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"
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!
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
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
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.
