#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!