Problem based learning lab

This week for lab we were to teach a lesson based around problem based learning. After teaching my lesson I walked out of the room thinking "that was rough".

What happened?

I was planning on having the students do some research on the different types of rabbits for my rabbit production unit. Everything started off well until until I really started getting into the instructions, At one point I told the students to get out there computers, then the next minute I told them to put them away. My clarity for instructions ended up being really confusing for everyone including myself.

On top of the confusion with my instructions, everyone was playing there different role as the students really well, which made it extremely difficult to get focused on how I could fix my instructions.

What could I do?

So in order to improve, I could do a few things. First I could write out my instructions word for word and read exactly what I want them to do before they get started. This will basically force the student to listen to the instructions instead of working on their computers.

Second I could have had the students actually identify what they needed to know instead of me telling them what they needed to know. This gives the students the chance to identify what they need and take ownership of the work they do.

How will I use this lesson?

In the spring i plan to use this lesson in my rabbit production unit with all of the improvements that I made. I believe the students will really enjoy this work and thrive while they are working on it.

Project Based Learning

The problem:

We have all heard it or maybe even said it, "today we are going to start working on a project". Those are the words that no high-school really wants to hear. As teachers we tend to think that assigning the students a project is an amazing idea to push for student centered learning and develop these "21st century skills" which are pushed so heavily. What we don't stop to think about is how these projects might actually be developing these skills; if we actually think about it, they really aren't.

We give the students a topic and put them in groups to answer a question that we pose. Sure, the students may work in groups for the in class time that we give them to work, but just how often do they really work together outside of class? Are they really developing critical thinking skills or are they just using google to find quick answers?

This week for my writing I have decided to focus on two of our readings for class, The Main Course, Not Dessert: How are Students Reaching 21st Century Goals? With Project Based Learning by John Larmer and John Mergendoller, and 8 Essentials for Project Based Learning also by John Larmer and John Mergendoller.

The Solution:

As we move forward in education, we realize more and more that students do not just want to be told what to do and then go out and do it. Students are wanting to be able to question what they are doing and try things based on their questions. In the article 8 Essentials for Project based Learning,  they discuss, you guessed it, 8 different areas which all projects you assign your student should have. these 8 essentials include:

1. Significant content
2. A need to know
3. A driving question
4. Student choice and voice
5. 21st century skills
6. Inquiry and innovation
7. Feedback and revision
8. Publicly presented product

When we bring all of these elements together in a single project, the students will not only own the project, but they will be able to be proud of the effort they put into it. A project should not be busywork, a project should be something that the students actually learn from and develop skills they will need to thrive in the world after graduation. Unfortunately, many times projects fail to do just that. 

How will I use Project Based Learning?

During my student teaching semester in the spring, I plan to use project based learning in my Wildlife class, I want the students to have a project that they can own and be proud of. I plan on bringing in the DCNR and game commission in to help out with whatever project I decide. At this moment, I am still working on what that project will be, but I am looking through this list of possible projects to see what I decide. I plan to use these 8 essentials to guide overall design of the project. 

Fall Leadership Conference

What did we do?

Monday, we were at the Blair County Convention Center with the goal of teaching FFA treasurers from all across the state about their position, responsibilities, and skills which a leaders should possess. our workshop had a total of 20 students, many of which had never been a treasurer before this year. Overall the workshop went very well and the students seemed to really enjoy it. This was our first real experience as a facilitator in our journey to becoming agriculture teachers, and it was a great one. 

Highlights:

Towards the end of our lesson, we had the students create a "reflection sandwich" the goal of the activity was to have the students reflect on what they wanted to take back to their chapter, whether it was skills of a leader, duties of the treasurer, or engaging students in their chapter. After giving the students time to think and write their plans down. I explained to the students that they may not have all the qualities of a leader, but they may still be good leaders, just like you may not have the cheese on a sandwich but it is still a good sandwich. when this was discussed, Sam chimed in with "be the bacon on the cheeseburger" and the students absolutely loved it (especially because it was so close to lunch). For the rest of the workshop the students decided our motto was going to be "be the bacon".

At the very end, we had enough time for a Q & A. The Students were extremely interested in our past experiences as officers, and different ideas that we had to improve our chapters engagement.

How could we have improved?

So there are a few ways we could have improved according to the students. The majority of the suggestions were to bring bacon (or another kind of food). But another idea which I really liked was to give them time as officers to discuss their own ideas and give each other suggestions.

After our own personal reflection, We came up with a few areas we could have improved on. The first is getting the students excited. At first we were having some real trouble getting the students excited to be in the workshop. We tried getting them out of their seats and being active but nothing was working. So this is definitely an area we need to work on.
   
The second area we needed to work on was our timing, Now to be fair I feel like if the students had been engaged we wouldn't have had as much of a problem with this. At around 11:30 (half hour before we were supposed to be finished) we completely ran out of materials. So Sam came up with two more activities to do with the students. The first was basically outlining a map for the students to follow to improve the officers and engagement in their chapters. The second activity was to create an acronym of the different duties of a chapter treasurer.

Overall:

The workshop was great, I believe the students learned a lot and definitely had fun. One teacher came up to me after and was telling me how all of his students could not stop talking about the different workshops. I consider this to be an amazing thing. I cannot wait to start teaching!

Effective Questioning

This week, one of our readings included an article from Cornell University titled: Using Effective Questions.  This article has really helped me think about different ways to use thought provoking questions in the classroom. When students are given the chance to ask questions, and in some cases given the chance to try and answer their own questions, There is a real opportunity for them to learn or even spark an interest they never realized they had. Unfortunately as students get older, they tend to ask less questions. In order to combat this, we as educators need to be sure we are giving the students the opportunity they need to ask questions.

So what type of questions should we ask?
According to Cornell University, when we are asking our students questions, we should be very careful that we do not ask them close-ended questions if we want them to really think about a topic. These questions can be used to do a quick comprehension check though. We should also avoid questions that may be considered "loaded" or a questions that we are looking for a specific response, as the students may just try to guess what you are thinking of. The questions we should be asking are the more open ended and probing questions. These questions give the students an opportunity to take what they have learned or are going to be learning and try to come up with not only a response to the question, but also a way to defend their response.

There are five powerful questions that we should all be asking our students according to Rebecca Alber in her article at edutopia.org,  These questions include:

• What do you think?
• Why do you think that?
• How do you know this?
• Can you tell me more?
• What questions do you still have?

As you can see, these are all questions which would really make the students think and come up with ways to defend their answers. Each questions works off of the one before it to ensure student understanding of the materials. 

So how will I use this in student teaching in the Spring? Well as I begin teaching, I believe I will get better at asking students questions. As I get better at asking questions, I will continue to look for more questions I can ask the students during lessons. Once I get to where I am comfortable with asking these questions I believe my student teaching is going to go much smoother than if I were not to get better. Asking questions and helping students answer questions is a major part of the learning process, When I learn how to do that in a more clear and concise way, I will definitely be one step closer to becoming a teacher. 

Unit Plan building

So after designing my first unit plan, It is time for another reflection.

I decided that the first unit I was going to design was going to be my Small Gas Engine Introduction, Safety, tools, and parts. The plan itself went together fairly quickly, with lessons like "How does math relate to Small Gas engines?" and "How do you use a micrometer? " This unit will be one of the first ones I begin teaching in the spring.

The most difficult part with designing this unit was finding what standards I was going to address for the lessons. I knew roughly what standards were going to be addressed, the difficult part was actually finding AFNR and Academic standards that would like up with what I was going to be teaching.

After the peer review, there was a few minor changes I needed to make (mostly related to being more specific).

Overall I thought the unit came together nicely and I am looking forward to writing my next unit. I think next I will write my first unit for the Small Animal Science class.