#TeachAgChat Reflection

Once upon a time... (Oh wait, that was back when I grew up reading books with paper covers)...

Now... (#21stcenturycommunication)... More to come later...

Classroom Management... A note to new and struggling teachers...

First, I feel very unqualified to write this letter as I have had very little experience in this area; however, I'm am going to share what I have, and hope it will be a help to someone who is struggling with classroom management. If nothing else, maybe I can use it to remind myself of the tools I have at my disposal!

Dear Teacher,

First I'd like to congratulate you for making it this far in your journey... it's not easy! It definitely takes courage and dedication! Every day I learn new things that I can incorporate into teaching my students, whether it is a neat experiment/project, lab, or a classroom management technique my mind is continually churning with ideas - some I write down and save, and others I forget or toss.

Classroom management is certainly a very important component in teaching and maximizing student learning. One tactic that I have found to be very helpful is proximal control. Even without speaking a word of reprimand, students tend to hush their chatter when you move near them or stand behind them. Unfortunately, the days of students respecting their teachers simply because they are your teacher and they are also older, seems to be a thing of days-gone-by. This poses many questions in my mind as to what is responsible for these changes in our society. I could probably write a whole research paper on this, but I will sum it up into a few categories - a change in family dynamics, television/gaming systems/social media, and the moral decline of our great nation. If you don't think TV has something to do with the reading challenges and behavioral problems we have to deal with on a daily basis, here are some alarming statistics... 
   1.) [Children] are less likely to be able to read at all (34% of children ages 4-6 from heavy TV    households can read, compared to 56% of others the same age)...
   2.) The majority of parents (59%) say their 4-to 6-year-old boys imitate aggressive behavior seen on TV.
            Resource: http://realtruth.org/articles/233-tta.html 

Since individually we are very limited as to what we can change about these problems in our society, we are left to come up with other methods for managing and directing our students' behaviors.
You need to have specific rules and consequences for your classroom. In a world and life of uncertainty, students need solid guides and boundaries to give them stability in their life. By being firm and re-enforcing rules and following through with consequences from the beginning of the year, students will learn to respect you and classroom management problems will occur less often. Additionally, many youth “act out” because they are seeking acceptance; therefore it is important to get to know your students personally and show that you care! You just might be the one they will credit with “because of you I kept trying and didn’t give up!” Providing hands-on experiences and labs also helps to get students engaged and actively learning, which will give them less time to be disruptive.

In summary, we are faced with many classroom management issues that stem from a variety of issues within our society and culture; however, we as teachers have the responsibility to help nurture and train these students to become successful citizens. To help us achieve our goals we need to be firm but caring, which will provide our students with stability and the knowledge that “they matter”. This allows us to teach more effectively because we will waste less time dealing with classroom management issues. Incorporating activities and hands-on labs will help to maintain a high level of student engagement and involvement which will also reduce classroom disruptions and can be particularly beneficial for busy students and/or students with IEP’s who may struggle with general education classes, but may excel in in a class with “hands-on” real-life, applicable projects.

Keep up the great work! Remember students have bad days too. Every day is a chance to start over and try new tactics, and most importantly, look for little “gems” – signs of improvement or deeds of kindness by your students. Always strive to do your best, and seek to be an exemplary role model in your student’s lives!

LifeKnowledge Lesson

Here is a "short" excerpt of my teaching experience yesterday... very short in comparison to what all happened in those short 42 min.

My LifeKnowledge lesson was interesting yesterday... actually it wasn't the lesson as much as the students... I used almost every tactic in my toolbox for classroom management... other than sending them to the principal's office... One student kept continually vocalizing that he doesn't like the class, doesn't want to be in the class, but had no choice, etc., several boys decided to have a pen clicking competition about 2 min. into the lesson, worksheets turned into airplanes, works of art, tiny pieces of paper, etc., answering questions became classroom chaos, 1 student decided to try sleeping, 4 or 5 students wanted to answer all of the questions, several refused to participate in anything, etc. - pretty much everything they could think of in 42 min. except physical violence... oh, and by the way... 10 of the 20-some students have IEP's......Oh the joys of teaching in our public school systems, where we have been "educating" students so well without God, discipline, or respect, that we are churning out disasters that have no respect for authority, and as one of my students so "eloquently" said it when I asked him what he wanted to do for a job when he graduated... "Nothing, I'm going to be a homeless person"... wow, that's a high-class ambition!

BUT... I "busted" some of them... :) (Unfortunately, I imagine that I will have to do that regularly when I start teaching that class)... I found and used my teacher's voice, burned lots of calories moving around the classroom to provide proximal control (which worked - however, the other "chatty", disruptive students across the room would pick back up when I moved to deal with another area), I walked over to the "pen clickers" and told them that they needed to stop clicking their pens and disrupting the class - at which I got very surprised looks - they were trying to push me and see what they could get away with, and I foiled their plan! The student who "fell asleep"... I awakened with "can you please read me your answer to #2... which he hadn't filled out... he turned to his buddy (who had also been cutting up and made up answers instead of writing what he was supposed to write, and then proceeded to read the wrong answer which I kindly informed him of... he stayed awake the rest of the class :), I had to remind them that I was the teacher, and that they were the students; therefore, I was to do the talking and they were to do the listening... I tried the awkward silence approach, but 2 or 3 of them just kept right on talking... For the last 1-2 min. I asked them to share what their favorite Thanksgiving food was, and guess what I got for an answer? "Food"... I was like, really? Glad you like food... how about more specific... like... what kind??? ... "Turkey"... and then my chatty overly helpful students started regurgitating grocery lists...

My Intro. to Ag class is going to be tough and take a lot of work, but they are going to find out that if they choose to behave so poorly this spring... well, let's just say... dynamite comes in small packages... :) ... not because I want to be known as a strict or mean teacher, but because I want them to learn and have fun! They all have potential, and I want them to realize that... My goal is to find out "what makes them tick" and "trick" them into learning (Teach Like a Pirate wisdom)... it's going to be a challenge, but I'm certainly going to try my best!

To be clear... I chose to teach this particular class yesterday knowing ahead of time that they are a rowdy and challenging class (not because my cooperating teacher told me or suggested that I should teach this class, but because he forewarned me that he has had some real issues with this class this year). I wanted to be able to better prepare for the "worst" as much in advance as possible... Now I have a lot better understanding of what to expect, and I have a little over a month to look for more "tools" for my toolbox, creative ideas and activities to get them engaged, and time to brainstorm on how to reach those students! #realadventureandexcitement

Inspiring Gem from the experience... I noticed one of the "lower level" students seemed to really be paying attention, although I quickly saw that he was struggling to fill out his worksheet; however, he kept working at it and trying... towards the end of the lesson I wanted them to write on the board all of the different ag-related careers that they had written on their papers... I checked to see if he needed help, and saw that he had something on his paper, so I asked him to add it to the board... he gave me a quick glance of fear?/apprehension, so I looked at his paper a little closer... only to realize that he had written "constrackshin worker" - I spelled it correctly below for him, he flashed me a grin, and then quickly went to the board and proudly wrote up his contribution! - That's what I call a rewarding experience - one that pushes me to try my hardest! 

Going through the worksheets I collected, I found my Inspiring gem's paper... He defined the following words as follows: Task: "a peas of work", Job: "a pasific job", and Career: "a prefeshin"... very cute, but also sad considering this student is in 9th grade... I'm excited to see if can help to build his confidence and reading and writing skills... wouldn't it be awesome to see him take off and reach new heights!

Micro Teaching...

Inquiry Lesson

88th National FFA Convention!

First, I must say this was my 1st time to go to convention, and having no previous FFA background I thought it was pretty neat... it seamed rather large at first, but once I got to the expo center and started visiting all of the booths/vendors I almost felt like I was at "home" at an indoor version of Ag Progress Days geared specifically toward Ag students and teachers... Awesome!

To be continued...

Inquiry-based Teaching

I think inquiry is a great way to help students reach a new level of thinking by having them use the scientific (or similar) method to solve a problem and/or find the answers to their question(s).

Several Inquiry Topics that I have thought of that I can use in my student teaching:

1.) Which cows should be culled from the herd to maximize profitability?
2.) How does "X" factor affect plant/animal growth?
3.) What determines a horse's coat color, and can you predict the color(s) or their offspring?
            Neat resource: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-colors-genetics/cool-colour-chart-94890/

By allowing students to find the answers to their questions (with a little guidance to maintain some structure) they are developing the skills to be self-guided, life-long learners which will help them as they prepare for future careers, and also as they encounter "real-world" problems and situations throughout life... #importantlifeskills 

I also love the scientific applications of Inquiry-based learning! Anytime I can incorporate science, math, or English into my lessons to show students how important those concepts are from their "boring" general education classes it gets me excited because it has the potential to "turn students on" outside of my classroom. Every time I hear a student say that they "hate math" (or some other subject), I always want to know... "Are they being given real-life applications", and is there a way that I can change their attitude about about a particular subject so that they see its importance and start applying themselves?... and can I teach them to make those important applications for themselves even if their teachers don't? I want to prepare my students to become employed and successful citizens in a real world!

Problem Solving Approach

This was my favorite lesson to create! This lesson was probably one of my hardest ones to facilitate; however, I think with a few tweaks to my lesson plan to add some clarity and some additional information (scenario) added to the worksheet it will flow much smoother in the future!

To be continued...

Evaluating Learning

There are so many ways to assess student learning... and not every method will accurately assess every student, which is why I plan to evaluate my student's learning using a variety of assessment methods. In particular, many students in an Ag classroom excel due to the hands-on approach to learning and the real-world applications. Rather than just having my students take only multiple-choice exams, short answer, and fill-in-the-blank exams, I plan to design some rubrics and utilize practicums to evaluate their learning which I feel will be a more accurate assessment of their knowledge and skills, and will give students that opportunity to "show what they know" rather than just testing their ability to regurgitate facts and figures.

I think rubrics can be a very beneficial tool in agriculture education; however, care needs to be taken to make sure that they are not too complicated to follow, or too wordy. In trying to "think outside the box" to come up with ways to accurately assess student learning, I am considering using Quizlet to help my students learn. For example, students would be responsible for finding 5-10 "flash cards" that directly relate to what we are learning in class, and save them to the class and unit folder. Some of the exam questions would come from those saved "flashcards" (which could include pictures), and students would also receive part of their grade from selecting and adding the 5-10 "flashcards" to the class and unit folder... just another way I thought of to "kill 2 birds with 1 stone" to help students learn while providing them with an additional way to earn part of their grade rather than just utilizing a unit exam. 

Obviously a little below HS level, but I could see them being very beneficial for learning different breeds of animals, classifying parasites, identifying tools for Ag mechanics, or practicing plant ID.

In my opinion... not everyone that can pass a written exam actually understands the material - they may just be good at memorizing and regurgitating..., and not everyone who does poorly may actually not understand the material - rather they may be able to better demonstrate what they know through a hands-on project or explain what they know through a story or scenario, but struggle to show that knowledge because they don't do well with written exams.

Project-Based Learning and Problem Solving

In my mind, utilizing project-based learning and problem solving techniques to teach are 2 very powerful tools that we, as future agriculture educators, can incorporate in our lessons to pique student interest, and initiate learning and understanding by creating a need to learn and by providing real-world application!

The article on problem solving very nicely explains the 2 types of knowledge - Declarative and Procedural knowledge, which is also something we have briefly covered in my EDPSY class. To create good problem solving skills in our students we need to make sure we include the facts, concepts, principles in our lessons and make sure that are problems are well structured to minimize confusion for our students - not that they need to be simple - just not confusing.

These problem-solving skills are essential to teach to our students because they have so many real-world applications. For instance, veterinarians and farmers use these skills everyday to make management decisions and diagnose sick animals. We also need to make sure that students make the connection to these real-life situations while we are teaching. Another factor that we should consider is that we need to make sure that students actually learn to problem solve for themselves, not just find the answers, although, don't get me wrong, that part is essential as well.

Here is another great resource on problem solving...
https://www.teachervision.com/problem-solving/teaching-methods/48451.html

Here is a quick overview...

Problem-solving involves three basic functions:

1. Seeking information
2. Generating new knowledge
3. Making decisions

FLC Reflection

To be perfectly honest, facilitating for Fall Leadership Conference (FLC) was a challenge for me for several reasons and definitely stretched me. 
First, having no FFA experience, except what I have read about and heard from others, adds its challenges because I only have a superficial understanding of the FFA component of Agriculture education; however, I am excited to learn more about this part of the 3 circle model, and I am sure that attending National Convention and student teaching will give me a much better understanding of FFA. 
Second, facilitating the "catch all" group presented some real challenges because we had to design the workshop in such a way as to include everyone and yet try to make it beneficial for all of the officers in attendance on an individual basis. Another challenge that we faced with was that we got an "extra" 8 students added to our group... We had chaplains, historians, student advisers, a parliamentarian, and a few other "random" officers who didn't seem to be sure of their position or role. 

My focus was primarily working with the chaplains, and we discussed and reviewed several invocations/prayers as a group. The  students then each compiled an invocation that they could use in their own chapter. Furthermore, I added a scenario of losing a community member that was an important contributor/supporter of their FFA chapter, and initiated a conversation on ways that they as the chapter chaplain could initiate recognition from their chapter to the family to extend their sympathy and express thanks for their support. Each of the chaplains were given a template for writing a sympathy card, and then they created their own scenario and wrote a sympathy card for practice. It would have been neat to have a few of them share what they wrote, but it never crossed my mind at the time... guess that is what reflection is for... to make notes of needed improvement for the future.
Lastly, I felt that overall the workshop went well, the campfire theme was a great way to capture there interest and to encourage participations, and I felt that being able to dim the lights really added to the overall effect (Teach Like a Pirate application!). While there were a few "issues", none of them got out of hand... there were several from one chapter who came close to being "asked" to be separated because they were distracting each other (towards the last portion of the workshop), another student wanted to continually contribute, and several students seemed really shy and it was difficult to get them to share and contribute to the conversations; however, it was very beneficial to me to observe these situations, and now I have some time to process and think about how I would handle them if they were in my class...  I also feel that having the catch all group gave me a little more preparation to work with a more diverse group of students in the future.

Individual Teaching Techniques

As we acknowledge the fact that every student learns in their own unique way, we must consider how we can best help our students to learn. One important component is to realize that there are three primary types of learners, auditory, visual, and kinesthetic.

While most learners use some combination of all three types, learners are typically stronger in one of the three areas which makes it critical to include all three of the components in all of our lessons. This will allow us to "individually" target and teach all of our learners on a small scale; however, can also be considered a form of differentiated instruction when we use a variety of instructional methods to accommodate a variety of learning styles. To further expand this concept of individual learning, we need to get to know our students so that we can incorporate specific student interests and questions within our lessons, so that they will take an interest in the subject matter and their own learning.

Chapter 4 in Methods of Teaching Agriculture (2004), lays out how using problem solving to facilitate learning can be incorporated to increase individual learning. Several scenarios are presented with a problem and some context for the scenario. The most interesting

example was how an agriculture instructor used a student's "problem" of not knowing what size of plow would best for their farming needs to create a classroom project and a felt need to learn more. This is also a great example of why it is important to know your students on an individual basis. If the teacher would have made up the scenario, it would not have been as motivating, but because they felt the need to "help" they all got involved with guidance from the teacher, and learned the content because they wanted to learn.

Here is a really neat resource that briefly mentions the 3 primary learning styles and then lists multiple scenarios and how each type of learner would handle the situation... very interesting, and applicable! 
http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/how-do-you-learn.htm

Model Unit Plan

Course: Intro to Agriculture
Unit: Horticulture and Creed Speaking 
Grade Level: 9th
Number of Students: 25
Number of class sessions: 20 days
(1wk. of Creed, 3 wks. of Horticulture)

Overall Goals...
The goals of my unit are to present to students the importance of plants in their everyday lives whether is is for food, shelter, clothing, medicine, or personal enjoyment. In addition, I have planned to set aside 5 days throughout the unit to teach the 5 paragraphs of the FFA creed in order to meet my cooperating teacher's request to teach the FFA Creed during this time frame. 

Peer Feedback:
While there was concern with mixing in the Creed Speaking with the Horticulture, to teach the FFA Creed for 5 days straight is out of the question; therefore, it was logical to weave it in among the horticulture-based lessons since it is necessary to taught during the time frame in which I will be teaching my intro. to horticulture lessons. Some other suggestions made were to change some of the action verbs I used in my unit and lesson objectives, as well as re-wording a few to have more measurable objectives. I could also put more emphasis on why the math skills that I am incorporating are important to student learning and success.

Changes to make...
I plan to re-write a few objectives for more clarity, variety, and more specific and measurable outcomes. Additionally, I need to make it clearer in my Academic Enhancement section as to how those added math, reading, writing, and science skills will benefit the students and better prepare them for career success. 

 

Technology Reflection

So how was technology used? Well for one, technology made it possible to read several inspirational articles online and watch 2 unique and relevant YouTube videos that we should think about as we are preparing to be teachers, and it gives us an example of how we can incorporate technology for learning and reflection. So here is my reflection on what I thought of the articles, and some ways that I can apply it to my future and my students' futures...

More important than the technology itself, in my opinion, was the

message of the TED talk on "You Matter". I think it is so critical to student success, as well as that of our own success, to let students and others around us know that they matter. This thought also ties in very well with the TED talk on "I'm Seventeen", and the article on "Tweek Your Teach" by Dr. Tae. Both of these resources illustrated that for students to want to learn and be involved they need to be able to express their thoughts and know that they matter. They need to be encouraged to get involved (and vote)! Even if what they have to say may seem unreasonable, we should take the time to listen to them because that conveys to them that they matter, and sometimes they do have really good ideas! We also need to be very careful in how we respond to students, if we can't think of a positive response for an idea, instead of expressing our immediate disapproval of an idea, maybe we should instead tell the student to keep researching the idea, and then get back to them after we have had the time to think on the idea and give constructive advise not discouragement. I'm afraid that often it is easy to give our opinion without thinking about how it may affect our students and peers! 

As I have seen from my personal experiences, and that of my family and friends, a key component of when and how teenagers/students get a "more mature" mindset is when they are given responsibility. Often I hear people say, and I can sometimes agree myself... "They are so immature", but if you take a deeper look at that individual's situation, often they were not given very much responsibility throughout their "growing up" years. When I stop and reflect on this, I think, "how can I help to change this seemingly ever-increasing plague that is affecting our society and nation?" I think the real key is to let our students know they matter, give them responsibility, and hold them accountable. 
The main goal of agriculture and technical education, is to prepare students for the "real-world" so that they can be successful, but to adequately prepare them they need more than knowledge and skills - they need the responsibility component that will help them to acquire and hold a job, and to have the satisfaction of a job well done. 

I found an interesting article on "The 9 things that matter more to

employers than grades", and thought that it presents a good start on what we should really be focusing on as we try to prepare students for the "real-world" and success... knowing how you learn, time management, presentation skills, etc.  These are not content, but certainly are things that we can incorporate into our Ag classes as the "little things that really matter"!

"The 9 things that matter more to employers than grades"

Interest Approach

First off, I will give you a brief overview of the "topic" of my lesson and interest approach for those of you who may be reading this blog, and didn't have the opportunity to participate or watch me teach...

As a Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences major, I get really excited about teaching veterinary science content! The objectives of my lesson were to have students identify 2 tools that could be used to monitor animal health, and demonstrate proper usage of each of these tools.

For my interest approach I had several items in a brown paper bag. Students took turns drawing out the mystery items (Stethoscope, thermometer, blood tube & syringe, and "vet"), and after each item was drawn, I asked the students if they could identify the item and whether or not they knew its use. I then explained each items' use in more detail, and its application to monitoring animal health. Once

all of the items were drawn from the bag, I demonstrated the proper use of the stethoscope, and then allowed students to listen to their own heartbeat. This allowed me to incorporate Lancelot's second Principle of Interest: "That is interesting which affects ourselves, others about us, or humanity at large", but I think Lancelot's third and fourth principles could also apply. Of course everyone had a heartbeat, but this was giving them the opportunity to practice using the stethoscope prior to finding and listening to the heartbeat of different animals (Lab activity). I then had students do jumping jacks to get them moving, which ultimately made their heart rate increase, and allowed me to tie in their previous background knowledge (i.e. health and science classes) to the new content. This activity also gave me the opportunity to ask them more in depth questions such as, "Why does your heart rate and respiration rate increase when you increase your physical activity?"

Reflection...
I definitely felt that the interest approach went more smoothly than my "First Day of Class", which is where I see practice lending to improvement; however, there was definitely an added level of complexity dealing with the "problem" students. 

I feel that I did a good job dealing with the student who kept being distracted on her phone by getting her involved, by asking her questions, and by reminding her to put her phone away. On an afterthought, I probably should have helped her phone find a new residence on the teacher's desk after the second or third reminder until the class was over; however, it was hard to keep track of how many times she had it out since I was trying to concentrate on my interest approach... therefore, it was easier (and probably less distracting to the rest of the class) to just quietly make eye contact with her and tap on her desk, as I was moving past her desk, to remind her that her phone should be put away.  I have a feeling I'll get a second chance on this one, so watch out whoever is next! :)

Giving a demonstration and providing activities helped me to move around the room more and feel more comfortable as well, so I think it is probably a good way for me to start my lessons until I get more practice and experience... a small step which will, I hope, get me closer to where I want to be with my teaching and presentation skills. I was also limited because I only had 1 stethoscope for 4 students, so when I utilize this lesson in the future I need to make sure that there is at least 1 stethoscope per 2 students, so that students don't just "sit on the sidelines" waiting for their turn. 

Additionally, to get some of my students more involved, I could have had them do the math conversion problem ( X  beats in 15 sec. =  ?  BPM) on the board rather than me writing out the problem, and if they needed more of a challenge I could have given them some different numbers or examples!

Learning Objectives Explored

I tend to think of objectives as the beginning and end of my lesson goals... They are presented to students so that they know what to expect, and more importantly are there to help keep me on track throughout the lesson. Objectives also allow me to reflect, and ask myself, "Did I reach my expectations for the lesson, were students able to successfully reach my objectives, or do I need to revise?" I

also like to look at the fact that for something to be successful or complete it requires all of the pieces... it is sort of like putting a 1000 piece puzzle together and then realizing that you are missing one or two pieces. One small piece can make a huge difference!

 When I read the article by M. Susie Whittington on "Writing Objectives in Secondary Agriculture Courses that Challenge Students to Think, the first thing that I thought of was... my teachers and professors never listed or read their objectives that I can ever remember until I got to my Ag Ed classes, and while from everything I read they are considered to be critical, and as I am preparing to teach I see them at the very least being important to me to help me stay on tract and stay focused. Somehow even though I was not taught this way I still learned, but most of my teachers have been teaching for many years... I never once saw any of my elementary or high school teachers ever use a lesson plan! I guess it's just one of those special elements that just come with time and years of practice and experience...

What I really enjoyed most about the article was the example about the compartments of a cow's stomach that was used to illustrate the different learning levels that can be achieved based on how you write your objectives and prepare for your lessons. The example definitely helped me better understand all of the information we are getting about writing learning objective because it was presented in a way that I could  relate to and understand. 

To further my understanding, I searched for some other sources on learning objectives, and found another great resource.
http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/learningobjectives.html

First Day of Class Reflection

So how did my first day of class go?... Well lets just say, I'm glad it was a "practice run", and not actually my first day at my cooperating center...

All in all, there is a lot of room for improvement in my presentation... I need to use more expression, utilize my classroom space better, move around more, smooth out my transitions, and add variety to my responses...

What is challenging for me? It is a challenge for me to feel confident and at ease when I am presenting about a topic that I am less familiar with which in turn makes me nervous and then I tend to become fixed in one location, stumble over my words, and loose any expression... I almost feel as if I have had to memorize facts and regurgitate them. 

In contrast with this, when I talk about something that I feel I have some expertise in (such as dairy goats), I'm not worried nearly as much about what I am going to say next because it just flows out because of my knowledge base and passion.

I'm not exactly how to overcome this problem, but I'm going to try to start by moving around the classroom more when I teach, and hopefully as I get more practiced and "memorize" how a lesson is suppose to be ordered, I won't have to concentrate as much on that part and will be able to focus on other aspects of my presentations. 

Probably having a lab space to utilize would help... I'm all about hands-on learning, and that would help me to move around, and not just feel like I'm talking to a bunch of students with blank stares (no offense guys... I'm sure I do the same thing).

As a future teacher, I must learn to internalize my nervousness, and present with confidence the material I am teaching... This will certainly be more of a challenge in certain subjects especially if those courses have more lecture time and fewer opportunities to incorporate hands-on skills, but I do feel confident that if I keep working at it and trying that eventually I will start improving.

Here are several links I found that have suggestions on how to boost teaching confidence:
- http://teaching.about.com/od/SchoolPrincipals/a/Building-Confidence.htm
- http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/professional-development/professional-development-teacher-development-and-confidence/146473.article

 

Student interest and engagement must be created!

As a future agriculture teacher, I really want my students to learn, but in order for them to learn most effectively, I must spark their interest in the content and get them actively engaged throughout the lesson.

Those classes that I have learned the most in are those classes in which the teachers helped me see the importance of the material, and how it could affect or help me personally. Once those connections were made in my mind, I looked forward to the next class, learning more, and even researching more outside of class if it really sparked my interest. I want to be like those teachers because I know the impact it had on me as a learner.

First, I must establish my objectives for the course and class (what do I really want my students to get out of the content and how will it benefit them?). I like to add variety to my writing, sentence structure, verb usage, etc.; however, sometimes the mind has its limitations, so I often look up synonyms and definitions. I want this variety to apply to my learning objectives as well. In Methods of Teaching Agriculture, the authors state the importance of using action words as objectives. When I read lists of action words for objectives, it helps me to start thinking outside of the box, and gets me thinking of "hooks"/ interest approaches, and activities I could use to gain and maintain student interest. Another important component of capturing students interest is to show enthusiasm about what you are teaching!

Here is a link to a pdf. of action words for lesson objectives!
 agsci.psu.edu/elearning/pdf/objective-verbs.pdf 

Some of my favorite hooks that I could see myself incorporating into my lessons from Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess are; The Kinesthetic Hook, the Picasso Hook, The Mozart Hook, The Real-world Application Hook, and The Props Hook. 

Rachel Spicher - Penns Manor Cooperating Center Video (AEE 295)

AEE 412 Weekly Writing #1

So... my first thoughts... wow, that was a lot of reading...

To me the most important thing that stood out to me was that it is critical to start out teaching on the right foot. In order to do that we should try to be as prepared as possible, and seek out help immediately if we are struggling! 

One of the "Top Ten Effective Teacher Characteristics" that really stood out to me was positive reinforcement, and the example given about writing/giving positive feedback on students' papers and exams. This has always been important to me, and I am often disappointed when teachers or professors don't give me any feedback. It is my goal to not be "that teacher" who doesn't give any feedback. I have just started "TA'ing" for an upper level anatomy class, and when another TA saw me meticulously going over the homework I was grading and writing the correct answers for the questions they missed they remarked that "it takes too long to do it that way". For me, it is not an issue that it takes longer, after all that is what we are getting paid to do, but more importantly I want the students to do well, learn from their mistakes, and know that I care enough that I will try to do my best to give them feedback so that they can be successful!

Although I have not had the opportunity to do so yet, I would like to find some more information on the best practices and tips for providing feedback to students on their assignments and exams, and what things may have the greatest positive impact.

Reflection on 1st teaching experience...

First and foremost I must say that I felt educationally unprepared for this experience; however, I also know and understand that we have to start getting teaching experience somewhere. With that being said, I taught the lesson and my "students" mastered the topic, but I thought of several things that I could have done differently. First, I needed a better introduction and attention grabber. Second, it would have been better if I had had more students participate prior to explaining the trick. This would have either temporarily stumped them and got them more intrigued, or it would have given them additional time to try to strategize and figure out the trick prior to actually showing them how to do the trick for themselves. Lastly, I had absolutely no background with the "topic" because, in my family "playing cards" are taboo, so it wasn't just because it was an unfamiliar "topic" - I had to decide is this something I can do without going against my religious convictions of not participating in or promoting those things which would be displeasing to God?
 
Another factor for consideration is that I would like to think that what I teach is useful, practical, and beneficial to learner - not just a time filler (i.e. I wouldn't ever teach this lesson because it does not teach any "life skills" that I would want to promote). 

  Based on the results of the learner satisfaction forms, my "students" where either satisfied or very satisfied with the lesson, and reported that the hands-on component and demonstration helped them learn the trick. Several suggestions included: practicing with other students, doing more than one trick, and showing a video of a professional magician for an interest approach.

SAE Visits

 My 1st two SAE visits!

 Vinny is raising poinsettia's to sell around Christmas time for his SAE project. He is a senior and the Vice President of the Penns Manor FFA officer team. He had just potted them the day before, so Mr. Hughes spent much of the time going over watering, fertilizing, precautions/plant sensitivities, and answering any of his questions.

Alex is also a senior and is the President of the Penns Manor FFA chapter. For her SAE she works at a local family-owned grocery store that has been in business for over 100 years. She does everything from running the cash register to working in the bakery, and she also helps to train new employees. Alex worked there several days per week this summer, and continues to work throughout the school year. The store was pretty busy when we through, so it was a short visit, but it was obvious that she knows her responsibilities and how to do a good job and keep things flowing smoothly.

School Visit - Penns Manor Petting Zoo - May 2015

The students of the Penns Manor Ag Program along with help from their Ag Teacher, Mr. Hughes set up an awesome petting zoo in their shop area and outside.

  
Most, if not all, of the elementary students and their teachers, along with several administrators visited the petting zoo, and got to experience a little taste of Agriculture. 


  The Ag students were kept busy answering students and teachers questions about the animals as well as taking care of the animals throughout the event. They were also responsible for helping set-up, tear down, and clean up after the event. In addition, the Ag students had built the animal holding pens for this event, although the pig pen had to be modified to curb the escape efforts... :)

 
If I remember correctly... the petting zoo included: a horse, a pony, a donkey, a guinea, a chicken, 2 rabbits, a pet hamster, 4 or 5 ducks (one of which was content to splash and play in the shop sink and drink water out of a red plastic cup), 3 geese, 2 guinea pigs, a peacock, 3 young pigs, 3 (awesome) goat kids (my contribution to the chaos... and yes, I am biased, but the kids had a blast with them!).

Introduction

Farm girl tough!

 Just a little about myself... I am currently working on my teacher's certification in Ag Education while finishing up my bachelor's degree in Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences at Penn State. 

Gotta love those ears!

I was raised on a small farm in western PA where we have been raising, breeding, and milking dairy goats since I was 12yrs. of age. In addition to our milking herd, bucks, and replacement doelings, we have 2 horses, chickens, 3 dogs, and way too many barn cats! 

Some of our milking does... fighting to see who can eat the most the fastest!

 Although I have never shown any of our goats, I got to attend and observe my first 2 dairy goat shows this summer! I am also super excited that one of my bred does that I sold last year to a local 4-H and FFA student won Reserve Grand Champion and Best Udder, and her daughter won Grand Champion at their first show!

...what are you doing laying on the ground?

 This summer I have been working on training my 2yr. old palomino paint/quarter horse filly with the hope of someday having a reliable, well-trained trail horse, but some days she makes me wonder... :) I would like to think I could train her to do some tricks someday, but right now I am just mainly focusing on other groundwork such as lunging, backing, giving to pressure, etc.

My grandparents 100+ yr. old barn silhouetted in the sunset.

I also enjoy taking pictures, exercising my somewhat "green thumb", arranging flowers, playing the piano and flute, spending time with my family and friends, and horseback riding.