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