Life Knowledge Lab

Today, I completed my Life Knowledge lesson at my cooperating center, Mifflinburg High School. I chose a lesson on agricultural career clusters, which I taught to 12th graders in an Agricultural Technology course. While there were only five students in my class (this is a small class because it, essentially, prepares program completers for the NOCTI exams), but it still proved to be challenging. This class was first period, and you could certainly tell. The students were not very motivated this morning, and it didn't help that today was the due date for their citrus orders. Needless to say, some students seemed disengaged, while others scrambled to get their money turned into Mr. Kessler. For this reason, I began my lesson about ten minutes late.

When I was finally able to begin, I started off introducing the topic of career clusters. I pointed out that many of the students were seniors, and would have the challenging task ahead of them, of choosing a career path. All but one of the students were enrolled in Tech school, 2 of which were in the nursing program and the other two were in mechanical programs. So, these students had a solid grasp on their future careers.

After introducing the topic, we played Pictionary. Each student had to choose from a bag one career cluster, then draw it on the board as the other students guessed. This was fun, and went pretty well. Although, one student did not seem very engaged. I made it a point to talk to him directly, and tried to pull him in by asking him to take a turn drawing. He seemed to enjoy it once he began drawing.

Next, I explained that particular careers fall into each career cluster, then we brainstormed a list of careers for the Power Systems cluster. After we finished this, I challenged them to identify careers that they were not interested in, as well as ones that they were. I asked them to look at the list of careers (provided by the FFA Life Knowledge website) and cross off careers that they had no interest in, and highlight ones that they did. This went pretty well, but was rushed due to my late start.

After they did this, we shared their answers. Again, the same student seemed disengaged, but I tried hard to interact with him directly and pull him into the lesson. Towards the end, I do think that he was getting into the topic more.

Finally, I handed out a worksheet, that asked them to identify three careers that they were interested in. I also asked them to begin thinking about the types of training/certification/education that might be needed to pursue this career.

Overall, I think that my lesson went well. One thing that I need to work on is questioning (as usual!) I tend to either ask a question and not allow time for the students to answer it, or I don't utilize questioning at all. I also need to work on timing my activities. While my timing seemed good today, I have to wonder if I would have ended early, had I not began late.

Despite the things that I still need to work on, there were many positives to my lesson. I feel as though the lesson itself was engaging, and I particularly enjoyed the Pictionary game (which was not on the original Life Knowledge lesson- I thought of this activity). I also think that I did a nice job working one-on-one with the students as they were working independently. I tried hard to pull in the student who wasn't engaged, and I did a nice job directing my attention toward him. I also felt very comfortable teaching today. I am not sure if this is because of the small size of the class, or because I had known a few of the students from our National Convention trip and my previous visits. Regardless, I am happy to see that I am improving in my teaching, and I am genuinely looking forward to working with the students from Mifflinburg in January!

Soils & Sassy Students

When I first walked into Tyrone Area High School to teach on Monday morning, I was nervous. Sure, I had taught multiple times throughout the semester, but this time, I was teaching in front of real students, in a new classroom, with an unfamiliar teacher.

During my Microteaching experience, I taught a soils lesson to a Horticulture/Botany class. There were 15 students in the class, and many of them were Juniors or Seniors. I had planned full 45 minute lessons, but when we went to observe last Friday, Ms. Hoy told us not to count on teaching bell-to-bell. So, I altered my lesson for the first day.

On Monday, I taught a lesson about the "ingredients" in soil. I focused on the four components and the ideal soil. I started out by giving them cookies, and related the ingredients in cookies to the ingredients in soil. I then asked them to observe a soil sample, then presented a very short PowerPoint about the four soil "ingredients" and asked them to complete a worksheet.

I ended up finishing my lesson about ten minutes early... apparently I had cut the lesson too much. I began to panic inside, because I didn't have anything else for them to do. However, I decided that it may be a good idea for me to go over the answers from the worksheet. After doing this, and the ticket out/evaluation, we only had a few more minutes to spare, which I spent talking to the students. This taught me that I always need a back-up plan, or (at the very least) I need to keep in mind an activity that can be done if the students finish early. Needless to say, for the next day, I made a crossword puzzle, just in case!

Day two went fairly well. We talked about the factors that influence soil formation. I split them into groups and they were each responsible for reading a passage about one of the five factors and then creatively presenting the material to their fellow students. I was a bit disappointed, because my students didn't come up with very creative presentations (I was hoping for at least one song, or one skit!). All of them chose to present the material on a poster, instead. Overall, the presentations went well. However, they didn't seem that into it, and I am not sure that they grasped the concepts as well as I had hoped. However, from their answers, they did seem to be gathering some knowledge.

The third and final day was my absolute favorite, although it did have a few downfalls. I began by presenting a PowerPoint about sand, silt and clay, connecting it to the first two days. I felt a little uncomfortable lecturing, although I am not sure why. It might have been because the students didn't seem that engaged, which potentially could have been combated by providing them with a guided note sheet. Finally, we got to the soil feel test. I demonstrated how to use the flow chart to determine soil texture. I handled the soil, while the students read the steps to me. This went pretty well, although I know that not all of my students were paying attention.

After I turned them loose to test the texture of the five soil samples that I brought (I was really excited about these samples, because they were all different textures- nerdy, right?!) they seemed to really get into the lesson. They worked diligently, and for the most part, all students were engaged. One mishap did happen when the students mixed up the soil sample lids. This threw off some of their answers, which frustrated some students. However, I fixed the problem by checking my own answers and the students quickly recovered from the problem.

After the students finished their soil analysis, I went over the answers with them. They seemed to really be connecting what they had learned the past two days with our discussion, which was nice to see!

For the most part, the students were great! There was, however, one student who seemed a bit sassy towards me. While teaching, I noticed that she would roll her eyes and whisper to her friend. While I was teaching, this really threw me off and bothered me. As I was watching my video, I noticed this more than once, as well. I was, at first, very angry and a little hurt. However, the more I thought about it, I began noticing something interesting.

Although this student was rolling her eyes and being rude, she answered almost all my questions, and her answers were always correct. Either she had already known everything I was teaching, or she was actually paying attention. Additionally, she would seem disengaged when she was at her seat, but as soon as she was broken into a group and away from her friends, she would become engaged again. This makes me believe that she might have just been acting up to be "cool" around her friends. Although this did bother me, I believe that it was a good thing for me to experience, because it made me think and analyze my teaching and the situation.

In addition to learning how to deal with sassy students, I learned something about myself as a teacher. I discovered that presenting material in the form of a lecture makes me uncomfortable. I was afraid that I would present the material wrong, which was literally the only thing that I worried about while I was teaching. I found that I am way more comfortable teaching hands-on lessons. I think that this is pretty evident in my videos, as I really loosened up when the students were performing the feel test. I also need to work on giving directions, as my directions were a bit unclear.

Overall, I had a great time Microteaching. It gave me real-world experience and I learned a few things about myself as an educator. I appreciated Ms. Hoy's willingness to help us out!

Fishing for Inquiry

When I asked the class if they liked to fish, and told them that it was their lucky day because that's what we were doing in class, I received looks of confusion and excitement.

 For my inquiry-based instruction lab this week, I decided to do an activity that introduced students to the concept of the Tragedy of the Commons. In this activity, I gave them all a bowl of Goldfish crackers and Swedish Fish. They were to fish, using chopsticks. We played three rounds: the first, they did not have a fishing limit, the second they still did not have a fishing limit, but a storm did not allow the fish to repopulate, and the third time, they had a limit of three fish per round. The ultimate goal of the activity was to allow them to see that if you over-use a resource without taking into consideration environmental factors or other people's usage of the same resource, it is easily depleted.

I was really excited for this lab because I thought that I had a solid lesson and topic. However, inquiry seemed hard and I was hesitant that I was covering all the bases. I think that my biggest downfall came when presenting the lesson, because I made it very teacher-centered. I also gave poor directions, which caused quite a bit of confusion. One way that I think I could improve this would be to ask the students to read the instructions first and then ask them to reiterate what they read for the class. This would also allow my lesson to be more student-centered.

While I did struggle with creating a student-centered atmosphere, I can see myself improving in my teaching. I am becoming more confident. In fact, this is the first time that I did not walk around holding my lesson plan! It stayed on the table the whole time, which is a big step for me! I also notice that I am beginning to walk around and interact with students more, which is good.  

I also think that my lesson was pretty solid. I think that it was a nice way to teach about human impact, as well as explain why we have some of the bag limits and laws that we have in place. Overall, I think that my students had fun with the activity, and I am excited to implement this lesson at my cooperating center!

National Convention: An Eye-Opening Experience

20+ hours in a car, 5 students, 1 adviser, 1 student teacher, 4 days, 3 nights, 570 miles away, and 100% worth it. 

My trip to National Convention with Mifflinburg FFA was outstanding. Not only did it provide me with the perfect opportunity to get to know some of my soon-to-be students, but it also encouraged a stronger relationship between my cooperating teacher and I. I had the opportunity to meet some of my student's parents, gather some free resources and experience a place that I had never been before. My trip to National Convention helped to restore my passion for agricultural education, and it kind of help to restore my faith in humanity. What do I mean by that, you might be wondering?

Well, before National Convention, Ms. Rice had challenged us to observe behaviors and journal about them for each day that we were there as a part of our Multicultural Moments for AEE295. To say the least, it is interesting the behaviors that you notice when you are made aware of them! For the most part, all of the behaviors that I noticed were positive.

The first day of our National Convention adventure consisted mostly of driving... lots and lots of driving... For this reason, I wasn't expecting to hear or see many uplifting or disappointing behaviors. We stopped at Steak and Shake for lunch, and I was on the look out for something to journal about. Sure enough, I witnessed what I was looking for! We were sitting near a window and I watched as an old woman and man got out of their car. At the same time, a group of four or five young men (probably around 20 years old) got up from their table to leave. Walking out the door, one of the men noticed the old couple making their way to the door (mind  you, this couple was probably at least 20+ feet away, and moving quite slow). The young man stood at the door and waited patiently as the old couple made their way to the door. All of his friends continued on to the car without him.

Holding the door for this old couple might not have seemed like a significant gesture, but to me, it was. In this day and age, positive gentleman-like behaviors like that are far and few between. People are often too concerned with impressing their friends or hurrying to their next task, to slow down and do something kind for a complete stranger. This moment was the most uplifting moment that I witnessed all of National Convention.

The most depressing treatment that I noticed occurred, sadly, between my students. To set the context, you must realize that my students got along great for the majority of the trip. They enjoyed each other's company and shared lots of laughs. However, on our way home, one of the girls started getting moody. She began disagreeing with everything we suggested, sharing her dismay on many things that we discussed and rolling her eyes when people were talking. She even began making comments under her breath. I know that this student was probably tired of traveling, but I became increasingly frustrated with her, as she became increasingly rude. One of my biggest peeves is bullying of any kind and this girl was about to cross the line. I find it disappointing that people think it is acceptable to say or do rude things, and to bully others.

The most interesting moment that I witnessed also occurred with some of my students. Like I said, my students were all pretty good friends and they joked around a lot. While "joking around" they would often say things that could be offensive. For instance, they often told one another that they were stupid. I found it interesting that the things that they were saying were offensive, but they thought nothing of it. Sometimes, you could tell that a few of them took what was being said personally, but they quickly got over it. This dynamic was interesting to observe.

As I said, I did have a really great time at National Convention. I think that this assignment helped me view things in a new light. I became more aware of my surroundings and more aware of the way that people treat one another.

Inquiry-based Instruction: Putting the Science Back Into "Agricultural Science"

Science... to many, this word brings to mind beakers, atoms, chemicals or periodic tables. But, to an agricultural educator, the word science may evoke images of plants, animals, soils or circuits.

Science is inevitably at the basis of everything that an agricultural educator teaches, from the chemical reactions that take place in a weld, to the process of photosynthesis that occurs in a soybean plant. We often use scientific standards, and the word science is even in our name... so, why isn't science always emphasized in an agricultural classroom? Why is there often a disconnect in the minds of the public between science and agriculture? What can we, as teachers, do to re-connect the words science and agriculture?

Perhaps one of the best tools that a teacher can use to put the science back into agricultural science is to utilize Inquiry-based Instruction. Inquiry-based instruction is a technique, which plays off of the scientific method and forces students to think critically about problems. Inquiry-based Instruction is often based upon a scientific problem, such as the amount of light needed for a plant to thrive, or how electricity works in a circuit. During Inquiry-based Instructions, students often first formulate a question, then investigate the problem. They then use the evidence that they found to describe, explain or predict. Next, they connect the evidence and their knowledge to formulate a solution, which they then share. As previously stated, this process mimics the scientific method, and relies heavily on scientific-based investigation and higher-order thinking.

According to the article by Alan Colburn, entitled Inquiry Primer, there are four types of Inquiry-based instruction; structured inquiry, guided inquiry, open inquiry, and learning cycle. Structured inquiry is more teacher-centered, and relies on a problem that is presented by the teacher. The teacher also provides the students with everything that they need to investigate, including the materials, procedures and information, but does not provide them with conclusions. Guided inquiry is very similar to structured inquiry, but the teacher does not provide the procedures. Instead, students are required to come up with a procedure on their own. Open inquiry allows the students to come up with their own problem to investigate. Finally, learning cycle occurs when the teacher only provides the title of a concept, and the students must formulate a problem and a solution based upon that.

Not only is the structure of the inquiry-based instruction important, but so is the teacher. He or she must ask open-ended, guiding questions which help students come to an appropriate conclusion. Perhaps the most important thing that a teacher must do is to allow the student to guide themselves. The teacher must avoid telling the student what to do next, but instead, allow them to figure it out on their own. This encourages higher-level thinking, which is essential in both the scientific method as well as in Inquiry-based Instruction.

Overall, Inquiry-based Instruction is a great tool that can encourage higher-level thinking and help teachers incorporate science into their classroom. If more teachers would incorporate Inquiry-based Instruction in their classroom, the disconnect between science and agriculture may finally be eliminated.