Jennifer Foudray
Biotechnology Instructor at Miami Valley Career Technology Center
What’s the power of teacher networking?
Networking’s a big part of being an effective teacher. I love building long-lasting relationships with other educators and working with diverse groups. I work with a teacher mentor who originally introduced me to GrowNextGen, and I love how it gives me the opportunity to directly contact fellow educators to brainstorm innovative classroom ideas and work on building curriculum. Teacher connections like that are invaluable, and I hope teachers who visit the site will feel comfortable contacting me as a resource.
What about teaching excites you?
I love the ability to get students excited about learning and excited about science. It is great to know that each day will be different and we can explore the content in many ways to make it authentic.
What was your “aha” moment when you realized the value of using agriculture as a vehicle to teach science?
It makes sense—we are all connected to agriculture. It is amazing when students start to see and realize the enormity of it all. Everyone is reliant upon the agriculture industry so using it to teach science is paramount for student understanding of the world around them.
How do you help students make the industry or real-world connection to what they’re learning?
During every lesson I make sure students know the real-world application to what we are doing. I believe it is important to keep lessons relevant to the real world and I want to ensure students understand the world around them.
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