IBI Lab Refelction #TakeTwo

This week, the 2018 cohort was tasked to develop a lesson using inquiry based instruction. I’ll be the first to admit that I was not comfortable with this task. Mainly, I was uncomfortable with my knowledge of what inquiry based instruction was and how to implement it into the classroom. However, after presenting I do not feel like this lab went terrible. In fact, I started to understand what inquiry based instruction was and how to implement it.

My lesson was about artificial insemination in cattle, and how it compares to natural breeding. During the lesson I had students participate in an experiment by forming a hypothesis, test and collect data, then form a conclusion. The experiment the students participated in was creating a reproductive tract with materials of balloons, rubber bands and life saver candies. Once the tract was created, students tried to pour water into the balloon inserted straw. We analyzed which balloon had more water in it, and connected how what level of conception each tract would allow.

Although things went well, there is always room for improvement which is why I have highlighted gems and opps below:

Gems:

• Engaging/Hands on lab
• I had good enthusiasm for being extremely sick and having to do it twice
• I created higher order questions to keep students interest and realize the importance

Opps:

• I should have looked at the remote, and realized the video stopped recording, so I would not have had to do lab TWICE!
• I should have had clear balloons and straws so students could observe the conception
• I should have had student label repro tract instead of asking them what each represented
• I should stop using filler words such as (um, like, yeah)

Classroom Managment

The 2018 Student Teacher Candidates have the opportunity to role play different types of student behavior during our contextual lab experiences. In addition, we have learned through Discipline Derby Friday’s that students will test you in multiple ways beyond the 10 behavioral cards presented in lab. In all honesty, it makes me frustrated when I experience or read about bad behavior from students.  However, I realize that these experiences are teachable moments that help prepare us for the time we will spend with our first very own students during student teaching; however, a lot of our "preparation" comes from readings and conversations with seasoned educators. As the countdown for final presentations begins, this week’s weekly investment reading on classroom management was extremely insightful.

Start Out Firm

When asked how to implement classroom management techniques, almost every seasoned educator will share that you have to be firm. Additionally, they share how you cannot expect students to rise to higher standards after they have been able to get by with lower standards. This reminds me of when the 2018 Student Teacher Candidates talked about the first day of school and how unbelievably crucial that first day is for laying the way for your classroom expectations, procedures and consequences. Therefore, I have to be firm when presenting them, and prepared to hold my students to them.

Build Rapport

We talk frequently about building a rapport with our students. With these conversations we have come to the conclusion that to gain respect, you have to give it. As teachers we must listen, evaluate, and then act rather than jumping on students before they have had a chance to adequately explain a situation.

If I am working to build my students up, to keep striving to be the best version of them, my classroom culture and student behavior will surely be more positive.

Promoting Positive Behavior

Praise is a good thing when building a positive classroom. Think about it, if we as teachers were present negative talk, our students will be less likely to be engaged in our lessons, due to fear. Therefore, it is essential to praise and reinforce the positive behavior you want to see in your classroom.  However, be cautious not to over praise because it can cause backwards growth in classroom management. Aim for the middle ground (sweet spot), so that your expectations continue to be high!

Although, I did not touch on all of these. This Puzzle reinforces
classroom management from Methods of Teaching Agriculture. 

Overall, I want my students to know that I may hold them to a high expectation, but that is because I know they are more than capable of achieving this. I have realized by starting out firm, building rapport and promoting positive behavior will allow me to achieve this and good classroom management.

References: 

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.

Wong, H.K. & Wong, R.T. (2009). The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher (4th ed.). Mountain View: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.

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.