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The Complete Guide to Becoming An Agricultural Sciences Teacher, Postsecondary
The real day-to-day work, pay, path, and honest fit check for anyone weighing a career teaching agricultural sciences beyond high school.
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Does a Agricultural Sciences Teacher, Postsecondary Actually Do?
Let's start with what you'll actually be doing on a Tuesday in mid-October, because that will tell you more than any job posting ever will. By 9:00 AM, you're likely in an office that smells faintly of old coffee and soil samples. There's a stack of 47 lab reports from your 8:00 AM "Intro to Crop Science" class sitting on your desk, and you've already answered six emails from students who are all, somehow, confused about the assignment due date that's printed in three different places. You have a 10:00 AM "Advanced Soil Fertility" lecture to deliver, a 2:00 PM lab to prep, and a department meeting at 4:00 that you're dreading because the agenda is about budget cuts to the field plot program.
That's the job. A postsecondary agricultural sciences teacher is, first and foremost, a college instructor. You teach courses in agronomy, animal science, horticulture, soil science, agricultural economics, plant pathology, or a dozen other sub-fields, at community colleges, four-year universities, technical colleges, and land-grant institutions. The exact mix of what you do depends heavily on your institution, and that's the first thing you need to understand: there is no single "typical" day, but the components of the job are remarkably consistent. They are teaching, research (at some schools), advising, service work, and ongoing professional development. Let's break those down in concrete terms.
Teaching Is the Anchor, But It's Not Just Lecturing
Your core responsibility is to