Sept. 30 Weekly Writing

From the couple different readings done this week, I was able to gain a great deal of knowledge about cooperative learning, field trips, individual coaching and asking questions . When I was reading the article on field trips, I reminisced on my past field trips. They were the best days in class, because we weren’t actually in class! 

I was always interested in our field trips because we would go to environmental areas, National Parks, or other science based program. This is, when I look back, where I began my love for the environment and my idea of becoming an educator. Taking students into a non-formal setting is one of the best ways for them to learn. After the article, it was so clear why I liked field trips the most, and why I gained a lot of information. There were pre-trip, trip, and post-trip items covered which made everything much smoother once we were actually on the field trip. Getting an agenda, timetable, and list of information about the place was a great resource. Teachers have to do a lot of work for students to simply sit back and only have to worry about learning on the trips. I hope to do as many non-formal lessons as I can, because students respond to new environments with new mindsets to facilitate growth.

Going along with facilitating field trips, group work is right up there in importance. Whenever I think of cooperative learning, I get this idea of students letting one of the members do all the work, but that is a fear of all teachers I think. This cooperative learning technique gives way to open many doors that students benefit from. I honestly believe that most of the learning should be done in small groups or as one large group in class. I think singular learning is very scary for some students, and I can think back to times when I was nervous in calculus class because I had no idea what was going on, and the teacher just kept telling us to do everything on our own.

Teachers are many things to students. We have to play numerous roles in teaching, extracurricular activities, personal life, and many others. It is a tough balance, but using variability with field trips, group work, and individual coaching make each workday important and valuable. I value the role a teacher plays in student’s lives. Understanding how students learn and like to be taught is an art form, something that takes time to craft and mold, but worth all the effort in the end. Hopefully I will learn enough to create my masterpiece of teaching some day. 

 

Interest Approach Lab #2

With the second assignment of our lab taking place, the interest approach was the main focus. I had to really dig deep to figure this lesson out, and I felt from the start that I was going to have a tougher time. I first decided to find my interest approach for the assignment, and work on the lesson from there. Looking back, it was not the best strategy. As I was working from my interest approach, I found the lesson subjects and objectives were not flowing as I wanted them to. I ended up finishing the lesson, but it was not one of my best. It was frustrating for a while, but I just had to keep going to finish what I was working on.

When it came to lab time, I was a less nervous than the week before. I had in my mind that I was going to do this interest approach, and hopefully connect it so the students would understand all of the ideas. I started off and was able to get the students engaged in the activity. I gave the groups a plastic cup, a coffee filter, and a tea bag. They poured the water onto the tea bag and it filtered through the coffee paper into the bottom of the cup. The students were very intuitive to what was happening in the approach, so I felt that I had gotten my point across to lead into the objectives of the day. My interest approach felt like it really fast, and there were times that I could have put in some more information, but just couldn't find the right words to say. I think, as a future educator, you can plan your lessons out to the most specific point, but there is always another factor that is not in your control. That is how you react, your students react, and the happenings on that specific day.

Overall,  I realized I had a really fun interest approach, but that I need to be more enthusiastic towards the students to make them more engaged and excited for the activity. I have a new outlook on lesson plans, starting from the end point and working backwards to early parts, like the interest approach. I feel each week we have to reflect to grow as educators, so I look forward to doing more in depth teaching and critique in the upcoming weeks. 

My First Day

The First Day of School

For the AEE 412 Lab, today we did a mock simulation of the first day of school. As I began my lesson planning and preparation, I was full of mixed emotions. I felt happy, sad, anxious, and many others that made this situation much tougher than it needed to be. I was able to get my emotions together, and figure out what I needed. 

As we started lab, no one wanted to go first. Being that guy, I volunteered, even though I really didn't want to. I thought I might as well just get it over with, one or two people in front of me would not make a difference anyway. I got up there, and felt the nerves rush over me. I could feel my heart beating, and even though I knew this was all fake, it still meant something. I began the lesson and followed my plan pretty much how I wanted to do it. I definitely think the nerves I had were good, or at least I convinced myself to try and spin them off in a good way. I was able to do the lesson, but I realized it is much tougher to handle all the different students who were role playing as well. This multitasking was something I personally wasn't used to, but it was something I just had to do on my feet. I realized for the lab that teaching is supposed to be a planned, written down, specific activity, but it never works out like that. Teachers have to be adaptive, and take obstacles without missing a stride. My 10 minute presentation seemed to fly by, and I had done some good things, and some bad. 

The overall experience of the lab was promising. I realized that I can be nervous, but to keep it under control so the students don't become nervous as well. I plan on working more enthusiasm into my lessons, getting students excited and ready for class. I enjoyed teaching this little scenario, especially because I liked making connections with what the students were saying to me. Creating the rapport with the students is something I feel makes a classroom and teacher that much better. I was happy with the performance of my first day, but I see much room for improvement. It was a little bittersweet to think that in a year I could actually be doing this scenario in a real life classroom. 

Weekly Writing for Sept. 16

In this week's readings, I gathered a large amount of information on objectives and interest approach. Throughout my schooling, especially towards the later years, my teachers were demanded to put up all of the objectives and standards on the board. At the time, I saw this as just another item that I didn't need to read. But, as the class went on, and I became disengaged, I would always look back to those objectives to recapture the ideas my teacher was trying to convey. As a potential future educator, I now understand the complete importance of having an interest approach and objectives for the students.

Everything in life has objectives and an interest approach. Hobbies, jobs, and many other items have to be relevant for a person to try out and produce growth. When something new is happening, they give you different goals to accomplish, from starting out on the guitar and learning the strings, to grabbing a book and reading it cover to cover. As a teacher, one of the most effective teaching strategies I have seen is the connection to everyday items. One of my past professors, Dr. Stevens, in the Education Psychology Department at Penn State, seemed to do this without even thinking about it. Every class he taught to us had some relevance, or connection, to our lives. If it was a funny story, a past example, or a case study that he had done in previous years, it all was relevant. I always found myself nodding my head in agreement because I could relate to everything he was saying. That class was, by far, one of my favorite at Penn State. I think about my own teaching some day, and hope I can do half of what he did as an educator. Students have changed over the many years, and today's society is so fast paced a teacher has to not lose stride when things change.

When I completed the articles, I was really questioning if I could create lessons that have clear objectives, and solid interest approaches. I had to sit back, readjust my mindset, and think about what would interest me about a subject. I did this for a while, gaining some insight, but I still felt not fully there. I think all things take time, so creating objectives and interest approaches will just have to be something I have to keep practicing. Education can be an endless abyss of subjects and lessons, but objectives produce small, attainable goals that students can manage each day.

Here is a link to a thread on communities of practice that gave me a few helpful tips on creating new interest approaches: http://communities.naae.org/thread/1521?start=0&tstart=0

Weekly Writing September 4

Weekly Writing September 4

As I was reading through the books and articles for today's reflection, the idea of teaching really hit home. Viewing the many different ways a student can learn, I was, to say the least, nervous. Having 8 different types of intelligence, there are so many different areas to cover so all students will be able to learn and grasp the concepts being taught. Reardon makes it a point to say every brain is unique, whether it be genetically or in physical size. I realized that sometimes that a teacher cannot always cater to every type of intelligence, but has to sprinkle in some parts of each type so that hopefully the learners can connect some things and push them to problem solve and be curious to the new subjects.

In the other readings, there were some other keys ideas on foundations of agriculture education. One of the lines that made me think more in depth was, "Occupational decision making is a process, not an event." This statement is something I never realized. When I make a decision, I usually just make it in a split second or within a very short amount of time. Rarely, do I see it as a process. Even though I weigh my options, consider the outcomes, and think about other items, it doesn't seem like it. These decisions made can either help or hurt the learning process. From the first day of school, to evaluating teaching skills at the end of the year, each decision needs to have the correct understanding, and reflection, to adequately fix or change a part. As a future teacher, I worry about making decisions. This day and age of teaching is much different, with more problems and responsibilities. I think decision making is a struggle for all teachers, whether they are first year or ready to retire.

Another idea I tossed around from the readings was the role of a teacher. I know teachers want students to pass their class, but is it better to have them just "pass" the class, or actually excel at that subject. I can understand some students have little interest in some subjects, but good teachers need to be engaging those students to become more involved. Teaching a subject is one thing, but teaching the real world applications, or aligning it with something the students relate to, is a true goal.

This week's reading gave me some ideas to further help my students. I want to find new techniques to increase my variability to all types of intelligence, making decisions not by emotional significance, but what is better for my students and myself. I hope when I am student teaching I will be able to connect the subjects to my own experiences, and make rapport to students so there can be numerous connections.

Here is a link to a short article that also discusses some decision making. I really liked his description of the four basic attributes of the decision making process https://cirt.gcu.edu/blogs/thoughts-on-teaching/decisionmakingintheclassroom