ReachingEveryStudent (with Agriculture): Outside Insights

Utilizing our resources is important! This week I was able to utilize the baby goats for 2 classes. On Monday, the students in my Introduction to Agriculture class got to learn about disbudding and dehorning, why we do it, and then a live demonstration of disbudding. How did I use my resources? I disbudded our 4 baby goat kids that were born over our Easter vacation. Each student's response and reaction to the process was different - some it did not bother, some couldn't stand the smell, and a few I thought were going to cry; however, once it was over they realized that what I said was true - it is a relatively short procedure, and the goats don't hold it against you - they're ready to be petted and played with shortly afterward. Later in the week when we were discussing wounds, and I was reminded of a vet call I had shadowed.... a bull had gouged a cow with his horns which ultimately resulted in her death. The bull had severed so many of her muscles in her hip region that she could not walk. I shared this story with the students, which gave me the opportunity to re-emphasize why we de-horn animals, and definitely sparked the students' interests and several questions. It allowed me the opportunity to review previous material and make a connection to the current lesson!

Previously, I had taught several forms of animal ID in my Animal/Vet science class all in one time period. Now that it was time to teach animal ID to my Intro. to Ag students, my previous experience with this lesson - along with my experience with this class, helped me to gauge that swine ear notching was plenty for one class period. The students seemed to really enjoy the activity I had planned - ear notching paper plate pig ears, and I was very impressed with how well the students seemed to grasp the material. Since I had previously taught this material in my Animal/Vet Science class, my one student, who is in both classes, was able to be my assistant. It was a great learning opportunity for her as she tends to be more shy; however, she was confident with the project and was a real help in the class. I was told by the district supervisor (later in the week) that that is the only class he has ever seen her engaged and paying attention in... she always is that way in my classes... I would have never known that had he not said something! The other unique thing about this lesson... I "tricked" them into doing math! :) Figuring the correct notches for the 13th piglet born in the 128th litter takes a few calculations!

Wednesday I was observed by the district supervisor, and we continued on animal ID - ear tagging and tattooing. For my lesson, we reviewed swine ear notching, and discussed the purpose of animal ID along with many common methods of ID. The students each had the opportunity to try out the ear tattoo tool and "tattoo" a paper plate goat ear. Towards the end of the lesson we went out to the barn, and the students got to watch as I tattooed one of the goat kids, and then we looked at one of the does' tattoos so that they could see the final result. Since we were out in the barn, I took another opportunity to review, and had the students figure out the pigs' litter and pig number by looking at her notches.
What else did I do on Wednesday? #latenightbowling with some of my upperclassmen... :)

Thursday I decided to teach my Intro. to Ag students about bandaging and basic animal restraint since the weather was not too conducive to the other lab I had planned. I was very impressed with the fact that nearly all of my students were very engaged, and seemed to really enjoy the lab... there are always those few, but today they were excited to participate! As always, whenever I have a good story to tell about my experiences with the topic, I shared some of my experiences from working in a veterinary clinic. Students really seem to pay attention and make the important connections to the topic. I love it when it sparks questions or discussions about "one time my dog... ", or "have you ever seen...?" #makingitreal

Friday, our district supervisor took approximately 1 1/2 hrs. of his time to talk with me one-on-one to go over my entire lesson that he observed. He told me that with that particular class he would probably only have 1 or maybe 2 objectives for each lesson, spend approx. 10 min. reviewing, spend 20 min. on the new material, and then spend 10 min. reviewing. Many of his suggestions centered around ways to take the pressure and stress off of me, and put it on the students - especially those who are a struggle to keep focused and are easily distracted. One suggestion was to select the student who isn't doing his bell work exercise and have that student write my objectives on the board. Use the students who aren't always on task and make them answer the review questions - if they don't know what the previous days' lesson was about, then tell them that they must not have learned the material like I thought they had... "therefore, we will repeat the previous days' lesson and we aren't going to move on to new material", and then do just that... He said most times after utilizing students this way, and repeating the lessons as needed, students will start to pay more attention for various reasons - one being that their peers will get after them because they want to move on to new topics. The embarrassment of being called on to answer and not knowing the answers because of not paying attention will also motive some. This is one of the first times that some of these concepts have really "made sense" to me. He gave me numerous scenarios of how it might play out in the classroom - not a bunch of theories or ideals, but he worked through my entire lesson plan, section by section with common sense approaches for real situations within my class and suggestions for particular students... it was awesome! I am excited to try some of the suggestions in my last 2 weeks of teaching, and hopefully I will have the opportunity to see at least a few of them work!