Life Knowledge Lesson

For the Life Knowledge Lesson for lab I went to my cooperating school and decided to do a lesson on trust. I was excited to finally do a lesson where I will be student teaching and get to get even more involved with the students. I was lucky enough to teach the third period class who were all upper classroom and could have given me a run for my money.

Teaching this class was fun and exciting and went better than expected. With focusing on trust we did a blind obstacle course, a counting game, and the telephone game. I was surprised to see them most engaged in the counting game. Which is where they need to see how high they can count with having their eyes closed and no two people speak at the same time.

Teaching a life knowledge lesson for one was hard to pick. Secondly it felt awkward cause I feel like I was scripted which made me feel I was reading from a paper which I hate. Even though I was familiar with the  lesson I just felt I had to keep checking to make sure I did not say something wrong.

One obstacle while being there was a student who had a physical disability being she was so small. She had a stool for her feet once in a chair. I did not expect this and did not plan for it so I had to adjust and make sure I also did what was best for her.

 

 

Final reflection

Wow! It is hard to believe this semester had come to an end already and we officially finished up our labs this morning. For me personally lab was up and down with skills and emotions.

This lab experience was positive and negative. On the positive side it helped with nerves and getting in front of people and being the main focal point. On the negative side it was "awkward" teaching in front of your peers was weird and sometimes what you had planned went fast due to them knowing the content already. A positive aspect to the teaching was the actual classroom with real students. That is when it felt right.

Personally and professionally I grew a lot. I grew in ways such as creativeness, enthusiasm, and better clarity. Not saying I am perfect because I am far from it. I feel as a professional I have learned and worked on classroom management skills that I did not know I needed or had.

I feel that I have become a more reflective teacher even though expressing my thoughts has not been the easiest. I feel I actually take the time to step back and think about what has happened and gone on compared to just chugging ahead and not looking back. Incorporating reflection into my preparation, teaching, and learning will make me a better educator because I will be able to look back and use my weaknesses or strength to help me better myself and know what to work on rather than have no idea.

Overall the expectations were pretty clear. There was just a lot to keep track of and when having to post  or comment on so many blogs it was hard keeping track of who you did and did not do because a lot were not uploaded to COP. Another thing that could have helped was a class by itself dedicated to lesson planning, unit plans, and related item. Starting the year I felt so behind on them and it was hard to learn the way as we needed them due.

It was a good experience though and I am glad I had the opportunity for these real life interactions instead of just being thrown into the classroom.

How to get creative!

As a broke college student or an ag teacher we learn to use our resources well. For lab today we went to the dollar tree to think creatively on a small budget of $5.00. How is this possible???

Walking through the dollar tree ideas just start popping in your head. Who knew you could do so much from a store like that. If it was not for the budget I could have probably bought the whole store to put into my lessons in one way or another.

As ag teachers, often times they buy items for lessons from their pockets filled with well not a lot. So being able to physically and visually see what you can do on such a small budget was useful. Knowing the feeling of being broke but wanting to make everything the best it can be is hard when you have obstacles in your way.

With that said I was able to put 5 items to go with a couple lessons and it will either help enhance the lesson or at least gain a few laughs to brighten the mood.

Sometimes you need to let loose and live a little!

Classroom Management

Have you ever wondered why when you walk by one classroom and it looks like the students have gone crazy and the next they are perfect little angels? I sometimes thought it was because the teacher was horrible or the students were just plain bad behaved. However, I have come to learn that it could be a little bit of both but more so it has to deal with the atmosphere of the classroom.

In order for this classroom atmosphere to read controlled and behaved the teacher must portray this to the students. This task must be done on the first day and must stick. Some general things to remember when developing your classroom management are:
~ Be firm; you can always get softer
~ Have a routine and let the students know the routine
~ Do not have favorite; no student wants to be in a class where they feel the student does not like them
~ Learn to forgive and forget
~ Set a good example
Following these simple guidelines can help you create the classroom atmosphere you desire. These are just a few examples with many more out there to use.

Having a good classroom management technique can help you be a better teacher or one that the students actually listen to because they respect you. Having that relationship with your students will go along ways when you have them for a few months or even a couple years.

Inquiry based lab!

Learning about inquiry based learning is a mind blowing but yet complex idea or skill to obtain. This week in lab I did a lab working with getting to the know the scientific method. If I were to use this lab in teaching it would have than went into the properties of milk.

I felt that my classmates were engaged wondering what was going to happen. I had to help push them in the right direction as from as coming up with a question because they knew we were dealing with milk and soap and the one group thought we were making soap.

In all realty the lab to show how following a procedure or not following one in the right order can have different affects on the outcome. If you put food coloring in first, than milk, and last dish soap it did not do a whole lot just like if you did it with milk instead of water. Where as when you put milk in first, added drops of food coloring, and last the dish soap there was a reaction.

A weakness for me was not knowing the content as to why this happened but writing the lesson plan I focused on the procedure and the steps of the scientific method. I also needed more questions that would make them think at a higher level.

On a good note though they were engaged and participating.

Being observant

Next time you go somewhere even if it is the mall or any public area take the time to look around and see what is going on. Many times things are happening all around us and we are so wrapped up in our own lives we miss little things that sometimes could make a difference.

I already did my National Convention blog so in this particular one I want to focus on what I saw as people interacted. One of the most interesting ones was actually when the group I was with went to a very formal hotel, The Brown Hotel, for dinner. You could tell we were visitors and this formal setting was not our thing. The one student dropped her fork and having to ask questions because we did not know what the name of the food meant. The waiter however, did not take offense or make smart remarks. He was always getting a chuckle and interacting with us. Asking us where we were from and the how nine yards.

One of the most uplifting moments I saw was chapters that had students with disabilities such as needing a wheel chair. It is great to see the other chapter members help these students be involved in something that is so much bigger. The adviser did it because they wanted to and not because they were forced. Having many friends that have physical limitations seeing individuals do things that some would not even attempt due to their limitations is awesome.

The saddest human interaction I saw was at the ag sales team award banquet. One girl realized she got gold which was in her mind the best thing that could ever happen. She teared up and cried because of joy. Some gentleman from another chapter were laughing at her because of how she was acting. But yet they did not know her story and how some individuals lives are not like theirs when it comes to a home life.

I must say though for what little time I had to observe people with just sitting down and watching you really see peoples true sides. You see the good in people but you also see the negative and hurtful side.

Micro-Teaching

The past week I have spent hours observing and interacting with Mrs. Bechtel and her students from Williamsburg High school. The first day was observing and the next three were teaching an Ag Science III class who were learning about white-tailed deer.

From observing, from the first minute I could tell I was going to have some students who had no desire of being there. I am thinking to myself how am I going to get these students engaged and active when they do not even want to be in the class.

Day 1 of Teaching: I did a lesson on aging white-tailed deer by there jawbones. We related it to aging humans other than using their date of birth and talked about how researchers and biologists use this to determine herd health, stability, and genetics.  When I first started the lesson this one student in particular was just there. The student sat with the group but was off in another world. I asked the question "What are the front teeth that deer have called?". This student perked up, raised their hand, and was excited to answer. Of course I was going to take all I could with this burst of excitement. The answer given was right and we talked a little more. Getting that student to be excited to answer was a thrill for me. It might have only been for that one particular part but it was a start and being they wanted to answer meant they were paying attention even though it might not of looked like it.

Day 2 of Teaching: This day we learned about scoring antlers. We discussed how just like jawbones, scoring antlers added information to the research and biologists end of things with genetics and heard stability. We also talked about how it was used to set records  for trophy kills. The students were able to hands on learn the scoring process which was a site seeing them work in group and determine what counted as points and where to measure the circumference.

Day 3 of Teaching: This lesson was designed a little different by creating the learning through a game and than plotting out data on a graph which helped promote our discussion that talked about how habitats affect populations and what happens when there is a decrease and increase.

Some strong point from my micro teaching were getting students engaged in their own little ways for example the student who was into dental and was on top talking about teeth who normally is just there. I liked my balance of powerpoints and lecture to the hands on learning aspect. I felt my questioning was good because even though I got answer I wanted them to dig deeper so we would add to their answers with more questions.

Some areas of improvement would be making sure I really state and elaborate on the "Why is this important; why do we need to learn this?" for the students to really be able to understand the important behind it. Another one I think would be my speed of talking and maybe some clearer questioning

Inquiry based learning

Who would have thought that there was such a thing known as inquiry based learning. Like most things because it has been in your life one way or another you do not always think of the name associated with it.
One main idea from using inquiry based learning is to have the students engaged by:

1. question;
2. investigate;
3. use evidence to describe, explain, and predict;
4. connect evidence to knowledge; and
5. share findings.


Now anyone can read about inquiry based learning but implementing it is a whole other story. Here are siz steps I found to help implement it:

Six Stages of the Inquiry Cycle
1. Inquisition – stating a "what if" or "I
wonder" question to be investigated
2. Acquisition – brainstorming possible
procedures
3. Supposition – identifying an "I think"
statement to test
4. Implementation – designing and carrying
out a plan
5. Summation – collecting evidence and
drawing conclusions
6. Exhibition – sharing and communication
results (Llewellyn, 2002, p. 13-14)
The inquiry cycle is illustrated further in Figure

As we learn about inquiry based learning this week and implement next week I hope these little tips will help me as I learn this sometimes to be difficult skill.


http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/

Big Timing in the big city for National Convention 2014

Monday was the beginning of a new experience that at the time I did not know would lead to so much more. I set out on the road with my cooperating center, Manheim Central, to tackle the big city of Louisville Kentucky for the FFA National Convention. They were taking a team of four girls who were representing Pennsylvania as the Ag Sales Team.

The van ride was not calm and quiet by any means. At times you felt you were on a filled bus of students. The girls were playing games, singing songs, and going above and beyond by practicing for the musical and for their event. We went through test questions and scenarios, while we also talked over strategies.

I was able to take up the opportunity to judge the National Chapter Model Of Innovations Community event. Through judging this event I networked and talked to educators and extension people from other states and found some possible job opportunities that will be coming up.

Thursday was a day of free stuff and gaining those teacher resources to have in my very own classroom. Through all the interacting I gained a suitcase full of resources and even came home with a small gas engine and the whole tool kit to go along with it. My love of talking comes in handy sometimes.

Friday however was a day filled with excitement, nerves, tears, and a feeling that some just have to experience to understand. The girls were finally going to find out how they did in the team and individual event in the Ag Sales CDE. The girls set a goal to get silver in individuals and silver in team. As they started announcing the medal we made it through the bronze with out getting called which means they met their goal. The one girl ended up making gold and to her it was the best thing. She started crying which made us all tear up in joy and laughter. Overall they had one silver and three gold individuals and the team placed 6th out of around 48 teams. This is the best any team has done that they have sent in any CDE event to nationals.

Calling Mrs. Anderson to tell her the amazing news!

This week was one of the best opportunities that I could have been apart of. The girls lit up a room and I could not be more proud of them and what they accomplished. I am thankful I got the chance to be apart of this amazing time in their lives.

Problem solving approach

In lab today we worked on the problem solving approach. My first thought "oh this is easy", you present them with a problem and let the students go to work. That was not the case. Ended up I needed more interaction but at the same time I did not want to be telling them how to go about it.

With the problem solving approach how do you know if your leading the students to much or not enough. Having higher order questions can help with this but still know when it is too much or not enough is something I need to work on. I also am still working on my clarity. For anyone who knows me knows I know what I mean but portraying it to others is a work in progress.

I was definitely more enthusiastic this lab just because I felt more confident about the subject matter. I felt I handled the student behaviors good as well. You need to stop students from misbehaving but also you need to let them be them and not shut them down all the time. So it again comes down to drawing a line.

Assessment: How to Go About It

As a teacher you need to assess your students to give them one more reason to learn what your spending time on teaching them. Do all assessments need to be in exam form? NO! As a student and a teacher you need to use and have variability in the classroom. When it comes to using exams you should have variety even in those like true or false, multiple choice, short answer, matching, essay, or fill in the blank. Another way to assess your students is through projects. Some examples of this are:

~research projects
~projects such as bird houses or c clamps depending on the class
~demonstrations
~presentations
~speeches

These are just a few examples and you can get very creative ans think outside the box. From this I feel students need to be assessed on rubric basis. Along with this students should have access to the rubric before the project is due so they know exactly what is expected of them. By having this rubric there is no reason for students to say they were not sure what they were to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt_S_-jUIss

http://www.teachhub.com/40-alternative-assessments-learning

Why Use Problem Solving in the Classroom

When there is a cause, it is always followed by an effect right? Everything that is put in front of us has happened for a reason. So ask yourself why? how? who? As a teacher it is beneficial to the students to add in problem based learning into the classroom because this is a real world skill that is utilized in many careers. 

Problem based learning is “teaching strategy that includes problem solving, inquiry learning, project-based teaching and case studies” (237, handbook). The problem solving approach remind me of learning by "doing". So why cant this also related to an individualized teaching technique/a way a student learns because some students will learn better by physically doing it. 

This idea of problem based learning is not just am idea that schools want the students to learn but employers want their workers to be able to have problem solving skills to go with their higher order thinking that is needed in the work force. 

http://www.udel.edu/inst/
http://www.studygs.net/pbl.htm

Being Judged to Being the Judge.

As a showman you walk into the ring with your eyes on the judge doing everything possible to be noticed and make that good first impression. When your showing for showmanship you have so many thoughts running through your head that could consist of:
1. Keep eye contact with the judge
2. Switch sides
3. Pace yourself
4. Use the whole ring
5. Is my animal set up right to its nest
6. Did my animal move
7. 2 seconds judge, 2 seconds animal

These are just a few of the basic thoughts that run through your head. As a showman (pictures to your left) I experienced these thoughts a lot but the more I showed the more it became natural. I thrived on showmanship and was an exhibitor who would rather win showmanship than type class. Anyone can buy an animal to win with enough money but showmanship is all on you. When your in the ring showing your heart out and your in the champion ship drive your looking at the judge and all eyes are on you there is a feeling that just can not be explained but must be experienced. That moment when the judge walks over and shakes your hand there are so many emotions but most of all your hard work has paid off.  I have shown multiple species consisting of lambs, goats, cattle, pigs, and horses and even though each species gets shown a little different you can always start from the basics that apply to any species and work your way of to the details in your walk, your stance, and the way you present yourself and your animal in the ring.


 Last night October 9, 2014 I was in the ring once again for showmanship but in the shoes of the judge for the first time. Wow! Its a weird feeling at first cause now your thinking about how do I pick and choose, what if the audience does not agree with my decisions, how do I prioritized what sticks out for me. It was definitely a rewarding experience. I was honored to judge the showman of showman at the Manheim Farm Show where I judges dairy beef and goat showmanship. Keep in mind these showman are in for winning a species and now are competing in multiple species that they might have never shown before. With that said you never know what to expect. Some exhibitors might rock your world where others you can tell they have only shown goats and are now handling a steer for the first time. Back to being in the ring, it was amazing to get to work with outstanding showman who were all going for the same end goal but did not forget to have fun. I was also able to judge with a former AEE major, Meagan Slates, who shared the same opinions as me. It was great seeing her again and being able to judge an event that has become my passion. The best part out of ht whole night though was after the event getting to interact with the showman and their families. The livestock world is such a small place but in a good way. I even got asked to do a few showmanship and fitting clinics in the spring while I am in the area. (Very exciting moment) I take it I must have done something right if they want to work with their exhibitors in the future.

Hopefully I get more opportunities like this to share my passion with others!

Enjoy a few pictures from experience:)

Genius Hour!!!

Today I experienced my first ever Genius Hour. I honestly had know idea what to expect but it was a very relaxing, informal but formal, open atmosphere that made our ideas and discussions come alive.

From genius hour I have taken away many messages and ideas that I am going to try my best to implement into my classroom. The first one is a safe environment that makes all students feel welcome and not out of place. This comes with treating equally by following my expectations, procedures, and consequences that I have set for my classroom. Another way to implement this safe learning environment is having the students feel they have a say. To do this is choose a unit, plan out the first week, make a list of ideas that can be covered and have the students choose what they want to learn about and ideas on how they want to learn it. Secondly,  bringing in community experts. Taking students on field trips is getting harder and harder these days but with distance learning programs like the Elk Center has it makes those field trips come to the classroom. From my idea on business appearance and preparing students I want to find a class that I teach and bring in resume building and interviewing skills. We are training/teaching our students real world skills for careers so why not teach them how to obtain that job they have their mind set on.

For you as readers:

Where do you fit this into your classes?

How do you teach it and what do you relate it to?

#teachaggenius #yostso #psuaged15 #aee412

You like to be treated as an individual so why not do the same for your students

Being a mind of my own I like being unique. I like standing out in a crowd and making an impression that is unforgettable. Being a student, I was a hand on visual learner. Now my best friend on the other hand was a read and can do it learner. Becoming a teacher a fear that I have is how can I meet the needs of all my students and how they learn. I have been incorporating a lot of variability into my lesson planning which I hope helps.

Newcomb talks about individual learning and one that I would not of expected was experiment. When I saw this I was like how and why can this be a technique. Once I read and was thinking about it I realized it is a hands on learning experience, visuals, and reading. I guess it was just a common idea that I never connected it to a learning technique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCu4CeLq854

Unit plans.... First ever!

Wow! Writing a unit plan take time, thinking, and patience. Writing my first unit plan was like getting slapped in the face with reality. I do not mean that in a negative way but by saying reality is setting in more and more with each step we take into student teaching. Sitting at my computer to write this unit plan was stressful but well worth it. It was a lot to take in and think about because it seems so far away but in the end its at the snap of a finger.

This unit plan came with positives and negatives. This unit plan was easy in the essence of I knew what my lesson titles were and what I wanted to do with them. The parts I found the most stressful was first off the lay out. I tried and tried, plus rearranged, deleted, and so on. I talked to a girl in the cohort and had her send me her lay out. What can I say, she saved me from throwing my computer out the window. The second was standards just because its hard to relate to standards in the non agricultural area that you have to read through and find the perfect matches.

One item that went into my lesson plan with a huge post it note reading "I have no idea" was the SLO. After skyping in with Neil and Diane I started filling out the SLO and feel pretty good about it but I guess time will tell.

From my peer feedback I have made changes which include: Adding more standards both in PA and agricultural ones, I added one to two more objectives per unit, and added overall more clarity through out m y unit plan.

weekly writing

Going through high school at any age the best days are field trip days. Even if you knew the day was going to be boring, it was a day out of the classroom. To add up the number of field trips I have been on I would need more than my fingers and toes. I have to say though, some field trips are more memorable than others. The ones that I got something out of it stick in my head compared to those like the theater were I was bored out of my mind.

Field trips can be a crucial part of the learning environment if played out right. Field trips need to have meaning and planning behind them. They need to be relevant to what the teachers are learning or going to learn (could be a unit interest approach if planned right). Field trips for one need to be engaging that way students are not off in la la land thinking about what they are having for dinner.

Along with field trips playing a role in the learning process, questions can give you the big picture of the learning, They can either tell you what a student does or does not know. They can also tell you where you stand as teacher and where you need to go next. This reading relates so well to 412 instruction with lesson planning and coming up with those transitional questions that make the students at a higher level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IvQOJrN4mU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vboA-n0b7ls

Interest Approach Lab

For my interest approach lab in 412 I chose to use my SAE... What is it? lesson plan. For this lesson I hid index cards around the room, each with a different direction. Some said become this letter "s, a, or e", where some said when called on act a specific idea such as farmer, an experiment, showman, and the list could go on and on. I considered this a pictionary/charades interest approach. Once they acted or drew out the idea given to them students had to relate it to SAE. If they were given a letter they were instructed to find a spot in the room and become that letter. The students not being letter has to determine which letter they were and than decide what they stood for.

I think my interest approach went well. Some comments were the directions were not super clear where others said it was easy to follow. I think it was a good way to get students up and moving and involved first thing for the class. For future reference when I have more than 6 students I can have more students act out more things but not much you can do with six students which is an example if never knowing how many will be in your class and you need to be able to be flexible with that.

First Day of School

As a student teach to be in the spring with hopes og graduating with my teaching certification I know that the "First day of school" is going to be here sooner than I know it. I do believe that as a teacher on the first day you need to set the floor for your rules, expectations, procedures, and consequences. I know teachers all have different ways of doing it and going about it. I do not want to be one of those teachers who every one feels like yells and is mean. I want them to respect me and what I put fourth but at the same time do not want to have to raise my voice or anything like that. Is that wrong to feel that way?

After watching my First Day of School video from lab I noticed a few things. For one I know and have known I use my hands to talk every second of the day. In this video however with the microphone I realized I like put my hands together a lot. Another thing is where do you draw the line for students like the complainer role Jenna was playing where they give their whole life story behind every question. How do you do it with out being rude but also not letting them control the classroom.

From my peer feed back I was told I teach like in an  elementary when it comes to my disciplinary. This is going to be a weakness that I need to work on for the fact that as a child yeah I got in trouble but harsh punishment was not a thing because my mom was abused as a child by a family member at the time so discipline was a casual thing in my house but trust me I knew right from wrong. Also, I know as a person that I need to be aggressive with it but need to learn to find that line because I do have very slight anger and have come along with working on that.

By giving the lesson though I realized I need to revise some of my procedures and consequences due to ease of explaining and ones that fit into the real world for instance the my time. It makes sense to me but once trying to explain it does not fit reality.

Who is Megan Keller

If you have read my blog you know I am a Senior at Penn State University and will be student teaching in the spring at Manheim Central in Lancaster County, PA. Here is a little more about me and what makes me, ME!

I was born in Lancaster County where I was the prissy figure skater, competitive cheerleader, and swimmer. My family decided to move to Fulton County when I was ten which is where I found me. My identity is made up of so many things like: Agriculture, caring, #stockshowlife, loud, outgoing, country girl, female, family oriented, hardworking, adventurous, little sister, business/partner owner, and above all I have the blood of a truly amazing person my grandma who is know longer with us today which means I am STRONG in many ways.

http://lns5121.wix.com/lindseysmith#!untitled/zoom/c380/image14m4

This picture and video clip represents my #stockshowlife, agriculture, and country girl parts.

This picture represents my little sister and family oriented parts. This was my junior year of high school before going into prom. Got to have the sibling pictures (Not a single normal one for the two of us)

This is my family's business logo. I am partners with my father where we both have does of our own, partnered on some, and we share bucks. He does the day to day operations considering I am away at school and I do all the communications with emails, advertisement, and photographing.

#MeganKeller, #Multicultural_Moment, #Who_I_Am

Teaching groups of students

Becoming an agricultural teacher is a thrill but a fear all in one. You have no idea what types of students you will have or how each individual learns to be most effective to them. Knowing the seven group teaching techniques which include: lecture, discussion, demonstrations, field trips, role-play, resource people, and cooperative learning, will help me as a teacher to better understand how students learn and how to incorporation as many styles as possible.

I know being that being an agricultural teacher means having to teach almost anything and everything. Just to be clear I do not know everything but a group teaching technique that will help me on this matter is resource people. When it comes to a subject I am not familiar with or have little experience for example, wildlife, I can call up the game commission and have them come in and help me teach a lesson on furs and tracking.

http://www.crlt.umich.edu/tstrategies/tsgwcl

Setting the "Hook"

Have you ever walked into a classroom were something caught your eye immediately? Growing up in small town and going to a small school getting this eye catcher was hit and miss but mostly miss. However, coming to Penn State University and being an agricultural major you get to see more of the one on one instruction and your instructors like to have fun. The class that mostly sticks in my mind was AEE 297 with Dr. Ewing where he gave this speech on needing desserts for his kids for the school the next day. We had pudding, pretzels, chocolate chips, graham crackers, and a few others. Come to figure out we were learning about aggregates for concrete and masonry.



As an educator I want to create these "hooks" to introduce units and lessons to my classes. These interest approaches are what intrigue the minds of students and make them want to learn more. While planning units I need to always keep this in mind when deciding the unit objectives and the lesson objective and what can I do to make them engaged but learn at the same time.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TznYeyfwWZ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCV0qEQN4WI

How do I design Effective Instruction?

Becoming a student teacher is a feeling of many feelings. Its sophomore year and your like two years down two to go. Senior summer hits and your filled with excitement, fear, anticipation, and many more. One thought that is always running through you head is how am I going to be able to design lesson plans to be most effective to each and every student.

After reading this weeks weekly reading and doing the reading reflection I got a better understanding of what needs to be in a lesson plan and some of how to approach it. Something that some teachers do not understand is that every student learns differently. I am sure that your best friend did not learn the same way as you going through school on all topics.

Scaffolding is one of those techniques that was common sense but I never knew the correct term for it. From personal experience I want the extra explanation and demonstration in order to learn new tasks that are also difficult. Although this teaching method seems like common sense that does not mean you know how to incorporate it to make it effective in use. Through the reading today that all became a little more clear. I hope that when developing lesson plans this all comes together and I can show what I have learned on paper and in the classroom.

https://www.powayusd.com/depts/pss/ppap/PDFs/teach_stand.pdf

RTL Lab

Its the first day of class going into your senior year and you have not prepared lessons, learned how to even develop amazing lesson plans and BOOM you get hit with a lesson plan and have to teach it next class! These are examples of the completely horrifying but incredible experiences AEE 412 is throwing at us. #psuaged15

As we pulled out  random lesson plans from a folder not knowing what your going to get all you keep thinking to yourself is what will I get. Well I was the fortunate one to pick juggling. Of all things Juggling!!!

So for the next two nights I tried teaching myself how to juggle and lets just say that was not a success. Keeping this in mind I went into the lab to teach others how to juggle let alone I could not do it myself. This was frustrating because how can I expect students to do or learn what I am teaching if I can not do it myself. If I was the student I would be like this teacher point blank does not know what she is doing. It makes you feel the size of an ant in a world the size of ours.

From watching my video I did learn that I need to have more positive encouragement and reinforcement. I know not every lesson is going to be amazing but it is something to strive for. I also came to the conclusion that if there is ever a lesson or topic that I need to teach and am unfamiliar with it that one I need to really dig deep into the content and or cal in a guest to lend a hand.

Methods of teaching #1

First off as many of those who know me know I am not much of a reader. I managed through high school by picking books that just so happened to have a movie with them. With that said college has been a challenge considering these texts do not have movies. Readings for the week literally take me all week to get through since reading is a tough area for me with my comprehension issues.

I was quite surprised though, this first weeks reading was informative but in a different way for me at least. By this I mean that even though a lot of it was common sense or already a known factor it was a reinforcement for me as a teacher candidate. Most of what stuck out to me was texts from Newcomb in the first two chapters.

The first thing that really stood out to me that hit hard was in the first chapter where it talked about study skills. One reason for this is because high school to me was a piece of cake, I never did homework if it was not graded, studying "what's that?", and tests were easy. So going to my first college course freshman year as I sat in Bio 110 in shock that overwhelming feeling comes over you like what am I going to do. Than you have those smarty pants kids who are like do we need to know this this and this and the instructor is like no this is basic biology. I am still sitting there in shock. Moral to the story is I was never challenged enough to learn how to study nor was taught how to study in a productive way and still have trouble. For me as a teacher and going through this first hand I want to be that teacher that prepares them for the life outside of high school know matter what path they choose to take.

When reading through chapter 2 and going through all the principles I related to number twelve, students learn what they practice. Considering my lack of study skills and all that I was a student where telling me what to do was like talking to a brick wall. Now if we talked while physically doing the task at hand I would pick it up like nothing. I am a firm believer in hands on because that is the true test to learning or mastering it. Many can read and know it in their head for a written exam but can they physically do what they know. This is where for me SAE plays an enormous part in the learning process in the agricultural education program.

The Importance of SAE visits.

Throughout high school I had numerous SAE projects while being an active FFA member  that 100% were livestock related. Growing up in my small town and being active in 4-H gave me the livestock care background in order to take care of my projects the best I could. However, 4-H did not give me the record keeping skills that SAE's  give students. Yes, we had to do budgets and a few records but it was simple because you start at the age of eight, which many at that age are still developing their writing skills. With these SAE projects that I had that ranged from dairy beef to goats my agricultural teacher would check my books to see if I kept them up to date and just take a look at my animals. Going through numerous teachers nothing was the same and some did not even look at our books. I was never really taught the proper way to fill them out and anytime I needed livestock I searched out other resources.

When I mentioned doing an SAE visit with m cooperating school I got the "Well we do those on a need be basis." With that said while I visited over the summer we scheduled two SAE visits with students which were completely different from another while one being familiar and the other not so much. The first student was a boy who thrives and has a passion for restoring John Deere farm equipment and is currently working on a combine. The second was two sisters who live on a dairy farm and use their work as one SAE along with showing dairy beef and raising chickens where they sell the eggs. Through out the visit many questions were asked but here are a few that stuck in my mind:

1. What is your goal/purpose for this planned SAE?
2. What is your next step?
3. What do you expect to get from this like working towards degrees and proficiency awards?

By Mrs. Anderson and I conducting these visits I got to see what an actual visit is to consist of. Mrs. Anderson even made the comment how she needs to do more visits because you get to know the kids and their family on a personal level. Even though I for one know nothing about farm equipment we were talking about washing all the grease off and how the student was scraping with a nail. Automatically I was like blue dawn dish soap cuts through grease. You realize that even though you might not be an expert you can help them find the resources needed to succeed with whatever they want to put their passion into.