My #TeachAgBelize Experience!

 During my spring break, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Belize as part of an embedded course at Penn State entitled AEE499: Indigenous Knowledge and Agricultural Education. The purpose of this experience was to explore formal and non-formal agricultural education through indigenous populations with multi-lingual cultures. This blog post will cover some of my biggest takeaways from this experience and how I plan to use what I've learned in my future classroom!

Indigenous Knowledge and Cultures

Throughout our time in Belize, we were fortunate enough to spend three days in Laguna, a traditional Mayan village, where we stayed the night in a Mayan hut and ate meals with Mayan families. This part of the experience brought some of the biggest challenges, but also some of the biggest life lessons. 

An image of the inside of the Mayan hut
that was stayed in for three days. 

The challenges of this portion of the experiences primarily came from being pushed out of our comfort zones. We showered in cold water, had limited access to electricity and cell service, and tried foods that were brand new to us. While I am one for trying new things and stepping outside of my comfort zone, I will admit that this is not exactly how younger Mckenzie pictured her college spring break experience to go. However, we quickly learned that, despite these challenges, this portion the trip would be the most impactful. It was amazing to see myself and other members of the group become more comfortable going long hours without our phones, becoming more comfortable trying new foods, and immersing ourselves in the lessons that were unfolding around us. 

This experience really gave us an insight into the Mayan culture and how people within these Mayan villages lived. We were able to learn how to make tortillas one day and at each meal the families explained to us how the dish we were eating was made and the importance behind the meal for them. We also had the opportunity to sleep in a traditional Mayan hut. This allowed us the opportunity to gain a better understanding of what living in a Mayan village was like. It was great being able to experience first-hand how the Mayan people lived their day to day lives. 

Agricultural Education in Belize

Throughout this trip, we were fortunate enough to tour two schools that offered agricultural courses to their students. The first school we visited was Mopan Technical High School. While at Mopan, I was surprised to see the wide variety of hands-on learning opportunities that were offered to students including raising livestock and sewing classes. 

I also found it interesting to see how passionate the students were about the various projects they were completing within their agriculture program. Each student was very eager to share their projects with us along with all of the knowledge they had gained related to this project. Seeing how excited students were about these projects gave me some good insight into how important it is to get to know your students in order to provide them with opportunities that you know they will find enjoyable.

                    How will I apply what I've learned to my future classroom?

Through this experience, I think I've learned the importance of providing high-impact educational opportunities for my students. One example of a high-impact opportunity I would like to offer my future students is the chance to travel somewhere to learn about agriculture in other areas. Ideally, this would an abroad experience, however, I even think that traveling to another state could provide a great learning experience for my students. 

I also think that this has taught me the importance of providing hands-on experiences to my students. For example, while we were staying in the Mayan village, we had the chance to make tortillas with one of the Mayan families that we ate with and I am confident that this will be an experience that I remember for a long time. Providing opportunities that are hands-on for my students can help enforce some of the lessons that I teaching, making them much more rememberable for students.