I speak like an Italian: Lab Numero 2 #labchat #psuaged16

One of the senior courses that pre-service teachers are required to take is AEE 412 also known as “Methods of Teaching Agriculture.” During this class, students are able to prepare lesson plans and teach to practice their classroom management and work on their teaching skills. During the course of this class, I will be reflecting on how my lessons went to help better me as a teacher. Enjoy!

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The first day of school brings back so many great memories. Reuniting with old friends, back to school shopping, looking your best to impress, and of course the new classes that you are able to take! It is an opportunity to start out the first day as one of the BEST days as a student.

In our lab this week, we had to demonstrate what we would do on the very first day of school with the new students! I learned a lot about my teaching style when I want to show my energy and excited but the down fall is..... I speak like my mother. Yes, that day has come where I can watch myself and see the similarities of the women that has been an inspiration in my life.

I speak like an Italian.
 

From a young age, I knew that my family was special. When I was able to see them, they were loud, exciting, and of course just loved spending time with each other. Growing up in a family lifestyle like that, it is surprising to see how much I have brought that into my teaching. Watching myself walk around the room, being loud and obnoxious, even flailing my arms during some points. After watching my lab, I have learned that I can be exciting BUT I need to slow down and stop using hand signals constantly. It led to be more of a distraction than an aid in the class.

I need to SLOW down with explanations
When explaining directions to the students about the activities we were going to do, some were hesitant and unsure with what was actually happening in the class. After the second time they did the activity, they were ready to go and confident with what they are doing. They suggested that I slow down with the directions and explanations for better understanding about what was going to happen in the class. I took this matter seriously and I want to try and map out a "script" of delivering a message across to my students. I believe that if I give direction, explain/demonstrate an action, and then repeat the directions, students will have a better understanding of what is going on in the class.

Future Expectations
I enjoy these labs because they help me focus on growing as a learner and a teacher. So, where do we go from here? I want to practice delivering directions and messages to others on a day to day basis. Whether my peers need help or they have a question I want to be slow and concise so that they understand. I also want to bring out my Italian flare in a more centered energy that does not have me bouncing all over the room like a cannoli! I need to direct that energy towards my students for their learning and growth.

Overall, I had a great time delivering this lab to my students! I look forward to perfecting my teaching strategies as the labs move forward.
 

Engaging Instruction #weeklywriting

With large amounts of reading assignments in various classes, reflecting on what I read is vital for the understanding of the subject matter. By blogging each week about the various readings, I will be able to think, reflect, and the share with my peers! Hang in there with me as the reading assignments come, just know that I am making it short and concise for you instead of your reading them all! Enjoy!

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Snap Shots of the reading this week

1)      “Teachers decide what they want their students to know and be able to do once the instruction has been provided” (Methods of Teaching Agriculture, pg.91)

Right off the bat this quote caught me off guard. My first question is, HOW can we as teachers hook in those students that we know have the potential for great things? You can show/explain/grade/test students on everything, but how will you know that they fully grasp the concept? By being clear and concise, I feel as a teacher the message will be able to come across easily and the students can grasp the concepts fully.

2)      Being that “fun and exciting” teacher is not a bad thing!

In high school my friends thought that my agriculture classes were all fun and games because hey, in some aspects they were... BUT there was learning that was happening all around. My teacher took the time to develop his interest approach to literally have all of the students ready to learn the next thing. By having experiments, labs, and hands on work, you can grab the attention of students promoting learning throughout the class.

3)      Common ways to keep students interested the entire class period (Burgess):

a.       Fluidity in Transitions

b.      Hooks/ Interest Approaches

c.       BE PREPARED

Dave Burgess, author of “Teach like a PIRATE”, talks about how these 3 things can help any lesson have smooth sailing (no pun intended!) He writes about ways teachers struggle after the teacher has the class at full attention. Myself included have many ways in which I struggle with these aspects as a student teacher because of the way that I prepare my lesson. I need to find the gaps, fill them with different approaches, to get a return of student success.

4)      "A good teacher, like a good entertainer, first must hold his audiences attention. Then he can teach his lesson"

I strive to be a teacher that is able to reach out to all of my students in different ways. I will never forget my fourth grade teacher that I had. She made sure that she spoke to all of her students every day and remembered details that we mentioned previous days before. It is hard work, but hey, being a teacher is not a career it is a life choice. You are effecting the lives of others who will no doubt effect yours as well.

Walter Biddle Saul High School Video #studentteaching

For my AEE 295 class, we were asked to create a video with certain criteria about our cooperating centers in the spring. Since I will be teaching at Walter Biddle Saul High School, I created this short clip about the school! Check it out below and leave comments!

Snap Shots for Teaching! #AEE412 #psuaged16

With large amounts of reading assignments in various classes, reflecting on what I read is vital for the understanding of the subject matter. By blogging each week about the various readings, I will be able to think, reflect, and the share with my peers! Hang in there with me as the reading assignments come, just know that I am making it short and concise for you instead of your reading them all! Enjoy!

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So instead of me listing out every little detail that I read with these assignment, I will be giving you 5 main points or snap shots that I took out of the reading! So watch your eyes, the snap shots are coming your way!

Snap Shot Number One:

The most important thing to establish the first week of school is CONSISTENCY.

This couldn’t be truer for us first time teachers just entering the work world. To be an effective teacher, you have to set up boundaries and expectations for your students so that they form into habits. By starting these early, you can set up your classroom for success, rather than chaos!

Snap Shot Number Two:

Fantasy, Survival, Mastery, Impact

No, this is not a plot to a movie or book rather a map of the four stages of teaching. Depending on where you are in these four stages describes what type of teacher you are. So for example, in the “Fantasy” stage you are wanting to relate and be friends with your students rather than a guiding influence rather than in the “Impact” stage you aren’t fully reaching the full potential of getting to know your students. You were hired to impact, inspire, and TEACH these kids. Finding a balance in these four stages is exactly where you want to be in my opinion.

Snap Shot Number Three:

Put your passion into your teaching

Showing your students that you are passionate and excited about what you are teaching will inspire them to try their best and push themselves (at least that’s what I would hope would happen!). We need to invest time into preparing our lessons and making them relatable to our students to see the maximum growth in the classroom!

Snap Shot Number Four:

TEACH SMARTER NOT HARDER

A huge common thread in all of the articles this week were striving for teachers to be prepared and ready to teach in the classroom. Prepare your lesson plans, be organized, and most importantly have fun.

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Hope you enjoyed! There will be more to come with the readings! 

 

 Stay Golden and enjoy these last few days of summer weather!

 

 

Knot Your Average Lesson #aee412 #psuaged16

One of the senior courses that pre-service teachers are required to take is AEE 412 also known as “Methods of Teaching Agriculture.” During this class, students are able to prepare lesson plans and teach to practice their classroom management and work on their teaching skills. During the course of this class, I will be reflecting on how my lessons went to help better me as a teacher. Enjoy!

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Class Lesson: How to Tie a Bowline Knot

Students: 6

Objectives:

• Background Information on Bowline Knots
• Effective Strategies how to tie the Knot using a Mnemonic
• Successfully tie the Bowline Knot

For this lesson, I had an end goal for my students to learn how to tie a bowline knot. When looking at this task I thought that it would be too easy for my students to complete the task and I would have a TON of time left. Turns out, I was wrong. With only 10 minutes for instruction and 5 minutes for the evaluation, there was a lot to do. I created a simple PowerPoint as well as included pictures step by step on how to tie this knot.

During the class session there were some hiccups on how to show the students how to tie it as well as trying to give them all individual attention without losing them to side conversations. My classroom management while I was with individual students was lacking during this lesson as well. After all of the students had free time to practice tying their knots, I went around individually watching them complete the task. This part I also wish I can go back on because I wanted to bring the group all back together to go over it one more time.

Overall, it was a great class and I learned a lot as a teacher when doing a demo. I look forward to the rest of the semester in this class and working on my teaching strategies.

Student Farmers at Saul! #SAE

Stephanie Pleasant (right), Baiyinah (left),
Gizmo the Chinchilla (middle)

Today I had a “blast from the past” moment when observing two students from Walter Biddle Saul High School’s SAE projects. If you are unaware about what an SAE is, it is a Supervised Agricultural Experience where students can gain exposure to different agricultural fields in the work industry. I had the opportunity to meet with rising juniors Baiyinah Cunningham and Stephanie Pleasant about their project as student farmers at the school.

To be a student farmer at W.B. Saul, the agriculture teachers ask students to work through the school year and the summer as a paid intern. They have to clock in and clock out like any other job and they also document their chores and challenges they face in their SAE book every Wednesday with the teachers that supervise them. Both of these girls work together every day with the small animals (mice, rats, guinea pigs) and dogs at the high school cleaning and taking care of them. After we sat down and discussed their projects, the girls showed me around the building where they take care of the animals. To be honest, I had a teacher moment seeing the pride on their faces because of the amount of work that they had put into the place!

Ms. Turrentine working with the rabbits with Baiyinah

After the tour and the follow up with my cooperating teacher, Ms. Turrentine about the student farmer positions she made it clear that she wanted the students to gain different “real world” experiences while they were taking care of the animals. If problems arose along the way she would of course step in and help, but she made sure to challenge the students to use critical thinking when dealing with these issues when they occurred.

Baiyinah and Stephanie stated it well when they said “By having this job, we have learned how to deal with real life problems and also work on our time management when cleaning and taking care of the animals.” These girls are on the right path to having an awesome On-Farm Placement SAE project and are working their way into the animal industry.

6 Reasons Why You Should Travel Alone Once

I consider myself pretty fortunate when it comes to traveling and seeing the world. I have been on several group trips, a couple mission trips, and an independent research adventure. Each of these experiences have helped me learn about myself and the world around me. It wasn’t until I got out of my comfort zone ad went on a trip to Belize by myself where I truly got to enjoy a country on my own and do what I wanted to do. After my time there I truly believe everyone should travel alone once in their lives and here is why:
 

Volunteered with locals building
a green house.

1. Amazing People and Stories

One of the greatest things about traveling alone are the people that you meet. When you travel with a partner or a group, you lose out on the opportunity to force yourself into meeting new people. When you travel alone, I noticed that other people traveling alone will flock to you because they are sharing the same experience as you and it is less intimidating. I can’t count the number of amazing people and friends that I made on my trip that I still am keeping in contact with.


2. Great Food

I love to try new foods and eat at the hole in the wall places that all the locals enjoy. Every time I tried a new place to eat, I always asked the locals what was the best thing on the menu. I had great experiences with this and was even invited by some locals to come and try food at their house for dinner!

3. You can do what you want

When have you gone on a trip where there were activities that you disliked and all you wanted to do was just leave? Well when traveling alone the only person you have to deal with is yourself. It allows you to be flexible and choose what exactly you want your experience in another country to be like.

I went and visited a farmers
 market one morning

4. You grow to be independent

You are your own decision maker. By traveling alone you will become more assertive because you are forced to make the decisions on your own. Once you start practicing, it becomes easier for everyday life. It also makes you realize that when you are traveling alone, there will be problems along the way where you will be forced to step up and make another decision best for you!

5. Get out of your comfort zone

I was able to learn a lot about myself and the attitude that I had towards my life. I reorganized my priorities and was able to grow personally which has made me grow in to the person I am today. I know that this experience can be rough for some people but in the end I was able to say that I traveled on my own and did my own thing.  

6. Work on checking things off your bucket list

As cliché as it sounds, I was able to check a lot of things off my bucket list that I had on there when I was traveling. I made sure to visit all of the tourist sights, yet still intermingle with the people that I had made friends with. Overall, the bucket list is a powerful tool that will make you want to cross things off yourself because you navigated through the system on your own.