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The Voice of Louisiana Agriculture
Welcome to the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation
Welcome to the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation
The Voice of Louisiana Agriculture
AITC Teacher of the Year Trades
The Combine For The Classroom
The Combine For The Classroom
By MICHAEL DANNA
FB News Staff Writer
IOWA, La. -- When your teacher was raised on a farm, your school is built on a rice field and the building’s
architecture incorporates a rice bin, there’s a good chance you’re going to learn something about farming.
It’s here at Lebleu Settlement Elementary, in rural Calcasieu
Parish, that you’ll find Carla Denison Cormier teaching her
third graders about agriculture. The lesson today, as it is
most days, incorporates farming; not how to farm, but why
farming is important and how it crosses cultural and
economic lines. Her students know that rice is a primary
crop in Calcasieu Parish and that cotton is grown in more
northern parishes.
“They’re learning about the different crops grown here in
Louisiana, which parish grows rice, beef cattle and other
commodities,” she says as she moves from one computer
to the next.
It’s all part of Denison Cormier’s commitment to carry on the
lessons she learned growing up on her father’s rice farm.
“I can remember hot summer days, climbing up that rice bin in the morning, that hot metal rice bin, climbing in the
top of it to level the rice,” she recalls. And she knows about her subject matter. “You really can’t teach someone
about farming who’s never done it, but if you have done it, you understand it. I want my students to both
understand and appreciate what farmers do for all of us.”
Denison Cormier has been named the Louisiana Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom teacher of the year for
2009. For this Iowa native agriculture has been a way of life. Her passion for agriculture and ag education has
only strengthened since she traded the combine for the classroom.
“Just because these children live here in a faming community doesn’t mean they fully understand it,” she
continues as a student beckons her for a little assistance. Today her class is working on a Powerpoint
presentation that will profile their understanding of farming.
“How much cotton does it take to make a hundred $100 bills?” she asks one student. “Did you include all the
products made from corn in your summary?” she asks another.
Across her classroom the clicking of computer keys breaks the silence of an otherwise intensely quiet group of
third graders. Many are studying their screens intently. They’re enjoying this.
“It’s something different and it’s something interesting,” she says of her lessons on agriculture. “And believe me,
there are time when I know I’m doing the right thing.”
She relates a story of how two students once questioned the nature of corn.
“I was sitting at the lunch table and I heard a couple of the boys say, ‘Ask Miss Cormier, she’ll know.’ We had
corn on the cob that day. They said, ‘What animal does corn come from?’ And that’s when I knew they did not
know about where their food comes from and I needed to teach them that.”
For nearly 25 years Ag in the Classroom has helped teachers across Louisiana and across the country instill in
their students the importance of agriculture. But the program’s coordinator says even after nearly a quarter
century, there’s still much to be done.
“Everyday people get further and further removed from their sources of food and fiber,” says Lynda Danos.
“And if we’re not out there telling our story, no one else is going to tell it correctly for us.”
FB News Staff Writer
IOWA, La. -- When your teacher was raised on a farm, your school is built on a rice field and the building’s
architecture incorporates a rice bin, there’s a good chance you’re going to learn something about farming.
It’s here at Lebleu Settlement Elementary, in rural Calcasieu
Parish, that you’ll find Carla Denison Cormier teaching her
third graders about agriculture. The lesson today, as it is
most days, incorporates farming; not how to farm, but why
farming is important and how it crosses cultural and
economic lines. Her students know that rice is a primary
crop in Calcasieu Parish and that cotton is grown in more
northern parishes.
“They’re learning about the different crops grown here in
Louisiana, which parish grows rice, beef cattle and other
commodities,” she says as she moves from one computer
to the next.
It’s all part of Denison Cormier’s commitment to carry on the
lessons she learned growing up on her father’s rice farm.
“I can remember hot summer days, climbing up that rice bin in the morning, that hot metal rice bin, climbing in the
top of it to level the rice,” she recalls. And she knows about her subject matter. “You really can’t teach someone
about farming who’s never done it, but if you have done it, you understand it. I want my students to both
understand and appreciate what farmers do for all of us.”
Denison Cormier has been named the Louisiana Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom teacher of the year for
2009. For this Iowa native agriculture has been a way of life. Her passion for agriculture and ag education has
only strengthened since she traded the combine for the classroom.
“Just because these children live here in a faming community doesn’t mean they fully understand it,” she
continues as a student beckons her for a little assistance. Today her class is working on a Powerpoint
presentation that will profile their understanding of farming.
“How much cotton does it take to make a hundred $100 bills?” she asks one student. “Did you include all the
products made from corn in your summary?” she asks another.
Across her classroom the clicking of computer keys breaks the silence of an otherwise intensely quiet group of
third graders. Many are studying their screens intently. They’re enjoying this.
“It’s something different and it’s something interesting,” she says of her lessons on agriculture. “And believe me,
there are time when I know I’m doing the right thing.”
She relates a story of how two students once questioned the nature of corn.
“I was sitting at the lunch table and I heard a couple of the boys say, ‘Ask Miss Cormier, she’ll know.’ We had
corn on the cob that day. They said, ‘What animal does corn come from?’ And that’s when I knew they did not
know about where their food comes from and I needed to teach them that.”
For nearly 25 years Ag in the Classroom has helped teachers across Louisiana and across the country instill in
their students the importance of agriculture. But the program’s coordinator says even after nearly a quarter
century, there’s still much to be done.
“Everyday people get further and further removed from their sources of food and fiber,” says Lynda Danos.
“And if we’re not out there telling our story, no one else is going to tell it correctly for us.”
Carla Denison Cormier shows a student how to construct a
Powerpoint page. Denison Cormier was named the Ag in the
Classroom teacher of the year for 2009. FB News photo by
Michael Danna.
Powerpoint page. Denison Cormier was named the Ag in the
Classroom teacher of the year for 2009. FB News photo by
Michael Danna.