All Eyes on You {SLO/Action Research Based}

How can we be better educators? How can we enhance our students learning and their classroom experiences? The action based research projects that our cohort conducted allowed us to see quantified data on an area of progress or mastery that we want to see our students succeed in. I chose to focus on individualized instruction in my Introduction to Agriculture class that consists of 24 students, a majority of underclassmen with minimal agriculture exposure. Before I became their teacher my cooperating teacher had a current event assignment. Unfortunately a majority of the students did not buy in and did not complete the assignment. After observing the class and recognizing the challenge of individualized learning in this classroom would be challenging I based my research around this class, this assignment, and their need for individualized learning. Below breaks down the steps and results of my research:

Problem Statement:

Students do not receive enough small group or individualized instruction within a large classroom and a small amount of instructional time. Many students are afraid to ask questions about assignments in large groups.

Problem Identification:

Students enrolled in the Introduction to Agriculture class at Big Spring High School did not turn their work in on time or or not at all in the fall semester for their current event assignment. I observed the class was large in size, with 24 students and that individualized instruction was difficult to give of every student everyday. There were 9 students enrolled in the class with IEPs and a majority of students did not have an agriculture background.

Research Plans:

During a 30 minute Flextime period teachers can claim students to come visit them  for clubs, extra help, etc. I choose 50% of the class to claim for small group instruction and individualized coaching on their current event assignment. The students were chosen based on grade in the class, IEP,  and assignment turn-in rate from the fall. I brought 6 students in on Monday and 6 in on Wednesday to work on their current event assignment that was due bi-weekly.

Date:

58% students increased their scores bi-weekly

83% students turned their  6th assignment in on time

Results:

After collecting and analyzing the data, I concluded that students increase their scores and their turn-in rate when they are in a smaller group. The 12 students show the largest progress between weeks 4 and 6. with their scores and their turn-in rate increased the greatest between weeks 8 and 10.

Solutions:

Students are more successfully when they have the opportunity to ask questions in a “safe” environment. They are more productive without their classmates distractions. The students also have more confident completing the assignments because they can check in with me on each step to ensure they are completing the assignment correctly.

The Tribute {Reflective Experience}

Day 1: Mid Winter Convention

This post is my tribute to Big Spring High School and everyone within it. Big Spring High School blew all my expectations out of the water and it boils down to the teachers and the students. The Big Spring program is a high caliber school that I would want my kids in. From the start I knew the students were held to a high standard to be the best people, students, and FFA members they could be. Right away I knew I was going to be challenged to maintain that expectation daily. What flabbergasted me though was the students who continually stepped up to the challenge of these expectations. Trying to learn the ways and tricks of the trade from two extraordinary teachers was my goal everyday.

Let the good times roll

Lets talk about these two teachers. If you ever want to see what a "power couple" looks like, you should see these two in action. No they are not a "couple" but they are partners like Batman and Robin. They manage two rigorous academic schedules filled with AP, CASE, and honors classes. They have each have families and their own farms, and they are involved in the school district, and at the local, state, and national levels. I ask myself everyday, "how do they do it?". I was fortunate to get a glimpse into how they successfully manage this all, in addition to learning how to become a better educator.

Starting my student teaching internship I expected it to reassemble my other internship experiences. I was to be there from 7:00am to 3:30pm, give my absolute best, build relationships, learn all I can, and complete my assignments. I expected that I would have extra time on my week nights and weekends. I expected the students to disregard me because I look like I should be sitting in the class. I did everything I expected I would but the difference is was my investment. I wanted to do more, I wanted to learn more, I wanted to be involved. Coming into student teaching I was not sure if industry or education was where I was called. Leaving student teaching, I know I want to be in secondary education, working with students.

This blog is very broad compared to what I usually write. It is hard to articulate appreciation, experiences that mean so much to you, and summarize 15 weeks in one blog post. So I will leave everyone with these final thoughts:

Teacher Dinner

To the students at Big Spring: Keep striving and never settle. You all have talents and skills that will make you successful. Do not ever tell yourself otherwise.

Big Spring FFA: Continue what you do because you do it well. I may not be in class everyday but I am always here when you need me. Do everything you can to be the best you! Remember: Penn State is the place to go to school :)

Parents/Friends: Thank you for your patience through my times of stress and my times of happiness. You will always be my rocks.

Mrs. Nailor and Mrs. Fulton: You are awesome people and teachers. Your mentoring will always be sought out as I continue my journey in life and education. Keep changing lives with the zest and flare you possess.

Three cheers for completing student teaching and three cheers for what the next chapter holds!

Forever Learning {Weekly Blog}

When learning something new there is always a point where you finally feel comfortable. Maybe it is around the people you are with, with the skill you are learning, the content you are memorizing... there is a point when you feel comfortable. Comfortability is a great feeling but a dangerous one. Comfortable often times is aligned with being complacent. Unfortunately complacent can result in laziness, no lack of growth, lack of care, and simply put, just riding along. There has been a point in my 14 weeks where I felt comfortable with the people, content, and every day workings. I can say I never was complacent but, I know when I hit this point there were some areas I did not stay as sharp in. 

Within this profession you are forever learning, something my cooperating teachers continually remind me of and something I have recognized. Everyday of student teaching there are multiple new lessons to be learned. I often find myself trying to cross of items on my checklists but not sitting back and assessing why things are happening in the classroom or why students are behaving the way they are. I get caught up in the operations and expectations of the day. Something I admire about my teachers if their "students first and student driven" philosophy. It is an aspect they role model daily. This week one of my cooperating teachers and I had a repeat conversation of something my other cooperating teacher and I discussed in the 3r quarter, point distribution. Sitting back and looking, discussing, and assessing, I missed the mark with the 4th quarter grades and point distribution which affective student motivation in my class. There are other factors to assess as well but reminding myself to stop, observe, and assess where the class is at and not just continue working through something that feels off is important.

This concept comes back to the overarching concept of forever learning. Every class will be different every year, quarter, and semester and new problems or concerns will arise each year I am taking. There is no room on the complacent train and no day that should be a " I just have to get through this". Sometimes that is hard, especially when outside of school factors are weighing on you. Even writing and rereading this blog is an extra motivation and an excellent reminder to be more then just present. 

South Central Swag {PAAE Region Meeting}

The south central region has some swag. The experience and diversity of people that sat in on the meeting is extraordinary. We celebrated the retirement of two agriculture teachers who have contributed to the agriculture education family for many years. There was 5 student teachers, 3 guest speakers who continually support PAAE, Dr. Ewing, and a wealth of teachers who have expertise in a multitude of different areas. The meeting was once again a reminder of the power of the word family within the agriculture education profession. We had teachers share heart-aching news, data collection and progression within the profession, updates on events and activities, and of course, simply talking to other teachers to "catch-up".

Mentoring comes in all forms

I am going to discuss to observations from the meeting, one being more positive and one being an opportunity for growth. The positive is the amount of support that we are agriculture educators have outside of our colleagues. The Center for Dairy Excellence, Versant Strategies, SAE specialist, and the list goes on. They are here to support the agriculture education programs in the state to ensure student success. We are extremely fortunate to have what we do offered to us that we do not have time to utilize it all! I think often times, as the years pass and the routine of teaching occurs, teachers forget how fortunate we are to have the access we do. If I read this in 10 years, I want myself to remember to not take anything resources, events, or support for granted because not every profession gets what we do. An opportunity for growth is the length of the meeting. We started at 5:30pm and ended at 8:30pm. Yes, PAAE meets only two times per year but there are other meetings and people traveling from far distances to attend the meeting in the middle of the week.

Overall, PAAE continually reminds me that being an active member of professional organizations is important. Side note is that when I completed the schools observations forms this week it had three separate questions for involvement in professional organizations. Even your districts want you involved with your area of teaching. Shout out to whoever designed the student memberships because I am forever grateful to have started my active role as soon as I choose the profession.

Rain to Drain - Slow the Flow {Community Based Unit}

Drilling a hole into the barrel

The Community Based Unit (CBU) that was implemented during my student teaching internship was called Rain to Drain - Slow the Flow. The inspiration for this CBU came through an email sent over the list serve. The topic aligned with the Introduction to Agriculture class's Water World unit. I set the unit up that every Wednesday would be CBU day. There was a lot I learned through this process, but the end result was well worth it.

Putting the CBU day on Wednesday seemed great in January but I have a lot of regrets sitting here in April. With snow days and multiple day labs Wednesday quickly became a hassle. I was always rearranging the CBU days which resulted in lack of interest and understanding from students. This was the biggest hurdle, student interest and purpose.  If I was to implement this CBU again, I would take 1-2 weeks and make it a short unit. There was a lot of disconnect with the students the purpose and knowledge I wanted them to obtain. 

The gem of this was the hands on lab with Cumberland County's Conservation District. Mr. McCollum, a Technician for the Conservation district came into the class and talked about rain water within the community and how rain barrels helped. One week later he came back and we built the rain barrels. Prior to this day I taught a shop safety lesson and the class and I read through the directions for putting together rain barrels. The class is mostly underclassmen and they vary in shop and tool abilities. The students were broken out into 4 groups of 6 people that were assigned. We completed the 4 rain barrels in approximately 40 minutes which I found phenomenal.

I really enjoyed creating and implementing the CBU. It was one of the units that I needed to prepare the most for and caused a lot of extra planning, but working with Mr. McCollum and having the opportunity to see some of my students who have never worked with tools, smile and enjoy theirselves making rain barrels was worth it.

Period 2 - Rain Barrels Complete

The Extra Time {Professional Development}

The opportunity to be involved with other individuals who are striving to achieve the same goals as is refreshing, empowering, and as a green teacher, motivating. Mr. Ron Fredrick, a retired agriculture teacher purposefully sets-up a dinner during the time students are student teaching to introduce us to teachers within the region, share resources, ask questions, and to ultimately support us. This evening fell nothing short of expectations.

Like all good agriculture teachers, Mr. Fredrick had the evening planned out to ensure our time together was fully utilized. Teachers had certain questions to answer and student teachers had questions to ask. Mr. Fredrick handed out posters, books, and other resources for student teachers to claim. I would lying if I did not say I feel as if I left with the best resource, a 4D chicken for my Poultry Evaluation CDE team. Additionally, we each brought one resource to share with everyone. 

This experience was one that was valuable but I want to look at this from a broader perspective. This was an evening that I gave up. It was a long meeting. I had extra work to prepare for the evening by gathering resources. There is value in attending extra opportunities because you will always gain something. This experience it was multiple resources, motivation, refreshment, empowerment, and of course a meal. Yes, there are times when you have to say no, but sometimes an opportunity will do more for you then you realize or you intended it too. 

Cluck Cluck {Weekly Blog}

The Career Development Event (CDE) is an integral part of the three circle model under the FFA portion. I have had the opportunity to work with a newly formed team at Big Spring HS, Poultry Evaluation CDE. With growing up on a poultry farm I thought I would know about this CDE, but I was wrong. I can explain how to raise poultry and define and describe some of the terminology, but poultry evluation is a whole other ball park.

We are continually told that agriculture education is a family and they are always their to support you. This was evident as I reached out to current and retired agriculture teachers within the state. One of these communications was to Penn Manor's Poultry Science guru, Neil Fellenbaum. Mr. Fellenbaum has had multiple successes at the state and national level and as a dedicated passion for this CDE. This was proven in his willingness to drive his poultry CDE team to Big Spring for 2.5 hours where the Big Spring and Penn Manor teams studied and learned the Poultry Evaluation CDE. 

Mr. Fellenbaum went all out. He brought 3 hens and multiple products and equipment to let the students practice with. Not only did my students learn, but so did myself and my cooperating teachers. So what is the big deal? An ag. teacher helped out another teacher and it was a huge success, makes sense. Experiencing something brings a lot more meaning to it then being told about it. This equates to not only CDE's but bring in guest speakers, taking field trips, volunteering my time and expertise to other people within and outside the district. Ms. Royer also gave her time and expertise to my student when she made her school visitation in late March. 

Take aways:

1. Never be afriad to ask

2. I will never know everything - use the experts

3. Don't always take, give equally as much 

Steering Towards Success {SAE Visit}

Mikayla about to weigh-in

The second SAE visit I made was to visit Makayla Kutz who raises steers on her family's farm. Mikayla grew up around steers and has shown them since she was allowed. Mikayla is a senior at Big Spring High School and has kept records on your steer projects the past 3 years. This has been her project of choice because she knew early on she wanted to be a large animal vet. Mikayla is going to live this dream out by attending The Ohio State University in the fall.

Mikayla's goals with her steers were to lower her input costs. She set this goal knowing she has experience with raising steers and would like a bigger return since she knows college is expensive. As Mikayla has assesses her finances she knows she can barter with her parents to receive free hay and grain for her animal if she works on the farm. Makayla would like to stay involved with steers when she attends OSU because she wants to continually learn to bring back her knowledge to the farm. She is also raising a steer to show at Shippensburg fair she her final project this year.

Mikayla finds keeping records on steers difficult because the project starts int he fall. She wants to improve her timeliness with entering her journal entries and income and expenses. She also has a goal to utilize Flextime at Big Spring HS to enter her in-class time and FFA activities to ensure she does not get behind. Mikayla is concerned with going to OSU that she will lose her dedication to her record book but has a long term goal of obtaining her American Degree. Mikayla has made many positive decisions to set her up for the American Degree and her career as a large animal vet after he time at OSU.

Sometimes it Takes Two {Weekly Blog}

This week we started our third quarter and that means Introduction to Welding is over and Equine Science is in my schedule for my remaining time at Big Spring High School. Equine Science, is a content area I am weak in and am hoping to learn a lot from my cooperating teacher and students. The new aspect of this course is that I will be co-teaching with one of my cooperating teachers whom has years of experience with showing, teaching, and owning horses.

To prepare, I read the textbook, received a mini lesson from my cooperating teacher, and had all my documents prepared. I had an extra boost of confidence with having my cooperating teacher in the back of the room, ready to answer any questions and jump in as needed. My role was to lead the class and then to use her as a support as needed.    

With having only 3 weeks to teach, we decided to follow her lesson plans so it would be a smooth transition. Teaching only 3 days was the perfect amount of time I needed to understand the flow of our co-teaching and how to better prepare for the classes. Our co-teaching system simply works with me teaching the lesson and as questions are asked and or I conclude talking about a topic, I ask Mrs. Fulton if she has any further information or experiences she wants to share about. I know that I can prepared myself but I will not be prepared to answer every question asked, especially with many of the students being horse owners or riders. I believe that I would rather ask my cooperating teacher for more information or the right information rather then shorting the students.

Now that I have a feel for how co-teaching will function, I can better prepare the content and activities. My challenge is constantly finding activities that are meaningful but do not take a large amounts of time. This is a class I could just flow through the motions with so I am challenging myself to take the content or already prepared activities and add a fresh flare original component to them.

Co-teaching is probably something I will have the chance to do when I have my own program, because I may be a single teacher or I and my other teachers will teach at the same time. In knowing this is unique, does anyone have advice or a strategy to try to implement while co-teaching?