Hello, I'm Rylan Sims. I was raised in Breckenridge Texas where I grew to love and appreciate agriculture. I attended West Texas A&M where I studied Agricultural Education and further developed my passion for this topic. I am now ready to share my love of agriculture with the future generations of this world. As you read my portfolio, I hope you come to understand that this is not just a job to me, but a way of life, and I am excited to be on this journey.

Educational Philosophy

My goal as an educator is to foster an environment where my students feel safe, appreciated, and heard. I want to create a community where students have input and have the desire to contribute to the class. I want to foster a relationship with my students where they show respect to me and I return that respect. I want my students to feel comfortable about approaching me with any problems they may be facing, and know that the conversation will stay private. I will uphold these morals in order to create the best classroom experience for my students.

My goal is to have students look forward to my class. I believe that it is important for students to enjoy class so that they are more keen on listening and learning. If we can make the classroom an enjoyable experience for the students, then we can better build their academic and social skills. Social functions are present everywhere throughout life, so it is important that we develop their skills in this area.

It is important to be a good model for the students. As a teacher I want to show my students how to appropriately act and treat others both in and out of the classroom. As an agricultural teacher, I will spend a copious amount of time with my students outside of the classroom. I will take them to competitions, leadership development camps, and stock shows. I want my students to know the importance of proper behavior, integrity, and respect so that when they are at these different events they can be models to both their peers and students from different schools. These traits are also extremely important later in life, so it is crucial to teach them these traits at a young age.

Agriculture should be an inclusive experience, because it crucial in all of our lives. As a teacher, I will adapt my lessons to fit all different types of learners. Personally, I learn best from kinesthetic and visual learning. However, I want to utilize all learning types in order to better accommodate my students. I also want to be inclusive to ELL, Special Needs, and Exceptional students. I plan to adapt my lessons to fit all and let them experience the joys of being an agricultural student.

As a teacher, I will be open to all new learning experiences. I want to be forever learning and adapting to new teaching methods and styles that better serve both students and parents. I plan to attend seminars and professional development courses that will help me to be the best teacher for my students. I will make it known them that I am learning right alongside them.

As a teacher I plan to uphold this philosophy in order to foster a loving and respectful learning environment to better prepare my students for the world they are adopting.

Extracurriculars

Throughout college I was involved in Collegiate FFA, Collegiate Farm Bureau, and many volunteer activities. These different experiences helped me to further develop my social skills, public speaking skills, leadership abilities, and communication skills. I also learned many life lessons, including to be fair to all and to never judge.

In the Collegiate FFA I held the leadership position of Treasurer. This helped to develop my money management and leadership skills. Being a part of the officer team also helped me to polish my ability to work within a team.

Through my time volunteering, I was able to develop an appreciation for the work that goes into different agricultural events. I was able to help run Leadership Development Events, Career Development Events, San Antonio Swine Skillathon, San Antonio Agricultural Mechanics Contest, and the Austin Barrow Show. Learning how these events are run will help me greatly in my career as an agricultural teacher.

I also have spent three years teaching kids from my hometown how to show lambs. This has helped me to develop my teaching style and has given me ideas on future lessons.

Experiential Learning and Reflection

I have been granted many useful teaching experiences. As previously mentioned, I worked the San Antonio Swine Skillathon, San Antonio Agricultural Mechanics Show, Austin Barrow Show, and have three years experience teaching kids how to show lambs. These experiences have given me great insight into the minds of students and how I can better adapt my lessons to fit them. These experiences have also helped me to understand how stockshows are run, and I will apply that knowledge to my future classroom. Due to these experiences I am better suited to teach students about the world of agriculture.

I was also granted the opportunity to gain experience within a classroom. I spent a week at Canyon Highschool teaching an advanced Agricultural Mechanics class. I was granted this opportunity through a class I took at West Texas A&M. This experience gave me the opportunity to get a true feel for the classroom and how to handle students. I learned that students respond well to respect. I treated my students not as if they were worth less than me just because I was in charge. Instead I let the students have insight into the lessons and gave them opportunities to learn and grow on their own. My students in turn treated me with respect and were excited to come to my class.

Through West Texas A&M, I was also given the opportunity to teach a group of college freshmen how to show multiple types of livestock. I spent three weeks with this group of students going over basics of livestock showing, practicing, and finally applying their work into a mock stockshow. This experience gave me more practice working with students. It helped me become more adept in planning, teaching, and adapting to the needs of students.

Resume

RYLAN SIMS

Canyon, TX US • (254) 212-9804 • rylansims2004@gmail.com

Objective

Motivated Agricultural Education graduate seeking full time opportunities to grow within a school district and expand on livestock and agricultural education knowledge. Eager to apply my public speaking and leadership skills to the education of high school agriculture students.

Education

Agricultural Education - Bachelor of Science - 2025 West Texas A&M University - Canyon, TX

Minor in Agricultural Business and Economics

Skills

Experienced worker in livestock health and care. Strong work ethic and motivated to complete tasks properly.

Well versed in public speaking and public education. Easily adaptable to differing situations.

Experience

Volunteer - August, 2022 to Present
West Texas A&M University - Canyon, TX

I have worked many volunteer hours working high school FFA events. These events ranged from Leadership Development Events/Competitions, Career Development Events/Competitions, and other FFA Camps. I have also volunteered at many stock show events, including San Antonio Swine Skillathon, San Antonio Agricultural Mechanics Show, and the Austin Barrow Show This helped to develop my public speaking skills and my management skills.

Teacher-October 14-18, 2024

I taught an Advanced Agricultural Mechanics class for a week at Canyon High School. I was put fully in charge of what the students learned and what they did. This helped develop my lesson planning skills and classroom management skills.

Instructor-June 2022 to Present

I have spent the last three years instructing students on how to show lambs. My work included teaching them the basics of animals, basic showing methods, and advanced showing methods. This experience has helped to teach me how to build relationships with my students and relate the content to them.

Affiliations

West Texas A&M Collegiate FFA where I have devoted multiple volunteer hours in hosting FFA competitions and educating high school students and served as Treasurer on the officer team where I learned to manage both people and money.

Activities & Honors

Winner of the Texas Midwest Communications Network Community Service Award where I had to complete a project that helped my community and give multiple public presentations about my project.

Successfully directed a wide array of students, in and out of college, in showing livestock where they have won multiple awards.