Farm/Ranch
Tarleton hosts national conference for agricultural educators
By Tarleton State University
Jun 13, 2008

STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS—Tarleton State University will host the Delta Conference, a national five-day learning event developed by the National FFA Organization for agricultural education teachers. The conference will be held June 22-27 and will provide hands-on leadership and classroom activities. The conference will help prepare agricultural educators to serve the nearly 1.3 million students enrolled in agricultural education courses across the United States.

Named “Delta” in reference to the Greek symbol for change, the conference is based on the premise that “every student in every classroom can learn through every teacher.”

Previous Delta Conferences were held at Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2005 and Indianapolis, Ind., home to the National FFA Organization, in 2006.  The Delta Conference is in its second year at Tarleton.  The 2007 conference was a huge success and was the first Delta to be hosted by an organization other than the National FFA Organization.

Dr. Kyle McGregor, associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Services and Development (AS&D) at Tarleton, is once again heading up the conference at Tarleton.

“It’s really a full-contact conference,” McGregor said. “Agricultural educators will be learning the most modern, brain-based, cooperative and active teaching techniques coupled with advanced leadership development.  This year’s conference will bring outstanding agricultural educators from 14 states across the nation, and is poised to be another successful event.”

The conference goal is also to help ensure every student enrolled in an agricultural education course is ready to make a positive contribution in today’s world.

Tarleton’s College of Agriculture and Human Sciences, along with title sponsor, CEV Multimedia, Lubbock, Texas, and local donors, will sponsor the event.

Conference participants will also be teamed-up with master teacher mentors to be coached in engagement strategies, personal and professional development, leadership development and community involvement.

“We recruit teacher mentors in the field who have received advanced training in cognitive coaching and pedagogy and will serve as mentors at the conference and throughout the year,” McGregor said. “Typically the conference participants will get started first thing in the morning and it’s common for them to continue working late into the night.” 

The conference will be facilitated by master educators Mark Reardon of Centre Pointe Education in Oceanside, Calif., and Dr. Kimberly Bellah, assistant professor in AS&D at Tarleton.

Tarleton is known as a national leader in agricultural education teacher certification and produces 30 to 45 agricultural science instructors each year. The university’s AS&D department offers students varied opportunities for degrees ranging from general AS&D degrees to teaching, degrees in extension and industry to communications, as well as an international AS&D degree.

To learn more about the conference, go online to www.tarleton.edu/~deltaconference. Schedules, activities and additional information can be found there.