Inspiration and Motivation at National FFA Convention #ICanWeWill17

This year was different from my previous experiences at convention. Not only was the word ‘Advisor’ printed under my name on my badge, but my role and perspective on the purpose of convention changed.

Although, I enjoyed the many events that I participated in at the National FFA Convention, I believed it was not actions that set this convention a part from others; instead, it was the thoughtful and inspiring words shared by speakers, advisors, students and many others in attendance.

I truly felt inspired and motivated throughout my three days spent at convention. Whether I had access to my phone or a piece of paper and pen, I recorded thoughts and words that I found enlightening and encouraging.

Below I have highlighted moments with quotes that stand out the most from each day I spent at convention.

Wednesday –

At the first session of convention my students and I were inspired and motivated for the next few days ahead. Not only were we introduced to the conventions theme (check it out here), but we were also introduced and tasked to think about FFA in the next 10 years by National FFA Advisor – Dr. Brown.

Dr. Brown shared, "We must change to reflect and represent modern day 21st century agriculture to create a new era in FFA." As a future agriculture educator, I could not agree more! I have this urge of wanting a classroom and students to be forward thinkers and career driven. The words shared by Dr. Brown motivated me to ensure that I create this in my future classroom. To rise to the new era of agriculture, agriculture educators are tasked to fill our classrooms with beakers, speakers and job seekers.

At the end, Dr. Brown made us pledge by chanting, ‘I can. We will.’ Overall, it was a pledge as an individual and group to put in efforts to contribute and advance agriculture education.

Thursday-

I was able to be a self-advocate for growth by tasking myself to engage in three teacher workshops Thursday afternoon. The workshops I was able to engage in were the following:

• Living to Serve Grant 101
• Ticket of Success
• Streamlining Chapter Promotion Through Social Media

If I could choose a favorite workshop for that day, I would have chosen the Ticket of Success. This workshop shared how teaching is challenging, but can be rewarding and exciting. The workshop presenters reminded us that we were not in this alone. They encouraged us to build relationships with students, administration and the local community to build support for the program and you. Unfortunately I did not record who stated this quote, but one of the presenters shared, "I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things." 

All of the workshops were very helpful and help me develop knowledge and skills that I plan to use in my future classroom.

Friday –

To end my last evening at convention, I put on my favorite pair of jeans and boots to enjoy my favorite sport --- RODEO.

The evening was full of cheering with excitement as cowboys showed their skill of riding broncos or bulls for 8 seconds. In addition, there were motivational moments. As weird as it sounds, I felt inspired and motived while attending the rodeo. As the excitement ended for the night, the announcer shared something that his father reminded him often. His father would say, “The wealthiest man is one who gives to others and provides to society’s needs.” He proceeded to thank the agricultural educators in the audience for giving time and effort to the individuals that wear the blue corduroy jackets. Although it is not the highest paying profession, he hopes we realize that we are preparing students to contribute and join in efforts of preserving and advancing the agriculture industry. If that contribution does not make you feel wealthy, he did not know what would. Essentially, his story and thoughtful words inspired me. To top it off, after he finished my one student turned to me and said, “Thank you Ms. Wasson for choosing to become an agriculture teacher, you are going to do amazing things. I know it.” I was speechless, but now I am thankful. I am thankful for awesome students that make me feel wealthy, but mostly the chance to continue to experience this wealth in my future.

Overall, the thoughtful and encouraging words made me realize that I can create an impact on my students and they will create an impact in the agricultural industry.

Be sure to connect and keep an eye out on social media to catch more quotes that I recorded throughout convention.

Like a Box of Chocolates - Surprise Lab

We all know the popular movie Forest Gump. In addition, we all know the famous, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.” This line came to mind this past Monday when the 2018 Student Teaching Cohort was presented a “surprise lab.” This lab pushed us all outside our comfort zones, but allowed us to gain or build upon our ability to create a quality lesson under pressure.  

On Monday we were given an AFNR standard and told to create our lesson based around that standard. The lesson was due by 5pm on Tuesday. The majority of the time, we are presented a lab scenario, and given a week to create a lesson, so to just have one day had a few of us biting our nails. However, many of us can say that the experience was more tolerable than presumed.

My AFNR standard was about the effectiveness of methods of reducing the effect of animal agriculture on the environment. Since I will be teaching an Animal Science unit and Animal Science course, I was excited to receive this taste. The topic was very tasteful, and made writing a lesson more enjoyable. Also, at this point in our teach ag journey, lesson plan writing has become a norm and is an easier task to complete than when we started.

Check out my thoughts on my execution of the lesson through gems and opps listed below:

Gems-

1. I was very impressed how composed I kept myself during this lab. The students were not cooperating, and I really wanted to yell.
2. I was very well prepared and organized for the lesson given the amount of time.
3. I was really strong in the content area so I was confident in what I was about to teach the students

Opps-

1. I still need to work on timing. I need to push students a bit and give them a time frame to complete a task right from the start and not wait until I see everyone is done. This allows free time for students, which can lead them off task.
2. I need to take control of my classroom management. I felt I let students get away with no participating, but in the moment I did not know what to do. In addition, I should have made them clear their desk to ensure there was no distraction.
3. I should have done the lab proportion of this lesson to create more student focus and engagement in the topic, but I was playing it safe by utilizing a reading passage and discussion. Basically, I need to challenge myself a more.

Overall, this lab was like a box of chocolates. We did not know what we were going to get, but the topics were tasteful, and the experience was enjoyable.  

Five Fluid Steps to Inquire Based Instruction

In my teaching philosophy I share how I want to create a classroom that creates curiosity through exploration to discovery. I want my students to not only discover different career opportunities, but to build curiosity through their passion and potential. 

According to the article by Anna J. Warner and Brian E. Myers, students engage in five activities when they engage in inquiry learning and use the scientific method, as noted in the National Science Education Standards published by the National Academy of Sciences. Although these tasks occur in a logical progression, inquiry is a fluid process, and one task may lead back to a previous task. This process is illustrated in figure below. According to the National Academy of Sciences (1995), when students learn through inquiry, they are learning through variability.

Ideally, I want each student to be engaged in classroom and laboratory instruction. Through the labs and this week’s weekly investment, I believe I have I realized how to achieve this. Below I have highlighted each step and an example of how this can be implemented into instruction to create curiosity and engagement in a plant science lesson.

1.      Question
• This is the question that gets the gears grinding, that triggers the thoughts and curiosity into exploration. For example, students walk into the room and see two tomato plant samples. The tomato plants were planted on the same day, but one is larger than the other. A question to ask is: Why does sample A seem to be growing faster than sample B?
2. Investigate

• Now that the question is presented, we must ask our students to put their detective hats on. Using some previous knowledge, students run tests, monitor field and growth conditions and keep track of results.  

3. Use Evidence to Describe, Explain & Predict

• Now, a few days later, like true researchers students will dig deeper and evaluate the data that they have collected. They will rule out collected information that does not lead them closer to a solution and use other information to predict other causes

REPEAT 

• In a really successful inquiry-based learning environment, steps 2 and 3 would keep happening until students reach a more solidified solution. Trial and error will occur, but a solid answer can be found. There is no time for failure.

4. Connect Evidence to Knowledge
• And this is where everything comes together! It's the ‘ah-ha’ moment, where students discovery and curiosity leads them to a solution as to why plant sample A was growing faster than sample B.
5. Share Findings
• This has been a learning process. It's important to share and celebrate what the students have discovered and created. It's also crucial to reflect on the learning process. Do your students understand why they explored the difference in growth in the soybean plants? What new skills and knowledge did they gain from this experience?

I am excited to see how I can implement these steps into instruction to create curiosity and engagement in a plant science lesson.

Overall, inquire based instruction allows students to develop curiosity to discover. In addition, as an agricultural educator I can play a vital role in achieving some of the standards in science, math, reading, and writing, while teaching the agricultural curriculum. This is because when students engage in inquiry, they utilize skills from across multiple disciplines (e.g., science, math, social science, language arts, and creative thinking) by collaborating with others, collecting and interpreting data, organizing and developing representations of their data, and sharing their findings with others.

References:

Warner, A.J. & Myers, B.E. (2011) What inquiry-based instruction? Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC07500.pdf 

The Who, What, Where, When and Why of Individualized Teaching Techniques

To begin the week, the 2018 Student Teaching Cohort engaged in discussion regarding Individualize Teaching Techniques. In addition, at the end of the week we were presented with this week’s Weekly Investment reading that introduced the Who, What, Where, When, and Why of Individualized Teaching Techniques.

WHO:  

According to Methods of Teaching students have different needs, calling for individual or at least varying treatment in the development of the learning process they are to follow. Students’ goals differ. Some may want to become an animal nutritionist, whereas others only want and need to know the basics of animal nutrition. With Individualized Teaching Techniques, teachers can create projects for a student in an area, so that the content goes beyond the basics that the teacher typically teaches; therefore, this makes it that the whole class does not need to study that specific area. Simply put, an Individualized Teaching Techniques are for individual learners that have an interest in something beyond the classroom instruction.

WHAT:

In Methods of Teaching reading and class discussion, there were five types of Individual Teaching Techniques that were implemented into agricultural classrooms. The techniques presented include:

1.            Sheets

2.            Experiments

3.            Supervised Study

4.            Independent Study

5.            Student Notebooks

WHERE:

What is awesome about Individualized Teaching Techniques is that they can be implemented inside or outside the classroom. Throughout our discussion we shared our thoughts of using all the Individualized Teaching Techniques in each portion of the three-circle model. It may be obvious of how these can be implemented into the classroom and laboratory, but you are probably unsure how all these techniques can be used in SAE. It is okay if you are questioning how because once this was presented to us, we all pondered. We assumed it would just be supervised study because that is what the ‘S’ stands for in SAE. However, after pondering we brought our thoughts together, and realized that students have notebooks and sheets to keep records, some conduct experiments with research based SAE, and lastly students work on their SAE independently.

WHEN:

Another awesome thing about Individual Teaching Techniques is that because it can be implemented where ever, it can also be implemented whenever. This is because whenever the individualized teaching techniques listed above are used, students are individually involved in searching and seeking information. They are not waiting for the teacher to tell them what they need to know. Therefore, they are not limited by what someone else decides to tell them. Instead, they are in control of their own learning. They discover as much as their current level of capability allows.

WHY:

After reading this week’s Weekly Investment and engaging in class discussion, I can say that I realized the purpose of Individualized Learning Techniques. I realized that these techniques provide opportunities to all learners to discover and learn at their own pace with their own interest in mind. I also learned so ways to implement these techniques into the three-circle model. Therefore, I am more confident in implementing individualized teaching techniques throughout my student teaching experience and teaching experience.

Reference:

Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Problem Solving Approach - Am I Prepared For This?

Ever have one of those moments where you were felt unprepared, but prepared at the same time? Well, if it exists I am pretty sure that I experienced this on Wednesday when I presented my Problem Solving Approach lesson for AEE 412 Lab. I chose to present a problem that challenged the students to perform an evaluation to select a dairy cow to add to a neighbor's herd in replacement of the owner's top producer that had recently passed. 

To be honest, I have grown up in the dairy industry, but I have only given reasons for dairy cows less than a handful of times. I am pretty rusty on my skills, so I really had to seek and search for sources of helpful material to prepare me for this lab. Researching led me to recreating and rewriting my lesson plan ideas for bell work, interest approach and instruction, there were many times that I was determined that I should not be presenting on a subject that I was not fully confident on. However, I already invested so much time and I found this to be vital content to connect to other content in my unit; therefore, I created and presented to the best of my ability. Below I have highlighted things done well (Gems) and things not done well that need to be improved (Opps) that I found after reviewing feedback from peers and watching the video recording of my lesson.

Gems-

Honesty is the best policy. Many of my lab group members and virtual mentors shared how owning up to my issue of my broken hearing aids was a good move. Not only did it show that I was being honest, but it allowed me to set the stage for expectations for the students at the beginning of the lesson. 

Also, my lab group shared how my enthusiasm was very high at the beginning, but did fade a little during the lesson. Yet, the enthusiasm at the beginning was able to captivate my lab group’s attention and made them want to learn. 

Lastly, my lab group really enjoyed having the ability to create the objectives, so they knew how to solve the problem from content they previously learned.

Opps –

Classroom management was a little rough. However this was my fault. My students were decently behaved, but I did not act upon the minor things that should have been taken care of. My hearing impairment was to blame, but I should have positioned myself around my lab group members to ensure clear communication was taking place to ensure good behavior. 

Also, I felt that I relied too much on the PowerPoint and presenting review information. This took up a chunk of time, which lost engagement of my lab group. It was suggested that instead of having students review and then choose cow, I should make the students choose the cow, and then have them develop reasoning through review. I felt that this was a great suggestion that I want to try out.

It is evident I still have things to work on, but I have grown in areas of weakness through practice and research. I always critique myself hard, and point out the negative more than the positive (as you can see above). I believe in growth, and pointing out things to improve on is always helpful to remind myself that I can do better. In addition, we are reminded that these labs are not a formative assessment, rather a self-assessment that allows us to prepare for our student teaching experience. 

How to Measure Student Growth Beyond Summative Assessments

As teachers, we write engaging lessons and labs. We implement interest approaches and problem solving methods, while including guest speakers and video clips. However, how do we know if all this matters? How do we know if it is worth all the phone calls, emails, digital searches and sharing? To know how, we must realize that everything must be purposeful to help students grow their knowledge.  To ensure growth is occurring we assess.

From this week’s reading, I have learned that assessment is not just about writing multiple choice questions, creating unit projects and counting participation points. Below I have shared how we can assess students beyond the summative assessments that provide students a grade on an exam, project or course activities.

Formative Assessment:

Formative assessment is not a part of the grading process, but a part of the instructional process.  It is when students receive input and guided feedback on their relative performance to help them improve or increase their thinking.

Check out this awesome infographic I found on formative assessment! Since my school is not one to one, I am trying to implement this form of assessment through non-digital sharing. I plan to create exit tickets, moments of pair and share, and implement color cues or thumbs up and down to show understanding.  

Self-Assessment:

Self-assessment is the ability to be a realistic judge of one’s own performance.

Self-assessment can be a powerful tool to give students ownership of their own progress. To me this means that the students are able to reflect and have growth mindset. I plan to implement this form of assessment through questioning. By asking questions, it sparks higher level of thinking. Here are a few questions I had in mind to do so:

Creating- What should I do next?

Evaluating- How well did I do?

Analyzing- Where could I use this again?

Understanding- What was important about it?

Remembering- What did I do?

Peer-Assessment:

Peer-assessment allows instructors to share the evaluation of assignments with their students

I strongly believe in creating a classroom environment where students feel comfortable giving and receiving constructive criticism from their peers. I want my classroom to be an environment of respect where my students constantly work to build each other up. I also believe that this would allow opportunity for the stronger students to help coach the weaker students. 

Overall, I look forward to implementing during my student teaching experience.

Reference:

Assessing Student Learning. (September 20, 2017). Retrieved October 08, 2017, from https://www.cte.cornell.edu/teaching-ideas/assessing-student-learning/index.html

Implementing 21st Century Skills in Problem Based Learning

After reading this week’s readings for our Weekly Investment, I have this urge of wanting a classroom and students to be forward thinkers and career driven. I realize that this means I must be innovative by creating inquiry, applicable and discovery. However, all this will engage students’ minds for Project-Based Learning.

Although the readings were very informative, I chose to share the five points that stood out to me the most about project-based learning and inquiry in the classroom.

1. 21st Century Skills: Project-based learning naturally develops 21st Century Skills into interactive and innovative outcome. In addition, project-based learning enhances problem-solving and other Life and Career Skills. This teaching method also cultivates collaboration, technological, communication and other incredibly valuable and marketable 21st Century Skills that I want to see my students gain from an agricultural science classroom.

2. Effective Questioning: Multiple readings shared how the success for project-based learning is credited to asking the right questions. A good 'Driving Question' captures the heart of the project in clear, compelling language, which gives students a sense of purpose and challenge. The Question should be provocative, open-ended, complex, and linked to the core of what you want students to learn. Questioning can help strategically scaffold throughout the project-based learning process. Lastly, questioning can help facilitate reflection and revision throughout the learning process.

3. Student Voice and Choice: I am thrilled that project-based and inquiry based learning gives students ownership on their learning experience. It provides chances for hands-on application, which is something that agricultural education classes do quite well through incorporation of classroom instruction and SAE. The discovery that happens through this method provides power and purpose to student's learning. It allows them to feel as if they are the drivers of their education that leads them into a journey with a successful destination.

4. Keep It In Context: To keep it in context means to allow yourself to create and make connections from the project or problem needing solved directly to a real-life application or situation that students in my agricultural program can understand the relevance. According to the reading, I can accomplish this by aligning the process with goals, or essentially learning objectives. Keeping the last point in mind, it would be best to have these goals designed by students, in efforts to keep them invested through ownership in their learning process. 

5. Feedback Creates Purpose: There is a difference between doing projects and doing project-based learning. The completion of the project should require that students are learning the material presented. In addition, formalizing a process for feedback and revision during a project makes learning meaningful because it emphasizes that creating high-quality products and performances is an important purpose, and often times requires more than one attempt. I want my students to know it is okay to face error, as long as they are willing to fix their mistakes to be successful in the future. 

Reference:

John Larmer & John R. Mergendoller PhD. (2010) 8 Essentials for Project Based Learning. Retrieved October 1, 2017, from http://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/attachments/article/1058/8_Essentials_article_small_file_size_Oct2012version.pdf