"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