Final Reflection

            Then end of the journey is here and the beginning of a new journey starts. This semester has been one of the best learning experiences of my college career. Through the lab component of 412, it became evident very quickly that students are not always paying attention, grasping certain concepts, or interested in the material. However, I believe that I have learned new concepts to revert these feelings. Through the lab component, I have been able to work the bugs out of my teaching methodology and I feel confident in where I am today.

After taking this course, I am better suited for my professional career with the skills that I have obtained in this lab. I am more organized in thought and believe in myself even more. Furthermore, I have become more apt to planning my lessons and activities with more thought.

The lab reflections were a great help to me, after presenting, I would write down the things that went wrong in the lesson, but I would also write down the things that went right in the lesson. This helped me piece together future lessons of what would work and what I thought I needed to improve on. By having a reflective blog, I was able to see how other students did in each of the labs and I was able to learn from their experiences. Furthermore, I was able to share my experiences for the cause.

To make the lab better, I feel that the lab packet should be reviewed before the start of the year to ensure dates are accurate and that all assignments are in their rightful place. I think the overall lab was a great experience and it should not have any changes.

Leadership Lesson

Before I can begin to student teach, I am required to teach a Life Knowledge Lesson at my cooperating school. Over Thanksgiving break I went to my cooperating center to see how I could incorporate this lesson into my next couple days. After speaking with the teacher, we decided to have the lesson the following Monday before the school's break.

I began to prepare for my lesson and setting things up. I feel that the lessons provided were very dry, especially since they were meant for 100 minute lessons. As a result, I had to severely cut out some of the activities to make it fit the 43 minute time limit. This made the content of my lesson very dense and compacted. I felt that my lesson was very dry because it was hard to incorporate activities into the short lesson.

Overall, the lesson went well, I did make some mistakes. For example, I called on students whom I knew but was more reluctant to call on others who I did not know. I started to call on more students as time went by, but it was hard to incorporate students who I did not know. In the future, I will need to step out of my comfort zone more to include everyone into my lesson.

Micro Teaching

Before we begin our adventure student teaching, we are given a unique opportunity to teach in a high school setting for 3 days. In those three days, you learn more than you will in any lecture hall for 3 days. The main reason is that if you mess up, you will get to see the student again the following day. Therefore, it is important to do well out of the gate, it will set the stage for how your week will go.

Day 1

In my case, I thought I did well the first day for what I was expecting, but it definitely could have gone better. My issue was that I asked questions and oh boy, I got answers. The classroom management on my part allowed for students to chime in freely and without structure. (ouch). On the bright side, I definitely had the students interest in the subject matter and they did not feel embarrassed to answer. I would be up to do it this way in the future, if the students could understand the importance of listening to others and waiting their turn. Since this was high school students, I had to take them back to kindergarten on the second day.

Day 2

Back to kindergarten we went. I started out by addressing my classroom expectations on how I will accept answers. From this point on the students did well in how they answered. This made the classroom easier for me to keep track of and monitor how the students were learning. All in all, I believe that day 2 was my best day, I don't feel that I missed out on anything.

Day 3

Day three started out well, however, I do not believe that is how it finished. The reason being, I brought the game Jeopardy into the picture. I do not think it was the students fault, but more my fault. When I asked a question they would quickly reply with the answer by raising their hand before I was done reading. As a result, I was unable to tell who raised their hand first. I quickly addressed the issue and continued. As we played, I noticed some of the things that could have gone better. Having buzzers could have been really helpful. A clicker for me to move to the next side without having to be at the computer would have been better.


Overall I was very pleased with how I did for my first time in front of students for several days. I received good feed back from my those who evaluated me and I put it in motion when I could. I feel confident and ready to step into the classroom and effectively give instruction.

Inquiring about Inquiry Based Instruction

Inquiry Based Instruction (IBI) is a very interesting approach to student learning. IBI uses questions and "inquiry" to drive student's curiosity toward experimental learning.

For this lab, our cohort had more preparation towards understanding how to incorporate IBI into our classrooms. We began our adventure by participating in teacher workshops at National FFA Convention. It was a great resource to gain, however, they seemed to incorporate more of a laboratory theme instead of a true inquiry.

True inquiry to me, means that the student is self reliant through the entire process of learning. If this is true, a teacher should not be present for any part of the experimental learning. The process begins by having the student form and present the question. From here, the student gathers evidence to either support or refute their hypothesis. Students will then explain their evidence and connect it to other resources/ experiments. Following student connections, students communicate their findings and connections for others outside of the experiment to gain understanding.

For most instructors, understanding where to start is possibly the hardest part. Why? Starting the instruction without giving the students too much information so they may be able to form a question is hard. You want the students to be guided down a path but they should be able to walk it alone.

At first, I did not know what techniques to use to do this until I saw it happen in real life. After learning about IBI and then seeing it used, I could pick out the parts and understand what I needed to do.

I felt comfortable with this technique for my lab because it does not really matter what the students do with the procedures, as long as they are getting the results that the teacher was looking for. My lesson was on inhibiting growth of microorganisms in order to preserve food. I started out with the word "inhibit", I asked the class what it meant. Then I handed out different beverages that had some of the inhibitors I wanted to test. I asked them what was the common ingredient between the beverages. They almost all picked up on Sodium Benzoate after some discussion. From here, I handed out the different things to test. Immediately the class began to test it. HOWEVER!, they did not use the procedures I was looking for. This made me nervous, but it worked (fortunately).

I feel that this lab was possibly my best lab, however, I know that I still need to improve on my clarity. At times, it seemed like as if I was on a totally different planet than the students. I feel that my techniques are beginning to pull together rather than float out in space. I feel like I just need to clear up my approach.

The Problem Solving Approach Posed a Problem....

The problem solving approach-

As a student in high school and college, I LOVED when a professor started out the day with "So I got this email and I thought you guys could answer it.....". I don't know how it gets me so excited. And I don't mean like "yay, we don't have class today"; I mean like a dog drooling and waiting patiently to get the treat that is sitting on his nose. Its just something about getting the opportunity to let your light shine and finally using the knowledge that you have been just stuffing away that makes me so excited.

So when I heard that we were going to get the chance to use this approach, I started drooling. I had ideas bouncing from ear to ear about all the things I could try to use. Seeing that I LOVE soils and crop sciences, I started aiming in that direction. After looking through my unit plans for the perfect example, I found one. I decided to do the problem solving approach had to be on my favorite subject, soil nutrient management. Oh goody, this was gonna be perfect!! I had the knowledge to back me up and everything (I was really drooling at this point).

While I was preparing for my problem solving approach, I couldn't really decide which technique I wanted to use. I was stuck between situation to be improved and effect/cause. I really enjoy effect cause because you just can't be wrong as a student. There was just one problem, the lesson that I wanted to incorporate this into was right before the exam, as a result the approach would have to go before the lesson and carry throughout. Not a huge deal at all for my high school students, they would have time to digest and practice before being thrown into the spot light. However, for my "peer" students, it was going to ask A LOT out of them. Some how they would have to dig back to the old ages of SOILS 101 to even come close to answering the question. Oh boy, what to do? I decided to make my plan so that it would work for the AP Horticulture class (with college credits). That way, if it was a "bummer" in lab, it would be in there and not in the actual classroom.

I feel that it sure was a bummer....
When I started fast forwarding through the slides to just cover the problem solving approach and not the material, I lost the class out in left field. Correct that, I lost them in the parking lot!! They had no idea where this "drooling dog" was headed with all his happiness and pictures.

The main point, if you are trying to do well in lab, DO NOT make the problem solving approach be the center of the lesson plan and teach around it. I started out with a picture of a nitrogen deficient corn field and asked the students what is happening with Farmer Joe's field. Right off the bat I got the answer I wanted (nutrient leaching). Whoop! Whoop!!

Next I asked the class what should we tell Farmer Joe to do? (Crickets came out and starting singing at this point). So I hinted for a soil test (which would have been the lesson the day before). While "Farmer Joe" was getting his soil tested, we went over fertilizer calculations (N-P-K) and awaited "Farmer Joe's" reply. Once we got his test results a couple slides later, the students were then asked to calculate how much ammonium nitrate Farmer Joe should order if he had a 50lb nitrogen recommendation per acre on a 5 acre field. Using the ammonium nitrate (34-0-0), how much fertilizer should he order?

I think this lab went okay overall, it was not my best or my worst, but I think that if it were in my classroom it would have gone better because the content knowledge would have been right there in their minds. And you KNOW I have the approximate date written down when this dog will be drooling again to use this lesson ( ~February 6th).
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Weekly Writing 10/20

What do we need to know about assessments?

Why?

Assessing students provides a road map for the teacher. Having a needs assessment can pTrovide the teacher with an idea of where the students are in their understanding before the class starts. The teacher is able to see where the students are and it gives an idea as to what path needs to be taken for student success. Furthermore, it can provide motivation for the students to study and learn. Students that gain motivation from assessments will study for the exam and possibly gain understanding of the objective being taught.  Furthermore, assessments give instructors feedback on how the students are taking in the information. This is important for the teacher as it allows for them to know if they need to change the approach of their teaching.

When?

Assessments should be done on a continuous basis. Teachers should assess their students throughout every lesson every day. You might wonder, "well how can you teach anything if you are just assessing"? Well, you are not giving exams or quizzes every second, but you are asking questions to the class. These questions might only consist of checks for understanding after a concept is expressed. However, a teacher is still assessing the students understanding with the question. Therefore, an assessment is occurring.

Assessments can also be taken at end unit objects to evaluate how well the students took in the information. This will show a cumulative result of teaching and understanding for the objectives taught in the classroom. From this point, the instructor can evaluate themselves on different methods of teaching to convey the information to the students.

How?

Instructors can use a variety of different assessment techniques. Some different techniques can include journal entries, concept maps (students relating ideas or facts to one another), lab workbooks, and literature reviews are just some "outside the box" assessment techniques. Assessments after instruction can vary in format in many ways. The format should be chosen on the level of thinking desired of the students. For example, multiple choice questions do not require the student to have a deep understanding of the content covered in class. However, essay tests require the students to students to have a very deep understanding of the content and calls for extra studying.  

Summary

Assessments are critical tools in understanding the learning that is taking place in the classroom. Without assessments, teachers would be trying to find a needle in the hay stack when it comes to understanding what the students need to know. Assessments can be given at any to check for understanding and student learning and are key to student success. 

Problem Solving Weekly Writing

One of my favorite things to do in agriculture class is problem solving. Its as close as it comes to real life experience. As a result, students feel as if they are doing something productive and something that has meaning. In other words, there is a felt need to know. Furthermore, it allows students to use their background and past knowledge to make a decision on a situation.

My favorite example is when a teacher provides little background information at first on the problem. Something like a picture with some role play to go with it. For example, the teacher would have a picture of some corn that is heavy infected with gray leaf spot. Starting class out, the teacher could pull a phone out and role model the conversation between a farmer and an agronomist. The students would be able to see the problem and hear a description about the problem as their background information. As the students progress through the problem they will be given more information about the problem to help lead them to an answer.

I am excited to use this tool in my lab and also this spring when I student teach. It will be a really fun piece to use and see how my students take advantage of it.

Breakin' Down the Milker Demo

For this assignment, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The assignment was to demonstrate a skill/ or technique in Ag Mechanics for approximately 30 minutes. This was the hardest part for me, "Ag Mechanics", not that I don't know anything in ag mechanics, but because I only have one class in the spring for ag mechanics.

Welding is very difficult to demonstrate in a classroom without any equipment or surfaces made for welding. As a result, I began to brain storm ideas of how to weld but not actually weld anything. I was given an idea by my advisor to use toothpaste and mimic the welding motion with the tooth paste. I thought it was a really good starting point that I could build off of.

Next came the glue gun idea. This idea came about because i wanted something hot that you could mold and let it set up, very similar to welding. I would have 2 pieces of cardboard that the students could essentially "weld" together at different angles. The idea seemed perfect for where I was trying to demonstrate it. However, after having a student do this demonstration would they be able to walk out into the shop and know how to weld? I know that I would not have felt safe letting a student do that. As a result, this conceptual based demonstration would not work for what I was trying to accomplish. Onto Plan B.

 Plan B.

I have a food science class in the spring and we will be going over dairy products. Since I am from a dairy farm, I have resources to pull from for this demonstration. I decided to disassemble a milking unit to show students what a milking inspector would do to inspect a dairy farm. As the class would do this, we would look for areas that are most likely to have buildup.


The Demo.

 The demonstration went better than I anticipated. The students were interactive and found it interesting. However, I should have called on students to participate instead of asking. I found that as I asked, more students turned down the participation. For future teaching experiences, I will have to start calling on students and have them participate with me to get the class involved more.

Furthermore, I received great feedback that I should progress through the dis-assembly of the milker in a more logical order. Milkers do not have a certain pattern that a person needs to follow to disassemble them. You can almost start anywhere to disassemble the milker. H owever, to teach the concepts and techniques of the milker, it would have been better to follow the path the milk takes or vice versa. This would give the students a clear path and road map that we were going to follow.
 

I feel that this was possibly my best lab yet, I felt very confident in what I was doing and my organization of materials was at its best. However, I am far from being content. I have much improvement to be made and I need to use the great feedback that I received to build on and become better.

Weekly Writing #2

Field trips are a great teaching tool that can help relate information learned in the class to real life examples. However, they have to be used correctly. Field trips should always have an educational purpose or objectives for the students to gain from.

Before a trip, the teacher needs to obtain permission from administration and make arrangements for the trip. Students should also be familiar with the destination they will be visiting. This will help keep downtime from happening and students will be more comfortable to a new location. During the trip, I would try to give students a worksheet or something physical for them to complete. This will allow for the students to have a resource to stay on track while at the destination.

Question can be a great tool to use during the trip as well. They can be used to develop interest or motivation for the students. It can also be used to maintain attention on the subject matter. By using Bloom's Taxonomy, teachers can develop student's understand with higher level questions. Questions can also be used to give confidence to a student as well.

I am excited to think about taking students on fields trips this spring. From my experience, field trips were the best. It was a change up in the day and you got to learn something right in front of you instead of seeing pictures of it. 

Interest Approach Experiment

Yesterday, I had my second trial run in front of the same group of students. On the first day of school the students had difficulty paying attention because they were given a task that could be answered with discussion. Seeing this, I wanted to plan something that would be hands on and that I could isolate the students to limit the off-topic discussion that took place previously. In order to do this, I had the students blindfolded and describe a sample of Play-Doh using their hands. They were asked to essentially texture the Play-Doh. This was to help them use their senses to identify components within a soil. I wanted to refine this skill and bring it to the attention of the students that you can be more observant with your hands than you think.

Overall, I believe it was perceived well as evidenced by the lack of behavioral issues and the students were not able to see what others were doing thus isolating them to the content at hand and limiting the disciplinary issues. Furthermore, I believe it was a success based on how the students answered questions that I posed with the activity.

One thing that I am not sure if I would change or not is having only a couple students do the exercise. I believe the benefits associated with having only a couple students do the exercise would be less materials but also fellow students could see what is happening. However, the downside of this could be that the fellow students would be more likely to get off topic with each other depending on the class.

 I would like to continue to use this as a agriscience teacher. It was a great activity to get the students focused on how to texture soil. The blindfold was key in limiting their senses to only feeling the sample.

I believe that it went much better than the first day of school, however, there is still room for improvement.

First Day of School

Yesterday I had my first trial run conducting classroom instruction with my cohort.

I was surprised how the role playing made the classroom feel very real to a high school classroom. Furthermore, I can see how it relates to students in my college courses now and I can pick out the personalities much faster.
 I don't feel like I was caught in an awkward position by my students in the trial run but I definitely saw that I need to improve on tasks/activities that make the students do writing. I think if I incorporate more hands on tasks, the students will be more engaged than as if they were to speak out. The speaking out that I had in the last class tended to have more negative classroom instruction than I would have liked to see.

I can definitely see how that when I become an agriculture teacher, I will have to tailor the lessons and activities to the students that I will be teaching.

Compared to the very first lesson I taught, this went MUCH better. I felt more relaxed, I was more prepared than the last time and just felt comfortable. I think that if I can keep having the same improvements between each trial, I will be comfortable going into student teaching.