affiliates
Summary 2023 — Oklahoma
State Contact
Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry
2800 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
P: 405.885.1851
E: Emily.Ague@ag.ok.gov
Website
Innovative Programming
Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom designed and implemented 'Okies Earning Ag Badges,' which focused on bringing the National Ag in the Classroom resource, the Ag Badging Field Guide, to Oklahoma classrooms. We held five professional development one day workshops throughout the state to accommodate teachers. The workshops were open to 3rd-5th grade educators and 4-H extension educators. We could accommodate up to 25 educators at each workshop. During each of the workshops, the educators engaged in 2-3 milestones from each of the five badge themes. We held the workshops at farms where we could fulfill the Farm tour milestone in the Plant and Animal theme. Each educator left the workshop with hands-on experiences in each of the themes and 30 Ag Badging Field Guides to bring back to their classroom.
Major Program Impacts or Outcomes
Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom has been excited to see more engagement in our larger urban school districts in Oklahoma. Oklahoma City and Tulsa are our largest school districts in Oklahoma, although we have many suburbs of those school districts also. We have done professional development and student events in both school districts and are continuing to see more teachers reaching out from other suburban schools. Sometimes these are the most difficult schools to get into.
Program Leader Biosketch
Emily Ague is a state coordinator and the program leader for Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom program at the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry. She taught Agricultural Education for 8 years before becoming a state AITC coordinator. Emily has a BS in Agricultural Education from Oklahoma State University and a M.Ed. in School Administration from Northeastern State University. She has provided professional development for teachers across the state, presented at state and national AITC conferences, written numerous grants, and developed resources and curriculum for the AITC program.