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.

Final reading reflection!

 The time has come for my final reflection on the last lecture.  This book was very good. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants a different perspective on life .  While reading I had a few questions that came to my head that I wish to propose to my mentor team. The questions are as follows:

 1.)Do you think as teachers we should let our students have dreams? If so, should there be some confinement of logic you should guide them with? 

2.) Are there nitpicky things that you have ever gotten hung up on in the classroom? What did it take for you to realize your frustration was silly and you should just let it go? 

3.) Would it be okay to make a deal with your students if it meant reducing conflict? Just as Randy did with leaning back on the chair at his moms house. 

4.) When things get tough, how do you move forward and avoid complaining about it? 

5.)"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."  What does that mean to you? 

6.) Would you b willing to put your career on the line if you knew a student was in the right and your higher up was in the wrong?

7.) Do you think it's  good to teach simple social skills subtly to your students? For instance, teaching them how to apologize properly?

8.) How have you helped students to conquer brick walls? How have you yourself conquered them?

 One thing that stuck out to me was when my mentor Matt Eddy said in response to question five that this isn't like any other job, in that the technical aspect is minor compared to experience, as there will always be new situations.

 At the very end of Matt's response he said something that really stuck with me, that the beauty of this gig is you almost always have another chance tomorrow.


I hope that the questions proposed allowed for people to reflect on what they have read, and that the questions might promote inward thought even without the context of the novel.  My blog is open to comments and whoever wants to discuss further please feel free to leave one!

I hope to one day apply what I have learned from this text to my classroom, and to utilize a growth mindset.  Alongside the characteristics of effective teaching, I hope to help myself and my students achieve the best we can together in our program.

Effective teaching reflection

With every profession there are characteristics that make people great. A big characteristic of teaching is how effective you are at it. To be am effective teacher there are some key things that not onky researchers have discovered make a great teacher, but students themselves have even said when proposed the question, what do you think makes a good teacher? These are just some of the things (also the top things) that make an effective teacher:
1.) clarity 

• It is one thing to know the content you are teaching, but it's another thing to teach in a way that is going to be clear to the students. Just because you know something really well, does not mean your students are going to get it right away. As a teacher I am going to have to realize this and be sure that every student has a clear understanding of what I'm trying to say.

2.)variability 

• It is important to mix up your teaching styles not only from lesson to lesson, but within one, that way students will be able to keep focus and not lose interest in the subject.  

3.)enthusiasm 

• Even though for some subjects it might be difficult, you should maintain enthusiasm in the subject, because enthusiasm is contagious and will bleed over to your students and keep them engaged. 

4.)business-like behavior

• While it is good to show enthusiasm, it is important to maintain a professional environment as to allow for structure and order in the classroom.  

5.)opportunity to learn

• There is always room to grow, so you should make sure to learn new things as you go to provide new insight into your teachings and to grow alongside your students.

With knowing all of these, thanks to rosenshine and furst, I will strive to meet these to become the best teacher I can be for my students.

The Beginning of something great

Every adventure starts somewhere and this past week my final year for my #PSUAgEd19 adventure has began. It’s crazy to think that after this semester I will be in the classroom teaching students at the amazing Juniata Valley High school with Ms. Raylene Russell. I’m nervous and excited.

With this past week there was no messing around and we dove right into having to teach a lesson right out of the gate. I had to teach the locations of the Central American countries and the mottos that they had with them. I had NO idea how I was going to do it. When I got back home I was able to do some research and found an awesome video that helped me rem the countries. I give credit to this video for allowing me to easily and accurately teach the locations of the countries. If you want to watch it here it is:

It was a little nerve wracking to go up and teach because I don’t have really any formal teaching experience, however once I got up there and started teaching I gained a comfort and that comfort allowed me to gain trust in myself to deliver the lesson that I needed to from the parameters I was given and I did the absolute best that I could.

At the end of the lesson we were asked to give 2 gems and 2 opps.

My Gems:

-Speaking clearly, so students can understand what I was talking about.

-making connections so that students could remember things easier.

My opps:

-I should have allowed my students to immerse more while I was teaching.

-ask questions that involve more thought.

Throughout this semester I not only hope to work on my 
opps, but also my gems. Because even if you think you’re good at something there is ALWAYS room for improvement and I’m ready to improve in everything I do. Not only professionally, but personally as well. I also want to improve not just for me, but for my students and the people I interact with on a daily basis. I just have to keep on keeping on and take everything one step at a time... and you know what? I’m ready! #AEE412