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.