Weekly investment with Scooby-Doo

When I was a little girl my absolute favorite TV show was Scooby-Doo. I loved the show so much that my dad even honored me with the nickname of Scooby-Doo. Why am I telling you this? well because there was always a mystery to solve. Even as a little kid it was fun and intriguing to try and figure out what person the mystery gang was going to unveil behind the mask of the monster. My young mind didn't know it, but I was using context clues within that show to figure it out through problem solving. When it was an episode I had never seen before I never just automatically knew the answer.

How does this relate to teaching you may ask?

Well problem solving is an important component that we have to incorporate into our lessons and daily classroom routines. It's one thing to just know something, but it's a whole other matter when you have to actually take what you know and apply it so a situation. When looking at Bloom's taxonomy when you are problem solving you are focusing on the top three tiers of the pyramid that promotes higher orders of thinking.

You can promote problem solving in many different ways in the classroom. It Doesn't have to be a major assignment. It can be something as simple as having them come up with a solution to a situation using what they had learned in class. For instance, say you taught the students about deer and how they behave. Then you taught them different wildlife management techniques. You then can propose a question to them like this: Farmer Mary is having an issue with deer coming in and destroying her crops, you are a wildlife management specialist and she asked you to help her. What are some management techniques you may suggest to farmer Mary?

Whenever you have students problem solve and give them the autonomy to create a solution to a problem that you had proposed some won't admit it, but they'll feel good about coming up with an answer. Problem solving is such an important skill to have that if you find a student struggling with a problem, be sure not to be discouraging. Lead them in the correct direction without giving them the exact answer. Students in the end will feel accomplished after they solved a problem for themselves. 

If all you're doing is asking simple lower level questions in your classroom then you aren't challenging your students to their full abilities. Part of our job is to create independent and critical thinkers. So, if you're not doing that make sure you ask yourself the question:

Hey problem solving.. where are you?

Unit reflection

First unit plan in the bag! 
 Initially starting my unit plan I wasn’t sure where I was going to go with it. However, a wonderful friend from #PSUAgEd18 helped me out by showing me a unit plan that she had put together from student teaching last year. After I got a base of knowledge from her as to what I was to do, I was able to put together my unit for small vet skills. I felt pretty good about my first draft and then I handed it over to my peer reviewers.

When my reviewers gave me feedback, they wanted me to make sure that I had my references in APA format (formatting is one of my weaknesses as a writer I’ll admit that) and to make sure to add criteria into my daily objectives. With this advice I tweaked my original lesson plan some, and honestly making the final product wasn’t all that bad! 

I have a total of 13 unit plans to create. I now have one of them down and 12 more to go. Watch out student teaching here I come! 😎

Weekly investment

Are questions the same?
The answer to that is no. Or at least it should be. Whenever you are asking your students questions they should not be expected to have the outcome of just a yes or no answer. Sure, sometimes a question may be posed that only requires a short answer. However, it is important to ask questions that really make the students have to think and dig into what they need to know out of a class. Questioning should be used as segues to transition smoothly from one topic to another while you are teaching in a class. When looking at Bloom's taxonomy I feel as though we need to be asking questions to students throughout a class that touch on each part of these orders of thinking.
It's always good to have an answer to the why we are learning certain content in class. I believe though it's even better when you ask the right questions to have the students realize what the why is without you having to tell them directly (however you should still be able to answer the why directly if the need arises).

Student connection!

When students can not relate to what's going on it's hard for them to grasp a concept most of the time. It is also hard for a student to become interested in a subject if the teacher isn't engaging with them. It's easy to just stand and lecture at student's for the allotted time that you have to teach, but are you really teaching them? students that get lectured at are going to get bored and gaze off into space. they're going to fall asleep and direct their attention elsewhere. when there is no interaction between the students and the teacher, the students are not going to immerse themselves into the content the way they should. This will also make it difficult for the content the learn to stay in their long term memory. With all this being said though, this is why I'm thankful for taking the career path as an Agriculture educator because it's easy to get students engaged with all the hands on learning that is required of this subject area.

Student passions

I personally believe that it's sad that we kind of file our students into curriculum that doesn't interest them. I understand that we need the core subjects for some fundamental knowledge, however I think we need to do a better job in our schools on encouraging students to pursue their passions. No one person is the same and we as educators need to realize that. If we allow students to pursue their passions early on in life could you imagine how knowledgeable they would be able to be in that area? Passion allows for intrinsic motivation to occur and it is amazing too see people talk when they are passionate about something. I believe we should fuel that passion instead of filing students into a line where we expect them all to turn out the same.    

                                   

Interest approach

It was a good day!

I presented an interest approach for a lesson that I anticipate teaching in the spring semester. Here I will set the scene. 

CLASS: Animal Science

UNIT: Small Vet Skills

LESSON: What animals does a small vet tend to?

I had set up seven stations around the room. station 1 was a picture, stations 2-6 were physical skeletal features of different animals. station 7 was a hamster that proposed the question: Why is it a good tool to use live animals or preserved specimen in a class like this? 

The students went around and attempted to identify the different items at each station. The behaviors that I had to cater to were: Sleepy, confused, and the average Joe. right off the bat it was easy to handle the "sleepy" behavior because for the most part of my interest approach the students were up and moving around. It's difficult to sleep when you need to walk. I believe that I handled the confused student well because I was able to provide clarity when the student did not quite understand what was going on. The average joe was super easy because they typically don't present any issues. 

One thing that I wish I had done was actually put numbers on the stations and explain better that each station was suppose to correlate with the number that they had on their sheet of paper. Something as simple as labeling can make it so I am more clear with my students. Not labeling the stations is what I put as my opp for this lab because it is important to be as clear as possible with your students and not labeling the stations caused me to falter in that a little.

Now for my gems! 

I got students moving! an active student is an engaged student because they have to pay attention to what is going on around them. I hope to have some form of movement in all of my lessons even if it's something as simple as standing up and taking a mental break for 20 seconds. It will help break the monotony up in a lesson. 

I kept the students interested by keeping their curiosity peaked. when a student sees something in front of them that they aren't quite sure what it is they are going to be naturally curious about it whether they want to admit it or not. As a teacher I hope to continuously tap into that natural curiosity to keep students engaged!

Structure in Instruction

What structure do we need in our instruction?

After reading this blog readers will be able to:

1. Explain the importance of objectives
2. Conclude why group work is a useful tool

Objectives are important because they not only set up a framework for knowing what you are going to teach, but it also allows the students to know what they are expected to learn in the given time frame. This will allow for a smoother lesson because there will be no questions as to where your lesson is going and students will know what key items they should be pulling out of the lesson are.
 Without objectives                                                                  With objectives
                           

When you are writing your objectives you want to pay attention to what verbs you are using. Different verbs will bring out different expectations for what level of learning the students need to be able to accomplish. For example when you say list, students will just be expected to memorize a set of information and not have to interpret it past that. however, if you use the verb explain then not only will student have to list, but the will also have to understand the parts of the information that you are giving them. whenever you put in a higher level of thinking verb, lower levels are more often than not encompassed by what you are trying to get out of the students. You also want to make sure that your use of different verbs is specific rather than broad. That will hone in the students focus better. an example would be using the word demonstrate rather than the word understand.

When you are designing a lesson one method that may come to mind is incorporating group work. Some students may groan at group work because of negative past experiences with it however, it is a good tool for having students teach each other. When creating groups it allows for different intelligence to work together and help each other come up with ideas that they may have not originally come up with on their own. This is where two heads are better than one rings true.

Small group work seems to be the best route for the group work to be successful. This is because smaller groups have a higher chance of everyone being held accountable and not allowing one person to slack off with what they are suppose to be doing. It also allows students to still share different ideas without getting lost in the sea of a larger group.

So, with all this being said objectives are important to give students and teachers a road map to know exactly what their destination is going to be. Meanwhile, group work is a good vehicle to use to help you get there.

First days..

The lab that I have completed was to show what I would do for a lesson on the first day of class. my classmates had roles to play as different problem students in the classroom. When I initially started my micro teaching I went in with confidence, however once I realized that I wasn't going to get an easy group of students, I tried my very best to reprimand all the behaviors. It was difficult keeping track of all of them even though there were only 4. I ended up having to divert from my lesson, so that I could establish my expectations sooner. That didn't really work for me either. I ended the lab frustrated if I am being perfectly honest. It wasn't for lack of trying though. at the end my gems that I told myself were:
I kept bouncing around and I really tried my hardest to make sure ALL student were paying attention
I also was able and ready to rearrange my lesson to try and adapt to the way the class was behaving and I stuck to my guns.
however my opp was that I got frustrated easier than I should have and I know that put a negative energy into the class that should not have been there.

After this lab I realized I have A LOT of work to do when it comes to classroom management.

Engaging Instruction

Students need to learn and teachers have to teach, but how do you go about accomplishing those two things? One aspect we can look at is the different domains of learning. These are Cognative, psycho-motor, and affective. When students are learning you have to be able to convey facts, information, knowledge, and concepts. The one that’s really important in Agriculture in particular is the idea of the psycho-motor domain, this is because it’s where the student can actually manipulate and use what they are learning in a real world or lab based setting. Lastly, however there really isn’t a way to set an objective for the domain known as affective. This is because affective is just how much students truly appreciate what is being taught to them.

In order for students to appreciate what is being taught to them I believe being an effective teacher is a very important characteric an educator should have, but I also believe that there is more to it than just that. Students are young, but they have opinions too and all too often those opinions are pushed to the side because adults believe that they are too immature to truly have an established opinion. Reflecting on my own personal views I believe it is important for everyone to be heard no matter what the age. It’s possible that one day their view may change, but in that moment, sitting in your classroom that’s when it’s important, that’s when you should take them into consideration. Hearing your students out and taking into consideration what they say and how they feel is not only a big booster for their confidence, but it also increases their appreciation for not only you, but the content you are teaching, because they know they can voice their thoughts in your classroom and they know they are heard.

As a teacher you need to let students know that they matter. I feel that it is pertinent so show students that you are here for them and you are cheering them on every step of the way. Having a student feel as though they matter is SO important. No one wants to feel like they are just another number in the school. Every student is unique and special and it is a necessity to highlight that fact.

Self esteem and confidence is going to come to different students at various times because every student is different. You just need to nurture a growth mindset in your students every day. When teaching it is important to realize these differences and when you are planning to teach you need to take into consideration that there are different ways to teach students and there are different methods to help you accomplish this. These are chunking, rote rehearsal,pattern recognition,elaborate rehearsal, and emotional involvement. Incorporating these different methods of teaching into your lesson plans in various combinations will help you get an understanding across to the students and you’ll be able to reach out to multiple intelligences. 

Juniata Valley AG!

This is my video on my cooperating center, enjoy!

SAE's They are important!

Supervised agriculture experiences aka SAE's are a crucial part of developing students in agriculture. SAE's not only allow the students to have autonomy over their own projects, but it also gives them hands on real world experiences that they will always remember for the rest of their lives. while with Ms. Russell I went to the Huntington county fair. I did this visit on August 5th. This was the end result for multiple of her student's SAE'S. There were students there to show animals they had raised and projects they had done in order to submit and be judged. While shadowing Ms. Russell I felt a really strong sense of community that she had built with the students, the parents, and the people around her. It almost seemed as though there wasn't a person there that she did not know. She went around ensuring that her students were prepared to show their animals in the show ring.

Before they had got to this point Ms. Russell had gone to a lot of her student's homes and made sure that their animals were ready for fair. everything from hogs, to goats, to cows. making sure they had correct weights and could qualify. You could tell that she had a sense of pride in her students and was very happy to be there with them. She knows a lot about animal sciences and how an animal should look, weigh, feel, and behave in a show ring. You can tell that she has many years of experience with students. However, teachers are life long learners and even though she knew the majority of what was being done she not only taught, but learned from her students as well.

                                                   
To see the youth putting in effort for something they worked for and are proud of isn't something you can find in a simple classroom setting. these projects took hours of labor and record keeping in order to get them to the point that they needed to be at in order to present their SAE projects at the fair. SAE's add a sense of support between the student, their family, and the Agriculture educator. SAE's allow parents to incorporate themselves into their child's education to some extent.

Also, while at the fair the FFA did one of their fundraisers which was a raffling off a tractor that they had restored in the shop at the school. it came to them in pieces and they put it together. To see what students put into projects, both with SAE and FFA involvement is impressive.
                                              

Week 3 Design and Planned Instruction

 This weeks essential question:  how do we design plan instruction?

To answer this question we first have to consider that every student is different.  With that being said it means every brand is different. There are different ways to help people understand content faster and more efficiently. These strategies are:

•  chunking, which is organizing information into meaningful units.
•  Rote rehearsal, which is repeating information or a skill many times.
•  Elaborative rehearsal, which is immersing information meaning or highlighting its relevance.
•  Pattern recognition, which is identifying familiar patterns.
•  Emotional involvement, which is embedding information with feelings or emotions.

 There are multiple kinds of intelligence, however every brain likes to process information through three different freeways. These would be visual, auditory, and kinesthetics.   The way in which people may process information may differ in these 3 freeways.

 It's important to realize that learning is an innate characteristic of human nature.  However in a setting where you are forced to retain information can be difficult to learn.  Teachers need to be able to find a way to be able to trigger this innate behavior while having a well structured lesson.

 The way you start your lessons is important to plan ahead, because some things are better taught in different ways than others.  As a teacher, when you are planning ahead you are forced to learn the subject matter to the best of your ability.  When the subject matter to be learned possesses meaning, organization, and structure that is clear to students; learning proceeds rapidly and is retain longer.

 When planning a lesson there are some key things you have to include.
1.) Title:  A title should include action terms which would inform the students that they’re going to be involved in a lesson.
2.) Situation: You want to match what you are teaching your students with what’s going on around in your community so that it is relevant to their lives.
3.) Objectives: Clearly stating objectives will help your students know what they are learning and what to expect from their lesson.
4.) Interest approach: This is to get students excited and motivated to learn at the beginning of your lesson.
5.) Reasons for studying unit: This is to help your students understand what the importance of your unit is.  It is also important to ask leading questions that help the students understand the importance of what they’re learning.
6.)Questions to be answered: Big questions to help them understand the context of the subject.
7.) Answering questions: You want to show transparency, have your discussion points and demonstrate the answer to the question.
8.) Applications of learning: Applying what you learn in a lab or a setting that they would be able to use it in every day life.
9.) References and teaching aids: This not only gives credit to what is helping you teach the subject, but also gives you a way to keep track of where you acquired the information.
10.) Evaluation procedure:  This can be anything from an exam to an exit ticket to a quiz to just  asking the right questions so that you can get an evaluation of how well your students retain the information you have taught.

 When you start to make your lesson plan one of the ways this can be done is to think of writing your lesson backwards. This is because you’re thinking with the end in mind and you can better plan your lesson based on the assessment that you want your students to know in the end.

 When creating your lesson plans you want to consider the different levels of thinking and make sure that your students can understand a concept based on all of the levels these levels are accurately represented in blooms taxonomy.