program.\u00a0 James Roller and I taught for one year together.\u00a0 We won a lot.\u00a0 On the first day of school for year two, he took a banking job.\u00a0 $h!t!!!\u00a0 \u00a0I made some phone calls and by week two, we had Mindi Clark hired.\u00a0 Yes, now, Dr. Mindi Clark.\u00a0 We taught for two years.\u00a0 We won a lot!\u00a0 Stock shows, speech contests, CDE events, proficiency awards, national chapter awards, etc.\u00a0 \u00a0This was a great move for Kela.\u00a0 She loved it.\u00a0 Me, not so much.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Why wasn’t it a good fit for me?\u00a0 I about burnt myself into the ground.\u00a0 I couldn’t ever step away from work.\u00a0 I was on the OAETA board.\u00a0 I was hooked up with work.\u00a0 This goat deal was taking off and Fairview was showing a LOT of winning goats.\u00a0 It didn’t end well.\u00a0 \u00a0Some flashing lights, a lot of discussion and I wisely chose to quit and walk away. (that is a whole other story for a blog to come at a much later time). Probably the best thing that has ever happened to me.\u00a0 I took 8 weeks off and just took care of my family.\u00a0 Way cheaper than a divorce and the best therapy that I could have gotten.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0At the end of that 8 weeks, I went to work for Western Equipment pushing green paint.\u00a0 Then, I took over the store at Woodward.\u00a0 Really good job in the real world with lots of really good people.\u00a0 Even while I was at Western, I was still actively involved in ag-ed.\u00a0 Helping lots of kids with goats, judging shows, judging speech contests, helping with proficiency awards and attending lots of various fundraisers.\u00a0 During this time, we moved to Fargo and Duke was going to school at Shattuck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I then quit my really good job at Western to chase the dream of raising livestock for a living.\u00a0 All of the stars were lined up but then GOD works in mysterious ways.\u00a0 After two months of being self-employed, we made the decision to go back to teaching for ONE year.\u00a0 This week marks the 8th year.\u00a0 Shattuck started as a single teacher program, then added another teacher but it was still kind of a single teacher program.\u00a0 So, on year three, we went back to a single teacher program.\u00a0 But, then, Dr. Clark called and asked me to take on a student teacher.\u00a0 It worked out well and we hired Annie Abbey.\u00a0 So, this will be the 4th year of a 2 teacher program.\u00a0 Through it all, the Dragon Lady has become one of the top ag teachers in the state, even though she has never taught.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 All in all, I have taught ag ed for 22 years in 4 different schools.\u00a0 I have been in single teacher programs and in multiple teacher programs.\u00a0 I have worked with male (1) and female (3) co teachers.\u00a0 I have been in the real world where the almighty $ rules.\u00a0 I have been successful as a classroom teacher, with all species of livestock, public speaking, ag mechanics, proficiency awards, national chapter awards, various CDE’s as well as serving in all phases of OAETA leadership.\u00a0 Well, except for that role of president.\u00a0 That president-elect title was vacated when I hung it up in 2008.\u00a0 (that is a whole other story that involves another goat guru).\u00a0 I have always had a passion for FFA, Ag-Ed and most importantly for helping kids to find a way to succeed.\u00a0 And my definition of “succeed” doe not always involve a banner or a trophy.\u00a0 But, if you are giving out banners and trophies, well, then we might as well try to gather those as a result of the learning process.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I have a lot of experiences–good and bad.\u00a0 I’ve made mistakes.\u00a0 I’m not always liked by other ag teachers.\u00a0 Some find me scary.\u00a0 Some, that don’t know me well, think that I am a big RICHARD.\u00a0 Others, that do know me, know that I can be a donkey.\u00a0 I’ve never worried about what others thought, just that I was doing right by my students.\u00a0 And no one can argue my track record in that regard.\u00a0 I have a diverse set of perspectives when dealing with Oklahoma agricultural education.\u00a0 The passion is still very strong within me.\u00a0 I don’t know how much longer that I can do this but I will never half-ass it.\u00a0 This is the backstory that brings us to the next story.\u00a0 Through it all, I realize when opportunities have been missed.<\/p>\n
Here’s to a day of Shattuck school in-service.\u00a0 Have a good one.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I will tell the backstory in order to get to the next story. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I grew up in Shattuck, America.\u00a0 Shattuck had a local Ag Teaching legend–\u00a0 W.E. Bradley. He taught there for a lot of years.\u00a0 There were a lot of big name ag […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4482"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4482"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4549,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4482\/revisions\/4549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}