Week Two of Student Teaching at Lampeter Strasburg

Week two of student teaching was eye opening.  Monday as well as Friday were in service days.  Mrs. Oberholtzer and I made the most of it making copies, evaluating supplies, and brushing up on lessons.  The hallways were dark and quiet and I’m not sure if other teachers were tucked in their rooms or scooted out early.  Either way I saw that on days like Monday and Friday it is very important to get the most out of it.  Come in with a plan, work, work, work and make preparations you otherwise could not until the end of the regular school day. 

Fast forward to Thursday night which I had been super excited for all week.  Thursday night was our county record book meeting at Lancaster Mennonite High School.  This was the first time I got to interact with the other ag. teachers within the county.  The evening began with a short presentation from the conservation district followed by a dish to pass supper. 

After finishing our meal we began grading record books.  I was a bit nervous at first grading student’s record books.  I didn’t want to cheat any student out of points they worked so very hard for.  Sometimes things are never how they seem and the grading sheet provided to me helped me work through student’s record books off of AET.  AET really seems like a great platform for students to record their records on.  The more interaction I have with it is making me feel comfortable enough to work with students one day on my own using it.  The evening was long, but it was very enjoyable to read through students’ record books.

The other part of the evening that really warmed my heart was the laughs and conversations I had with the other ag. teachers.  Lancaster County has a very diverse group of teachers ranging in numerous years of experience, personal backgrounds, gender, and curriculum taught.  It was powerful to see the thoughtfulness and care they put into their students.  Events talked about at this meeting would not be conducted for another two months, but it takes ideal preparation for such large events to go off without a hitch.  It was also great to hear kind words from so many people about the program that I am in and the cooperating teachers I am placed with.  I am truly excited for the next 13 weeks.  Monday I begin teaching Vet Science II and agricultural mechanics wish me luck!  Stay tuned to also hear about a career speaker panel I have set up to occur in just a few short weeks! 

Let's Acheive Our Goals!

Evaluating learning is much more than handing out an exam and expecting your students to answer 75 questions by the end of the class period.  We as educators have come to realize that all our students are different and that the one mold fits all approach does not work in a progressive, functional, 21^st century classroom.  Our students all come with strengths and weaknesses.  We must be able to observe and understand these to better adapt and provide for our students.  Here are five bits of information I picked up on that are crucial to fully grasp and incorportate when evaluating students.

1.      Accommodations vs. modification- These two terms have very different meanings.  Not every student will have an IEP, but they may need to be accommodated.  Accommodating a student does not mean you create a different assignment for them to complete.  It simply means you may provide a list of terms, definitions, or tangible handout for them to have.  Modification however, is altering the assignment or test.  In this case maybe the student only has two instead of four choices to choose from.  Or they will be given a time extension or not be expected to write a six page paper instead only four pages.

 

2.      Rubrics are a tool to help access student performance in an objective, reliable, and consistent manner.  Rubrics also make things 100% transparent and students can clearly see what is expected of them.

 

3.      Accountability & Reliability- Rubrics allow for teachers and students to be accountable.  What is expected of both is clearly specified.  Rubrics are also reliable.  Once you implement them into your class and use them regularly students know what is expected from you.  From an educator standpoint you show no favoritism.

 

4.      There are three types of learning criteria when evaluating students. 

·         Product criteria- addresses what students know and are able to do at a particular time

·         Process criteria- A student’s classroom behavior relating to effort, behavior, class participation, how well they follow directions and turn assignments in, and their work habits.

·         Progress criteria- how much students improve or gain from their learning experiences.

 

5.      Why do we use peer assessment in our classrooms?  It empowers students and teaches them how to manage their learning.  It enhancing student learning through the exchange of ideas with their classmates and motivates students to dig deeper into material.

 

In conclusion educators must be mindful in the way they educate their students.  Rubrics allow for transparency, student ownership, and reliability.  Accommodating and modifying assignments for students will lead to greater student success for those who need it.  Constantly accessing student knowledge through the three criterions previously mentioned will make things easier when it is time to do report cards.

How Are You Asking Your Questions?

There is no wrong question, but as an educator you can wrongly ask a question.  This week’s weekly writing focused on effective questioning.  Questioning is a crucial part of the learning process.  After material has been taught questions are asked to make sure what was conveyed by the teacher has been absorbed by the students.  As well as to interest and motivate students and create higher orders of thinking and reasoning. 

The realization of differentiated instruction in the classroom helps ease the burden of how to ask questions.  However, before you can ask questions you as an educator must understand what differentiated instruction is and how to implement it into your classroom. 

First, students must feel comfortable in your classroom for any of this to work.  Once students feel comfortable in your classroom the fear of asking a dumb question will subside.  Next no matter how off the wall a question may be at times you as an instructor must be prepared to answer it.  This may require rephrasing the question in a way that makes more sense so the whole class understands. 

Secondly, as an educator you must recognize that your students learn a multiple realm of modalities.  To reach all your students learning styles, you as an educator must have variability in your day to day lessons to connect to everyone. 

Looking ahead towards my student teaching experience there are a few things I want to hone in on and become proficient in by the end of my experience.

1.      Thoroughly articulate my questions.  After teaching material I want my students to give clear meaning to me the connection they made from today’s lesson with yesterdays and what the importance is of what we learned today for what is in store for the day ahead.

2.      Don’t jump the gun!  Allow for enough wait time for students to formulate a response.

3.      Reach for the sky!   Throughout the day to day lessons that I will be teaching I want to make sure my lessons have meaning and challenge my students just a little bit more than anticipated.  If I can do that.  My students will stay engaged and therefore ask deeper thinking questions when they arise.

4.      Create debate.  I loved it when we got to debate in high school.  Being assigned a topic and a stance or taking a side made me think outside the box and not just skim the surface.  At the same time I got to listen to other students’ perspectives and thought about why what they were saying made sense or why I took a different side.  I think debate can be a great way to further questioning.  To make it successful like stated earlier students must feel safe in the environment you provide to them.

 

Questioning is almost like the keystone of ones learning process.  As an educator you must lay the blocks so students can sufficiently question and grow their learning mindset.  And students must understand the importance of questioning and ask out when they do not understand or want to learn more.

How to make your class hall talk

Creating a learning environment that students want to come back to is a challenge that educators face.  It is not so much that the content being taught is boring and not worthwhile, but the way it is being conveyed to students is not intriguing to them.  Like the worm a fisherman puts on his/her hook to catch a fish.  A teacher must find that type of worm or bait to lure students into the information and end up learning something from it.  Teachers must always be accessing what is working for them and what is not.  After our second weekly reading here are some key points I picked up from it…

To start things off with there are three domains of learning Cognitive, psychomotor, and affective.

·         Cognitive behavior deals with facts, knowledge, and concepts.

 

·         Psychomotor behavior deals with using your mind and motor skills ex. Hands on experiences.  However, this cannot be accomplished without cognitive understanding.

 

·         Affective behavior relates to attitudes, values, and aesthetic.

 

How do you have that awesome class?

 

·         Instructional objectives have to be sound, clear, and concise.  Like concrete for a building or sidewalk.  Much planning and preparation must go into it before anyone can think about using the building as a working space or walking on that sidewalk.

 

 

·         Setting objectives help define and limit the scope of the problem area.  It greatly assists teachers in what is needed to know and what would just be nice to know.

 

·         Objectives help lay the sequence out in which the way content will be taught.  By choosing to do this, students can build off of skills previously comprehended.

 

·         Teachers must know where they are going and how they plan on getting there.  Kind of like a trip across nation.

·         The major focus of writing instructional objectives includes specifying observable (measurable) behaviors.

·         By using action verbs this can successfully be done.

·         Having an interest approach is vital!

·         This creates a desire for students to want to learn more about the specified topic.

·         Use interest approaches that relate to students you have in your classes.

·         Engaging lessons make for an enjoyable teaching and learning experience.

·         To actually be engaging it requires planning, preparation, and presentation.

 

You must bring enthusiasm to every lesson you teach!

Dave Burgess says “It doesn’t matter how much material you teach, it only matters how much is received.”  I strongly agree with this statement.

Transitions are highly important when conveying content and ideas some examples are…

Having the projector already on

Video clips already uploaded

Finally, Success relies on your attitude!

What makes an effective teacher affect lives?

As my senior year opens wide up, a weekly assignment of mine will be to do weekly readings.  After reading the prepared material I have to construct a blog post of what I found most fascinating about the articles.  As well, looking into the future and how I will incorporate such thoughts or ideas to fully get the most out of my student teaching experience.  Today’s readings I greatly enjoyed reading through and jotting down facts and proven theories to be an effective agricultural educator.  The relevance of the material in these articles is powerful for someone new starting out in the profession.

1.      There must be order and structure in an effective classroom.

A clear message that was continually brought up in each article was that of order and structure.  The entirety of this does not consist of an intimidation factor and that there is this feeling of fear when students enter your classroom.  Actually, it has little if anything to do with that.  Having a structured classroom and students knowing the process of which events will occur in your classroom creates an effective learning environment. 

Looking into the future towards my student teaching experience one way I think I will have to set order is by the way I dress.  I’m really not that much older than some of the students I will be teaching.  My daily attire will have to consist of pants, a button up, and tie.  Setting a professional precedence making sure my students understand I am here to increase their skill set than be their friend.   

2.      Variability increases the effectiveness of learning.

Now I know I just said that order and structure are key components of an effective classroom and that students like a routine and rhythm to the work they are doing, but I’m talking about variability by the way you as an educator present the material to your students.  If they aren’t understanding what you are teaching them find a different mode of teaching! 

Through my experiences as a student PowerPoint has been excessively used.  Don’t get me wrong it is a good tool, but can be abused.  I also can remember teachers I had that I knew exactly how their class was going to go.  Those classes and teachers were super boring!  Looking ahead towards my student teaching experience I am working on my creative juices and thinking about what will make a good lesson great!

3.      The effective teacher affects lives!

Wow! Those five words really hit the nail right on top of the head.  But really isn’t that the truth?  Looking back on my academic career so far, teachers who were effective in their teaching did affect my life along with many others.  This spans across all spectrums of the teaching field.  I struggled with math in high school, but I had both effective teachers and ones that weren’t.  I remember the ones who were.

Keeping this statement in mind going forth into my teaching career I think it is one to just reflect on and go back to when maybe you don’t think what you are doing is that important.

4.      Instructional clarity is vital for student success.

No matter what the material it is that you are teaching keep it clear and concise.  Never assume that your students already know something.  And hey even if they do I bet they’ll learn something new they didn’t already.  I’m learning that.  No one knows it all.  Let alone should anyone ever. 

Going forth thinking about creating lesson plans for my students I will always have to keep in mind if what I’m trying to convey to them is clear and understandable.  I think if anything you can never be too detailed.  Then if you have to scale it back you can.

These are just a few of the many important concepts I grasped from my reading today that I felt were extremely important.  Over the summer I was a part of a virtual book club with other agriculture educators all across the nation.  Many concepts spoken about in the book were brought up in the articles I also read today.  Here check out Teach Like A Pirate the book I read this summer.