Visiting a Science Classroom: Epic Learning

On January 16^th I had the privilege to visit Mr. Mancino’s biology classroom.  Shippensburg Area Senior High School has multiple science teachers, but Mr. Levy (school principle) told me to observe Mr. Mancino, so I knew I was in for a good lesson.  I was certainly impressed by watching Mr. Mancino teach.  It was clear that he has a positive vibe that the students instantly thrive off of.  The inflection in his voice captivated his learners and was very conversational and encouraged questions. 

Mr. Mancino began his lesson by stating the objectives and sharing how today instruction is connected to what they would learn on Monday and he did a stellar job of demonstrating a holistic view on what they were learning and how it relates to them.  Additionally, Mr. Mancino demonstrated a variety of teaching techniques by breaking up the activities for the class.  The instruction began with lecture, followed by independent learning using the textbook, next students were able to walk around the classroom to observe different organisms that the teacher had such as: frogs, mice, rabbits, snakes, turtles, and birds to name a few, and finally the class continued with more lecture and related videos.

Another thing that impressed me during the observation was that Mr. Mancino was very professional.  He was professional with his teaching style, his dress, and interaction with students.  It is very obvious that he is a great role model for his students.  Furthermore, Mr. Mancino connected his curriculum to three other academic subjects showing that his class is very much a cross-curricular experience. 

Overall, my time spent observing the science classroom was very beneficial and I am excited to use Mr. Mancino as another great resource during my time here at Shippensburg High School!   

Mid-Winter Convention!!!

January 12, 2015 was my very first day of student teaching.  This day that I had anticipated for a long time was canceled, but the life of an agriculture educator does not stop for a little bit of ice.  My cooperating teacher and I headed to the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg for the Mid-Winter Convention.  Since school was canceled we were not permitted to take students to the convention, however, some traveled with their parents to participate in the ceremony.  Shippensburg FFA had eight students who were selected for the FFA Jacket program and one student who earned the Keystone FFA Degree.  The Keystone Degree is the highest FFA degree that can be bestowed upon a member in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

During the convention I was able to take in all of the excitement as we members and guests listened to the speakers.  One of my favorite speakers who had a phenomenal message was Mrs. Sherisa Nailor who was representing the Pennsylvania FFA Alumni.  She helped to recognize the over 500 Freshmen FFA members as they received their stiff, crisp, new, and first every FFA Jacket.  As she recognized them she expressed that the FFA is like a family and that there is a plethora of hope for the advancement of agriculture and humanity because of young the Learners Today; Leaders Tomorrow (2014-2015 PA FFA Theme) in the blue jacket.   As Mrs. Nailor spoke I was able to reflect on the beginning of my personal journey with agriculture education and realized that mine starter seven years ago as I received that new corduroy jacket. 

In closing, I consider myself very blessed to be a part of the Ag Ed family and I am glad that my lifelong journey began seven years ago!       

Final Lab Reflection

Throughout this past semester I was grateful to have the opportunity to strengthen my skills as a teacher both internally as well as through my actions.  The lab for pre-service teachers was definitely a positive experience.   Through the lab I was challenged as I prepared lessons, gathered supplies, interacted with students, and received suggestions for improvement, and all of those challenges helped to make me a better educator. 

If I had the power to improve the lab component of AEE 412 I would do it by having the students present their LifeKnowledge lesson in the beginning of the semester, or perhaps have them do it at the end (or after) the Spring semester and then do a “round 2” in the early fall.  I think this will help the students to start conceptualizing how they can better utilize their future classroom, and also ideally measure progress!  I am a fan of the LifeKnowledge lesson, but I think there would be greater benefits to have it earlier in the pre-service preparation.

Personally I have grown substantially especially for having my lab session at 8AM I quickly learned the importance of timeliness and that as soon as class starts I have to be ready to go.  Additionally through the use of the ThereNow videos (the technology used to record me during labs) I was able to start identifying my little quirks and how I can improve.  My professional growth throughout the lab component is also significant as I was able to professionally accept constructive criticism.  This lab has helped to show me that I am not perfect, and that it is okay!  I was able to develop much appreciation for the feedback from my peers and instructor because they provided it to help make me better.    

Reflection was a significant component of the lab for 412 and by habit and constant repetitiveness that has made me both a reflective learner and a reflective teacher.  Through the use of the ThereNow videos I had the privilege of watching my performances as an instructor as well as many of my peers.  Having the ability to utilize technology for reflection was beneficial because it helped me to identify my own strengths and weaknesses as well as highlights from my peers. 

I think that in order to be a better educator I must constantly take time to reflect.  I can do this by preparing quality lesson plans, reviewing and revising the lessons before the day of presenting to make the cognitive connect to the previous lesson, marking the lesson afterwards with ideas for improvement for the next time around with that lesson, and reviewing my goals as a professional.  In the book that I read this summer “See me After Class” I learned that there is great value in reflecting and reassessing one’s progress and goals.  This is a skill that I was able to develop this semester and one that I hope I will always be improving!

One of the things that I wish would have been detailed more in depth for better understanding in the AEE 412 teaching lab expectations is just ease of access to information.  The lab packet provided great detail for each lab; however, the lab packet and the 412 packet sometimes had conflicting information such as dates or expectations.  I think that if they could be merged into one big packet that would better clarify all of the expectations.

In conclusion, this semester was one that certainly helped me to grow and has prepared me significantly for my future student teaching experience at Shippensburg High School!

Operation: Creativity!

Today’s lab was AWESOME – really it was.  The topic for our final lab as pre-service teachers was “Creativity Challenge” and my peers and I were supposed to arrive to class with our favorite unit plan in hand.  The unit plan that I chose to bring was my SAE (Supervised Agriculture Experience) plan because even though I am teaching a unit on SAE, it is also a necessary part of every agriculture class.  Our assignment for lab was to go to the Dollar Store and we were permitted to spend $5 on anything that would aid in helping a unit/lesson be more creative.

For SAE I decided to focus on the four different types: Entrepreneurship, Exploratory, Placement, and Research. I came up with the following:

Type of SAE	Item	Reason
Entrepreneurship	Poinsettia	Students can earn money by growing and selling poinsettias
Exploratory	Big Glasses	Students can investigate different options of things they are interested in by attending something like a career fair or creating a report
Placement	Pig Stuffed Animal	Students can have an internship somewhere such as a farm or ranch, or even an ag-based business
Research	Rubber Gloves	Students can plan and conduct a scientific experiment related to the agriculture industry

 

During this lab I learned that simple additions can really help to spice up a lab and it can be on a thrifty budget too!  Additionally the things that I got have multiple purposes and can be transferred to other lessons and areas in the classroom.  For instance, the pig is technically a dog pull toy that has two handles on it and for my classroom it can double as a hall pass!

I am so excited to dive into student teaching!

My LifeKnowledge Lesson

Recently I had the great opportunity to teach at the greatest learning place of all times, the home of the Greyhounds, the one and only Shippensburg High School!  I truly do love my cooperating center because it has a very welcoming atmosphere and has the ability to live out the 4-H motto and “Make the Best Better.”  In addition Mrs. Bier, my cooperating teacher, is a phenomenal mentor for an aspiring teacher like me!

While my school is a perfect fit for me and will help me to grow beyond my own imagination, it quickly taught me that I am not the perfect teacher, at least not yet.  I taught something known as a LifeKnowledge lesson during my Thanksgiving break.  A LifeKnowledge lesson is one that is based on leadership and is geared towards helping students reflect, develop intra- and inter- personal skills, be effective team members, etc.  Mrs. Bier asked me to present this lesson to her leadership class that has 7 students in it who were the Chapter Officers. 

In my head I thought this would be the perfect time to re-connect with the officers and to get them to reflect on their progress as a team since I last saw them together.  I followed the lesson plan and asked the students to draw things, to make actions to express techniques for reflections, to verbally share and I felt like the students did not want to give me anything to work with.  They seemed to do the bare minimum and were hardly engaged.  Now part of this can be contributed to the fact that it was right before Thanksgiving, perhaps another reason was that a snow storm was on the way, and a different factor was that I moved them into the shop so they could be all circled around the shop table.

At the conclusion of my lesson I spent some time truly reflecting with Mrs. Bier and shared with her that I was unpleased with how the lesson went, and that I thought the officers would be really into it because after all, it was a leadership class.  I also shared that I know I can do better but I needed her help.  Mrs. Bier provided me great insight.  She said that I should not have moved the students into the shop, and instead had the students move the desks in a circle in the classroom.  Additionally, I should have written the information on the board instead of having everything visual on the handouts.  That way the students can get the same thing from multiple places.  Also, it would have probably worked better if I gave students specific examples applicable to their chapter instead of expecting them to develop their own. 

Overall, despite the fact that the lesson delivery was not state of the art, I can say that I, the teacher, learned A LOT!  Mrs. Bier shared with me simple yet powerful techniques that will serve me well as I prepare to enter student teaching.  This experience was not perfect, yet it assured me that my mentor has a plethora of knowledge to give.  It was certainly a “LifeKnowlege” lesson for me!

 

Weekly Writing - Classroom Management

This week as I reviewed the classroom management articles and pages by Wong as well as by Newcomb’s book on Strategies for Effective Teaching, one phrase kept coming to my mind: “Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.”  I was first introduced to this phrase in 2011 when I served as a State FFA Officer and I traveled to Laurel FFA for a chapter visit in Western Pennsylvania.  Those words were one of the posters hanging up in the classroom and it stuck with me.  All of the writings and the articles seem to express one thing: the importance of preparation.  One of the very first pages in Wong’s Chapter 12 says this:

“Effective Teachers Are Ready”

“Effective Teachers Have the Room Ready.”

“Effective Teachers Have the Work Ready.”

“Effective Teachers Have Themselves Ready.”

Readiness, is obviously an important thing.  This is because as soon as you the teacher is prepared, than your students are also ready to take on the day.  

Another part of the reading shares about the fact that one’s reputation will certainly precede them.  It is important (especially as a beginning teacher) that I work really hard to establish the appropriate classroom environment so that I can and will be correctly represented,  As far as beginning that reputation it is mentioned to start by greeting your students and also communicating with parents, after all parents are the student’s first ever teachers!

Classroom Management is an important skill that has the ability to set the entire learning environment!