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!

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!

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 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!