Life Knowledge: Creativity

For those of you that read my last post, you know that last week was a busy one with micro-teaching at Bellwood-Antis. Believe it or not, my week wasn't over by Thursday afternoon! From Bellwood we drove back to campus to get to AEE 413 where we celebrated Dr. Ewing's birthday. (Sorry Dr. Ewing for messing up your lesson plan!) Then after class I hopped in the Honda and made my way to Lancaster.

Friday morning I arrived at the school at 7 am and was ready to conquer! I spent some time with my cooperating teacher talking about unit planning and other logistics. This was able to happen because her prep block happened to be first block. The block went by quickly and then suddenly it was time for her Agri-ecology class. I sat in and observed the class while scoping out the room and putting some last minute touches on my plan.

As the bell rang it was time for a quick lunch where we socialized with some other teachers! I thought this was a bunch of fun even though it was a very short time.

We headed back to the class and I was ready to go. My Life Knowledge lesson was about understanding creativity and using creativity. I began with a class of 17 freshmen who seemed unenthused as we started. I had many activities planned within the lessons and was not going to let that phase me. As I was teaching about the "roadblocks" for creativity I had a lightbulb go off...there was a great way for me to show "being stuck in one thought." I called one of the students to the front of the room that was wearing sneakers and I had him untie them both. I asked him to show the class how he tied his shoe with his right foot and shoe. After he did this I paused and asked what he would do if I told him to tie the left shoe in the same knot but use a different process to get there. The class was amazed! This was really a turning point where I shocked them with a little bit of awe and they really wanted to learn from me afterwards. Even though I thought I may run out of material for 90 minutes, I had plenty and had to adjust mid lesson to fit everything in. One of the kids favorite activities was expressing their creativity and team brainstorming skills to create a new plant or animal species.

I would say that it was a good day. I was happy to hear that some of my best participators weren't students that usually participated. I built some confidence and certainly feel better that my first time teaching in that classroom will not be in January. I look forward to whats next!

Micro-teaching at Bellwood-Antis

Teaching. Is. Hard. 

That was how I felt on Wednesday, November 15th after teaching a class of high school juniors and seniors for the second day in a row. I had observed the class on Monday and planned to teach them about resumes and cover letters.

Monday

My first day at Bellwood-Antis High School, I was solely there to observe. As it came time for period 7 which was the period I would be teaching, I anxiously awaited for students to come through the door. When they started walking in my eyes widened as I realized out of 16 students, two were girls and 14 were boys. It was at this moment as I heard their playful banter back and forth that I realized I had my work cut out for me. 

Tuesday

On day two I was ready to teach. I thought that I would conquer the world and I basically did. We had a lot of fun and I got to know the students and dissect some of their mannerisms and personalities. Two students were absent which I knew would add some extra planning the following day but it went very well overall.

Wednesday

Day 3 at BAHS was not my finest hour. While I entered class with the same enthusiasm my mood quickly shifted as the class decided talking overtop of me for 45 minutes. I was not upset with them for talking because we all did that in high school and some of us even do that now in college. I was mostly upset with myself. I felt like a broken record as I kept saying, "Eyes on me." and "Okay, guys. Listen up!" I asked the class to email me whatever portion of their resume they had done by 8pm and the class ended. Sadly my feelings must have shone through to my face as my observer told me afterwards that I looked extremely frustrated. I left the school and felt rather beside myself for the rest of the evening. 

Thursday

My request from the day prior was not taken seriously and out of twelve students that were present on Wednesday, only four had sent me their resumes. I gave them honest and encouraging feedback in a written form and bought the four of them Boston Creme filled donuts. I tried a new tactic for the chatting and stood at the front of the room in silence until the students paid attention to me. It seemed to work out and I had a marvelous day. I had fun throughout the class period and was sad to hear the bell ring and realize that I wouldn't be working with this group of kids anymore.

I am glad that I chose to micro-teach at Bellwood-Antis. I believe that I learned a lot while I was there not only about real high school classes but also about management techniques.

Me, Ms. Becker, and Miss Fisher after
our micro-teaching.

PS.  I gave the students an exit survey before I left and I'm glad to say that many students were happy with my performance. All of them responded that they were satisfied or very satisfied with my time spent teaching them. Some of their suggestions for improvements were to slow down because I went too fast, to be more laid back and funny, and to do more walking activities. I will gladly take their criticisms with a grain of salt. 

Inquiry Based Instruction: Take One

Last week in #AEE412 lab we were tasked to grab a lab-aids kit and write an inquiry based lesson using at least one thing from the box. This was quite a challenging task but it went really well! I'd like to focus on the gems and opps of the experience!

Gems

• My peers gave me great feedback! I taught my lab on Monday and was glad to hear their encouraging words. Shoutout to Michala Khulman as she told me that I sounded like a "real teacher" as I spoke to the class. This made my day!
• Secondly I was having quite the rough morning. I was able to overcome the things from outside of class that were weighing on my mind and still show enthusiasm, encouragement, and positivity.

Opps

• I did not feel that I was as prepared for this week. I had noticed a few things during my lesson that I would have liked to reorganize if I do it again. I wrote these things on my lesson plan in hopes of changing it in the future. 
• I sometimes felt as if I just wasn't doing anything. This will surely go away with practice. I look forward to the time that I won't feel as if I am a helicopter just hovering over the students as they learn. 

Overall it went very well! I look forward to utilizing more IBI instruction in my classroom to effectively question students and push them to dive deeper into learning!

My FIRST Ever National FFA Convention

The 2017 1st place PA Ag Sales Team.

Last week I attended my VERY FIRST National FFA Convention. It was awesome! I decided that I should take to the blog and "diary" out my experience so that I can easily look back when I am taking my own students to convention in the future. So here it goes!

Tuesday

With an "advisor" name badge comes a
feeling of awesome!

On Tuesday (10/24/17) I met the crew at Manheim Central High School. We packed into the school van and headed down the road to the Baltimore airport. Two of our four students had never flown before so it was a new experience for them. They were excited and all went well! Once we arrived in Indy, we took a shuttle from the airport to our hotel and got settled in before walking to dinner at Weber Grill. After a delicious meal Mrs. Anderson and I walked into the convention center to register our party and print our name badges. This was an easy task and certainly something I would prefer to do on Tuesday night as opposed to Wednesday because the lines were relatively short and easy to maneuver. I also would suggest completing this task without students in tow because it would become quite chaotic. Mrs. Anderson had a slight printing issue with her judges badge so we waited in the customer service line and met a lot of cool teachers from Wisconsin, Kentucky, Virginia, and Arkansas. I appreciated all of the fun stories that they shared with me while we waited. Finally we escaped that line and went on back to the hotel. The four students along with Mrs. Seibert were practicing for their Ag Sales contest which would take place the next day. After a successful practice we all separated ways and went to our rooms for bed. 

Wednesday

Selfie while completing an inquiry based
lab about hydrangeas.

Wednesday (10/25/17) was a big day for me! I applied for the DuPont Agriscience Institute National Agriscience Preservice Teacher Program in the months leading up to convention and I was lucky to be selected alongside 4 of my #PSUAgEd18 cohort members. While my four Ag Sales students were off competing, I was learning the ways of Inquiry Based Instruction from Dr. Laura Hasselquist. The workshop was great and I am pairing it with the IBI lessons that we are going through in #AEE412 right now! After the workshop I met up with Mrs. Anderson and we walked to Bankers Life Fieldhouse to see the opening session of the 90th annual National FFA Convention. It was inspiring to see that many young people in a room answering the question "FFA Members, why are we here?" At the conclusion of the session we quickly returned to the hotel for the students to change out of official dress so that we could all attend the Rascal Flatts concert at Lucas Oil Stadium. I'll admit that it was a fun concert to attend even though the band continued to refer to us as "The Future Leaders of America." 

Thursday

Mrs. Seibert with one of the gauchos
at Fogo de Chao!

Thursday (10/26/17) the students had the written portion of the Ag Sales CDE. Mrs. Seibert and I anxiously awaited while they took the test and talked about the Spring semester and my student teaching. After they emerged from the test, we listened to their funny stories about the testing room and then walked over to the career show. I then entered a zone of focus. I had been prepared for this moment of attack. I circled the expo and tried to talk to as many companies as possible determining if they had any resources that could help me during my pre-service journey. After hours of walking around snatching resources and bumping into people I know, I went back to the hotel to prepare for our dinner. Our whole group had been looking forward to this meal. It was at Fogo de Chao, the Brazilian steakhouse where endless meat is served on skewers by incredibly talented gauchos. We left with smiles on our faces and our bellies stuffed. We walked to the downtown fountain and spent some time enjoying Indy before heading to the hotel and going to bed. 

Friday

The team proudly showing off their "silver team" plaque!

Friday (10/27/17) was the morning where we attended the Ag Sales awards breakfast. The four students were incredibly curious to find out how they did. Alec received an individual bronze, Marie and Daniele received individual silver awards, and Heidi received an individual gold! Overall the team was awarded a silver plaque. I was and still am ver proud of them. They put countless hours into studying by coming into school early for practice and spending some Saturdays working as a team to study around Manheim. We all then went back into the career show and I scouted out some more resources and did a bit of shopping in the FFA mall. That evening I had planned to attend dinner at Dave and Buster's with the Penn State group that were underclassmen and therefore not traveling with a cooperating center. It was super fun! Dr. Curry had set it up so that we had the chance to meet about half a dozen students in Ag Ed from North Carolina State University. We swapped stories and shared facts about our cooperating center before playing D&B games. After the fun, I went back to my hotel to sleep in preparation for our last day of convention together!

Saturday

Mrs. Seibert, Mrs. Anderson, the team, and Brooke after
she received her American Degree.

Saturday (10/28/17) was a very early morning! We woke up, got dressed and packed and then walked back over to Lucas Oil Stadium to see a Manheim Central High School graduate receive her American Degree. I was glad to be there and support other members that I knew who were also receiving a degree although it appeared that the list of names from Missouri would never cease. After this we went to lunch before gathering our things from the hotel lobby and shuttling back to the airport. We passed our time by watching some airport employees pass a football on the tarmac and following the score of the Penn State vs Ohio State game (a L at 39-38). After a long day of travel we made it back to Manheim at around 8:30pm with just enough time to sleep and rest for one day before the start of school the next week.

To Sum Things Up

In summary I learned a lot on this trip. My main take aways were:

My fellow cohort member,
George with some great
free resources!

• Things can get crazy when you have students on a trip away from the school let alone out of the state itself. Having an itinerary that was put together in advance with thought as to what we should be doing and when really made a big difference in the level of stress that the trip carried. Remember that comfortable shoes are a must and that the kids will get burnt out if you run them too hard. Make sure to build in some down time so that you aren't herding zombies around Indianapolis. 
• Flying was lovely because the added worries of maneuvering a van in the city was eliminated but this was only possible because we were placed in the downtown housing block. I had a great time and will certainly take advantage of the resources next year as well!

#AEE412 Sunday Reflections 10: Classroom Management

As a pre-service teacher, I recognize that classroom management is a seriously important part of being successful, not only during student teaching but also once I enter my first job!

We have all been blessed with the horror stories that some veteran teachers like to share with (and scare) young teachers. Don't be scared! Realize that some things are out of your control. With that being said there are proactive steps that you can take to make classroom management a much easier task to tackle. 

1. Present procedures, expectations, and consequences on day one. 
Students need to know what you want them to do and the reasoning behind it. Make your expectations clear on day one as well as the consequences so that students know what will happen should they fail to follow rules and endanger the learning of others.

2. Organization and clarity make all the difference.
We have all worked with someone who has been the "least organized person we've ever met." How did you feel throughout this experience? I know that I have been frustrated when this has happened in the past. Disorganization can waste time and lose student attention when it happens in the classroom. Prepare yourself in advance!

3. Effectively utilize ALL instructional time.
This concept is one that I often heard pushed in my educational psychology class. If you engage your students for the entire class period they won't have the time or the need to misbehave! Crazy to think about, eh? Keep them actively learning and you drastically lower your chances of having to utilize intense classroom management as an afterthought. 

4. Building rapport is essential.
Credibility, credibility, credibility. Remember that "Students don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." Building a respectful relationship with them will make life much easier. They will then respect your "ask" and focus on learning without "fighting the power."

5. Promote good behavior.
Positivity is KEY. Negative talk can really wear down on students. Reinforcing the type of behavior that you want to see in your classroom can help you to see more of that behavior. Be cautious not to over-praise as this can cause backwards growth in the realm of classroom management. There is a sweet spot that you should try to stay in when praising and reinforcing. Set you expectations high!


Classroom management is not going to be easy but it will be worth it! Remember not to get discouraged if you mess up when managing the class, just take note and remember to do better next time. You've got this!

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References:

Wong, H.K. & Wong, R.T. (2009). The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher (4th ed.). Mountain View: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.

Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

#AEE412 Sunday Reflections 9: Do You Dare To Inquire?

When you read the word "inquire" what do you think of? Perhaps you think of questions, brainstorming, or problem solving. Any of the prior are correct! In the world of education inquiry based instruction certainly does not fit "inside a box." It actually happens to be more of a sliding scale as you can see in the photo on the right. To sum it up, inquiry based instruction uses a student's curiosity to answer scientific based questions while increasing problem solving skills and maintaining rigor. 

This past week at the 90th annual National FFA Convention I attended a workshop that was about "Inquiry" that was put on by DuPont for pre-service teachers. I thoroughly enjoyed the content that was presented in the workshop and am excited to explore more about inquiry this week in my methods course. This also went along nicely with the readings that I did for this weekly reflection. 

It has become quite clear that inquiry lessons can increase motivation and interest in the classroom. I was able to participate in a few activities during my workshop that I attended. As I mentioned the green photo is a scale to compare a lesson to in order to see how much inquiry it includes. When reading a scale such as this one, it is easy to mistakenly believe that a lesson is better if each "feature" fits into the "D" category meaning that it is extremely student-centered. It is crucial to recognize that you are not doing your job if a lesson is entirely student controlled on this scale! There must be variation across the features in order to reach the full potential of the lesson/activity. I plan to check my lessons against the scale to see how they line up. The instructors of the workshop made it clear that implementing inquiry into our instruction is not difficult. When checking some lessons that we had already designed, we would be surprised to find that some inquiry is already included! It simply takes some thought and checking on the chart to see where we stand. Include that inquiry, its easy!

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References:

Warner, A.J. & Myers, B.E. (2011) What inquiry-based instruction? Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC07500.pdf

Warner, A.J. & Myers, B.E. (2014). Implementing inquiry-based teaching methods.Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC07600.pdf

Alberta Learning. (2004) Focus on inquiry: a teacher’s guide to implementing inquiry-based learning.Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/313361/focusoninquiry.pdf

Thoron, A.C., Myers, B.E., & Abrams, K. (2011). Inquiry-based instruction: How is it utilized accepted, and assessed in schools with national agriscience teacher ambassadors? Journal of Agriculture Education, 52(1), 96-106. DOI: 10.5032/jae.2011.01096 

Surprise, it's a reflection!

This week's methods lab was executed differently than normal. It was a surprise! That's right...a surprise. On Monday the #PSUAgEd18 members entered "Money Monday" at 8 am and received a sheet of National AFNR Standards from a random pathway. Once given that sheet, we were told to prepare a lesson to teach in our laboratory section on Wednesday that fit those standards. Now this task might be daunting to some but I honestly didn't mind. We've been practicing teaching and writing lessons for  weeks now!

Come Wednesday, I taught my lesson and here is what I took away...

Gems

• There's nothing like learning to embrace a teachable moment and think on the fly. I had no issue with our surprise. I completed a lesson plan that was descriptive and thought out. I also didn't allow the short turn around time to stress me out! This is a personal goal of mine to time manage and reduce anxiety levels in all aspects of my life. Thanks to #PSUAgEd for challenging me to reach this goal!

Opps

• I was less confident in the content of this lab. (electrical wiring) I also entered the day in a bit of a funk because of some personal issues. I think that the combination of the two made me come off as a bit "hard" or "harsh" sounding in my video. I certainly wasn't trying to give off the wrong tone of voice or even seem cross in any way. This reminds me that I need to be careful and ensure that I leave all of my feelings or emotions at the door when I enter each day because it really does show!

#AEE412 Sunday Reflections 8: Individualized Teaching

Recently, #PSUAgEd18 has learned about individualized teaching techniques. Personally I felt that learning about individual after learning group techniques had "completed" the technique thought process in my mind. Now we experienced the reading about individual teaching techniques and the instruction is almost full circle. 
As we discussed in class, there are five types of individual instruction techniques that are as follows:

1. Sheets
2. Experiments
3. Supervised Study
4. Independent Study
5. Student Notebooks

In an agriscience classroom we see all of these techniques being used. Our last lab experience was problem solving approach which can be carried out either as a group or individual teaching technique. 

Being involved in Agricultural Education in some capacity means that we should all be familiar with the three circle model! What I find interesting is that when taking a look at all three circles individually, I notice that the different individual techniques can be applied to all three of the circles. While we assume that a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) would be an independent study scenario, it can actually be almost any of the above five techniques. How you ask? Think about this, students work on their SAE independently, sometimes the teacher assists and guides but not always, some students hold a research SAE, and lastly records on any and all SAEs must be kept. If that doesn't explain that it can fit in with all five then I have no idea what will. This is great because every circle can fully utilize differentiated instruction. Remember, if you're fed your favorite food for every meal you will soon get tired of it. Differentiate your instruction and make each lesson fun whether the activities are group or individual. Make it fun, ya'll!

Check out my resource for this week! It's a nice article that talks about the benefit of individualized instruction that fits each student. It somewhat fits activities that take place in an average agriscience classroom. I think that it can be looked at through SAE goggles when thinking that each student has an experience that is unique to them because SAEs are meant to ignite their passions. 

http://www.dreambox.com/blog/pros-cons-individualized-instruction

Let me know what your thoughts are!

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References:

Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

EduGains. (2015). Reach every student through differentiated instruction.  Retrieved from http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesDI/Brochures/DIBrochureOct08.pdf

Green, N. (2013). Pros and cons of individualized instruction. DreamBox Learning. Retrieved October 14, 2017, from http://www.dreambox.com/blog/pros-cons-individualized-instruction

Problem Solve This!

This week I taught for twenty minutes in my teaching methods laboratory demonstrating the problem solving approach. I believe that it went very well! If you have been keeping up with the blog, you will may remember when my "Sunday Reflection" was about problem solving a short time ago. It was fun this week to try my hand at a type of instruction that benefits learners but can feel a bit awkward to a new teacher due to silent time.

Gems

• To begin the problem solving approach, I presented students with a real question/problem which drew them into the lesson! I had told them that homecoming was approaching and was just three short weeks away. This automatically seemed to draw interest. My problem was a "forked road" where I asked if it would be better to purchase their date a corsage/boutonniere  or to make them one. Students then talked about what factors would go into determining this and made a budget to figure out the cost efficiency. 
• I spoke to each student as they were working on their budget. This allowed me to keep them on task and find out what they were thinking. 

Opps

• My classroom management was a bit subpar this week. The students in our lab are actually our peers and I was unable to decipher if his/her behavior was a classroom management issue or if there was an issue that he/she was dealing with that day. 
• I could have probably left the students in silence to work on their budget for a longer period of time. It just feels so awkward standing in front of the class and not doing anything! 
• This may be very generalized but I need to increase my confidence in teaching, planning, and timing. 

If you have any tips on how to utilize questioning in a problem solving approach without feeling awkward or increasing please let me know! 

Thanks for reading!

#AEE412 Sunday Reflections 7: Assessing Student Learning

This week we read about assessments! I appreciate that each week our reading gives us a small taste of what we can look forward to learning in the upcoming class sessions (starting with "money Monday" as Dr. Foster likes to call it). On my road to a teacher I find that I am constantly learning things that I never knew! One thing is for certain, I know that we have to grade our students in a fair and accurate way. With the past few years as a college student it is easy to snap straight to "test" as the only way to assess learning. I appreciate that my education courses have jolted me out of that mentality and reminded me that there are many other ways to assess.

Think back to when you were a student! Did you consistently like being drilled with exams? Ask me that question and I would say, absolutely not! I can think back to one of my favorite classes which was high school biology where we often completed dissections, presentations, and other lab activities. The variety of assessments that we had in that class certainly was a more collective way to test the knowledge and skills that we gained.

As all Agricultural Educators know, our classes are never "black and white." Students are learning hands-on at higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy and should therefore be assessed at those levels. This certainly does not mean that every assessment needs to be a test or a project but they need to see if the learning objectives are being met! In order to do this we must provide formative and summative assessments. Formative assessments are incorporated throughout the unit and a summative assessment is taken at the end of a unit.

I am reminded about our opportunity to complete a SLO or Student Learning Outcome in the Spring during student teaching. I look forward to this opportunity to assess students while assessing my performance. The link below includes a reference that I found regarding SLOs! It helps me to better follow the steps in figuring out what my SLO should be. Check it out.


https://www.nvcc.edu/assessment/_docs/PS4.methodsforassessingSLOs1009.pdf

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References:

Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Cornell University Center for Teaching Excellence. (2015). Assessing student learning. Retrieved from http://www.cte.cornell.edu/teaching-ideas/assessing-student-learning/index.html

Jung, L.A. & Guskey, T.R. (2010). Grading exceptional learners. Educational Leadership, 67(5). Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb10/vol67/num05/Grading-Exceptional-Learners.aspx

Roberts, J. E. (n.d.). Methods for Assessing Student Learning Outcomes. Retrieved October 6, 2017, from https://www.nvcc.edu/assessment/_docs/PS4.methodsforassessingSLOs1009.pdf

Stoughton, A.L. & Myers, B.E. (2008) Creating and working with rubrics Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC06900.pdf

Warner, W.J. & Myers, B.E. (2010). Evaluating learning in laboratory settings. Retrieved from  https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC06000.pd

#AEE412 Sunday Reflections 6: Problems to Solve

We have recently spent a lot of time getting to know the problem-solving approaches (forked-road, possibilities factors, situations to be improved, effect/cause).  In this week's readings we learned about problem based learning and how it evokes a higher level of thinking. This is magical for teachers because learning about problem solving and problem based methods provides a path on which students pick up 21st century skills! 21st century skills are essential in creating functional and successful adults. You can find 21st century skills in the image below.

Now, as I read and learned about involving students with an applicable problem that they will want to solve I am drawn back to inquiry based instruction. I am incredibly excited to learn more about inquiry-based as I feel that my knowledge on this method has been slowly increasing. I have applied to the Inquiry-Based Pre-Service teacher workshop at this year's National FFA Convention and am anxiously awaiting a response to see if I was accepted as a participant. I really do believe that
inquiry helps students to retain information longer and at a deeper level. It is said that students will learn what they do. If your class makes students memorize content then they will learn how to memorize. So by providing opportunities for students to utilize resources to solve real-world problems they will be able to do the same thing any time they encounter a problem. Project-based learning allows for this authentic process to take place. I can remember learning the scientific method and how to critically think about hypotheses and experiments and why these tests even mattered.

As teachers who strive for nothing less than the best, wouldn't inquiry be something that we would jump on board with without hesitation? I would believe so and therefore I can't wait to master it!

Check out this video below where a teacher from Bolder, Colorado shares his experience with inquiry based learning. It provides a good example that could be utilized in a wildlife or environmental classroom!

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References:

Kirkley, J. (2003). Principles for teaching problem solving. Retrieved from

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.117.8503&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Larmer, J. & Mergendoller, J.R. (2010). The main course, not dessert: How are students reaching 21st century goals? With 21stcentury project based learning. Retrieved from http://bie.org/object/document/main_course_not_dessert

Larmer, J. & Mergendoller, J.R. (2010). 8 essentials for project-based learning. Retrieved from http://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/attachments/article/1058/8_Essentials_article_small_file_size_Oct2012version.pdf

Phipps, L.J., Osborn, E.W., Dyer, J.E., & Ball, A.L. (2008) Handbook on agricultural education in public schools, 1st Edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

(2015, August 18). Retrieved October 01, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbqPaKTsDIU

Unit Plan: Gems and Opps

Reflection On My First Unit Plan

http://blog.gradeable.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/teachers-end-of-school-year.jpg

This is my first attempt at writing a unit plan! I took the bull by the horns and dove into writing it. I must say that it contains a lot of information and I was not sure whether the flow of the lessons, topics of the lessons, and time of the lessons. I am now in the process of revising my unit plan so that it can better serve my class and prepare them for careers in the dairy industry as well as the different CDEs that it applies to.

Gems

• My unit plan is very organized and has all of the needed information on it. 
• I feel that although I am an "animal science guru" dairy is my LEAST comfortable species. I researched what needs included when teaching information about dairy systems and will continue to become comfortable with the content as I move forward. 

Opps

• My objectives for each day could benefit from some altering. SMART objectives are key in utilizing your days to their fullest potential. Since writing my plan our AEE 412: Methods class has learned about objectives that facilitate action. 
• Adding more statistical data to my "reasoning" for this unit can be a benefit
• As mentioned above, I'm not a dairy expert. Asking some of my peers about the industry and what they think about my plan might be useful as I move forward. 

Moving forward my hope is to become stronger and more confident in the decisions that are made when planning a unit and the lessons that are contained. I will keep you updated as to how it goes as I continue along my #TeachAg journey. 

#AEE412 Lab 2- Interest Approach

This week in lab I demonstrated an interest approach. It was the first day of a new unit titled "Dairy Nutrition and Management" and I think that it went just fine! I wanted to get students to think about why cows can eat grass, which was the lesson title.

After bell-work I had all students close their eyes as I explained a scenario that they were told to imagine. It is similar to as follows: "You watched some of the school's wrestling matches this season and you thought that joining the team would look like a bunch of fun! Coach tells you that you need to gain some weight by next season. You'd better start working on that now! So I brought a snack. Open your eyes!" While their eyes were closed I took a leaf (or flake as some people prefer to call it) of hay and placed it on the front table. I then stood and looked at them as I waited for reactions.

Here is what they said:

• "Sorry Ms. Becker, but I am NOT eating that."
• "Can we at least have some milk to make it easier to eat?"
• "Ew. I don't want to eat that."
• "Nope. No way."

These were the reactions that I was expecting. So I then guided the students into another direction by asking. "Besides it not tasting good, why else wouldn't it be good to eat in this scenario? Would it help us gain weight?"

I feel that this interest approach went well, what followed after could have been stronger. I was trying to lecture/discuss some content with students in order to get them into a hands-on dissection. This might have actually been better if I had more than ten minutes so that I could see the class play out but all-in-all it was successful. Remember, there is always room for improvement!

#AEE412 Sunday Reflections 5: Students Are the Focus

Why Do We Teach Agriculture?

This week had many readings that portrayed various topics. I feel that I can sum it up in a few words: 

We do this for the students.

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/john-dewey/?lp=true

Now this may seem like a no brainer when written down in plain sight but in the quickness of each day and the speed that life passes us by, it is easy to push to the back of our mind. We often see teachers pushing CDEs so that they can bring hardware back to the classroom after the competition. Each day becomes mundane and repetitive as autopilot takes over. Does this represent the best way to grow shape and teach our students? No. As agriculture teachers, we have been trained to dive deeper than your typical checklist chaser. We have learned about the benefits of becoming a Dewey Disciple and promoting hands on learning. Never stray from your beliefs! It is easy in any profession to become worn down but if we forget who we are then not only do we suffer, but so do our students. 

Keeping in mind that our students growth is extremely rewarding, we need to take steps to give them a voice. Prepare them for success with effective questioning. Give students a voice and let them run with their interests to find their passion. It is essential to be the guide on the side and assist in goal reaching for students. Student-centered classrooms can provide a chance for ownership and exploration! Be the type of teacher that you would like to have. 

This week I found the following video that talks about essential questioning of your students! Check it out!

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References:

Cornell University Center for Teaching Excellence. (2015). Using Effective Questions. Retrieved from http://www.cte.cornell.edu/teaching-ideas/engaging-students/using-effective-questions.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Dyer, J.E. (n.d.) Effective Questioning Techniques. Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC08400.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Jan, K. V. (2011, October 24). Pursue Passion: Demand Google 20% Time at School. Retrieved September 21, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katherine-von-jan/unstructured-classroom_b_1024404.html

Maiers, A. (2011, August 05). Retrieved September 21, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FHdHUzRnms

National FFA LifeKnowledge. (n.d.) Coaching Session Quick Reference Guide. Retrieved from https://www.ffa.org/myresourcedocuments/coachingguide/Basics_of_Coaching/coaching_Guide/Lesson02/pdf/Individual-Coaching-Session-Quick-Reference-Guide.pdf

Simonds, K. (2015, February 09). I'm 17. Retrieved September 21, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OkOQhXhsIE

T. (2013, January 10). Tweak your Teach: Dr. Tae’s Building a New Culture of Teaching and Learning. Retrieved September 21, 2017, from https://tweakyourslides.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/tweak-your-teach-dr-taes-building-a-new-culture-of-teaching-and-learning/