Problem Solving Lab Reflection

After reviewing my most recent lab feedback as well as watching the recorded video in lab I have discovered that there is much room for me to become a better teacher – I guess that is one of the purposes of lab!Things to improve:

1.       Enthusiasm.  To be honest this surprised me to see it on multiple peer evaluations.  I assumed that I had this natural energy and since I was excited about the topic in my head I thought it would just radiate through my delivery.  I must MUST work on this especially because in my head I thought it was one of my strengths!

1.       Lab Approach.  So this lab was a problem solving lab and I tried to provide my students the problem and have them develop the solution.  The class was a leadership class and yet I did all the directing.  I assumed that by doing this I would lead them to the appropriate area to think but perhaps I had that all wrong.  After watching some of my peers present I realize that it is okay to let your students decipher the problem.

1.       Clarity.  I try to be clear with my directions and sometimes I am repetitive to try to emphasis my point.  Maybe I should also have everything written out for students in individual packets to encourage learning at their own pace.

1.       Task-Oriented.  This is something I struggle with.  I know the tasks and try to manage time correctly but I get very concerned about walking around when students are in pairs. I am fearful because I don’t want to mess up their jive as they are exploring possibilities to solve a problem.  On the other hand perhaps me walking to each group would encourage students to be more diligent in their tasks.

Positives:

1.       I acknowledged things to improve!

1.       I was smiling in class

1.       The students were engaged

1.       There was opportunities for students to harness their ideas

Overall, I think that there is much for me to work on to become a better teacher.  I am excited to continue working in labs to gather ideas from my peers and to build myself into a better teacher.  I am also excited to work with Mrs. Bier at Shippensburg to learn her skills and style for facilitating a variety of instruction! 

Evaluating Learning

Enjoy this video about assessments & brain targeted learning.

In this week’s readings I learned that there are many methods and techniques for evaluating learning.  In Newcomb’s Chapter 14 it states that “Evaluation is needed for: pre-testing, giving feedback for instructional effectiveness, motivating learners, better student learning and assigning student grades.”  The evaluation should ultimately be objective based especially since the daily lesson objectives should directly coordinate with the end learning goal.

There are many ways to assess and evaluate a student’s learning.  There are: multiple choice, true and false, fill in the blank, short answer, and essays for exams.  In relation to evaluating learning in laboratory settings Warner says there are things like concept maps, Vee maps, and portfolios that can be used as assessments.  Warner also mentions that while these things take longer to actually use, they are typically easier to evaluate.

Something important to consider when creating assessments is how they are going to be evaluated.  It is pretty much a necessity to create and utilize rubrics for assignments.  Rubrics create a greater accountability and reliability in grading.  They also offer structure and guidance to students as they complete their task.  Here is a list of things to consider when grading exceptional learners:

1.  Ask whether the standard is an appropriate expectation without adaptations
2.  If the standard is not appropriate determine what type of adaptation the standard need
3. If the standard needs modification determine the appropriate standard
4. Base grades on the modified standard, not the grade-level standard
5. Communicate the meaning of the grade

Problem-Based & Problem- Solving!

                                             

Through this week’s readings I learned quite a bit about Problem-Based Learning as well as the Problem-Solving Process.  The most important take-away for me in learning about this is that it really helps the students to be the ones to develop an answer and reach their own conclusion.  These techniques truly promote student learning.

Problem Based Learning is defined as a teaching strategy that includes: problem solving, inquiry learning, project-based teaching, and case studies.

Some of the steps are:

• Students are presented with an ill-structured problem and work in groups to arrive at some resolution
•  The teacher facilitates learning by selecting problems for learning and by organizing student groups that work toward problem solutions

The Problem Solving Process revolves around thinking strategy and it entails:

1. Recognizing and defining the problem
2. Clarifying the problem
3.  Identifying possible solutions
4. Testing a solution or plan
5. Evaluating the results

These concepts of teaching around “problems” were around for many decades, even in the late 1900s the IDEAL model from Bransford was the following:

1. Identify the problem
2. Define the problem through thinking about it and sorting out the relevant information
3. Explore solutions through looking at alternatives, brainstorming, and checking out different points of view
4.  Act on the strategies
5. Look back and evaluate the effects of your activity

Overall it was great to learn about more teaching styles to add a little bit more flare into my future classroom!

Pesticide Education

     While in my senior year of college I am studying to be an agriculture educator but I am also working as an intern for the Penn State’s Pesticide Education program.  As an employee for Pest Ed I find myself questioning all the time “Is this really work?” or “I’m getting paid for this?”  I am constantly amazed with how much I genuinely love my job.  Not only do I work with some of the most kind-hearted people but I also get to be an advocate for something that I believe in and that aligns perfectly with the work of my college studies. 

     For Pest Ed I promote the safety of using chemical products I teach young children the importance of Mr.  Yuk, a sticker that goes household products to signal children to stay away.  

     I also have been learning and educating people about the importance of proper airblast sprayer calibrations and how to correctly measure the appropriate amount of chemicals needed for a specific crop.  My personal belief is that pesticides are important and are a necessary part for our overall food production and that they must be used precisely according to their label. 

     Recently I was able to participate in several fantastic outreach events.  I worked at the Dive Deeper conference in Harrisburg which promoted clean waterways.  This conference was flooded with extension workers who were both public and private.  Everyone came prepared and ready to share classroom curriculum, teaching ideas, and resources related to watersheds and even community gardens.

     Another event that I participated in was a Kiddie Day at Keystone International Livestock Exposition (KILE).  This event was held at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA and children were bused to KILE from all over and around the city.  While the children participated in this Kiddie agriculture day they traveled to many different stations that promoted different components of agriculture and educated the students and their teachers about why they are important.  At the Pesticide Education booth I helped to share the importance of Mr. Yuk and the message that if you don’t know what something is you should not eat, drink, smell, or even touch it.  This is a message that seems very basic but unfortunately, the majority of poisonings reported at the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia hospitals are from children under the age of 5 and the toxic poisoning happened inside their home. 

     Just a few days later I participated in another event that had the same message in a community day in CenClear County.  While there I interacted with children and their parents from that community and helped to distribute and teach about the Mr. Yuk stickers to the visitors.   

     It is without hesitation that I love my job.  I enjoy writing lesson plans and helping to develop curriculum, but most importantly I find true value in the work that I do because I believe that it truly makes a difference!

Changing the Education System

Recently I was asked to share something related to the education system and that made me think about this system as a whole.  I think we should change our system from a "top-down" approach to one that is completely "sideways."  Take 3 minutes to watch why!

Weekly Writing

                                

                      Modeling Effective Teaching Techniques - Very Beneficial!

After this week’s readings of Newcomb I have come to realize that I, an aspiring agriculture educator, am responsible to use a lot of techniques to keep my students engaged.  I am responsible for leading the Learning Process by using a wide range of approaches.  To begin allow me to share with you the six steps in the learning process:

1.       Experiencing a provocative situation

2.       Defining the problem – clarifying questions to be answered

3.       Seeking data and information

4.       Formulating possible solutions

5.       Testing proposed solutions

6.       Evaluating the results

These steps lead into things for me as the teacher, known as Problem-Solving Approach to Teaching.  These particular steps are as follows: Interest Approach, Objective to be achieved, Problems to be solved – questions to be answered, Problem solution, Testing solutions through application and, Evaluation of solutions. 

The learning process and the problem-solving approach to teaching are two things that in my opinion – can be intertwined.  They can be intertwined in ways that promote independence, make use of multiple opinions, evaluate and apply information, and even teach students how to learn.  Some of the activities that can be utilized to achieve these goals are: supervised study, experiments, independent study, the use of student notebook, and a variety of papers that contain information, skills, and assignments. 

This week’s readings have helped me as the educator to realize that I have a lot of resources available to me to better my students.  Something that is nice is that these resources and techniques are things that are very little cost to no cost at all.  This means that to be a good teacher and to really hone in on the learning process, does not mean that I have to be at a wealthy school.  I am excited to incorporate all of these great ideas into my future lesson plans especially as I prep to student teach!

First Ever Unit Plan Reflection!

Recently I was responsible to turn in my first unit plan…  Yikes!  I was so nervous because I wanted to have all of the pieces together, I wanted to have it look professional, I wanted it to be perfect and yet I was not sure where to start.  Several days prior to the deadline for the unit plan I emailed and texted several of my friends from the 2014 PSU Ag Ed co-hort for an example of what they did.  Everyone responded and provided me with examples and shared wonderful ideas and inspirational survival advice and then I was on my way.

I completed my very first unit plan on Plant Propagation and I read my horticulture textbook to make sure I met all of the components and topics.  I completed the outline from the friends I contacted to ensure that I was reaching my expectations.  Once I included all of the 18 essential components, I was finally ready to submit it to be peer reviewed.  In the feedback that I received my peers both thought that I should list specific lesson titles as opposed to saying “Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3, etc.”  I was also instructed to list at least 3 benchmark standards listed, and I should mix up some of my activities so I do not have a daily PowerPoint. 

The suggestions my peers gave me came as no surprise because as I was writing the unit plan I was not entirely sure about all of the resources available for me to use at Shippensburg High School.  One of the reasons is that the high school that I am from is very, very poor and lacked resources.  As I was writing my unit plan I did not want to design an elaborate plan full of things that would cost MONEY because what if the school did not have a decent budget?  So my unit plan was relatively boring full of almost daily PowerPoints and other activities that could be made fun but were certainly low budget.  The same day that I handed in my Unit Plan I drove the two hours to Shippensburg to meet with Mrs. Bier and discuss some of my issues.  Then she showed me that there were crayons and markers and play-doh and so many other materials that can add into the hands-on experience component.  Mrs. Bier also shared with me that I can have guest speakers and I can arrange half day field trips.

While I will definitely modify and improve my first unit plan, I feel much more comfortable in developing my future ones and ideally making them much more interactive.  Also as part of this assignment, I officially feel like I am a part of the Ag Ed Fam!  There is so much goodness among the members of this group and intertwined with them is the willingness to help and share and inspire.  I hope that one day I can be just as good to others as my role models are to me!