The Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom (IAITC) program is pleased to announce its 2018 Teacher of the Year, BRENT DAVIS, of PORTA-Petersburg Elementary School, Menard County, Illinois. Davis will receive a plaque and trip to the 2019 National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. He will also be the Illinois nominee for the National Excellence in Teaching Agriculture Award.

Brent Davis teachers 2nd Grade and utilizes a cross-curricular approach to teaching and specifically includes agriculture, the outdoors and nature as a focal point for his students. Over the course of several years, Davis has planted over 20,000 trees on his family farm and has brought that passion for conservation to his students. 

Mr. D (as he is known) and his students have used the 'Creation Station' in his classroom to start planting trees of their own. The aspects of planting seeds, watering seeds, mimicking nature and explaining photosynthesis has been a project that fills the entire school year and the project concludes with a visit to the Davis' family farm and the distribution of over 800 trees successfully grown in the classroom. Davis integrates all areas of the curriculum and supplements research with both fiction and non-fiction reading materials. When students visit the farm, they plant a tree and bury a time capsule, and the goal is to unveil the time capsule in 10 years before the students graduate from High School. Davis is a teacher who cares about his students, agriculture and the environment. You can follow Mr. D on Facebook (@2MrDavis) or his You-tube channel (Mr. D's mindset). Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom is proud to announce Brent Davis as this year's Teacher of the Year.

The IAITC program in Menard, Logan and Sangamon counties is delivered by the local University of Illinois Extension staff.