How to conquer classroom management struggles

Dear educator struggling with classroom management,

There is no simple solution to effective management of a classroom. There are so many variables that go into the workings of a classroom to make the environment positive or negative. Although there is no definitive answer to running a classroom effectively, there are some tips you can follow to encourage a positive environment.

First, my tip would be to stay consistent. I strongly believe that if you are too lenient and you notice students taking advantage that it will be almost impossible to change your tune to the strict respectable teacher. It would be much easier to start out strong with clear (and concise) rules and expectations to follow. Students should clearly understand what is expected of them on a daily basis and what the consequences will be if they do not meet those expectations. And most importantly, follow through! If students notice that you are not giving out that promised detention on their third offense, they (and possibly the other students) will likely not feel that they are required to follow those rules. The less consistent you are with expectations and consequences, the more push-back you will receive on those few times you decide to follow through with consequences. Basically, know what you want from students, make sure they know what you want from them, and demand that they uphold their end of the bargain on a daily basis.

My second tip for you would be to keep your game face on! No matter the situation, do not let students think they have gotten to you. Students will make inappropriate comments and they will make some poor decisions here and there, mostly because they are only human. If students know they can throw you off topic or make you uncomfortable they may take advantage of that situation. At all times students should at least think that you are prepared, motivated, dedicated, and ready to conquer anything in the classroom. Basically, expect the unexpected that students may throw at you and handle it with grace.

My third tip for anyone struggling with classroom management is to practice what you preach. You most like expect your students to show you and their classmates respect and it probably is on your list of expectations. You need to remember to also respect your students. You have to walk that fine line of being a "friend" and being a drill sergeant. You don't want students to take advantage, but you need to make it clear you respect them as people, and as students. You can still be a good teacher and be a mentor to students in need. It is difficult to find the sweet spot, but you must remember that they won't respect you unless you show them a certain level as respect. I whole-heartedly believe that a lot of classroom management problem can be avoided with encouragement of a positive classroom environment. When students feel comfortable in your room, they will be less likely to disrespect you and act out. Basically, monkey see, monkey do!

I hope these tips can assist you in conquering any obstacles related to classroom management!

Bringing it all together... My first teaching experience at Wellsboro!

Shortly after my teaching experiences for 3 days at Williamsburg I had the opportunity to teach a lesson at my cooperating center, Wellsboro. This was my first time (of many) teaching at Wellsboro and gave me a "taste" of what to expect when I start teaching there in January!

Here is a little about what lesson I taught.... Using FFA.org I selected a LifeKnowledge lesson that had to do with meetings. I selected this lesson to teach to the FFA/Ag Leadership students so they could learn about what makes a meeting effective and a little about the order of business for meetings based on Roberts Rules of Order. They worked in groups to identify the proper order of Order of Business using prepared post-its with the titles on them. I also had them perform the opening ceremonies (getting up and moving to the appropriate spots around the room) reading from the FFA Official Manual. With limited amount of time in a class, we had time for these 2 activities, introductions, and of course feedback of my performance as a teacher!

Leading discussion on effective meetings

For being the last class of the day right before Thanksgiving break, I think it went great! I asked the students to anonymously give me feedback on the lesson and received almost completely positive reviews. From the student reviews and the evaluation of Mrs. Berndtson I came to a few conclusions on my points of improvement.

First, it was difficult for me to engage all students since I only knew the names of a few students and the ones I had not met before were apprehensive about participating. I think with time this will improve once I am familiar with students' names, personalities, and abilities. This class was a bit difficult to manage since there are freshmen who have no previous knowledge on the content (and therefore even more apprehensive about participation), but also seniors and FFA Officers (who I had the pleasure of meeting before) with a wealth of knowledge on meetings because of their extensive experience. In the future I have to be more aware of that so the same students aren't consistently answering and I can challenge the less experienced students to think about answers.

Assisting students in identifying the order of business

I really didn't get negative feedback, and I really do think it went well. Although engagement was tough at some points, they expressed that they enjoyed the activities (especially opening ceremonies). The last class of the day right before Thanksgiving break is bound to be difficult for engagement though! I was also very pleased with timing of this lesson within the period. During micro teaching I ran out of time to finish my lesson appropriately the first 2 days. During this lesson at Wellsboro I was pleased that I had the time to conclude, review objectives, and have students give feedback without rushing through anything. Definitely some positives and some points of improvement to think about as student teaching quickly approaches in January!

My cooperating teacher, Mrs. Berndtson (right) and myself

Thanks for reading and special thanks to Mrs. Berndtson for allowing me to take over the FFA/Ag Leadership class for the day to talk about effective meetings!

Micro teaching adventure!

Before we go out into the world of student teaching, one assignment for #psuaged16 is to micro teach. Essentially we spend three days teaching a mini unit to a class not at our cooperating center. This gives us the practice of teaching more than one day, but at a place we don't have to return to in case it goes badly.

Luckily, my micro teaching experience did not go badly, and it makes me sad that I will not be returning. Myself and 2 of my cohort members had our micro teaching experience at Williamsburg and I taught the Animal Science class of about 10 students for 3 days in a row. I taught a mini unit on anatomy where they learned basic terminology/planes of the body, types of bones and joints, and some basic bones in a horse skeleton. I planned my 42 minute lessons to contain content, but to drive home their new knowledge with activities. Day 1 consisted of worksheets and then dissecting gummy bears to show the terminology. Day 2 consisted of building types of bones out of Play-doh and sharing with their classmates. The last day they guessed the parts of a horse skeleton, received a brief PowerPoint on the bones in the body, created a sentence using the first letter of bones to remember the order, then relabeled the skeleton as a class.

It was a pretty new experience to me, since before this experience I've only taught workshops and other experiences where I only teach the students once and never see them again. My biggest struggle with this experience was trying to teach everything I wanted in only 42 minutes. It seems like a decent amount of time, but when I actually tried to teach I ran out of time the first 2 days. With only 10 students, I had ample time to get to know all of their names and some of their interests which made the experience very rewarding.

On the last day the students filled out a learner satisfaction form so I could gauge what students thought about my teaching. I encouraged them to be honest and had them tell me what constructive criticism was. I wanted to introduce it that way because I told students if they didn't like something about the lessons then I expected them to tell me how it could be better. I guess this conversation didn't matter though because I got positive feedback from all ten students. The only question that I would consider it negative feedback were about my timing. Out of 10, 2 students did circle an answer saying at times the class went a little fast. I could definitely see where they were coming from since I ended up rushing through some material for days 1 & 2 when I realized how quickly class time was passing.

This experience was very helpful. First, I can better gauge my lessons for student teaching since Wellsboro class periods are also 42 minutes long (or should I say short!). I had experience with preparing lessons from day-to-day to use which will help while student teaching. This micro teaching is designed to be a super mini taste of student teaching. It really helps you get the idea of what to expect in student teaching. I am more excited than ever to continue my journey by jumping into Wellsboro for student teaching. Thanks Williamsburg for allowing me to micro teach! In the words of a Williamsburg student, "It's been real. It's been fun. It's been real fun!"

A Penny for your thoughts.. My IBI experience

For those of you that are blanking on what IBI stands for: Inquiry Based Instruction. It is basically allowing students to be responsible for their own learning by identifying a problem, determining their own hypotheses and procedures, collecting data, and sharing their evidence and findings. It can be very difficult to facilitate (in my opinion) but can have great rewards for students. Students tend to be used to a lot of guidance and inquiry encourages critical thinking and independent students.

This week I attempted to present an inquiry based instruction. I struggled with the planning process which wasn't surprising to me. I struggled to plan for a problems-based lesson (which is similar) so I expected to be challenged by inquiry. The main difference between problems-based and inquiry is generally that problems-based has an actual solution that the teacher expects students to arrive at while inquiry has less guidance and the teacher may not be sure where students will go with the activity.

For my IBI I wanted to introduce an animal science class to an Industry Standards, Breed Improvements, and Selection unit. My lesson was designed to put students in a certain way of thinking. My lesson didn't directly relate to animal science, but I wanted the students to be in the mindset that they had to observe and analyze what is around them. In a nutshell the lesson involved an ancient artifact (actually just a penny). Students had to analyze the artifacts given water, pipettes, petri dishes, dictionary, and worksheets along the way when student momentum seemed to slow. Students made observations of the penny (learning things along the way they never knew before) and what assumptions could be made about this mysterious civilization based on what is seen.

I used this to introduce this particular unit because I wanted the students to understand how little they have observed about an item we probably see every day. Students didn't realize the Lincoln memorial was on the penny or that there was latin on the coin. After observations and hypotheses about the civilization were shared, we got into the nitty gritty of why this is important. With some probing, the students (my awesome cohort members sitting in on my lab!) were able to articulate how important it is to make observations and determine what they mean in the animal industry. Students will have to think what industry standards are in place and why. For instance, What makes an Angus cow different from a Simmental? Students will have to think about differences that exist in the industry and what those differences mean to that animal. We briefly discussed breed improvements as well. An example was, Holstein cattle have great milk production in quantity while Jerseys are ideal for butter fat. How are these breeds improved over time and how can we improve them in the future? It is also important for students to enhance their observational skills for the selection section of the unit. Students recognized the importance of observing selection on a micro level saying, "You would select goats with a certain body confirmation to ensure they and their offspring are healthy and aesthetically pleasing, since looking nice and producing effectively is ideal."

I would say that as a first time instructor using inquiry that it went really well! I'm excited to use it while student teaching at Wellsboro. My "students" (classmates) responded well to the lab. I think that I gave enough instruction to guide them, but didn't give away answers or let them struggle to the point of frustration. I also let them think on their own before giving them worksheets to help their thinking process. This is the first week that I was told I had great energy!! So I thought the lab went well and then I was told I brought more enthusiasm this time which really made me feel like I'm improving. I can't wait to try out this lesson and many more with Wellsboro students!

Environmental Education #TeachAgChat

I had the pleasure of conducting a national Twitter chat (#TeachAgChat) November 5th with my fellow cohort member Matt Holt (@mholt5595). We both have interest in environmental education so decided on the topic: Integrating place-based environmental education in school based agricultural education to improve environmental literacy!

The planning of the Twitter chat was not too time consuming and the real stress didn't start until 5 minutes before our Twitter chat started. We spent the week leading up to the Twitter chat narrowing down the questions we wanted to ask, who would be guest experts, and what jobs Matt and I would take on for the hour we were engaging the nation in a chat about environmental education. I ended up engaging participants while Matt put most of his focus in engaging the experts to maximize their presence. I think the Twitter chat went well even with all the anticipation from the week leading up to one hour of engaging about environmental education.

We developed an infographic using easel.ly and shared it extensively through Twitter and in Facebook groups that we thought might be interested. We tweeted daily for the week to get people excited for the chat. We also spent extensive amounts of time researching experts and contacting them. Although many people never responded or said they couldn't make it, we ended up with 3 reliable experts that participated extensively through the whole chat. It was quite varied since one expert was the moderator of an #EnviroEd chat every week and another expert had never used Twitter! Overall, our experts were engaging and provided the participants with valuable resources and information.

 All of the questions are sent out by the @TeachAgPSU twitter account while Matt and I moderated and facilitated discussion between participants. Throughout the chat I felt as though it was great conversation, but not moving as quickly as I thought. Once I received the statistics compared to other #TeachAgChat 's I realized I was right. Compared to the first three we had the most people participate in our chat, but also the most people that only tweeted once and a lower number of tweets. In a way it is positive that we got more people to participate, but I think if I did something similar in the future I would try harder to engage people to encourage more tweeting and interacting. It was quite an experience that required planning and networking, and well worth the experience getting to know some field experts and converse with the great minds in Ag and Enviro ed!

If you want to see some of the highlights of our twitter chat on environmental education check it out here: https://storify.com/mholt5595/teachagchat?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=email&utm_medium=email

My adventure with Greenwood at the National FFA Convention!

Unlike all of my fellow student teachers, my cooperating center (Wellsboro: Grand Canyon FFA) did not attend the 88th National FFA Convention. Basically, they go every other year (to keep it something students have to work for) unless they are competing nationally. This year just so happened to be an off year. I was extremely disappointed since I have already developed a relationship with Grand Canyon FFA officers and have gotten to know some students. I was lucky enough to still be able to attend the convention, just not with the group I would be student teaching in the Spring. Instead, the Greenwood FFA chapter adopted me for the week. Mrs. Pontius and Mr. Clark teach the Greenwood students and advise the FFA chapter. They were kind enough to allow me to take on the advisor role with their students for the week.

Before my experience started I was nervous about advising students I had never met before. I was anxious about how they would take to this strange outsider being in charge or how they would react to my presence at the convention. Plus, I was missing the Grand Canyon FFA members! Although more time with the Grand Canyon FFA would've been ideal, spending time with Greenwood FFA was a terrific experience.

It was clear that the teachers at Greenwood develop a working relationship with students based on respect, trust, and dedication. Because of the respect built between the teachers and students, Greenwood FFA members conducted themselves responsibly throughout the whole trip. The Greenwood teachers trusted the students and their ability to conduct themselves that the very first day of convention I (and a parent chaperone) were left with the bulk of the group. Some students were competing in the Novice Parliamentary Procedure Competition and both the teachers attended while trusting myself and the chaperone to take the other students to the Kentucky Speedway and the

Kentucky Horse Park. The teachers mentioned it and it was clear that if you have terrific students that understand what is expected of them, you can do extra fun things. They would not have been able to pawn off 12 ill-mannered students on a student teacher they didn't know to truck them around Kentucky.

I have only been to one other convention (last year) and I travelled with Penn State to recruit FFA Members into the College of Ag Sciences. This year was so different being placed into that advisor role, and in so many ways it was so much better! I had more responsibility since I was with a group of 18 students all week, but the rewards of bonding with these students were unforgettable. In just a week I got to know the students I travelled with as we attended general sessions, concerts (chorus, band, and Jake Owen!), and explored Kentucky.

My biggest take-away from this experience was that the relationship between students and teachers is critical for a happy student and a happy teacher. The teachers at Greenwood show their students that they care about them as people and show them a certain level of respect. They have developed a relationship with the students where they feel comfortable coming to their teachers with problems and telling them about their day. The Greenwood teachers have found that "sweet spot" where students can come to them, but yet respect them. I could not have had a better trip because Greenwood treated me like I was a third advisor, they treated me like a member of the 'Greenwood family', and even asked me if I could student teach there. This National Convention trip was unforgettable and really showed me how important it is to show students you care about them and encourage responsibility.

Check out some highlights of convention AND check out a few seconds of Greenwood FFA (and myself in the back) getting excited for the convention at 1:35! The video is not yet on youtube, so check it out on the National FFA Organization Facebook page.

Reflecting on Inquiry-Based Instruction

According to Alberta Learning, "Inquiry-based learning is a process where students are involved in their learning, formulate questions, investigate widely and then build new understandings, meanings and knowledge" (2004). Inquiry-based instruction develops interest and critical thinking skills within students. Through inquiry-based instruction, they learn how to independently solve problems and develop processes to critical thinking. Although the process is different to individuals, Alberta Learning had this helpful picture (to the right) of the steps within the process.

Reflecting on the process is in the center because it is critical to the model and should be used within every step. The planning phase is usually what gets students interested. They are introduced to the issue and start to feel optimistic about solving the puzzle introduced to them. Retrieving is an important step for the teacher to interact with a guide student learning because this step can cause frustration within students. The retrieving stage involves students thinking about the information they do have and searching for the information they need. Students can develop frustrations when they run into obstacles with not enough or too much research. The processing phase involves focusing the inquiry and determining what research is necessary for the topic.

The creating phase is important because students take the knowledge they ave learned and now put it into their own words and their own format. The sharing phase is the chance students get to share what they learned with a specific audience (peers, community, etc.). I see this phase as a way to put the students in a teacher role. They get to present what they learned which will only help in their learning process. They say you learn best when you have to teach it! Finally, evaluating is essential for students to develop understanding and critique of the process. They should be able to articulate what they did and how it was important. All these steps are a great foundation to start inquiry-based instruction in any subject, but there are many ways to accomplish inquiry-based instruction!

I think this process is essential to encourage within students so they can develop independence and problem solving skills. Like I said, this process can be used in any subject and I think Agricultural Education can implement inquiry-based instruction easily. My first instinct is to implement this inquiry-based instruction process by assigning a research paper on a controversial topic like GMO's. I could also see myself assigning a presentation for students to present research on what variables impact an ecosystem. Students could also present findings to middle school classes or fair events on the research they found on animal diseases. The possibilities are endless in how inquiry-based instruction can be implemented in agricultural education! 

Check out the below resource on inquiry-based instruction!


Reference:

Alberta Learning. (2004) Focus on inquiry: a teacher?s guide to implementing inquiry-based learning. Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/313361/focusoninquiry.pdf