MicroTeaching 3-Day Experience

MicroTeaching at Midd-West High School

All I can say is WOW! What a great experience that was. I did my microteaching experience at Midd-West High school with Mr. Erb. While I was there I taught three days of small gas engines with a class of 18 9th and 10th grade boys. Let me tell ya, they definitely challenged me and pushed me a times where I was clueless on what to do next. They also tested me on the content I was teaching to see how much I actually knew. Even though we had times like this, this experienced was definitely worthwhile and fun.
Day 1:
Introduction to students we went through the process of a 4 stroke engine, defined some major parts and functions of those parts. Then students were split into four groups and each group was assigned a stroke of the engine. Once they were split into groups they went and had to research on how that stroke of the engine contributed to the engine function, what major parts were in the stroke , and add a value-added piece to the presentation. After this I gave them time to work on their presentations. Constantly walking around and seeing if they needed help or had any questions. I was able to observe them working in groups and seeing how much work was actually taking place. I will say that if I would have know this class a little better, I would have assigned the groups a little differently, but I had to make sure that they used their time wisely by making sure that everyone was participating in the project. At the end of this class I went around to see where everyone was at and some of the groups needed a bit more time to work, which was not planned for my second day lesson plan.
Day 2:
I planned for the students to present and go over atleast two strokes of the engine. However that is not the way it went. Some groups were needing more time to get their stuff done. I did give them extra time, which ended up being the whole rest of the period to get their presentations finished and ready to go for day 3. I also made them add more into their presentations because it took a whole other period. By the end of this day they were ready to go and present for the next class.
Day 3:
As soon as the students got into the class, the needed to have their presentations ready to go. We were short on time because they had an assembly at the end of the day. I assigned the first groups to go that had the first stroke of the engine, then the second group with the second stroke and so forth. I was pleased with the groups who took the project seriously and they did very well. The other groups did well but definitely could have done better. The class was still very good.
Overall, this was definitely a good learning experience. If I could go back and change a few things I would. I would give them a rubric before I assigned them the presentation, instead of the last day. I would have assigned the groups differently , to avoid some of the push back that I got. Also I would have dug a little deeper in the material that I was teaching, so I could really understand and present the content a little differently. I really did enjoy the kiddos and they made the experience really fun. I learned that being flexible is a good thing, especially when you are a teacher. I truly believe that it was a blessing to be given this experience and I wouldn't have traded it for anything! Great Learning Experience!

Utilizing Twitter In the Classroom

How You Can use Twitter as a Creative Learning Tool in the Classroom

Many people out there are not fans of social media because they believe that these platforms have them put more information out there than what they want people to know, and some can be tricky to use. However younger generations can not get enough time of being on social media and know the tricks and the ways of almost every platform of social media that is out there. So why not as educators use these social media platforms as tools in the classroom to help students learn and achieve? 

Let's be hones they are probably trying or figuring out different ways in which they can "sneakily" get on Facebook to check what notifications they got in the last ten minutes. Instead of yelling at them and most likely getting no where and putting your lesson behind even more, let's go through the different ways you can utilize social media platform Twitter in the classroom. Ever have those students who forget to write assignments down in their planners? Why not "tweet" out what the homework is every night so students can easily get access to it, and not get a grade for not doing their homework. This not only allows you to limit the amount of E-mails you get a day but can help aid the students when questions arise for a quick response, and the cool part of that is that other students can comment back and answer the question for the student who asked! Which saves you time and helps you work on getting next week's lesson plans finished.

Another cool aspect about Twitter in the classroom is that you can have each of your classes create a class account and have the students help in deciding who to follow, trend information pertaining to your class, and even create some class hash tags that will you can have the students follow and use on their own personal account. This allows students the freedom to see what is going on in the class, community,and world just at the touch of their fingertips. 

Another great aspect of using Twitter in the classroom is when you want to "brag" about how awesome your students are. It is social media! You can do that and why your at it why not show off to your school board at the next meeting how you are incorporating technology into the classroom by using something your students are already familiar with. 

I can honestly say it wasn't until my last two years of college that I really began to use Twitter, I was very close-minded about using it because I had nothing that I thought was worth "Tweeting" about. However one professor showed us all the ways of Twitter and how we can use it continuously throughout our lives in and out of the classroom effectively. Take it from me, your gonna need practice but when it comes down to it, this is only SOME of the numerous benefits of utilizing Twitter in the classroom.

Check it out:

http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom

http://www.nea.org/home/32641.htm

Who Killed Tony Turnip?

Let's Inquire: Inquiry Lab Reflection

 

 

This is hands down one of my favorite types of teaching styles. It truly helps me push myself to make sure that learning is occuring for the students. During National Convention I was accepted in the Pre-Service Teachers workshop and we discussed effective ways of executing this teaching method. I was very happy to be able to do one of our lessons we were taught into the lab.

In Lab I assigned them "Who killed Tony Turnip?". This assigment gave the students a scenario in which they had to dissect two flowers use dichotomous key on plant identification to solve Tony Turnip's murder. I did something similar to this in the workshop that I attended and really enjoyed it. My students enjoyed it and questions were kept to a minimum, which in fact was really nice. However when we got to the end were they were decideding on which flower was used to kill him they got a bit confused. What should of happened was only one flower should have been on the key to exclude the other flower out, however since they were both on there it was difficult fo the students to comprehend what to do in that situation.
The students were good sports until a little confusion got in their way then it went downhill, almost like they gave up. I realized through this that I need to make sure to go over all of my materials before I give them to the students to prevent this from happening in the future. Also my questioning for the students needs to be worked on. when I say questioning I mean guiding them where you want them to go, so they can achieve success. Also it helps the student understand what they are suppose to learn wihtout help from a teacher.
Overall I believe that this lab was a great one with lots of information for the studetns benefit. Especially with all the new ideas from my peer's lab and I will definitely be utilzing inquiry-based instruction in my future classroom. I like how this instructions is geared fort the students to learn and do it by themselves. This helps the students develop themselves in a great way and portray independence.There are definitely areas in which I could improve as an educator,so I can better use and understand this type of instruction.  



A Time To Reflect: National FFA Convention

From State College, Pennsylvania to Louisville, Kentucky: National FFA Convention

 

Hours upon Hours of driving seems impossible, but many agriculture teachers they pack up thier kids in the the school van and take them to the National FFA Convention

held in Louisville, Kentucky. A journey made up of many fun-filled memories with the kids you call your FFA family. As well as making new connections with your fellow FFA members from all around the nation.

I was able to have a different perspective of this journey. I no longer had the student perspective of FFA in general I was know in the teacher/advisor position. To me, my eyes were more open to our actual surroundings and watching people's interactions with students and/or with other teachers or vendors. I must say one thing about this organization we have, it is amoung one of the best organizations a child could be in. I wish that every student could have a chance to be apart of this organization.

One thing that really broke my heart, was seeing some students whose jackets were old and starting to tear. It made me realize how lucky I was to be able to have a new jacket when I was in high school. Seeing these students showed me that this is probably a treat for them and that they probably had to work very hard in order to enjoy this experience.

I feel like the organization is not about putting pople who are different behind you or put them down, but more so bring them up by including everyone. I believe the students were so amazed to see people that were from different backgrounds, diversities, and states that they wanted to meet them. For instance, one girl came up to the photo booth and asked if we see people from the Virgin Islands because she was going around and getting pictures with someone from a different state so she could present these pictures to her school board when they got back from the trip. One that is such a great idea to have your students do, but second that really shows the meaning of what this convention is. It is not about the competitions but the interactions and friendships that are made along the way! I can honestly say that I couldn't of been happier to see the real meaning from both the students and advisor point of view.

Inquiry Based Instruction

Weekly Writing #9

This week is the perfect week to start discussing inquiry based learning because this past week two of my other classmates and I had the opportunity to go participate in a Pre-Service teacher workshop that was based on inquiry based instruction at National FFA Convention. We went through and discussed what inquiry-based instruction was and how to implement it into the classroom. Inquiry starts off with a question that is posed and in order to answer the question you use the scientific method to figure it out what the answer would be. Its great because it really gets your students to use a higher cognitive ability skills to figure out the answer to the question. However in order to make sure you are getting this type of teaching instruction you have to make sure that you are implementing and following the six steps of inquiry based instruction. The six steps of inquiry based instruction is: posing a question, investigating, using evidence to describe, explain, and predict possible solutions, connecting evidence to prior obtained knowledge, and lastly sharing your results. Also there are six steps in how to implement inquiry into the classroom they are the following: starting the inquiry process, promoting student dialog, transitioning between small groups and class discussions, clarifying misconceptions and developing student's understanding of the content, modeling the scientific process, and lastly utilizing student experiences to create new content knowledge. By following these steps and procedure you  as a teacher can implement inquiry into your classroom.
I have learned that inquiry based instruction is geared more towards student centered classes. It is important that you as the instructor are there as a guide to make sure the students are staying on track. Also by implementing this method you are making the students more accountable for staying on top of the work so that the process can continue on. There are many different ways or lessons you can use this type of instruction in. For example, Labs are the most commonly used ways of inquiry-based instruction.
I plan to implement this method into my classroom because it not only promotes organization for you as the teacher but the student as well by organizing their thoughts. In this workshop we learned about the use of notebooks in your class for labs especially. This was great because you could write down your findings in a certain lab and take notes so that your thoughts are more organized and make sense for you to go back and review. I really liked how they should and talked to us about the different lessons you could use for each part we did in the workshop. To show us how to utilize the notebooks with a lab we did the experiment of " Are Double stuf' Oreos Really Doubled Stuffed?". We reported our findings and came up with the conclusions that they are in fact double stuffed.  However I do not want to give to much out because on Monday in my methods class, my other classmates and I will be putting on a 40 minute presentation about what we learned.
Link(s):

Problem-Solving Approach Lab Reflection

Let's Talk About Chickens!

I really enjoyed this lab a lot because you can incorporate the problem-solving approach in almost every one of your classes that you teach and helps the student get "involved" in the class. However with this being the first time that we get to experience this type of teaching/learning there are definitely some areas that need improvement.
This is an teaching strategy where  teachers can really get our creative side out and explore new areas of learning for their students.  So for this lab, I did my lesson on the introduction to poultry. In my animal science class in the spring I will be teaching a unit on poultry and during this unit we will be able to hatch baby chicks. So before we get into the meat and hatching of the class we must cover the basics. This included knowing the anatomy of a chicken. So to lead my students in this direction I presented them with a problem. This problem included me telling them that I went to this little festival and while I was walking I stumbled upon the United Egg Production Booth (which is a highly known company that produces most of the United States eggs) and started to talk to a gentleman running the booth. While getting to know this man he found out I was an Ag teacher and presented me with a problem to give to my class about his laying chickens are losing weight, bones breaking, and they are laying eggs  but breaking them open. I had the students do a Think, Pair, Share, so I gave the students the scenario and had them fill out a worksheet which they had to write what they already knew and what they need to know by themselves then they would get into groups and discuss what they need to know. I would direct them towards chicken anatomy by using effective questioning. Also with this technique I would be able to get a feel for what they are looking at learning about.
Overall by doing this portion of my lesson plan I figured out what I need to improve on to make my teaching more effective. One of these areas of improvement is that I need to be more confident in the content of lesson and way that I teach it. I need to make sure that I am comfortable with the content and knowing how I am going to get this information across to the students so that they understand what is expected from them and what they need to know in order to proceed through the unit. One way to improve this would to establish good questioning skills so I can better direct the student's thinking to where I would like them to dig deeper. This is another area of improvement  to work on because effective questioning is important especially when you want your students to have higher levels of thinking.  Execution of lesson entails these two areas that need improved and once these areas are better presented whatever lesson I teach will be better understood by the students.
I will definitely be using this approach when I teach in the spring and for when I begin my career because it does present your students with a problem and makes them use their cognitive skills to figure out how to solve the problem.

Evaluating Learning

Weekly Writing #8

In order to teach efficiently we must be able to evaluate if learning has occurred. Many teachers provide students with quizzes, ticket-outs, homework, etc. However how are we really sure that they are not just memorizing the information and then forgetting it later. This is where can assign assignments that are particular to the subject area in which we are teaching, but before we can assign these assignments we should create effective rubrics for the each corresponding assignments. It is important that we design the rubrics that outline that helps the students dig into the information and really understand it. 

Now only do rubrics help the students when they are doing classwork, but it helps the teacher stay consistent throughout the school year. Installing rubrics into the classroom can really help the student see what the teacher expects from you and outlines what the student needs to know in order to complete the assignment correctly. Rubrics are a useful way to ensure that assignments are consistent with course objectives and state standards. Which is really a helpful way for the teacher to make sure that they are getting differentiated learning throughout the course and reaching the PA academic standards. 

Rubrics allows for a greater accountability and reliability in grading and offers a structure and guidance to students as they create their projects. Working with this tool enables teachers to quickly grade assignments and remain objective in their grading. Consistency allows higher standards to be set and works the students to achieving those standards. By following the rubric guidelines, higher rates of success will happen on not only the teachers part but the students as well. 

Overall rubrics are a great way to measure the level of comprehending and understanding of learning of students. It is important for us as educators to implement this in our classroom. Assessments are a great tool and important in the school setting. 

Link(s);

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMn-5Ito4D8

The Problem Solving Approach

Weekly Writing #7 

Our main goal as educators is to make sure that learning has occured in each and every student, in each of the classes we have taught, and each and everyday. It is important that we set higher level of thinking standards for our students by using Problem-Based Learning (PBL). As many of you may know Problem-Based Learning is a teaching strategy that includes problem solving, inquiry learning, project-based learning, and case studies. This makes the student dig deep into their thinking and sets that standard of learning being taken placed. The goals of  the PBL method is to develop students ability to solve problems, create self-directed learners, and facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge. It is important that we understand what PBL is and what the outcome of implementing this into your program will be. PBL is a great learning method for students because new learning is occurring. As well as using their prior knowledge to figure the problem out. 

Now that we know about PBL we need to implement this into our program by Problem-Based Teaching (PBT). PBT sets the goal of education: to develop independent-minded, self-directed citizens who can effectively solve problems in a highly complex social environment, into action by using problem solving. I will implement this into my program by confronting my students with a current issue in agriculture. They will identify the problem and investigate a strategy that  they would do if they were in a similar position. With students using this method of learning they will be able to retain what they learned longer and transfer the learning when other scenarios are presented to them later on down the road.

However we need to make sure that we implement this method of teaching and learning correctly. So engaging the students by giving them a current issue in agriculture gets their minds turning. We need to make sure that they we provide opportunities for them to apply what they have learned in many different contexts. As well as always creating the learning environment similar to the real world. Also when students repeat something enough it gets engrained in their minds so they won't forget it. So by repeating everything they begin to get a mastered skill and eventually the performance will become automatic to them, and along the way continuing to make those connections between previous experiences and current opportunities to keep their thinking skills in check. Doing this process in the classroom could only lead to student success.

Link:  Check this video out! Great Inspiration to implement Problem-Based Learning!

Individualized Teaching Techniques: Independent Study

Hey!
Check out my video on the Independent Study Individualized Teaching Technique.
Hope ya like it!

My First Unit Plan....Many More To Go

First Unit Plan Reflection

I really enjoyed putting this unit plan together. Honestly I love to be organized and when I was able to lay out how I wanted the unit to go made me feel very accomplished. It made me plan ahead and get student teaching semester one step closer to being completely planned out. However it definitely was not an easy task and was definitely time consuming since I am not yet a professional at doing them, but I felt that I had a better understanding of what I was going to teach during the spring semester. I decided to break the unit into three parts : Monogastric, Ruminant, and Avian digestive systems.Each of the systems have a specific part in the overall unit. As well as having a project due at the end of each section. I decided to have two of the sections (Monogatric and Ruminant digestive systems) projects be the same, because to me they will be able to utilize this more by actually seeing the difference between the systems rather than doing to different projects. What I will have the students do is make a "Travel Guide" through ruminant and monogastric digestive systems. I really liked the way the project came across because it helps the student be creative in how they want to display their guide. However the avian digestive system project is a diorama of digestive system and the students will have to go through and display the different parts and functions of the that digestive system. I felt by planning it this way would show that the avian digestive system is very different compared to the monogastic and ruminant digestive system.

I believe that this is going to be one of my favorite units to teach, because I really enjoy animals and understanding how their bodies work. This will be great for the animal science class that I am teaching because it will allow the students to get an idea of how each system works, because most of the kids either work or grew up on a farm and have worked with animals before. I enjoy how I am ending the unit with avian digestion,  because I found out from my cooperating teacher that we are going to teach a poultry unit and hatch some chicks during the time of the unit. So this helps the students have an understanding of the digestion system,so when we begin poultry this portion of the unit would be review. This helps the students get their hands-on learning.

Like I said before in putting this unit plan together it wasn't all cake and ice cream. I did have some trouble getting all of the PA Academic Standards. I feel like there has to be an easier way to find these. I know how important these standards are so you would think that they would make it easier for us to find and mark on our unit/lesson plans. Also distinguishing what objectives would be covered during each lesson, that was very troubling for me because how do you know what exactly would be covered during each lesson?

Overall I feel as though my unit plan could use some improvement, however I am not sure where. So it should be interesting to see when Dr. Foster gives feedback. Until then we will see!

Individual Teaching Techniques

Weekly Writing #6

It is very important that we as pre-service teachers understand the student learning process. This process is not only designated to student's learning but everybody's everyday learning. As a pre-service teacher it is my duty to make sure that in my classroom/laboratory that I make sure to address each of the six steps of the learning process.Which are the following: 1.Experiencing a proactive situation, 2. Defining the problem, 3. Seeking data and information, 4. Formulating possible solutions, 5. Testing proposed solutions, and 6. Evaluating. By addressing each of the six steps I will have a understanding that learning has occurred. However if any of the six steps are not addressed or gone unnoticed it is key to integrate the problem-solving approach of teaching. When doing the reading on this method of teaching, I actually appreciated it more, because I feel that it is addressing more and having the students actually understand and learn the material that is being taught.

However before we can even get students to learn, we must stress on how important an interest approach is in each lesson that you are teaching. Having an interest approach is important when teaching because you are grasping your learners attention and engaging them before you move to tackle on the content area of your lesson. By being in 412  I can only see improvement in this area, especially in lab because we actually have to get up and give our lesson. Therefore if our interest approach isn't doing what it should then we will know whether or not we need to change it. Also students will be most likely unengaged throughout your whole lesson. It is crazy to think how much the interest approach weighs on a lesson, but it is true if you want  your students to learn, you must have a great interest approach.

Like the interest approach, having a evaluation or assessment is important when you are teaching a lesson because it helps determine if learning has occurred for the student.Not only does it assess the students learning but it helps give you as the teacher an idea of where your students learning and understanding is. It is important we address this so we know what we need to cover again or if we can simply move on with lesson. There is many ways in which you can assess your students learning, you can do a ticket out, homework, or even a quiz. Anything that can "test" your students learning.
Overall by incorporating these techniques into teaching, it can only move us forward in to becoming  better teachers. Also by stressing on these two ideas in your lessons, you can only make your teaching improve and become more effective by having students go through the learning process. I cannot wait to implement these ideas into my teaching and hopefully by doing this, seeing positive results!
Link(s):
I found this video created by our very own Penn Stater Mrs. Laura Rice! This video gives an understanding of what exactly is an Interest Approach and how to apply one effectively to your lesson plan.

Engaging Students in the Learning Process
This link provides different ways of engaging your students into the learning process. Great tips!

Effective Questions and Languaging in Instruction

Weekly Writing #5

We as pre-service teachers have recognized the importance of questions. By developing questions we are getting a "feel" for what our students know and if they understand what is being taught. It is a great method and comes with great meaning if you ask questions that are effective and constructed properly. We must remember that when we ask questions it is about the student not you. You most likely going to know the answer, but we are the teachers and we need to make sure that our students are understanding the information that is upon them. Also when you are asking the question, give time to the student to answer and explain themselves. I know personally when I am asked a question I need to be allotted that time to explain my answer. Not only does it help me pull parts from my memory to collaborate my answer, but it helps better explain my answer to whoever I may be speaking too. I believe that we as teachers must make sure that we give students this time to get their answers formed. After we have gotten the correct answer it doesn't hurt to check back in with your students to make sure there is an understanding and that they have grasp the concept of what your looking for them to understand. 

I also believe that by asking questions, we can truly see if our students are interested in the information that is being taught and if not, maybe there is a way that we could help make the information be more interesting. We also need to remember that we are trying to have our students develop thinking skills to develop that higher level of thinking learning curve. I want to make sure in my classroom that ALL of my students develop these skills and work towards becoming higher level thinkers. I think that before students understand or progress in their thinking skills, we can test their strengths and weaknesses by using the concept of the higher level of thinking. 

What types of questions would be used to reach this goal of higher level of thinking for your students? Many types of questions are used and applied in the classroom. One type of question that I really would utilize in the classroom is general and directed questions. General questions are used to test the class as a whole and see if the class has a general understanding of what is being taught. However if you use more directed questions you can motivate the student in which you asked the question to be right or show that they have a general comprehension of the teachings.  

One major major aspect of effective questioning that we must remember in any scenario is that we need to back up any answer we get with reinforcement. You do not want your group or individual student to get down on themselves for not being fully correct. I would make sure if this was my case to give positive feedback and try to lead them to the answer in which I am looking for. The importance of effective questioning is to see what learning has occurred. I cannot wait to learn more about this interesting topic in 412 tomorrow!

Links/ Video: Effective Questioning and Techniques 

An "Interesting" Approach

Lab Reflection

In AEE 412's Lab class we were demonstrating the importance of having an interest approach. This is the where you hook your students to become engaged in the content that you are teaching. When I was filling out my lesson plan and deciding what I was going to do, I came across understanding an interesting in my mind interest approach. It was about understanding global competencies and how they can be related all around the world, and with one change in a competency whether it is good or bad can affect the group as a whole. Even though I had a good feeling about the lesson and interest approach, I feel that it could have been better if I would have really known my content. I have realized that I am the kind of person that I need everything to be planned. This could be good or bad, but in the teaching situation it can be bad at times. Especially when you are trying to get these students engaged and staying engaged in the classroom. Also with Global Agriculture being the lesson that I taught this week, I definitely would say that I need to get more information with it and what the students should take away from it. 

This week's lab was definitely better than last weeks, especially in the sense that we knew what it would be like. I am still getting use to being more assertive and how I carry myself to keep that classroom managed. The distractions are a sign that my students need to be more engaged so I am going to have to switch somethings around. Students are there to get an education and that is why I am there but I definitely need to improve on these problem areas. 

Overall my fellow classmates definitely given me some ideas on how to "hook" my students into learning and engaging in the classroom. On another note I need to back my lesson up with confidence. I need to find a way that I can stay confident and just make it happen. It is different teaching infront of your peers than students, but in any way this is why we have lab. 

I feel better than last week with my lesson, so hopefully I am improving but my goal is to be able to knock a lesson plan and teaching the lesson out of the park and really packing it with a punch! I know this is only lab  #3 but I want to make sure that I improve now and not when I am half way through my student teaching! For now lets hope  the week after next I see even more improvement! You can always keep improving!

Reflection: First Day of School Lab

Overall this was a great learning experience of what the possible "First Day" could look like when we begin our student teaching journey. I like to plan and with planning comes preparing. This is something that I thought I would be good at with teaching, however I have discovered that I could use some improvement in this area. Being prepared is very crucial when it comes to teaching. It can change a whole lesson and not in a good way! I need to make sure that before I teach I know the content, (especially) what I am going to say, and what I am going to do for the lesson in which I present.
Another part of my teaching that I could work on would be my confidence. I always second guess myself and by now I should realize I need to stop that. This is one area that I need to really improve on because it is also important when teaching. I feel that the most confident teachers even get the worse lessons across and learning still occurs during that class period. Being clear in your instructions is also easier for you as the teacher and the students to understand and process what is needed to be done, expected or said. I lacked clarity when delivering my expectations, procedures, and consequences. Being the "First Day" you as the teacher needs to set the bar and be clear on these essential elements of the classroom. Otherwise kids will be kids and they will take advantage of you and assume the class is a joke. This is the last thing that you want for you students.
I do believe that this experience in lab has given me insight on things that I DEFINITELY need to improve on but also it does give me some experience under my belt in knowing that I am one step closer to becoming an Ag Educator.

"Exploring Learning Objectives" How Can We Teach In Groups"

 Weekly Reading #4

Being enrolled at Penn State in the Ag Ed department, we have been taught the importance of having differentiated teaching methods and being creative when we teach. It is important because if you do the same method every day students become less engaged and will not obtain the information that you are teaching. This is the key role of differentiated learning , mixing it up and continuing to keep your students engaged. One major method of teaching that we make sure not to engage in is just lecturing at your students. Agriculture is very unique with its way of being taught in various ways. We are big in classroom discussion and different activities that are incorporated with the discussion. Another method is being an inquiry-based classroom/ laboratory. I said previously that be able to teach agriculture we have the opportunity to teach in a laboratory and create the hands on method of teaching. This is great for the students because they are more likely to ask questions to really understand the material that is being taught than they would in the classroom. 

 It is very important that we as Ag teachers provide these methods in our classroom for various types of learners. Like I have said before it is important that we adapt our teachings to the different learners so that we can make a safe space for the students to ask questions. If you are more hands on with your students they will want to ask more questions and that way you know that they are learning and understanding what they are learning.

This is why I would like to change the way I teach agriculture by adopting the inquiry-based teaching methods into my classroom. As well as adopt the methods of differentiated teaching in the curriculum. It is very crucial that we as future teachers, and teachers now that we do not bore our students and decrease the amount of learning that should be going on in and out of the classroom by lecturing them. This is our students education and we have to make sure that they get the most out of it. I would make sure by adopting these methods into my lessons/classroom that  my students are understanding and getting the education that they deserve. It is a fact that many of the students who are enrolled in the ag program are more hands on learners. Even for the students who are not hands on inquiry based learning, it will have them asking more questions and engage into wanting to know more about the information being taught. That is where my job as a pre-service teacher to adapt this learning and take that extra step into making that change, for the students and for our future.

Links:

I found this great link of 150 different teaching methods

http://teaching.uncc.edu/learning-resources/articles-books/best-practice/instructional-methods/150-teaching-methods 

 

Cooperating Center Video: Bermudian Springs High School

Hey Y'all,
Check out my video from my cooperating center: Bermudian Springs High School. I cannot begin to explain how excited I am to be able to student teach there in the spring! Hope ya like it!!

Engaging Instruction

Weekly Reading #3

This week's reading was intended for us as pre-service teachers to understand and implement interest approaches in our classrooms. I find this to be a huge need in the classroom because if you do not "hook" your students into importance of the content that is being learned, the will not be engaged. This will make it harder on you as the teacher to get them back into being engaged. For our summer reading I chose to read the book Teach Like A Pirate, which helped in giving me ideas on how to implement interest approaches in the classroom. I feel that each student needs to know the importance and value of what we are teaching to them, so I would try to use something that will require an emotion out of them. I know that when I was learning about farm animals (pigs, cows, horses, etc.) something that would always get me going is the views of PETA and how they proclaimed that farmers and factories mistreat their animals. Being from a farming background it would always get me going and more eager to learn on how we can help in changing those views by gaining more knowledge in the production area as a whole.

Incorporating some sort of interest approach like that example would help engage students in wanting to do more. I really liked how in the reading they talked about having the students demonstrate a process in which they were not familiar with. Therefore the students would want to learn more on how to do that process and most likely the importance as well. I also enjoyed how you measure the students learning and comprehension by having them explain to you what they have learned. This seems to be one of the greatest ways to measure students learning in my opinion, because like myself if I explain it then I truly understand what was being taught. This will be a great method when teaching Ag Mechanics because to actually know if your students know and understand what you taught them then they should be able to correctly explain it to you. This will also help them when they are doing the hands on part of the lesson on remembering what to do and how to do it safely. 

Agriculture is something that I am very passionate about. As well as passing my knowledge on to younger generations. This is why I chose to go on this journey as becoming an Ag Educator. I feel that if you show your students that you care and your passionate that it will invoke a similar feeling in them so that they are wanting to know more about what your teaching and the importance of it. This is again where you can implement these interest approaches and show that we should care and express the fact that learning is fun!

Links:

I found this article which you should read on why interest approaches are an important potion of your lesson plan, especially in Ag Ed.

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ955683.pdf

RTL Lesson Review

How To Make An Origami Butterfly?

For our 412 lab we had to teach an instructional lesson on how to do something. My how to was how to make an origami butterfly. Let me tell you not one of the easiest things to teach. Especially when you do not really know any background knowledge on the art of origami. This took some extra time out of class for me to look up some information on origami. As well as being able to teach it to myself. We were given a packet and unfortunately I was not able to learn how to make a butterfly from that packet. So I used my internet resources as well as YouTube and found a great video and ending up picking up the art within twenty minutes. However teaching it to myself was one thing, teaching it to my fellow classmates a whole different story. 

By being able to review my lesson it made it very clear on parts of my teaching that I need to work on and aspects that I am good at, but can continue to improve on. Being prepared is definitely a huge part in any time of teaching. If your not prepared the students will know and things can turn down hill fast. I was lucky in the fact that I did outside of class work and bettered my knowledge about the art and how to make a butterfly. However I definitely need to be prepared with what I am going to say and not get confused with what I am saying and trying to get across that to the students. I also need to back that preparedness up with confidence. I was very nervous with teaching this lesson because it was not something I knew like the back of my hand.I know not everything that I teach I am going to know very well and most likely will have to do more work, but it does help you in being prepared and confident while teaching.
I do believe that I was helpful and enthusiastic while teaching. On my peer reviews, most of them acknowledged my eagerness and willingness to help them when they needed assistance. Even though I did have a difficult lesson to teach, I tried to make the best of it with the time slot that I was allotted. Always remember reflection is key!

How Do We Design And Plan Instruction?

Weekly Reading #2

In this weeks readings we area reading about different ways we design and plan instruction. This is a crucial part during the teaching career because it is the most valuable. You want to make sure that your students are actually learning the information that is being taught to them. Not only do we want our students to learn but we want to make sure that we are setting and completing the PA Academic Standards and Assessment Anchor guidelines. These guidelines are provided to us to make sure that our students are staying on track and keeping up with this standards. This is why we have state standardized tests, to make sure that we are staying on track. Personally in an ideal world I would like to have all of my students be above average. However I know that sometimes that is not attainable, but I am going to try my best. Also when I find a place to teach I would like to implement STEM into my curriculum. In order to do this I am going to have to work with my fellow faculty to help make this happen. 

Reading these articles has truly open my eyes even more to how important it is to create those teacher-student interactions. This is key in helping the students stay engaged and want to learn. Also by making sure you identify learning goals in the beginning and brainstorm strategical ways in which to achieve them. It is great to start of with goals that you want to reach. As well as having your students write down goals that they want to achieve in your class. This is definitely a great way to interact as well as learn from each other. Using these factors can help you create good lesson plans-unit-curriculum. 

When creating lessons many people call it creating and following your road map. In Understanding by Design White Paper they suggest that you work backwards. I feel that would be a good way to start because it brings on the harder then gets easier. Figuring out what your teaching is broad but breaking it down gets easier. However when your breaking down your curriculum you want to make sure that you keep in mind the components of a lesson. As well as keeping the PA Academic Standards in mind. It is important to remember that out of this we want to learn from what works and what doesn't and striving to make sure to reach student achievement

Links:

I found a PowerPoint discussing how to plan and design curriculum.

http://www.powershow.com/view1/2027c5-ZDc1Z/Effective_College_Teaching_A_Professors_Suggestions_for_Instructional_Planning_and_Classroom_Pract_powerpoint_ppt_presentation

Photos:

SAE Visit: Potter County Style

 SAE VISIT (July 27th-August 2nd)

What is a better time to conduct an SAE (Supervised Agricultural Visit) then before the county fair? I conducted my visits at my home FFA chapter in Coudersport, Pennsylvania. It was very cool to see what the kids were doing in preparing for the fair. During my visit I was able to help clip a goat for showing. My teacher let me ask the questions and get a feel for what a visit could go like in a not so structured way. I asked about background on the goat, where is was from, what feed do they get, etc. However the answer that I wanted to hear was how this was going to benefit them in the long run and what skill or knowledge do they have from this project that they will take with them as they continue on. The answer seemed to stay the same they learned record keeping skills, responsibility, hard work and the list could go on. So getting the production side of agriculture. I decided it was time to check out our FFA's corn booth stand and see what kinds of expectations they had for this year's corn booth. It was definitely nice to see an Ag Business SAE being done, and it was this girls first year at the corn both working.
After meeting with the two different students I would check in on them at the fair to see how things were going. Constantly checking in to see what progress they made. Both students did very well. The student with the goat sold it at the livestock auction, and the other student at the corn booth sold enough corn to pay for her trip to ACES.

I definitely believe that SAE visits are a very important part of the SAE project as a whole. You really get to bond with your student and see their interests and what kind of goals they have set for themselves. This is great because then you can aid them in reaching those goals. I know that even though those students were not my "own" students I was just as proud to see them succeed.

What is Teaching and Learning?

Weekly Writing #1

What is Teaching and Learning?

The readings that were assigned this week were definitely some good quality and informative reads! From these readings I have caught a major repeating message. The message was simply that ag educators have a successful reputation already, before they start teaching. My question is how do we as future educators have this prestigious reputation when we haven’t even started yet? The Enhancing Student Learning Through Teacher Behaviors article gave a simple answer to this question. The answer being Ag educators back up everything they teach with knowledge that they have gained throughout their life. Also they create effective teaching habits to get this knowledge across to the students.  In AEE 412 we discussed what makes a great ag educator and listed five qualities an Ag teacher should possess. Similarly, in this same article Rosenshine and Furst  described eleven qualities and out of those eleven students chose five variable qualities that a teacher possesses that helps engage them in learning.  They were the following: clarity, variability, enthusiasm, task-oriented/ business-like behaviors, and student opportunity to learn criterion material. These quality variables had the greatest impact on student achievement than any other combination.

            However before we can start with student achievement by engaging our students to learn, we need to make a good impression on the first day of school. The first day of school can determine what the outlook of the rest of the year could look like.  So you want to make sure that first impression is engaging and fun. You want to make sure that you as the teacher are learning about the students and their interests. By learning about your students, someday down the road you can use that to your advantage and help engage the students even more! Also this helps the teacher become an effective teacher. An effective teacher establishes the expectations of the classroom and the year during this first week. This is also where an effective teacher gains control. This is a vital part in teaching because if you do not have that control the classroom will have a careless attitude and will be less likely to engage in learning what is being taught.

Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwlhUcSGqgs