Wrap Up!

Having labs be a part of our AEE 412 curriculum was a really beneficial experience, not only were we able to work on our skills but we also received great feedback from our peers and Mrs. Rice. One of the hardest parts about lab for me was actually being recorded and teaching in front of my peers. I think that this was hard for me because I hate seeing myself on video because I always pick a part everything I do, and knowing that everyone will be able to see every mistake you made; that was terrifying for me. I also was nervous teaching in front of my peers, I think that besides yourself your friends are your toughest critics. Both components of this were not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I think that it did make a difference in some of the things I did in lab.

I learned a lot throughout the entire lab process. Clarity and variability are things that I personally thought I needed to work on throughout. Another thing that I learned that I needed to work on is to not spoon feed my students every little thing. I think I spend too much time on making sure they know what they are supposed to do instead of letting them figure out somethings for themselves. Through lab I have also learned that I need to continue to work on my time management and organization skills. This is something that I have been working on my whole entire college career, I have gotten a little bit better each year but now I really need to get these skills together because it is going to help me out with my student teaching experience. I also need to pay better attention to detail and read things a few times over to make sure I comprehend things.

I had a lot of ups and downs during lab and learned the value of double checking the safety of certain labs before you try to conduct them. I also learned what to do in case of an injury in your lab. Although they were not my finer points I have learned from them significantly. Walt Disney once said “Keep Moving Forward,” I use this quote because I would rather fail during lab as practice than in front of my students when I am actually teaching them. Although I may have not succeeded to the best of my ability with a lab I used what I did and the comments I received and really tried to change it for the next time.

Each experience I have had in lab has made me a better educator and I have learned from each experience as well. I learned that being the great teacher is something that takes a lot of time, patience, and practice. No one is going to be able to be perfect at it right off the bat. I am really thankful for the opportunity to have had this lab experience, my favorite one was definitely the creativity lab. I did not know how easy it was to go and get some really interesting things for class, something as simple as stickers can enhance your lesson. I really enjoyed getting my creative juices flowing and got some really awesome things to use with my students. I think that each lab really helped supplement what we learned in class and helped us bring everything together. It was nice to be able to see the information in practice, learn about, and then prepare, and practice teaching it. 

Creativity at its Finest

Our last lab has finally arrived for some of us I think this was the light at the end of the tunnel but there was a catch, we had no idea what we were going to do. The only information we were given was to bring a unit plan or some lesson plans from the same unit and that we were going to be driving somewhere. I immediately think that we are going to have to switch lessons with our fellow lab members and have to teach from it....whoa scary!!! Once we piled into the car and traveled to our destination we were presented with our challenge: spend $5.00 to get 5 items in the dollar store.

I brought with me my 1st unit for my 7th grade class. This unit touched on agriculture history, FFA, and jobs within the agriculture industry. As I wandered up and down the aisles of the store I was not sure what to get. First I picked up some playdogh, this was going to work well for my Are You Smarter than an Ag Teacher game, I was going to mesh it with pictionary and have them complete different tasks with it. Next I picked up a puzzle, this was going to be used for my "Putting all the pieces together" lesson where we recap everything we learned about FFA. The students would design a puzzle piece that reflects what they learned about FFA. We would put the whole puzzle together and display it in the classroom. Next I found some really awesome burst cutouts, perfect to represent time on my time walk of ag history. Paper plates were next and are going to act as the model for designing a healthy plate.

Finding the last object was the hardest part. There were so many things that I could have chose and done but I wanted something that would really give my students added value. I finally settled on some cookies, I know how are cookies added value? Well I decided that this would make for a great activity. I would have my students read the labels of different products and then trace the ingredients and see where the products came from.

I really enjoyed this lab because it showed me that I could make all of my lessons fun just by adding in something that cost a dollar. It was a lot of fun to see what some of my other lab mates found as well and what their creative ideas for use were. I cannot wait to use the props in my lessons and I know my students will really enjoy them too!

One of Life's Many Lessons!

We’re back in the classroom for Round #2 of teaching. I have had a lot of time to reflect on my previous micro teaching experience and I walked into my Life Knowledge lesson with a different perspective and attitude. This time I was ready to take on the classroom management and facilitate this class to help them become successful with positive relationships. I taught two 8^th grade periods, according to Dr. McLean both have been having problems communicating positively with each other and being kind to each other.

The first period of classes had only 8 students in it, a small audience which made getting into groups easy, but a difficult crowd to get to participate. Dr. McLean did have to speak to the students once but as soon as she did I told the students that they were to pretend that she was not here, I am the teacher today and not her. This really helped the students become more aware of their actions, they showed me the same respect that they show Dr. McLean. I found that I had to really ask students to elaborate on their answers and keep asking questions to get them to give me answers. I am not sure if this was because the class was so small or because they were not used to me teaching, as the class continued on they began to loosen up more, which was good. I made sure that I kept track of time as I was teaching, I used a stop watch app to help me keep track of how long I gave them to do activities. I also planned an extra flex activity just in case I finished early…finishing early did not happen this time, this time I almost ran out of time because it took us longer to do some of the activities. All the students did well on the assessment and learned a lot about being positive to one another, towards the end of the class I noticed that they started to respect each other a little better.

Once the first class left I had about 3 minutes to reflect on what just happened. I quickly discussed with Dr. McLean that for the sake of time I was getting rid of the Picasso E-Moment because it took time away from the assessment activity. I also decided that it was not really necessary because we were doing the Bob the Weatherman E-Moment and the student in the previous seemed to enjoy that activity better than the Picasso Moment. Now that I made some changes I quickly decided to change the approach of some of my questioning/phrasing of questioning. With that the students began coming into the class and I was ready to roll again.

When this class came into the room their demeanor was different than the first class, they seemed to be more relaxed and easy going but they were “meaner” to each other with joking and poking fun at one another. This time I established that I was the teacher today right off the bat and the students did not even seem to realize Dr. McLean was sitting in the corner, I made sure I dealt with any issues that arose, especially the student that tried to fall asleep in class. This class was more open to giving me answers and elaborating on those answers. The second class was more creative with their Weatherman E-Moment weather reports but both classes did fantastic with it. **Side Note: next time I do the Weatherman E-Moment I think it would probably be beneficial for a weatherman video clip example would be helpful or give students a script to demonstrate what is to be done. I gave a demonstration but there was still some questions about it, I think these ideas might help with the questions.** As we progressed with the lesson and got towards the end of the period I distributed the assessment and the students filled it out. We then went over the answers in class, next time I go over quiz/test answers in a class I am going to read each question and the answers and not just the answers, unfortunately for sake of time I had to only read the answers.

One of my favorite parts of the lesson was learning what each student viewed as an example of a positive relationship on their lives. There were some really great examples and stories and I could not help but smile as both classes were eager to share their experiences. It was really neat to see how the students were a little nicer to each other at the end of the day too. When I went back the next day, all the students were actually kinder to one another. I thought it was really awesome to see how one small lesson could make a big difference; that was so inspiring to me.

I know that there are still somethings that I need to work on, but that is why we have these experiences, to progress and learn. I can see the change in myself from the past two experiences and I am really excited to see that changes from the beginning to the end of student teaching. 

My First Solo Act

Micro Teaching was an interesting experience for me; my first time flying solo and actually teaching high school students by myself. I have taught students before, but when you are teaching Pre-Kindergarten it tends to be a little easier because you get to play games and do arts and crafts all day…and let’s not forget about nap time! I was pretty nervous walking into the class for the first time and was not sure what I was getting into when I saw the student who came into the classroom crawling on all fours barking like a dog! (I am not even lying that really happened!!)

The first day went well, I could tell that all the students knew I was nervous but towards the end of the class things started to go great. The further I got through my lecture of forestry the more comfortable I became. The first day I learned that when I develop note handouts that I should not put as much information on there, this will make the students pay attention more and they will have to listen to find out the information to write down. I reversed that concept and thought that the more I gave them the more they would pay attention because it was less work for them. Lesson learned!

The next day I walked back in and found out that we had a shortened period. We were going to be making paper, I had to figure out how to adapt quickly. This was a great real life teaching experience because teachers are thrown curve balls all the time.  I think that if I stuck to my original plan things would have went a lot smoother. Since we were going to be making paper out of paper and I thought it was going to take too long, I found myself making the lesson too adapted so there was not much for the students to do, there were a lot of students that were just not engaged. I also learned after hearing my feedback that I should incorporate a worksheet of some kind for the students to do, while they are working in lab stations this will help keep everyone engaged and the flow of the groups running easy.

The last day was our assessment day. I decided to give a quick quiz and had them fill out teacher feedback. After they completed both of those sheets, we had a discussion about careers in forestry and Penn State. I really enjoyed reading the feedback from all the students, they had great suggestions and said that they really learned a lot from me. I was happy with what they said but I knew myself that I have a lot to work on before student teaching. I really need to work on my time management for lessons, I finished one day early….not good! I also need to work on some of my questioning skills and direction giving needs to be clearer. Finally, and I think that this is the biggest, I need to be assertive and show the students that I am in charge when I walk into the classroom, regardless if it is not my class that I am teaching.

All in all I think it was a good eye opening experience for me, I know I have a lot to work on between now and student teaching. I will make sure I revamp some of my strategies and skills for when I conduct my Life Knowledge lesson with my students at Northern Burlington next week. 

To Inquire or Not to Inquire?

Inquiry based instruction was seriously the hardest type of lesson to prepare because there are so many different ways that you can approach it and directions that you could take it. I think that although I was short on time this week was on of the best labs that I have done so far, however there were a few speed bumps along the way.

As soon as I started teaching I was confident, this was going to be the lab that really worked for me...since we all know that I have not had the best track records. Everything started off well until I starting passing out my articles to read. Don't ask me what I was thinking when I was printing but I did not print off enough and started to panic, okay what am I going to do to make this work? Put them in groups yes okay! I put everyone in groups and made it work, although it was challenging and I think it would have been more effective had I actually been able to count correctly! (That is what we in Jersey call a "Brittany Moment," they do not happen often but when they do...look out!) Once I had that figured out I ran into a problem with my pacing. When I practiced lab with my roommates everything went according to plan and it took me enough time to finish everything. As I was teaching I realized I was going too fast and even though I was using my lesson plan I would still forget little parts here and there that needed to be said or done.

So what exactly would I change when I do this lesson with my students come the spring you ask? The answer is A LOT!

My original plan was to have this be almost a 3 day lesson but I think I will tweek it and make it a two day lesson. Instead of having them just write procedures the first day I will have my students write procedures and conduct their experiment to see what happens. This was my downfall in lab, I second guessed myself on time and thought that I would not have time to complete this part but in reality I did. On the second day of this lesson I would give them the recipe to make the ice cream and have them compare both experiments.

There are a few MAJOR things that I know I need to work on...
-timing: this is a key thing I have 51 minute periods
-pacing: I think that this will help with my timing issue I just have to figure out what the right pace will be for each lesson and my class
-trying not to talk to myself: I talk to myself during my lesson sometimes when I am trying to think something through all the way...yes it makes me look crazy and I cannot tell you why I do it but I think that it is something that I need to try and get away from

All in all I thought it was a decent lesson. Was it my best, by far no! Was it my worst, ha well we all remember what happened during the demo lesson! I am really looking forward to trying the micro teaching and seeing what happens, I have a feeling it may go better because I will not be teaching in front of my peers who are fairly educated on the topics that I have chosen! Fingers crossed!!! :)

In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work.  It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years.  ~Jacques Barzun

Kentucky Bound and Down!

The last time I was in Louisville, Kentucky I was a freshman in college and competing in the 4-H Eastern National Round-Up Hippology contest. I was representing my AMAZING home state of New Jersey! I honestly thought that I would never get a chance to go back down to that amazing state but I am super excited to say that I will be heading there bright and early on Tuesday morning!!! This time I am not going to the Round-Up (although I wish I was!) and I am not going as a contestant but rather an Exhibitor at the National FFA Convention! I know I have made it to the big league now, I will be heading down with my fellow student teachers and get to work the AWESOME Penn State Booth! Since I have never been to the National FFA Convention I am super excited to walk around, take it all in, and get some really cool resources!!!

Although it is hard for me to contain my excitement I have TONS of things to do between now and then! Have no fear, I will get them all done and I will posting some blog posts about my experiences at convention so please stay tuned!

**Thank you all for reading my blog and leaving your comments! I LOVE reading them and sharing my journey with you all!! **

Tests, Rubrics, Evaluations...Oh MY!

This week's readings are all about evaluation and assessment! Growing up and going through school you learn about your teacher's favorite way to evaluate the class, whether it be exam, project, pop quiz or homework, you knew what classes you dreaded the end of the unit in. I learned that my least favorite form of assessment was Group Projects, I ALWAYS got stuck with the kids that never wanted to do work, it never failed. As I have grown up and made my way through college to
my student teacher preparation classes I have learned that there are many different ways to evaluate student performance, not just an exam, project, quiz, etc.

I think one of the coolest ways to perform assessment would be to use the E-Moments that we have learned about in the beginning of the semester. These are not only FUN but also ENGAGING. E-Moments also give you as the teacher a quick way to gauge where your class is at and what you need to go back and re-teach. Combining this idea with what I read in the readings, I was really excited to see that there were step by step instructions on how to create assessments that will be effective and helpful for both student and teacher use. I plan on using chapter 14 from the book a lot when I have to plan my unit assessments.

I also found both the readings on creating rubrics and evaluating in labs really helpful as well. First, I had never heard of a "vee map" but I think it looks really awesome! I honestly cannot wait to incorporate some of these techniques into my lesson plans. I think they will be really valuable for students to use as tools to help them retain and comprehend what they are learning. I also think it will be beneficial because these techniques can also help them to see the real life benefit of what they are learning. I found that rubrics are important because they give us guidelines for questions or problems that do not have a cut and dry, black and white answer. Rubrics help us navigate the gray areas. As a younger student I HATED rubrics, I always thought it was just something else for me to read and was just a pain. Now that I am older have rubrics attached with almost every project I am thankful for them because they have saved me several points on projects that probably would have not done so well had I not had one. Self evaluation is also a great way to get students to become accountable for their learning as well. As a teacher you can also see why a student may have thought they should have gotten point in that area and may be able to meet them in the middle for a grade!

To tie everything together for me, I read an ASCD article about "The Power of an Effective Teacher and Why We Should Assess It." The article started out with the quote:

This is the value of the teacher, who looks at a face and says there's something behind that and I want to reach that person, I want to influence that person, I want to encourage that person, I want to enrich, I want to call out that person who is behind that face, behind that color, behind that language, behind that tradition, behind that culture. I believe you can do it. I know what was done for me.

—Maya Angelou

I knew that as soon as I read that quote, everything was starting to come into perspective for me and make sense. As I read on through the article it talked about the qualities of an effective teacher, which we spoke about in class (BECOV!!) and how teacher effectiveness relates to student success! Up to this point, this article was like deja vu for the whole semester!!! Then, I got to the part about having high qualified teachers vs. highly effective teachers. Well that's an easy question Effectiveness over Qualifications (to some extent, you still need to have some proper qualifications, we cannot have Joe Shmoe walking in off the street and teaching children!)  I began to read on and think about what administrators and superintendents really look at when you go in for an interview; how can they look at how effectively you teach by just looking at your credentials. I know that in some interviewing processes they will ask you to do a demo lesson but that is not every school's policy. I thought it was something to think about.  Maybe that question will be answered as we travel farther and get closer to preparing for our future interviews? We may never even know the answer to that question.

I think that the readings this week have really given us something to think about because we are at that point in the semester where we are all starting to hit the unit plan and lesson plan creating hard, as we bring units to a close we need to find ways to assess them and will need skills for that. This weeks readings helped me to start thinking about the evaluation methods as a whole and not just individually for each lesson.

Just some words that we should keep in mind when we think about being an Effective Teacher! 

Did I just have an "ahha moment?!"

Today I attended Project Learning Tree out at Shaver's Creek. First let me say just how much I fall in LOVE with Shaver's Creek each time I go there. The people are so amazing, the woods are so peaceful, and I always learn something really cool!

I could just tell that today was going to be a good day! As I pulled into my parking spot, I looked over at my roommate Jess and I said "oh my gosh look that's Poison Ivy in front of the car!" I know eww Poison Ivy, right?! However, I had just learned how to identify it a few weeks before in my Sci Ed 455 class, that takes place at Shaver's Creek. I actually identified something! Me! Never in a million years did I think I would be able to identify something in nature! It was such an amazing feeling. I also felt so accomplished when we practiced a species log. I was able to help others identify trees and plants and explain why it was a certain plant all because I have been going to class! This was so huge for me!

As I sat there listening to George talk about all his experiences and where he has gone, it hit me! I am pretty sure I had that "ahha moment" and found out what I might want to do for the rest of my life. Let's be honest, it really is not secret that I have been flip flopping around with what I want to do and today I think I may have found my calling. As I listened to George talk and teach I thought to myself "wow, wouldn't it be so amazing if I could do something like this and teach in an informal setting like this?" I began to think about how I could still teach, yet combine this new found passion for nature!

Okay, I get it you guys are all like, this is awesome but what are you actually going to do?! Nothing is 100% set in stone but my idea for an end goal would be to graduate and hopefully get a job with the local zoo or nature center to gain field experience and save up for grad school. Get my degree in either RPTM or Environmental Education. After grad school, I would hopefully get a job as an extension educator at a nature center where I can travel around and teach children about the importance of nature and conservation....and of course the really awesome animals!!!!

I am sure my idea will change tomorrow, but for right now I think it is pretty awesome! I have seriously never been this excited or inspired for a possible career path! Here's to hoping this could fit into my future!!! Stay tuned because I will be sharing more on this...eventually!!! :)

Remember: "EVERYTHING you can IMAGINE is real!"

Something to think about.

The Autism Spectrum is an exceptionality that is very near and dear to my heart! I have had so many wonderful and life changing moments that have involved children who have been diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum. They are some of the smartest and most talented children that I have ever met regardless of where they fall on the spectrum. This video is really interesting and inspiring. It really gives you something to think about! Never count any child or adult with an exceptionality out, whether they be gifted or disabled they can always bring new perspective to your life and teach you something that I can guarantee you did not know before!!!

Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqvfsc374og

How Wet is Our Planet? The Problem Solving Approach....or so I thought!

Today's lab was all about Problem Solving to get our students to think deeper and more critically. This approach also helps our students develop and establish the skills for a strong foundation that they can use for problem solving throughout their lives.

This week, I decided to incorporate one of the Project Aquatic Wild labs "How Wet is Our Planet?" I am going to be adding this lesson into my 8th Grade Intro to Ag, Food, and Natural Resources (yay for CASE classes!!) the idea is to use this lesson to kick start off the CASE unit Water World. I think it is a great way to get my students to start thinking about the environment and the importance of water, which they will be learning about!

I was SUPER excited about this lab for multiple reasons...
1. I was going to redeem myself from last week's terrible mishap (I made sure to not have to deal with ANY sharp objects this week!)
2. I felt like I had written the most amazing lesson that has ever come out of my brain and fingertips!
3. I practiced, researched, and prepared as much as anyone possibly could
...but I seemed to be wrong! Things did not go as planned. In my head everything seemed to run smoothly and work out just so. When I got in front of the class and began to teach, I found myself getting flustered and frustrated. I did not use my props to my advantage and just kind of let them sit on the table!!! I also tried to practice using my lesson plan more this week, and that did not work out so well either, since I almost dunked it in the tub of water 5 times! I also realized that I did not really conduct the Problem Solving Approach effectively...bummer!!!

After teaching I was very upset with myself because I thought I was going to do awesome! I actually crashed and burned! I know this is a learning experience but it would have been nice to walk away feeling just as awesome about my lesson as I did when I walked into the room!!!

I did however, learn a few things about Problem Solving:
- knowing your content really well makes things easier
-keep the questions moving and going, ask kids to expand more and ask questions that can help get them to keep thinking
-be well versed in your topic
-practice, practice, practice

Although this lab did go better than last weeks, it could still be better! I know I may sound like I am being hard on myself but there are a million things that I could have changed to make this better and make me the best that I can be. I am striving to be the best teacher that I can, and I know that the more we preform labs the better off we will be, it will just take us a awhile to get there. I also know that some of us are slower bloomers than others, so I know that my amazing lab lesson will come in due time! I am excited to take this feedback and work harder for next time!

Some food for thought:
"It's okay to make mistakes. Mistakes are our teachers...they help us to learn"~ Abraham Lincoln (by far the most amazing man in American History...next to George Washington!)

So You've Got a Problem...How are YOU going to solve it?!

Through the discussion that we had on Friday and the readings for this weekend I am really beginning to find the Problem Solving Approach to be very interesting and challenging for students. I like how it helps make students think critically and dig deeper into their brains to find possible answers for a problem. I think that a lot of times students, and even us as future teachers, only see the surface of a problem and its few outcomes. We never really get to see the BIG picture, which is what we should always be looking at!!!

I found the readings to be very insightful and helpful with the clarification of what we spoke about in class on Friday. I especially enjoyed reading chapter 4 in the "Methods of Teaching Agriculture" book. I really like how that book uses case studies to help put what we are learning about into a real life context for us. Since I am a visual learner I have to see the value of what I am learning and I have to be able to see how I will apply this to real life which is why I enjoy reading the chapters in this book. I liked how the book breaks the Problem Solving Approach down into the 6 steps which are:

1. Interest Approach
2. Objectives to be achieved
3. Problems to be solved--questions to be answered
4. Problem solution
5. Testing solutions through application
6. Evaluation of solutions

The chapter then went on to further break down some of the techniques that could be used to achieve this idea and it also compared it to the 6 steps of the learning process which were:

1. Experiencing a provocative situation
2. Defining the problem
3. Seeking data and information
4. Formulating possible solutions
5. Testing proposed solutions 
6. Evaluating the results

 I also enjoyed the other two readings as well because it helped to answer some of my questions that I thought of after class the other day. They really helped to put things into perspective. I think after reading these readings and finishing the discussion on Monday will really help me tackle the Problem Solving Lab this week!

Mission Abort!

Today I was all prepared to demonstrate how to graft trees to my "students." I should have known from the uneasy feeling that I got when I had to sneak my box cutter and kitchen knife onto the bus this morning that this was not going to be a good day. As I waited my turn to go in lab I started thinking about all the things that I SHOULD have done with this lab and probably needed to complete this task. Should do and actually do are two completely different things. I set up for my lab and realized that there was nothing I could do to change it now and I would just have to hope for the best and make sure I was extra careful.

As I progressed with teaching I thought that I should have a saw to make the cutting go easier and I also should probably have gloves on in case of a slip. I no sooner got to the part where "Student says, teacher does" when I really did slip with the box cutter and sliced my thumb. I no sooner said "And I just cut myself" when my thumb started to gush blood! I do have to thank everyone in my Lab because they all rushed to my aid and helped to patch me up! Thanks guys! You really do ROCK!

Although I did not get to finish my lab teaching, I learned a lot of valuable lessons today:

1. Thankfully I had this goof now and can learn better what to do next time, rather than have this happen in front of my actual students.
2. I will be that teacher that has a first aid kit in almost every drawer or every where physically possible around my classroom (just in case you never know!)
3. I do not think that I will be attempting grafting any time soon
4. I should think things through and maybe find a safer way for my students to complete what I want them too

I will say that if I was to try and complete this lab again I will make sure I have things pre cut for my students and that I will also use a softer material that is not so difficult to cut and does not require a sharp object like a box cutter!

Individualized Teaching Techniques = Mind Blowing!

After reading the assigned chapter for this week my only reaction is that I am totally mind blown! I knew that there were millions of different techniques for individual work in the classroom, but actually reading about some of them and learning how you should put them into practice was really interesting for me. I must say that I am still a little confused on some of them but I know we will be discussing them in class which will really help. I was especially interested in the idea of teaching students how to create a "proper notebook." I had no idea that there was a technique behind it. Going through school my teachers always told us to "take notes the way that works best for us" and I always found myself writing down way too much information and suffering from MAJOR hand cramps because I could not decide what was important and what was not. I think that giving the students the foundation skills of how they can decide what is important for them to write down would be really beneficial, this way students can focus more in the moment and less on "oh my gosh I have to get all of this down because Ms. Rigg never tells us what is on the test and this could be important!"

The other technique that I would like to learn more about was the Information, Assignment, and Skill sheets. I found them to all be beneficial and useful but how to do you know when you are more so relying on them rather than using them as an "aid" to what you are already teaching? Maybe I am over thinking that idea a little bit however, it is something that I am curious about. I do not want to be that teacher that relies on the packets. I want to really captivate my students and make sure that the handouts and worksheets that they receive are an added bonus. 

I know that we are going to be working through these in class and I am really excited to learn more about them and dig deeper into each teaching technique! I think that they can be skills that could really help us as student teachers next semester.

Not Saying it's Over but it's Time to Reflect...

Upon cruising the blogs of my fellow student teachers one of them posted that as of last Thursday we were all 1/3 of the way through our last semester of "classes" at Penn State. It took me a few minutes to let that digest and sink in, I found myself reading it over and over and over again just to make sure I read it correctly. I kept thinking well this can't be right, we just started the semester. As I sat there and stared at the screen I started look back on my college experience at Penn State and just how much it had really changed my life.

I started my Freshman year only knowing one person from my High School, we were both at Berks but we quickly went our separate ways. I started out with the Collegiate Riding Team and quickly met people who would become my best friends. I had the privilege of being an RA my Sophomore year and then I transferred to University Park Junior Year.

UP is a world all in it's own. I felt so lost the first semester I was here but was glad that I had my fellow AEE family to help me through. Pledging Sigma Alpha also helped make my transition easier too! Going into Senior year I had many new friends and some old ones by my side, along with my family. Even though we've only been here for 1/3 of  the semester I feel like I have learned so much already. I am broadening my skills and knowledge, I am learning how to make better more challenging lessons and objectives for my future students, and I am privileged and blessed to work with an amazing cooperating teacher! Though this experience has been hard and frustrating from time to time, I am glad that I am a part of it. 

The past 3 years have flown by in the blink of an eye, if I had to do it all over again there are some things that I would change and some things that I would keep the same. I am looking forward to next 2/3 of the semester and I know there is a lot more great information coming my way! Let's the make the most of the time we have left because May will be here before we know it! Most important of all is that we cannot forget to "Keep on dreaming even if it breaks your heart!"

Cooperative Learning, Field Trips, and More Oh My!

First I would like to say that the more I keep reading about it the more I am becoming interested in the topic of cooperative learning. I thought the reading was very interesting and I especially enjoyed the part about setting up boundaries and all the ways you could do that. I also thought that the flow chart was very helpful in especially for when I want to use cooperative learning in the classroom. There are many important things to keep in mind and I thought that the chart laid it out well for us. It is important to remember....

1. How many learners do I want in each group?
2. Do I want my groups to be similar or different?
3. Are the materials in my room/is my room set up for group activity?
4. How can I facilitate learning through group activity?
5. What did my learners accomplish?

I think that cooperative learning can take place almost anytime but I do think it is a great way to debrief and unpack from a field trip! Which brings me to the next reading on Effective Field Trips! Who doesn't LOVE Field Trips?!? They are a fun and engaging way to get students to really experience the topic that you are teaching them, if done correctly. I always liked the teachers that took us on field trips and asked to reflect on what we learned when we got back or had us complete a scavenger hunt while we were there. I felt that those trips were the most memorable and the best use of my time. Of course I was also excited to miss a day of school, but I still wanted to learn while I was experiencing cool stuff! I have a feeling I was a rare breed of student on field trip days but that's neither here nor there. Planning effective field trips is something that we should all learn how to do, the trips we take our students on should help enhance what we have already taught them. The content you teach them should help them to facilitate, engage in conversation, and interact with each other on the field trip. 

While on field trips you will want your students to ask effective questions. Well, okay we want them to ask effective questions ALL THE TIME which means we need to set them up and help to facilitate effective questions. We can ask a question such as "Why do you think this reaction happened?" "What would you change if you were to conduct this experiment?" etc. 

Connecting the three areas along with the FFA LifeKnowlege lessons can really help your students make connections and help make their experience in their classroom more meaningful.

May I Have Your Attention Please?

The interest approach, probably the most important part of your lesson, besides the actual content that you are going to teach the students, it's the make or break part that will help you get everyone's attention or give students the cue to zone out for the next 51 minutes. I also think that the interest approach is one of the hardest components of a lesson plan to write because it should be creative, engaging, and exciting for the students. Also kids are the toughest critics, they will let you know if they do not like something faster than you can blink!

This weeks lab was about interest approach and how we would grab the attention of our students. I know that I personally walked into lab feeling pretty confident about what I came up with for an interest approach, but as I started actually doing it and presenting it, I realized that it was not turning out as well as I had hoped. Which brings me to the first thing that I learned...

Lesson 1: Nothing ever goes as planned!

After I was done teaching I began to think about how it went and what worked and what did not work and what I could have changed. I realized that I could have changed a few things here and there to make the interest approach flow. I realized that it seemed a bit choppy to me when I went back watched the video again. I also learned that you really have to make your directions really clear, which means the next thing I learned was...

Lesson 2: Clear, concise, and precise directions are key!

I now know that I have to make sure I write my directions out word for word and really think them through before I say them and that it is okay to read them off the lesson plan to make sure they do not get messed up.

The last thing that I learned was that not every student is going to like your interest approach and will not seem engaged in your class. Maybe we just have not figured out the right way to get that child engaged yet or the topic in question just does not interest them. That being said we cannot write them off and give up on them we have to keep trying to find something that will work well for the whole entire class. I know that I am really excited to keep working on creating more interest approaches and really finding ones that captivate my students. 

I am also super excited and nervous for the next lab because I am going to be teaching an ag mechanics demonstration! Look out for that post to follow!!! 

Just some food for thought my fellow student teachers! 

 "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest" - Benjamin Franklin

Everyone Check this Out!!!!!

We had to watch this video in my WFED class! It is a little bit dated but so worth it! It really gives you insight on what it is like to be a child with a Learning Disability. I think we need more workshops like this, we can preach tactics and strategies all we want but I feel that sometimes until we experience things first hands we really have NO clue!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZhRf2fxlyw&noredirect=1

Reading Reflection #2

I learned a lot from this week’s reading. Who knew that there were 16 (yupp I said 16!) Principles of Teaching & Learning! The 14 Principles  of Teaching & Learning are…

1.  When the subject matter to be learned possesses meaning, organization and structure that is clear to students, learning proceeds more rapidly and is retained longer.
2. Readiness is a prerequisite for learning. 
3. Students must be motivated to learn
4. Students are motivated through their involvement in setting goals and planning learning activities.
5. Success is a strong motivating force.
6. Students are motivated when they attempt tasks that fall in a range of challenge.
7. When students have knowledge of their learning progress, performance will be superior to what it would have been without such knowledge.
8. Behaviors that are reinforced (rewarded) are more likely to be learned.
9. To be most effective, reward (reinforcement) must follow as immediately as possible, to ensure that the student connects the desired behavior with the behavior they have performed.
10. Directed learning is more effective than undirected learning.
11. To maximize learning, students should inquire into rather than be instructed inthe subject matter.
12. Students learn what they practice.
13. Supervised practice that is most effective occurs in a functional educational experience.
14. Learning is most likely to be used (transferred) if it is learned in a situation as much like that in which it is to be used as possible and immediately preceding the time when it is needed.
15. Transfer of learning is more likely to take place when what is to be transferred is a generalization, a general rule, or a formula.
16. Students can learn to transfer what they have learned; teachers must teach students how to transfer laboratory and real-life situations.

All 16 of those were a lot to process and to try to decipher  however I did find that in order to create a solid foundation for teaching you need to make sure you keep them all in mind to help your students to succeed. Individually each component can stand and help students be successful but, to create the total package you need all 16 components.

As I was filtering through I started to think to myself, How in the world am I going to fit all of these Principles into one lesson or into everyday teaching? I know most of them occur naturally, but some of them will need to be used with activities and different types of lessons. Speaking of different types of activities, the second part of the reading was significantly helpful, especially in the planning process of how to develop successful activities in the classroom. I personally found the portion about planning field trips helpful and interesting, I am hoping (providing my schools allows) that I will be able to take my 7th grade classes on a field trip during student teaching. Knowing how to successfully plan the trip and get students to reflect on the trip, this way it is not “just a fun day of getting out of class.” 

I plan on using the techniques and how to’s from chapter 6 in the book to help me plan better quality activities for my lessons that I will have to create for student teaching. I think that as student teachers and the newbies to the field, we have to be able to create engaging lessons that allow students to maximize their potential. It seems to be the trend today that students do not want to learn because they do not see the real life value but if we was teachers give them the skills to help them get to their full potential and give them ways to relate real life topics to the real world, they will be more willing to learn and will gain skills that they will need for their future.

Lab Reflection #1: Welcome to the First Day of School! :)

I walked into lab this week  not really knowing what to expect. I was nervous about being videotaped and also about teaching in front of my peers because I knew all of us were playing a role and I was not sure how it was going to play out! 

Although I did not really plan on it, I completed my whole lesson in about 10 minutes! Scary!!!!! I know that when I do my lesson for real it will take A LOT longer because not only will I have to repeat things, but my Toilet Paper Game and the iPad Tutorial will go longer because I have around 20 students in the class that I am teaching. 

I also think that I may need to soften myself down a bit, I think that since I was trying to establish the authoritative figure (since it was the first day) I may have come across too strong! This is something that I know I am  going to have to work on! I also need to work on trying to engage students and not just sit there and blab at them which I think will also be difficult for me because I am the kind of person that likes to talk first and answer questions later. 

One part of my experience that I did feel confident about was the transitions I had from topic to topic, I felt that they flowed and allowed me to keep everything on task and keep things moving. I feel that I could have slowed down a little bit with them and gave some time for questions in between topics but again this is something that I will need to polish for my student teaching experiences. 

One of my favorite parts of the lab was getting to play the different roles of students that we generally see in class. I think that this will really help us for when we actually get into the classroom. My sessions seems to still be figuring out just how far we can push it and how crazy we can be, I feel that the more we do this the better we will be at it and will even surprise ourselves at how well we learn the management skills for these students. 

I am looking forward to using the feedback that I am going to get from the other student teachers on my video, the written feedback, and my own feedback to change and grow for next weeks experience! After all practice makes perfect! 

Twitter Chat?

Today in our Ag Ed 412 class we explored the new world of having a TwitterChat. Let me start off by saying I was apprehensive about this at first! However, after a few tech glitches and some confusion I can proudly say that we totally killed it and did a great job with it! Good job guys we learned a new technique that we can take into student teaching with us!!! Just another reason why Penn State is taking initiative and paving the way for the future of Agriculture Education!!! 

Weekly Writing #2

After a very crazy and hectic weekend filled with some major unforeseen events I was finally able to sit down and reflect on everything we have done in class this past week and the readings that were assigned. 

In class we worked on the E-Moments to implement them into our lesson plans and I have to say I think that they are pretty awesome! Each E-Moment is different and helps you to reach all the different areas of Multiple Intelligences. Not only did I have fun creating the E-Moment to demonstrate in class, I also had A LOT of fun making the flyer for my fellow student teachers to read! 

I also learned that when making objectives we need to make them obtainable. The objectives that we make should not be so far fetched that we as teachers, by using every resource in the world, could not get our students to achieve the objective! Objectives should also not be too simple either. I personally think that it will be challenging for me to come up with objectives that are right in the middle of the two! I know that the more I practice the easier it will become, however it is not as easy as it looks. 

Through the readings I found the one about preparing for teaching a lesson to be really interesting because I realized that there is a lot more that goes into teaching a lesson than just creating a lesson plan! You must have all your props, tech equipment, and anything else you may need well in advance for your class. You do not want to be running around like a chicken with your head cut off the day before you have to teach this particular lesson that you need 50 pieces of wire for! 

Finally, I was also presented with a challenge this week. I am going to be teaching one of my 7th grade courses from start to finish by myself come the spring! Yay! However there is a catch. The course is only 9 weeks in length which gives me about 45 days for teaching after you take out days off and state testing! My challenge is to take 9 weeks of instruction and teach about 6 units! My cooperating teacher suggested I make a course outline of how I want everything to go and make a time line for each unit! I may have some units that are going to be a lot shorter than I thought they would, like my introduction to ag and the course, as of right now that unit is only going to be 2 days long because we have to boogie in that class! I am really excited about this though! I honestly cannot wait to actually experience what it is like to have a class from “the first day” to “the last day!” 

Reading Reflection #1

Completing these moodle modules today gave me a lot to think about in terms of designing instruction. I did learn that I am not 100% sure with the whole idea of scaffolding and think that I would have a better understanding if I saw it played out in a classroom setting. I do think that scaffolding will be a very beneficial technique for me to use in the future as I student teach. 

I also learned a lot about standards and assessment anchors. I know that I need to look up my standards for NJ as that is where I will be student teaching and I am sure that we have different academic standards in my state than here in PA. I also liked the idea of the anchors because it seemed to be a way to build in small assessments to gauge how my students are doing and if I should go back and reteach that section. I feel that they could be something that I could add in and use before I transition into a new topic. 

Finally, learning about Universal Design for Learning was very interesting to me. I had never heard of it before but found it to be really interesting and neat to think about. Adding in UDL concepts to your instruction could be as simple as having your students write something down or by adding music into a lesson. Just something simple like writing or music can get a student to engage most of their brain. I think that is just mind blowing and so amazing to learn. Learning about UDLs also put all the crazy things, that my teachers and professors have made me do in previous years of school, into perspective. I’d like to think that they were making us do those things because they wanted us to tap into our brains more, although some of them I think made us do them because they wanted us to look silly. I think that using UDLs will be really important and I am going to try and incorporate them as much as I can as I start planning lessons for student teaching.

Weekly Writing #1

After reading all the assigned reading for this week I began to unpack and digest all the information that I learned. Although I learned something different from each reading I learned some main points that I think will really help to further my journey toward student teaching.

The first piece of knowledge that I really related with was the concept of “E-Moments.” I really found it interesting on how simple it seems to put an engaging moment into each lesson every day. Not only that having E-Moments in each lesson helps the teacher to reach and touch on Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. E-Moments can be done in a variety of different ways and can be used to reach all different types of students. Since students learn different ways E-Moments could include movement for those who learn by moving, or critical thinking for those whole like to think problems out, etc. The idea of E-Moments also allows for the teacher to assess how the lesson is going because he/she can use these engaging moments to decide if they need to go over a topic again or can move on to the next piece of the instruction. E-Moments are really a win-win all the way around! 

Another important piece of information that I have taken away from the readings was how important it is, as teachers, to keep our end goals in mind as we progress forward. Goals can be as a complex as making sure the whole class understands a certain lesson or as simple as getting through the lesson and assigning the homework for that day. (okay well that may not be the best example because we all need to make sure we do that everyday, but we know that it is something that has to be accomplished so there is no reason it cannot be a small goal!) 

Assessment is also something that we as teachers should be thinking about constantly. We need to ask ourselves: How are we going to assess our class today to make sure they are learning what needs to be learned. Effective ways for assessing a class can be done by having the students: explain, interpret, apply, and use perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge as a few examples. I think that students constantly think the only way for them to be assessed is through exams and quizzes and I think that as teachers we should be willing to find other ways to make assessments fun and to take the pressure off the students so they do not feel that it’s “do or die” when it comes to testing. Although it is imperative that we do use exams and quizzes throughout the students’ learning experiences in your class it should not be the main form of evaluation. By using assessment on a daily basis and lesson by lesson as a teacher we can gauge where our students are at in terms of comprehension and what areas we need to spend more time teaching. 

Finally, the last thing that my fellow colleagues and I need to keep in mind as we continue this journey to student teaching is how to become an effective teacher. We need to remember to use clarity, variability, enthusiasm, be task-oriented, and be professional. It is our job to help students learn. “The Effective Teacher Affects Lives.” 

I know for me personally being an effective teacher is going to be one of my hardest challenges. I am eager to learn and practice my teaching skills to become the teacher that I have always wanted to be and one that will inspire others to hopefully one day choose the profession of Agriculture Education. It is going to be a long and challenging journey but I know that after I have read these materials I am inspired and excited to begin the path that will help me be successful!