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.