It is Contagious {SLLC Blog}

Bunch of goofballs

Let's break it down. The State Legislator Leadership Conference (SLLC) is another for students to get pumped about being the next generation to impact our country and industry, agriculture teachers to get work done, share ideas, and build relationships, and for students and teachers to enjoy three delicious meals with unlimited coffee. The energy and passion that students and teachers bring to the SLLC conference is the same felt energy at every other FFA event that is held at the local, state, and national levels.

SLLC was another first for me, and it did not disappoint. I was assigned by my cooperating teachers to plan this conference. Here are some of the take-ways from planning a trip and specifically SLLC.

- Your students are a valuable resource. In deciding on an after conference activity on Tuesday, I was researching and brainstorming for awhile until I simply asked the 8 girls we took what they wanted to do. They gave me ideas and then we decided on what to do together.

Representing the Blue and Gold well!

- Be prepared for anything. We had two of our girls get sick at the conference. One was sent home and the other was able to push through. I did not have any medicine or first aid kit with me to help. I learned to call the parent first for permission, and then give the students the medicine.

- Be a team player. We are preached the importance of being apart of professional organizations and the PA Ag Ed family. Being apart of this family means you have a role. During SLLC that role was to grade proficiencies. As a new teacher this was helpful in learning how they should be filled out and what is being looked for in the grading process. Also as a young teacher I hope I reread this post and remember, no matter how old I get, I will participate in everything that is offered. Many hands make little work.

Happy grams from my students

- Even when you are having fun and have a good group of students, you always need to be a few steps ahead. What time do they need to meet next? What do they need to wear? What do they need to bring?

- Getting a table for meals is similar to the Hunger Games... may the odds be in your favor.

- Conferences are not a time that you will catch up on sleep Be prepared to lose it. This is important to note because the SLLC conference ends on a Tuesday and there are still 3 days in the week to teach.

- Students struggle with packing... teach them how to pack.

Until next year SLLC!

Wise Words from Morrie {Weekly Blog}

During fourth period at Big Spring students and teachers participate in Silent Sustained Reading (SSR). This week the topic that was being discussed in my book was "How Love Goes On". The character Morrie says to his friend Mitch, " I believe in being fully present. Morrie defines that as being with the person you're with."

If you are not familiar with the book, it is called Tuesdays with Morrie written by Mitch Albom. The book describes the relationship between a professor, Morrie and student, Mitch and then flash forwards to when Mitch becomes an adult and Morrie is diagnosed with ASL. Mitch returns to visit Morrie after many years without contact, and Morrie and Mitch pick-up their friendship from where it left off. With Morrie dying though, Mitch wants to know everything Morrie thinks about certain topics. The ladder part of the book breaks down their conversations on these topics.

As I read these chapters on the various topics, I find myself learning from Morrie as well. This week the topic was about being fully present. Some of the quotes Morrie uses to describe being fully present  are:

• "I try to keep focused only on what is going on between us"
• "I am not thinking about something we said last week"
• "I am not thinking of what's coming up this Friday"
• "I am not thinking about doing another Koppel show"
• "What medications I'm taking"
• "I am talking to you, I am thinking about you."

This message was important to remind me to be in the moment of what I am doing with a student. Build a relationship with them, that when they are talking I am dialed in and focused on their question, comment, or concern. On the flip side I ask myself, how can I successfully do this with 24 students in a class?

I challenged myself to implement Morrie's teaching this week. This was not easy. My mind wonders easily with concern, thoughts, reminders, to-dos, and emotions. To be fully invested in a conversation, listening to a 6 minute speech I have heard over five times, or students sharing a funny story with me, is challenging.

After an evaluation this week, I realized that I did not know my students as well as I thought in one of my classes. The attention I gave each of them was on the surface because of how large the class was. After my evaluation and debrief I felt bad because I was not investing time into learning more about my students than what I knew through observation. I started making the change Friday and telling students who needed me that I will come to them when I was done with the student I was working with. My goal to to continue to carry this mentality into the rest of my weeks at Big Spring and into my own classroom.

Tractor Supply Company {SAE Visit}

This past Thursday, February 25th I visited one of my students at Tractor Supply Company (TSC) at the Shippensburg, PA location. It was a great time to visit a Tractor Supply due to it being National FFA week.

Courtney has worked their since October 2015. Courtney decided that she wanted a job to start saving for a car and college. Her prior Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) was with her cats and chickens. Courtney is nervous and excited to start her SAE because she has never had a placement SAE before. Prior to the visit I reviewed Courtney's past SAE books to see what her experiences, leadership roles, and earned degrees were.

Starting the visit I walked into the store and Courtney was placing price tags on candles at the front register. As she worked we discussed her goals for her SAE, career, and degrees/awards. She would like to apply for a State Star award in Placement and wants to achieve her Keystone Degree. Her apprehensions are not knowing about the Placement SAE book and what the requirements are and how to apply for the State Star award.

She walked me around the store and discussed the operations and responsibilities she has, showed me the management system on the computer, and we walked down the welding isle discussing some of the products, since she is in my welding class. Courtney works 2-3 nights per week from 4-8:30pm and one 8 hour shift on the weekends. From having Courtney as a student and listening to her as an employee of TSC, her diligent work ethic and willingness to complete any task helps her succeed at her job.

To conclude the visit Courtney and I setup two times to meet in the upcoming week where we will setup her placement SAE book. I assigned her to go in and complete her student profile and bring her check stubs into class and we will start her book. Courtney is in my Advanced Leadership class where I have an upcoming random AET record book check for all my students.  Courtney will be prepared to receive full credit for the first random check.

This SAE visit was my first placement and it was great to step into the student role and have Courtney be the teacher. I was able to observe her confidence in her project, her understanding of the systems and operations or the store, and interactions with customers. In looking forward to work with her in the upcoming week, this visit will allow me to understand and ask appropriate questions to ensure Courtney is on track to meet her goals.

I've Got the Power {Weekly Blog}

We make decisions everyday. What sandwich do I want to take today for lunch? Which dress pants match with this sweater? What shoes won't hurt my feet? These decisions have their own difficulties but they only affect me.

Being a student teacher, my decisions affect my students. No, this is not the first time I am realizing this, but this week I had a challenge of making a decision to pick 5 of the 6 junior prepared public speakers to compete at the local area CDE competition. On Thursday, we had a "speak off" where each junior prepared speech student came into a room and gave their speech. My cooperating teacher and I were hoping this would give us clear indication on what 5 would compete. Unfortunately, the speak off did not provide as much clarity as we needed. After the speak off, my cooperating teacher and I deciphered the options. I appreciated my cooperating teacher trusting in me as the teacher of the class to make decision. She gave me her insight after I talked through my thoughts and even though we did not agree on all the students placings, we did agree on the one student who unfortunately will not be competing.

This learning experience happened all within 3 hours of each other, but I was mentored well and learned a lot from it. First, you must always be fair and give each student the same opportunity, consistency is key. Forecasting what work ethic and quality of work a student may have up to the contest in is not a fair way to choose students. Looking at work ethic, attitude, and quality of work up to this point is. As the teacher, you have to make the decision... and be able to justify it. Telling a student they cannot compete is not a glorified part of the job. In preparing to tell the student that I wrote down exactly why they did not make it and so it was clearly explained to that student.
Another real experience happened this week and I credit my cooperating teachers for mentoring me through the process. It was not fun. It was not easy. It had to be done. It is was hard not giving a student an opportunity who would have done well.

This power we are given as teachers to make decisions is constant. Can I go to the bathroom, Ms. Andrews? Can I run to my locker? Can you print this for me? My first response is, I do not know, can you go to the bathroom? The students chuckle and say, "May I go to the bathroom?" This may seem simple but  when multiple students are asking, you are ensuring one student is out at a time or if you are about to do something they cannot miss in class, these decisions are cognitively challenging. My decisions can change a student mood/attitude, experience, or mindset so being purposeful and explicit in what I decide is going to make a difference.

I am relating my quote above to decision-making because you may not always be liked after a decision is made. I always want to be that Fruit Loop because I maybe won't always make all the favorable decisions, but I want to always make the right and fair ones.

Dear Jonas {Weekly Blog}

Dear Jonas,

As you rapidly conquered Pennsylvania this past week, you gave me sore muscles, cabin fever, and had me eat a lot of PB&J sandwiches. Even though I was not thrilled about any of this, you gave me the chance to get ahead in work, think through activities, create materials, and catch up on sleep. Little did you know that you would cancel school for two days, followed by 2 days of 2-hour delays. As great as that sounds reading, remember I am the teacher now and not the student, and it is not all that great.

Let me tell you what was great about your passing. First, winter feels like it is really here now. Second, I was able to get ahead so I was not at school until 9pm all week. With 2-hour delays, the day goes by so quickly you can't believe you were even in school. 2-hour delays were also great because I did not lose a day off later in the semester.

Now lets discuss the inconveniences of your passing. I lost two days off later in the semester I was looking forward too. My students were more wired because of the extra rest. I had great lessons plan, but did not get to teach them at all or had to shorten them. I was not able to have club meetings or flex time to work with students. I still cannot get the bell schedule down because I had two bell schedules to look off of this week.

Even through all of this Jonas, I should thank you. You provided multiple learning opportunities for me this week. One of the biggest lessons I learned was to not rush through lessons just to make them fit the timeframe of the day or week. There will be days given back to accomplish what I had planned. If I know the students are coming off a long weekend or a snow day, be ready for energy and channel that into something productive. That is when that word adaptability fits into student teaching. Thanks to you Jonas, next week I am going to adjust better to my lessons to meet the needs of the students of that class on each day. Parallel with this, I am going to stop myself with 3-4 minutes left and remind students of the assignments coming up and to complete the ticket out.

Jonas, thanks for letting me be apart of history, but next time lets keep it under 10 inches.

Sincerely,
Ms. Andrews

The Old, The New, and the Student Teacher {Science Class Observation}

Big Spring High School is a three story building with the science classes residing on the third floor. I was able to shadow a chemistry teacher in her second year on the first day of school and an anatomy teacher in her 22nd year teaching on day 4 of classes.

Chemistry: First Day of School

The chemistry teacher I shadowed had a non-traditional pathway to start her teaching career. She student taught last year, during her first year, and now, being in her second year, she is still learning on the job. The class I sat in on is Forensic Science. It was the first day, she did not have objectives, or at least posted in the classroom. For the first day the teacher stood in the front of her 16 students introduced herself and asked students to introduce themselves with whatever they seemed important, but had to say if they had a dog or not because that was important to her. The rest of the class was an introductory activity and notes. There was no syllabus review or classroom expectations, procedures, or behaviors, just a review of the major assignments 

Here is what I took away:

1. Students like talking about themselves so let them do the talking

2. If using Google Classroom, do not put all your assignments for the quarter or semester on their because students lose track and get pushed to the bottom of the stream as more content is added

3. Starting notes is okay, but it needs to be short and with an interest approach

The class was small so the introduction activity worked. I would have expectations, procedures, and consequences on the first day though. The teacher did express enthusiasm for subject and variability, but business-like behavior and learner-centeredness could have a stronger presence.

Anatomy: Day 4

The teacher of this class taught for 22 years and I knew how good she was as she taught her class, managed it, and handed me binders of resources, her laptop, and explained it all to me while teaching. I was blown away. She knew her content, had an impressive organization system, wanted to share all she could, explained why she did things the way she did, and told me she frequently collaborates with the agriculture department. She also extended an invite to come and visit her whenever I need resources, questions answered, or someone to talk too. 

Here is what I took away:

1. She utilizes many activities that we discussed in the fall: KWL, think-pair-share, and word splash

2. She uses bellwork affectively to benefit the students as well as give her time to take care of beginning of the class business. 

3. She uses popsicle sticks with students names on them to ensure she is fairly calling on students

I felt my mouth drop as the teacher conducted her room and class. She multi-tasked smoothly and her students enjoyed being there. She showed me how she got to where she was and reminded me it takes years. I want a district full of teachers who care about their students and schools as much as she did. Even though she was teaching definitions of parts she did it in a way that I was even interested. She had all the components of effective teaching except variability, but looking at her lesson plans, that did not same normal.

Let's Compare First Days {Weekly Blog}

Back in the fall I completed a First Day of School lab. After re-reading my blog I reflected on my experience comparing my experience this well to last fall and thinking about how I will make day one even better for my next two classes this upcoming week. Through talking with my cooperating teachers I learned that they are encouraged not to go over the syllabus the first day of school, but from my survey of asking teachers in the school, they still do.

Why? Most of their classroom expectations, procedures, and consequences are there and starting the second day students could "get away" with being late, etc. because they were not set. On the flip side, I learned teachers who do not go over the syllabus take the time to get to know the students through activities and push the students to get to know each other.

What did I learn? 
The context of the classes are that welding is a 9-week, 3rd quarter only course, and horticulture is a second semester course. Students expect syllabuses so do the unexpected because it pays off. I had activities on day one for both my classes. Horticulture they played minute it to win it type of games and welding they went on a scavenger hunt for welds throughout the first floor of the school. I did go over my syllabus because of the 80 minute periods. Students liked hearing about the projects they get to do, especially in hands on classes like welding and horticulture. I even had one student in my welding class that did not know you actually get to weld in the class and his eyes got big with excitement when I said that we do!

What would I do on my first day of school as a first year teacher? 
- Build rapport with students through games or activities. Each activity needs to serve a purpose though.
           - For example in my horticulture class I had them work in teams to emphasize that they will need to be collaborative this semester, we played would you rather and I asked WHY they picked the side they did and then told them I expect them to ask WHY this semester and be expansive in their thinking.
- Give a tour of the shop or greenhouse if that is applicable.
- Go over expectations, procedures, and consequences.
           - This includes classroom operations and classroom processes (where do you pick up graded papers?)
- In a one to one program, work through where everything is digitally, have them sign into Google Classroom, and make sure everyone has access to folders/documents
- Handout any papers that need signed and make it worth points.

What am I doing next week on my first days?
Both of these classes are are year long and 40 minutes. I am utilizing the same systems as my cooperating teachers as well as their expectations, consequences, and procedures. Since is has been half a year since they heard them I am going to review expectations, procedures, and consequences to ensure they know nothing changes and then take time to build rapport the first day.
             

And in 3...2...1... {Micro Teaching}

... my micro teaching experience has ended. It flew by, just like everything else this semester. For the readers who do not know what micro teaching is let me explain. As a lab assignment we choose a local agriculture program to observe 1 day and then we consistently teach 3 days for one period. We work with the program's teacher to develop our mini units topic, objectives, and content. During and after our teaching we are evaluated by members of our cohort, the teacher, and receive student feedback.

My set logistics of the week:
Location: Central Pennsylvania Institute of Technology (CPI)
Class: Plant Science
Unit: Sexual Plant Propagation
Lesson topics: seeds, parts of the flower, pollination, fertilization, and germination
Class size: 8 students (one was an adult learner)
Length of period: 50 minutes

The actual logistics of the week: 
Location: Central Pennsylvania Institute of Technology (CPI)
Class: Plant Science
Unit: Sexual Plant Propagation
Lesson topics: seeds, parts of the flower, pollination
Class size: Started with 8 (sometimes) and they left in intervals as their buses arrived throughout the 50 minute periods
Length of period: ~ 30-40 minutes

To date, this was the most telling experience of my abilities and preparation as a student teacher. It reassured me of my strengths and weaknesses and provide me the opportunity to set goals when I student teach in the spring.

Teaching at a career and technical center was unique compared to a traditional classroom.
There are a variety of high schools represented for 3 hours in the morning and then again, a different set of students, from different high schools, in the afternoon. The two other cohort members and I broke the morning classes 3 hours time up into 50 minute segments, which was new to the students we were teaching. Having 3 different student teachers, with 3 different teaching styles, and 3 different topics was not the typical flow of their classes and they all were all extremely receptive to the us and the change of their normal routines though.

I have a lot of different thoughts and experiences I want to share but I am going to contain it to my top five:

5. Teaching when Sick
Knowing my medical history I knew I would get sick during student teaching at some point. Well I caught a very bad cold this week, that came along with head congestion, fever, and coughing. As much as a burden it was to work through, I learned a lot. In college, we just skip class or meetings, no questions asked when sick. I knew skipping micro teaching would be similar to missing classes during student teaching and that is not an option. Taking extra time in the morning to wake up, take medicine and have it working in my system, and then eating a full breakfast were actions I took to be prepared for my students as well as start the road to recovery. While teaching I did not want the students to get sick or question if I should be there. I brought hand sanitizer with me, always cover my mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing, and had water on me at all times. This dictated some of the ways I conducted activities. During day 1 especially, I let the students take the roles of reading, explaining, and researching and I worked on questioning and clarifying statements. Additionally, it took extra mental push to keep the energy and enthusiasm at a high.

This was a good reminder to live a healthy lifestyle to ensure sickness is not hindering my abilities and efforts as an educator. This is a thought in the back of my mind but a lifestyle that, if included in my day to schedule, will benefit me in the classroom. 

4. IEP/GIEP
At the end of day 2, the teacher at CPI asked us, "So who has an IEP?". I was able to identify the gifted students but neither of the other two students. This was not something on my observation radar coming into micro teaching, but something I adapted to for the 3rd day. For example, I created groups instead of allowing students to pick them, based on the students's ability and attendance in the prior two classes. After knowing the students IEPs, I was able to question and assist the students during group work. 

On my learner satisfaction forms, the 2 GIEP students made comments that they desired higher order of thinking questions and activities, where the rest of the students loved the lessons how they were. If I were to re-do the lesson, I would put in my lesson plan higher order questions to direct to these two students. 

3. Knowing the Content

I know that I will never know everything within the world of agriculture. I know that I am on a journey of life long learning. The content I was teaching this week, I knew by definition and example, but nothing further. When students ask me questions outside my knowledge base, I thankfully had a knowledgeable teacher in the room to help provide an answer, but I loss some confidence. I have a goal set to better prepare myself for units by studying. I need to remember that teaching is not just about how to teach, what are the right questions are, how engaging can I be, but WHAT are the students trying to learn. I think this will be frustrating for me as I student teach because I have skills and knowledge miles long but not as much depth as I would like. My goal is to study each unit prior to starting teaching it. Use the vocabulary on my lessons plan to guide my studying as well as learn from the current experts working within the fields. I enjoy having conversations more than reading so utilizing that strength and passion to learn is one way to improve in this area.

2. Addressing the Audience
The audience was small, diverse in schools, age, and knowledge, and in a non traditional classroom setting. One conversation I had with the students during observation is the constant push of papers at them to take notes on, fill out, or follow along with. They see papers all the time and that is why they love their CPI plant science class... it is hands on and not a lot of papers. Hearing this I knew I would not teach this audience with worksheets. After day 1 though, I realized some students needed to see words to remember them and write down definitions to help them retain. So day two I tried worksheets and some students enjoyed it and others shut down. In reviewing the learner satisfaction forms, they all agreed no worksheets. 

In reflecting on the observations, changes made, and feedback received, there is a time and place for worksheets. Students need notes to study when test time arrives. Also, some information needs front loaded before jumping into hands on learning. Another reminder I have to give myself is that I will not please every student everyday. That is hard to settle with, especially for a young teacher. 

1. Flexibility/Adaptability
I just chuckle when I read these two words and reflect on the week. Every night I was adjusting lesson plans and each morning when I walked in there was something that changed my lesson plan that I adjusted the night before. My biggest flexibility had to be with time. On day 2, some schools had off and others had an assembly so I taught only 2 students. I had an activity planned for the day so I adapted my delivery, teaching style, and energy to fit the needs of the two students there. I was also last in the line up to teach each day, so if one of my fellow teachers ran over, I had only the time remaining to use.

Outside of time, there was technology glitches each day and the power went out at one point... all great learning opportunities for me. I was surprised by the success, poise, and confidence I had adapting and changing so quickly. What became "real life" this week was the workings of high school minds and the comments and questions that can arise. Their intelligence surprised me with the questions they posed but their immature comments reassured me they were still high schoolers.

Overall, this experience was extremely pivotal in my growth as an educator. I could identify growth in effectiveness of teaching in me since the beginning of the semester but on the flip side I can also identify the areas of growth I need to hone in on prior to the teaching in the spring.

Knowledge in Action {Inquiry Based Instruction}

The power students have in learning is emphasized with Inquiry Based Instruction (IBI). IBI provides an outlet for students creativity to be directed into scientific learning. The power of IBI is that there are usually more questions formulated from researching one question as well as allow students to explore their own curiosities. Below is a pictorial representation of the steps in IBI: 

A simpler step-by-step process is: 

      1. Question

      2. Investigate

      3. Use evidence to describe, explain, & predict

      4. Connect evidence to knowledge

      5. Share readings

I want to discuss the 5-E Model which is engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation. Like the article stated, it can be adapted to fit any instruction. What appeals to me about the 5-E model is the flexibility and teachable opportunities each of the five sections have to offer. Each section is adapted to the subject matter and as the steps progress continue to adapt to the changes of the outcome of the step prior. 

IBI is needed in our classrooms because it emphasizes real world thinking, applicable skills used everyday int the workplace, and increases understanding by applying prior knowledge and skills to further learning. As an educator with a lot of enthusiasm, I find reading about assuming the role of a facilitator difficult. I want to find a way to guide student's learning to be successful, like most educators, but I need to remember the power learning from failure has for students.  

The three words that are said in the Journal of Agriculture Education,"Knowledge-in-action" summarizes IBI. It reiterates learning by doing and student ownership by applying the scientific method to any instruction. It is an opportunity for students to be creativity, be curious, and apply skills and knowledge previously learned. As a facilitator I guide the students to discovery but find ways to be adaptable because students can take multiple paths when engaging in IBI. 

The Broken Weld {Problem Solving Lab}

This weeks lab was the Problem Solving Lab and it threw me for a whirlwind before, after, and during. I found it difficult to reflect on this lab because I received inconsistent scores and so I utilized the video compare and contrast the feedback.  I also took the categories we were graded on, watched the video, and graded myself. This helped me understand my feedback as well as take notes on what to improve for the next go around. I am going to break this lab down by sharing my thoughts, reactions, and reflections in sections of before, during and after the lesson.

Before:
- I prepared a lot. So much that I think I overcomplicated the lesson

- I was indifferent about switching my lesson because I was not sure how to teach it to 3 students

- My goals were to stay in the correct timeframe and give directions and instruction with clarity

- I was nervous to teach it because I was not confident in what I created

During:
- I became frustrated. This has never happened to me before and it was a different mindset to work through. I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve and due to that I need to be careful. If I do get frustrated, to keep a smile so my students do not feed off of that

- It was not going the way I imagined it because I think the lesson would have been executed better with a class of 20 students

- Have more questions then the main ones written out. (sub questions) Be more prepared with details and quick on my toes to feed off of the students questions.

After:
There are plenty of areas I need to work on. Specifically pertaining to the Problem Solving method, I needed to formulate more questions and set-up the problem so the students thought deeper and I made them think even more then what I did. Aligning with that I should have reinforced the concepts we did talk about throughout the lesson and not just at the end. I thought as a teacher, I overall taught better, but did not execute the concept of the problem solving lab well. 

I talked about wanting to improve my clarity of directions and instructions and I think I have been improving but still have strives to make in that area. One technique I am going to try is typing up or writing down directions or instructions for students to read or look at after I give them. As far as staying in the time frame, I was closer. This was my first week for having to think about shortening what I was teaching to fit within 20 minutes, but I believe without my explanations to the class of what I would be having my high school students do, I was only a minute or two over. 
What I did well was interact with my students, created a comfortable environment, and had a variability of activities. 

Looking Ahead:
I came out of the lab frustrated because we are closer to the end then the beginning and felt like I took steps backward instead of forward. This motivates me to plan better and try to take leaps and bounds forward in executing the next lab.

The Recipe {Problem Based Learning}

There is no set recipe in delivering successful Problem Based Learning (PBL). There are, however, correct ingredients that make PBL a successful teaching strategy. 

Successful Ingredients

5 Cups of the Problem Solving Process

       1. Recognizing and defining the problem

       2. Clarifying the problem

       3. Identifying possible solutions 

       4. Testing a solution or plan

       5. Evaluating the results 

1/6 TB of Reflection

       Dewey added a 6th step to the MODERN DAY 5-Step Problem Solving Process: Evaluating the results

1/4 T of a Driving Question

     - Proactive

     - Complex

     - Open-ended

     - Linked to what students should be learning

2 Eggs of Voice and Choice

Voice: Let PBL be something that students are interested in 

Choice: How are the projects presented at the end? What are the teams? Let students have choice in their learning process! 

There are other ingredients that can be taken away or added into this recipe, but it depends on the audience you are serving. The above ingredients though are the base ingredients needed to start mixing. 

Why use PBL as a Teaching Strategy?

1. Develop students ability to solve problems

2. Create self-directed learners

3. Facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge

Connections

STEM

When researching PBL, a lot of engineering problem solving models arise and my thoughts immediately go to STEM and how PBL can be an effective way to implement STEM into an agricultural program. One of the 8 Essentials for Project-Based Learning is to have Significant Content, which in short means, aligning the PBL with academic standards. Incorporating science, math, and English language can all be accomplished through PBL, which allows students the opportunity to learn and utilize their knowledge of multiple subjects as well as makes administration smile. 

National #TeachAgChat Twitter Chat

Looking forward to this week, our cohort starts the first ever #TeachAgChat and my group has the opportunity to facilitate the topic of Careers in Agriculture. Our goal is to bring together educators and industry personnel to share what is currently being done in schools to prepare students for agricultural careers and what opportunities and need industry has for students. In learning about PBL, I want to utilize the Twitter Chat to hear about the PBL that is occurring in agricultural programs as well as the what industry finds beneficial for students to learn and how educators can incorporate their suggestions as a PBL.

Let's Share Infographics

I am a huge fan of infographics and I found one of Pinterest that was shared in another blog. The infographic was to large to share on this blog so click the link below to see how this infographic lays out the steps of problem solving: Problem Based Learning: Solving World Problems

If anyone has a PBL or problem solving infographic or poster they use and has been effective for them please share the link or picture in the comments section! I am looking for one to hang in a classroom.

Here by the Rising Sun {FLC Reflection}

"The rising sun is the token of a new era in agriculture. If we will follow the leadership of our president, we shall be led out of the darkness of selfishness and into the glorious sunlight of brotherhood and cooperation."

At the Fall Leadership Conference (FLC) held in Altoona, PA I, along with my two co-facilitators, had the opportunity to teach a workshop to 27 chapter FFA presidents. I am going to capture and reflect on this experience through breaking down the word P-R-E-S-I-D-E-N-T.

Purpose: The purpose of this workshop was to prepare and teach presidents their roles and responsibilities of their office in in 2.5 hours. As a facilitation team we focussed our objectives around the 4 defined presidential roles outlined in the FFA handbook.

Ruh Roh: In the words of Scooby Doo there were some "ruh roh" moments after reflecting on the experience. The biggest one was the lack of stating, posting, and revisiting objectives. The students had no idea what we were going to accomplish today. This was a basic practice we discusses the importance of Day 1 this semester that was a lack of preparation on our part. 

Enthusiasm: This is where we crushed it. I was thankful to have facilitators that met and exceeded my enthusiasm. The students responded well to this energy and spirit by the comments on their learner satisfaction form. What worked well was that we were able to be high energy but also hone in on lower tones and pace when we where trying to drive home the point of a topic.

Share the Stage: This is one area where facilitation and teaching in a classroom is different. I shared the stage with 2 other people and it requires extra planning! I am now not only speaking but I have to think about where the other teachers are, when I need to stop talking, when I jump in, and what my duties are at that time. (Ex: handing out papers) One big take away from this was what to do if your co-teacher misinforms, deviates from the plan, or is unclear. What role do I play then? I can better observe the students when someone else is talking so, for example, if directions are unclear I can see the confused faces. Today it worked out that I could jump in to re-state directions if needed, but my take-away is that I need to be able to observe my students and talk in a classroom setting. 

Informational: "The lesson was more informational then motivational" This was a comment that we received after the workshop. Not sure how to interrupt it at first, I came to a conclusion. We did our job. We gave all 27 of our presidents tools for their toolboxes to be better prepared for their roles and responsibilities. I wish that some of our empowering and call to action comments would have been better driven home, but I know we accomplished our objectives for the day.

Discover: What did I discover today? 2.5 hours is a long time, but when you are over prepared it goes by quick! Dave Burgess told us that you cannot base success off of 100% participation and engagement, and even though it was discouraging to have a few students not be into the activities it was a confidence boost to keep going due to the majority of student's engagement and excitement being evident. Students want the opportunity to express their personalities and skills, so give it to them. 

Evaluation: The area of evaluation and assessment lacked today. As the facilitator I do not know what they learned. They each completed a "Know Book" to take with them, but it was individually completed. Also, I regret not taking the time to provide more time for Q&A during and after the workshop. We constantly where trying to keep up with our allotted times but we never did catch up and it resulted in loss of ensuring our students were learning. 

Next Step: Where do I go from here? As mentioned facilitating is a little bit of a different role then teaching in a classroom, but there are skills I can transfer into a classroom. We had a lot of group activities that allowed me to go around and facilitate conversations and work. Also, when we had students share out, I was able to summarize answers and information. These are just two examples among many, but it was powerful to think about all the practice I had together will applicable skills I can use in a classroom setting. 

Transitions: As something that can always be improved, this was a huge area of emphasis to successfully execute today. Our team aimed to keep the student engaged and the activities connected together. We did well, and honestly some were impromptu, but this is an area of growth I saw in myself today.

"Any other questions?" {Weekly Writing}

In my blog title it asks, "Any other questions?" and this is because I learned this is a non-effective question to ask and I am guilty of saying it. After teaching a few lessons in labs and reflecting on each of them, the teaching tactic of effective questioning has been surfaced several times. Like many college students, I can be a culprit of word vomit, meaning I say something to quickly that I did not mean or that made no sense. With the fast pace that I tend to talk, the combination can be deadly for effective questioning.

One of the documents of our weekly writing addresses the why and how of effective questioning, something I know is important to add to my teacher toolbox. The article boils down to the reoccurring practice of... PLANNING! When writing my lesson plans I need to think:

"What level of thinking am I trying to draw from my students?" 

"What is the type of question that will cause this level of thinking?" 

"When do I ask these questions during my lesson?" 

The chart below is a reference for Bloom's Taxonomy with application of critical thinking skills on each level that has help guide me in developing purposeful and effective questions:

                

Let's talk about my concerns with effective questioning...

Not only do I need to think about the questions I will ask, but the also about the facilitation of answers that maybe given...which is something teachers can not always plan for. In reflecting on facilitating answers, I know this is a mastery skill I will learn through practice and repetition. The creativity and sass high school students can supply sometimes makes this a skill one I am patiently awaiting to practice and master. In addition, students not responding correctly to an answer or with something that I was not quite looking for is also another skill I am uneasy to approach, but am looking forward to practicing. I do not want to have a student not answer again if they are wrong or continually reinforce the same students positively or negatively all the time for their answers. 

Another topic that was explored this week was Differentiated Instruction (DI), and with no surprise, success with DI is a result of planning. I am not going to go into detail but the graphic I found depicts the "Yays" and "Nays" of what Differentiation really is and is not. 

Model Unit Plan

The first unit plan. I imagine 30 years from now, I may think back and try to remember what the first unit plan I wrote was and how it turned out. I am hoping at the age of 52 I would have mastered the art of writing unit plans. So for my 52 year old self I am going to document the before, after, and future of my first unit plan.

Basic Information:
Unit: Welding Orientation and Safety
Class Sessions: 15
Length of Sessions: 80 minutes

My thought bubbles before:
- Formatting. I wanted it to possess an easy to read yet creative flare! Who's template can I steal?
- What section do I actually begin with?
- Standards are daunting and will take forever to find! Ugh
- Am I really in charge of deciding the order in which this class is taught? Who said I was ready for this?
- I have to know what materials to put down without writing a lesson plan? Weird.

These were my thoughts and questions before I started to tackle my first unit plan. After completing my unit plan I figured a few things out...

- Formatting. I wanted it to possess an easy to read yet creative flare! Who's template can I steal?
Combine a variety of different people's templates to make my own hybrid unit plan template. There is no "right" template. 
- What section do I actually begin with?
Start with the end in mind...assessments
- Standards are daunting and will take forever to find! Ugh
Wrong, "Control F" is your best friend
- Am I really in charge of deciding the order in which this class is taught? Who said I was ready for this?
You do not learn until you do, so dive on in!
- I have to know what materials to put down without writing a lesson plan? Weird.
Not weird, normal. PLAN PLAN PLAN! Being prepared for every detail is normal and necessary for success. 

All of my initial concerns and thoughts were addressed through simply completing my unit plan. The unknown became known and the " I do not know why I need to include this?" made sense after simply trying. Let me assure you I am no where near a master unit plan writer but my first go around was not a complete flop.

I was fortunate enough to have two peers review and critique my unit plan and they both did such a great job! They shared with me to review the rubric for minor details, such as using APA for my citations as well as be mindful of the number of references or objectives I need to include for each lesson. The major critique
was on my objectives. Remembering to include all 3 components of an objective, condition, criteria, and behavior is where I fell short. My objective criteria especially need to be checked to ensure what I was asking students to do was reasonably measurable and/or attainable. The positive feedback I received was that my unit plan format was easy to read and view and my materials list was detailed and complete.

So why blog about this?
This is the first foundational block and learning experience in my unit planning journey. To be able to reread this blog post after completing my first student teaching experience will be insightful because at that point I will have laid many more blocks of my foundation. Also, I would have had to use this unit plan and I will see just how successful it was.

I am 22 {Reading Reflection}

Be loud and proud is a common and familiar saying to many, but often undermined in the power and cry for change behind it. The TEDx Talks "I am 17" surfaced many valid points about the collaboration needed between adults and teenagers because teenagers have good ideas. A lot of this is due to their unpaved minds, but they have the capacity for change and ideas that even the most educated adults cannot dream up.

I am 22 and am considered an educated adult at this point, but I still have a horizontal license. I say this because I believe I have been structured to think certain ways and demand validity behind what I hear and read, but I still have some unpaved pathways in my brain that reap creativity and innovation. Our cohort is going to tap into these unpaved pathways by conducting Genius Hour. Before reading what Genius Hour was I thought this was some way to be creative in presenting material through technology. O how I was wrong. Genius Hour empowers me to LEARN WHAT I WANT and present what I learn ANYWAY I WANT. One more time... I CAN LEARN ANYTHING I WANT TO!


                    

Well my next thought was obvious, "What do I really want to know about?" Being a pre-service teacher my thoughts immediately went towards subject areas I find interesting but do not have experience in such as flower design and livestock judging. In reading examples of Genius Hour topics from 6th graders, I was blown away by their curiosities and diversity in topics. I noticed my 22 year old mind was resorting to my paved pathways already so I decided to step outside my agricultural and athletic worlds and consider the following 3 topics:

1. Create my own website
2. Starting up your own business
3. The art of acting

As if picking a topic will not be difficult enough, I will need to decide how to present what I learn. I know I want it be a accessible resource for everyone and flare passion as well as informative content. So this is where I ask the audience, which topic would you want to learn about and how would you want it to be presented? 

Stay tuned for the outcome!


Did you know....
     Google allows their employees 20% of "Genius Hour" time to learn about what they want to. The result of this time is many of Google successes including our "can't live without" Gmail.

Playing with Fire and Ice {Interest Approach Lab}

To plan for this lab I decided to use a lesson from my first unit plan I developed and also make it my first informational lesson plan to hand in on Friday. My unit is Introduction to Welding and the lesson title is, "What is Arc Welding?" To prepare for the lesson I practiced the interest approach several times and was successful. In class though, my activity was not successful for my students and it is still weighing on me because it was my fault as the instructor.

My intention for the lesson:

• Students guess what will happen and how it will happen
• Students try to weld ice with a candle
• Students write down their observations and conclusions 
• Teacher states the objectives
• Discuss what student's hypothesis, observations, & conclusions were
• Explain what a weld is
• Have students try again

 What actually happened in lab:

• Students guess what will happen and how it will happen
• Students try to weld ice with a candle
• Students write down their observations and conclusions 
• Teacher states the objectives

Not having the last two parts made my interest approach lack context and content. In saying that, I needed to be prepared with questions and statements to provoke creative thinking on how to weld the ice cubs together while my students worked. 

  

The activity needed more clarification and direction to ensure students were learning and not just doing. This could have been solved by developing questions and statements to ask during their welding time such as, "If the wax is not working, how else can we weld the ice cubes together? Think about ice in a water bottle." This would have been beneficial to insert before the students tried a second time.

On a less critical note, this activity I will utilize in a lesson plan and I learned a lot from practicing this interest approach once with students. I was happy with how the "entering the shop" exercise worked and incorporating the scientific method into the interest approach. Including the scientific approach allowed me time to hand out materials which was a planned moved. After watching the video I thought I accomplished control and filtered enthusiasm today, but still engaged my students.

One of Lancelot's primary principle's of interest states, "Interest increases with the acquisition of any given ability or skill". The students wanted to try a second time to figure it out, but would they have been interested enough in a third? I want my students to be successful in this activity so they keep in interest in wanting to weld metal later on in the class.

Takes aways:

• Provide the direction and guidance towards success and learning
• Effective questioning - preparation ahead of time! 
• With an activity involving hot wax and flames it is important to always be looking around and on the move
• Sell the tickets - this is a Teach Like a Pirate concept that I need to remember with every interest approach I implement 

Learning With Purpose and People

Learning with a Purpose

Objectives have been apart of my academic journey since first grade. I remember teachers always pointing to them, stating them, or having them written somewhere in the classroom. Never understanding why objectives were so important and why a teacher took the time everyday to state them, if they did, but in my journey from moving from the student to the teacher I now find and understanding the meaning and purpose in writing objectives. In recognizing my lack of understanding of the importance of objectives as a student I want to incorporate the meaning behind objectives into my first day of school. 

Through my experience, objectives can be briefed through, unacknowledged, or non-existent, but through my college career I have learned that objectives are planned purposefully for each day. Their importance and function has been highlighted through my college career AEE classes, recently in unit and lesson planning, and researched based articles. In remembering properly written objectives have three parts:

                                           

                                         Behavior 

                                         Conditions

                                         Criteria 

... int he process of formulating daily objectives Bloom's Taxonomy challenges teachers to push students to higher levels of thinking. In reminiscing over this, I want to incorporate different orders of thinking for each of the daily objectives I write. To the left is a chart of Bloom's Taxonomy of verbs I found that I utilized in writing my first unit plan this past week and after this week's reading I understand the relationship between Bloom's, objectives, and verb usage.

I then went onto Pinterest to find different ways that teachers post their objectives and I found one I want to replicate. To the right is a picture of frame paper where the teacher writes the objective on the frame each day. I chose this because I can align the color and design of paper with each class and/or each unit. I also want to assign a student each week to write the objectives for that class on the frame and then introduce them to the class. 

The idea of purposefully planning for each day is a reoccurring theme for many topics we have discussed in our student teacher journey so far. Objectives is one example of this in addition to intention planning of instructions which was discussed in the book, "Methods of Teaching Agriculture". Talking and discussion comes natural for many people, but who would have thought teachers sit down and take the time to plan an entire discussion? I address this topic because I came across the graphic below of meaningful questions to ask as a teacher as well as students can ask each other during group work. I want to make this into a poster to have in my classroom. 

The First Day of School {Lab}

"What's the soundtrack of your life?"

After our first lab I set four goals for myself to focus on improving for the First Day of School lab. To improve my teaching ability, I revisited and evaluated my goals below.

My goals for this lab were:
1. Filter and control my energy throughout the lesson
2. Conduct a practice run prior to teaching
3. Before deciding on a teaching method for the lesson, look up examples on external websites
4. Slow my pace of speech down

Goal #1:
This goal was where I really focused on improving for this lab. For the first day of school I wanted to have a balance of seriousness while introducing my expectations, procedures, and consequences in addition to cultivating an upbeat, comfort, and fun atmosphere for my students. I deem this goal accomplished for the day, but one that I cannot forget because of my personality. [Also, one minor detail that I noticed was my caffeine intake. Last time I started my day with coffee, and I am not an everyday coffee drinker, and making one small decision like that made me jittery and amped up. So for this lab I had no coffee and it helped a lot.]

Goal #2:
If I am being honest with myself, I did not stand up, time myself, and deliver my lesson plan like I would present it in a class. This lack of preparation was noticeable when I could not formulate the right questions or transition smoothly. I did read through my lesson out loud which was a step more then last time, but I want to be prepared because I expect my students to be and I do not want them to lose out on opportunities to learn.

Goal #3:
This was fun to do and extremely beneficial. I did not get my lesson idea from doing this, but it help kickstart my creative juices. Watching a First Day of Class video from a past student was helpful because I was able to read the comments and watch a teacher perform verses reading words on a document. This goal was met.

Goal #4:
This goal was unmet. This was one area where I only slightly improved from week one but have a lot of room for improvement.

So this week...

I went into this week's lab with a mindset of trying to incorporate all of the ideas, strategies, and modalities we have learned in AEE 412 into the lesson. It was difficult to incorporate everything into the 15 minute class I taught so I am very excited to implement this lesson into my Leadership unit. Speaking of which, I developed my first full lesson plan which took a lot longer then I thought, but understand the importance of detail and completion of the entire lesson plan. In preparation for the lab, the detail of my lesson plan was beneficial, but as soon as I started to teach I got lost in it and went from memory. For next week I need to adjust my layout so that I can locate what I need in my lesson plan when I teach from it.

After watching my video and reading some of the written feedback I was impressed with the accuracy of my peer and teacher evaluations. My reaction after lab was that I feel uncomfortable in a classroom setting with students staring at me. When I looked at the students while talking a stumbled on my words and questions. An observation I made from watching my video was that my clarity in directions was weak. For Activity 2, my explanation was all over the place and high school students would have stared at me blankly.

Some other external feedback that was given was to:

- State my objectives

- Use signal words to direct students to an action

- Slow my pace of speech down

I knew half way through my lesson that I forgot to state my objectives and I made the decision to not knowledge them and believe that hanging them on the wall would be good enough at that point. I am not sure I made the right decision though? Also, using signal words is not a concept that I ever considered before, but after watching a fellow classmate utilize that tactic in her lesson and execute it successfully, I saw the power behind it.

If I could re-teach this class I would focus on my public speaking 101. The pace of my speech and my hand gestures need to be slowed down and controlled. I think with slowing my pace of speech down I would take the time to be more clear in giving directions, it would eliminate some of the filler words, and improve the fluidity of my transitions. Something I picked up from watching the video that I did not realize I did was that I say my students names when addressing them or calling on them to answer. I found this to be very positive for the atmosphere I was trying to cultivate.

Next week is the interest approach lab. If you are reading this blog and have any great ideas that have worked for you, I would enjoy hearing them! For the Interest approach lab my goals are:

1. Slow my pace of speech down
2. Utilize my hand and body gestures effectively and at appropriate times
3. Practice my lesson one time before I present it
4. Think about and incorporate the minor details that make a lesson function smoothly (Ex. action words, e-moments)

Preventing the Head Nod {Student Engagement}

Past:

The most engaging classes I ever sat through were in fifth grade during our unit on the Wagon Train. For the duration of the unit we sat in pods as a "Wagon" and each day we encountered different obstacles we needed to conquer. The room was decorated with mountainous scenery and there was an actual covered wagon in the classroom. Each day the teacher would read us the scenario and then we would be given certain supplies to solve the problem with. We had to keep journals of our travel, bargin with the other wagons for food and supplies, and on the last day we had a celebration for making the trip. The Wagon Train unit theme was utilized throughout all our other subjects as well. 

Why am I talking about my fifth grade Wagon Train experience? Because it was the one unit I learned more about my fifth grade year then any other. I could probably repeat the experience in a classroom today! I did not like school because I academically struggled, but I loved everyday of the Wagon Train unit. I reflect on this experience, especially after our weekly readings because it was my turning point of my desire to learn. Learning can be enjoyable, and who's job is it to create that enjoyment? 

Present:
Starting the transition from student to teacher, I reflect back on the positive and negative experiences I had with being engaged as a student. I know I learned and retained the most when I was engaged by how the teacher taught more so then what was being taught. Engagement is a choice I make as an educator everyday. 

The book Teach Like a Pirate (TLAP), written by Dave Burgess says, "It does not matter how much material you teach, it matters how much is received". How am I going to teach in a way that is engaging to my students? Here are a few starting pieces that are needed everyday in class to be an engaging educator:

1. Fluidity in transitions

2. Hooks/Interest approaches

3. Being prepared

Expanding on that question, "How am I going to teach in a way that is engaging to my ALL my students?. We started unpacking the answer to this question in our AEE 412 class by identifying and discussing multiple intelligences and the 3 domains to learning. By incorporating a few of the several multiple intelligences into my lessons and consistently applying different domains of learnings, my students will hopefully be dialed in because they are learning in a way that fits their learning style and interests. 

Future:
To prevent the head nod and glazed over eyes, I want to challenge myself to remember what being in the shoes of the student is like and to make the choice to develop and deliver an engaging lesson everyday. I am going to be the one to make class enjoyable and engage each student. My Wagon Train experience included components such as setting-up the environment, instruction, enthusiasm, consistency, and hands-on application all planned purposefully. 

The article 5 Ways to Engage Students presents what seem to be simple but powerful ways to keep students engaged on a day to day basis. These techniques can be applied to any subject or lesson being taught. The first way is to use a 1:1 device. I know during student teaching I am going into a 1:1 program where students each have their own computers. Simply having the student take out their computers, log into twitter, and tweet one thought or reaction they had to the lesson could be a check-in point as well as an engagement technique. Another technique that is brought up in TLAP as well as on this website is to keep content relevant. Know what is going on in the world, what is trendy with your students and make the connections.