First Unit Plan... Check!

As part of our teacher preparation we have to make sure we can effectively create lesson and unit plans. Planning ahead of time is the recipe for success - the more you plan, the less you have to worry about! Over the last few weeks I developed my very first unit plan. Although it has not yet been reviewed by professors (or my cooperating teacher!) my peers made the time to read it over and give feedback. Their comments and review of my own unit plan a week after finishing it has given me some insight to my planning process.

During the process I learned just how difficult unit planning is. In my head I was thinking: Oh it's just a basic skeleton of about 2-3 weeks, how hard can that be?!" Well, I was in for a surprise! The process of preparing it took me longer than I expected and I realized how important that "skeleton" of a unit plan is. Without proper thought into that unit plan, the lessons will fall apart. Preparing a unit plan requires careful consideration of the lessons you will be delivering during those class sessions to write the materials and objectives. I'll admit I didn't delegate enough time for myself to prepare my lesson plan and was not completely satisfied with it. It is only my first one though and I think I at least have a good starting point (and my peer reviewers agreed: good start but room for improvement).

While looking over my feedback I quickly realized there were some simple things I could fix like organization, adding tables, or adding more standards. I, personally, like the layout and organization of my plan so I haven't changed that, but that doesn't mean my peers didn't provide helpful feedback! Their feedback has caused me to provide my more standards that are evidenced throughout the unit and add more goals for the unit. With only two goals I could see how that was definitely a weak point: with 3 weeks of classes I am able to come up with more than two goals to work toward.

My biggest change for my updated unit plan (thanks to my peer reviewers and my own reflection after the process) is the objectives. I wrote the unit plan prior to too much research into proper objective writing. We have learned that an objective must contain a performance, condition, and criterion and I realized that many of the objectives in my original unit plan were lacking one or even two (Yikes!) of the required parts. I also need to put more thought into how accommodations and adaptations will be used throughout the unit to assist all students in the learning process.

This process was eye-opening and has really helped me understand my strong and weak points while unit planning. Shout out to my wonderful peers, Samantha Sessamen and Mason Tate, for giving me honest and constructive feedback on my unit, thank you!!

Reading Reflection: Technology

This week was a very interesting week for readings... although it's mostly viewings. If you are at all curious of what exactly I'm talking about, watch/read these below:

• I'm Seventeen | Kate Simonds | TEDxBoise. (2015, February 9). Retrieved September 26, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OkOQhXhsIE
• TEDxDesMoines - Angela Maiers - You Matter. (2011, August 5). Retrieved September 26, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FHdHUzRnms
• Dr. Tae - Building A New Culture Of Teaching And Learning. (2011, April 23). Retrieved September 26, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta5rDVbTP1o
• Jan, K. (2011, October 24). Pursue Passion: Demand Google 20% Time at School. Retrieved September 26, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katherine-von-jan/unstructured-classroom_b_1024404.html

These videos will spark some great thoughts in your mind, I promise it is worth the time!

Our weekly assignment has really gotten me thinking so much that I can't keep track of all of it. My main thoughts have centered around Katie Simonds: I'm Seventeen which is the first video in the bulleted list. There is just something about a confident, intelligent, seventeen-year-old demanding respect. She states that someone's idea or intelligence should not be dismissed just because of age. All people have valid thoughts that can add to a conversation, event, or organization. Angela Maiers also hits this home with You Matter because all students, all teachers, all people matter. When we tell or show people that they matter, they are encouraged to do great things.

Similarly, the Huffington Post article above talked about how Google set 20% of employees time (one work day) to pursue their own passions. They had phenomenal results with 50% of Google products by 2009 had been created during this time. Let me repeat that: 20% of time that resulted in 50% of Google products (which includes Gmail!). This is powerful! I see this as living proof that pursuing a passion results in productivity. The more you enjoy something, the more hard work is put in.

It is evident that whether you are a preservice teacher or a teacher with 25 years experience, we can all provide valuable ideas and techniques to benefit all! TeachAg! Genius hour has some time before it is presented again, but it is a great opportunity to hear innovative ideas. Although new to the profession, the PSU 2016 Student Teachers have a lot to offer to Agricultural Education and I encourage you to participate in our journey. Along the way we will learn vast amounts from the current agricultural educators, but we may also be capable of teaching people a thing or two!

I have a Twitter Chat coming up in the next few months (Date TBD) along with the TeachAg! Genius Hour. To those going my Agricultural Education Journey, I'm curious to what ideas you are most passionate about sharing! I'm thinking of conducting a Twitter Chat on The Role of Technology in the Classroom with questions regarding social media, internet, and other technology used in classrooms. Although not limited to Agricultural Education, What ideas or suggestions do you have regarding a Twitter Chat on classroom technology?

I appreciate any and all feedback!

Interest Approach reflections

As I settle in to my apartment for the night I'm making some time to think about how my lesson in class today went. For any readers not familiar with AEE 412 (Methods of Teaching Agriculture), it is helping us get into the groove of how we will teach. Lab is specifically designed for us to present these mock lessons to fellow cohort members and receive feedback in various ways. Today we presented a 5-10 minute interest approach. An interest approach is used to capture the attention of your students and get them excited for the lesson. My interest approach was almost exactly 5 minutes which will work well (I think) for my 42 minute class sessions when I student teach at Wellsboro Area High School.

My interest approach to a pesticide lesson involved passing out candy to half of the class and they had to pretend they were their crops. I tried to give them ownership of their crops (like a farmer would typically feel about their crops) and even asked the to set them up and describe what they were growing. I had the students step aside while the other half (in this case only one student was left of the 3 person class) became the pests. To wrap up the interest approach and introduce the lesson I asked questions about how they felt about a pest damaging their crops, how they could prevent it, and even had them break down the word pesticide to understand how to define it.

I find that I tend to immediately think I did worse than I actually did. Following my lesson I felt that I fumbled questions and didn't react as well as I could to peer role playing. This was the first session that we were assigned a role while our classmates taught. For instance, I played the student distracted by technology, specifically my cell phone. The role playing from my classmates, I will admit, threw me off a bit. Immediately after the lesson I kept thinking that I could've handled the situation better although I wasn't sure exactly how.

Basically, my fellow pre-service teacher candidate was assigned as the class clown. She really challenged me like a typical high school student would. Throughout my 5 minutes she pretended not to be interested and made comments suggesting she was "too cool for school". I felt like it was making me laugh (a nervous reaction) and I wasn't sure what to say to get her interested and on task. I tried to act like it didn't bother me and keep the instruction going as planned. Although I was aware of it, the video didn't show it that noticeably so I think I was effective.

After watching the video of my lesson, I don't think I did as poorly as I felt and my classmates and professor rated me pretty well (that has to count for something!). Although I did better than I thought, I still need to work on my teaching techniques and strategies. I thought I was able to pick up my energy for this lesson, but my evaluations evidence that I still need to be more enthusiastic and engaging. I will have to continue working on that! Any suggestions for classroom management or being an enthusiastic teacher are more than welcome!

Reading Reflection #2 - Objectives

Of the readings I read this week, Writing Objectives in Secondary Agriculture Courses that Challenge Students to Think written by Susie Whittington really is getting stuck in my head (2005). I have been thinking extensively about this specific reading because I struggle with writing objectives. We are instructed to have objectives that contain a behavior, condition, and criterion. When writing an effective objective I must think about: What do I want my students to be able to accomplish, in what type of situation, and to what degree?

I struggle with objectives at some points because I tend to only include a behavior and condition. For instance, my first unit plan includes an objective that says: Describe environmental factors that influence animal behavior. Reading about objectives by Whittington makes me more aware that some of my objectives have been appealing to a lower cognitive level in my students. Some of the skills for writing objectives will come with time, but at least I can pinpoint my weakness and work on it. To fix the above objective I might change it to something like: Identify and predict how environmental factors influence animal behavior in a lab setting. 

I think this objective has greatly improved and can make students more aware of what they are learning. According to Whittington, having an objective using 'list',  'explain', or 'create' can have students exhibit higher cognitive thinking including remembering, processing, and formulating respectively. I believe my improved objective shows that students won't just have to list environmental factors, but instead will remember the factors and then critically think about how they would impact an animal in a lab setting.

I will have some work to do upgrading my objectives to higher cognitive thinking thanks to Whittington, but as she said, "When we write objectives designed to challenge students at higher cognitive levels, we, as teachers must equally challenge ourselves to teach at higher cognitive levels" (2005). So if you want your students to do great, we as teachers must first lead by example!

If you wish to get some information on objectives:

Whittington's article: http://www.naae.org/profdevelopment/magazine/archive_issues/volume77/v77i5.pdf

Helpful page on writing objectives: http://depts.washington.edu/eproject/objectives.htm

This is a helpful chart to think about how you want students to evidence what they learn:

First Day of School Reflection!

After thinking about my "First Day of School" presentation this movie scene popped into my head. I kept thinking throughout my lesson and afterward that I need to have more enthusiasm when I present my lessons. This was the perfect excuse to share a Finding Nemo scene! I thought about how I want my students to be as excited as Nemo about my lessons. Ok, so maybe they won't be that excited, but I want to at least create a classroom that they always look forward to going to.

The feedback my classmates (and professor) gave me was pretty similar across the board. Similar to the first lab session, I expected the feedback I received. From now on I at least am aware of my weaknesses and can try to focus on improving them. Enthusiasm is what I need to work on the most. Although I'm proud of how I was graded, my enthusiasm was the lowest score on every sheet (my 3 classmates and my professor filled out rubric based on my performance). I never realized how difficult it was to be energetic in front of a group even though I naturally tend to be a laid back person.

I'm struggling with ways to increase my energy and enthusiasm for my lessons. I'm just typing as I'm thinking now... Maybe I can integrate an e-moment into lesson set-up just for myself? To catch everyone up - e-moments are engaging moments. They are teaching strategies we have reviewed that are used to reach students through different modalities, appeal to multiple intelligences, and engage. They are not designed to be excessively long, but they are great to have a break from a lesson and review what's been learned. One classmate used "Hole-in-one E-moment" which included the students closing their eyes and performing a speech successfully, complete with specific details. I remember when he presented it how confident I felt about speaking even though I didn't actually present a speech. I think from now on I will try performing that e-moment in my head before my lesson. I will imagine myself in front of my classmates and presenting an exciting lesson that has them on the edge of their seats. It's really interesting thinking that I could use a teaching strategy on myself!

That was not where I was planning on going with my reflection, but I think I've come up with a strategy that might build my confidence and ultimately create more enthusiasm when I teach. Honestly I think my lack of enthusiasm comes from my personality, but I think my excitement may come off better when I develop more confidence in my teaching abilities.

Engaging Instruction

I'll be the first to admit that I struggle with keeping my energy up to create an engaging environment. As I start my lesson planning journey, I am aware that engaging my students in a lesson is something that I will have to put extra effort into. Reflecting back on lessons where I played the 'engaged student' role I've noticed that when I was most engaged in the lesson the teacher was most excited about what they were teaching. From here on out I have to make students believe that every lesson I'm presenting is the coolest lesson ever.

Agricultural Education 3-circle model

If you are interested in teaching in any way (elementary, secondary, English, Agriculture, and anything in between!) I highly recommend reading Teach Like A Pirate: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, And Transform Your Life as an Educator by Dave Burgess if you have not read it yet. As for Agricultural Education - we live by the three circle model that represents a successful program. You cannot have a truly efficient agricultural education program without including FFA, SAE, and Classroom Instruction. Similar to the Ag Ed three circle model, Dave Burgess discusses a three circle model to a successful lesson that can be used by any educator. Looking at the diagrams you can imagine why it is easy to draw parallels.

Lesson development model - Burgess

 It is important for any educator to realize that there is more than one 'ingredient' to making an efficient final product. Yes, you could have your students learn if you have great content and an effective method of teaching it, but your students won't be as engaged without proper presentation. Creating a lesson with all three of the circles in mind will create an environment that students not only learn, but enjoy doing it! Learning does not have to be a dirty word that immediately makes students feel like they want to sleep. With all three circles learning can mean a fun time and something the students can look forward to.

"How do we make learning fun?" you may ask. Sometimes it can seem difficult when you think you have to throw facts and content at the students. I won't lie to you, sometimes I have a hard time figuring out how to make things fun in the classroom. I have learned a lot about interest approaches this week and I believe that is the first step to engaging students and get them excited about a lesson. With the proper introduction this can make your lesson. Beware: If done incorrectly or half-heartedly, I think it can break the lesson as well! If you have not hear Interest Approach maybe you have heard hook (Dave Burgess calls it that!) or anticipatory set. These terms are used to explain how you engage your students. When creating a lesson plan the interest approach should be given a lot of thought. They can be used to connect the student's previous knowledge or an activity they are interested in with the new content they are learning. Unrelated to agriculture, but as an example: if you're introducing a lesson on aerodynamics you can have students make paper airplanes. Aerodynamics may be a daunting unfamiliar term, but having students create airplanes (something they probably have done before) can spark interest and creativity to make the term easier to remember.

I am new to this whole Interest Approach thing, this whole Lesson Planning thing, and this whole Teaching thing. I look forward to learning more about what can make me a better person and educator. As I (and you!) develop lessons think about what Dave Burgess said, "Provide an uncommon experience for your students and they will reward you with an uncommon effort and attitude."

A Little Bit About My Cooperating Center: Wellsboro!

Take a few minutes to watch this video and learn about my spectacular cooperating center!