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!