Final Semester Reflection

This semester has been a very challenging semester for me in a lot of ways. It really brought out several of my weaknesses and challenged me to overcome them. In addition to the tremendous required workload for the courses I was taking, I had ROTC obligations, time consuming to say the least. I had to reevaluate how I managed my time and prioritize things that are important. These considerations will be useful to me in the future, helping me to maintain a better work-life balance, which is extremely important for ag educators, as it's very easy to be consumed by this profession. It also helped to remind me that it's important to think about what my end goals are and how the activities I am doing will help me achieve those goals.

On the other hand, it was a good reminder that I am extremely passionate about this profession. I realized this while I was planning and preparing my experience in Belize for my student teaching. I found that I became increasingly excited about incorporating my teaching experience at Penns Manor with Mopan Technical in Belize. As I began planning my community based unit of instruction everything seemed to fall in place. I have the opportunity to teach international ag to my students at Penns Manor and then connect those students with my students at Mopan Technical. Opportunities like this one get me really excited about what I am doing. I thoroughly enjoy challenges that I put forth for myself, and this sure is a big one.

After this semester I can conclude, of course, that I have a long way to go in becoming the professional agricultural educator that I desire to be. Yet, I feel as if I have learned a tremendous amount that will enable me to be the most effective student teacher candidate at Penns Manor, and Mopan Technical in Belize.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

If you're curious to learn more about my project, please feel free to email me!

Creativity Lab

I would have to say this lab was one of my favorite labs of the semester! The challenge for this lab was to find five $1 items in the DollarTree that could be used for a lesson in the Spring semester. As soon at I walked into the DollarTree, I knew exactly what I was going to do. Off to the side I saw silverware, plates, cups, etc. hanging on the wall. I figured this would be a great chance to get supplies for my etiquette lesson. After looking at the items for awhile, I decided to walk through the rest of the store and see their other items before making my purchases. Much to my surprise I found a lot of items that could be used for table appearance and etiquette.


I ended up purchasing two centerpeices, a tablecloth, and several other items, all for $5! This experience helped me realize that you can have a great lesson with very inexpensive supplies. Seeing the creativity amongst my peers clearly showed how simple $1 items can become great props for teaching.


I also realized that when you are focusing on creativity, it can be really easy. I'm excited to see what sort of creative ideas I will be able to incorporate at Penn's Manor as well as at Mopan Technical in Belize. I know that I will have to be very creative in getting resources at Mopan technical, and many things are not easily available. It will be challenging, but an adventure at the same time.

Inquiry Lab

Inquiry-based Learning: One of the most challenging methods of teaching agricultural education. For a practice run on inquiry-based learning I attempted to do a study on pesticide safety. This lesson had to incorporate some scientific equipment. The lesson plan was designed for students to evaluate and compare two plants. One plant was healthy. The other plant was sick, yellow, and dried up. The intent of the lesson was to have students create a hypothesis as to why these two plants looked different in their growth. They would then design an experiment to find out what problems were causing these health issues.

However, when I presented the material to the students, I wasn’t very clear, and this made it difficult for the students to understand what my expectations were. This helped me to understand that inquiry based learning is a developmental process. It takes significant time for students to grasp the concept of inquiry-based learning. Without proper preparation it can be very frustrating for students to complete. So while my lesson was frustrating to my students, it was still successful in incorporating inquiry-based learning methods.

While I don‘t fully understand inquiry based learning, I know much more than I did when I began this semester at Penn State. I’m excited to continue developing my inquiry-based learning skills, and to utilize them in my lessons for the spring semester while student teaching at Penns Manor. 

Micro Teaching Reflection

As a requirement for my AEE 412 courses, I went to Tyrone High School and taught one class in the morning for three days.  It really was a great experience!! After lots of communication with the High School teacher, Mrs. Hoy, we decided on Etiquette being the topic I would teach for three days.

At first, I had high levels of apprehension for this particular topic.  But as I began laying out the overview of the three days of lessons, I realized, I actually really enjoy etiquette.  I had a great time putting lesson plans together on table setting, table etiquette, and professional dinner conversations.

My favorite part of the three day lesson was the modified fish bowl game I had my students play.  If you aren't sure what it is, fishbowl is basically a charades game.  Yup! I played charades in class.  It turned out to be challenging for the students to grasp what was expected of them, yet, they ended up thoroughly enjoying the experience!!

My least favorite part of the experience was the last 10 minutes of the very last day when I ran out of time to finish up the topics I was really hoping to cover.  The last topic was table conversation topics.  For this I employed a Go Get It!! E-moment where students had to run around the room and find all of the topics then place it into a category in the chart on the chalk board.  We finished it, but it was rushed.

One thing I learned about this experience was that students can be funny in how they respond to what you are teaching.  For instance, I had one student who acted as if she was entirely disengaged from the content.  I had another student who appeared to be entirely engaged.  However, the truth was a complete reversal.  The student who appeared to be disengaged, was engaged, and the student who appeared to be engaged was frustrated by the content and was disengaged.  I think this surprised me the most of all.

As a result, I will be sure to seek out opportunities to get to know my students better while at Penns Manor. It's really important that I know when a student is engaged or disengaged in the lesson.  This will help me to effectively evaluate my teaching skills.

For a highlight of my experience, please watch this video.

Life Knowledge Lesson at Penns Manor

During my life knowledge experience at Penns manor, I taught a lesson on career opportunities. This is the first time that I went to Penns Manor and taught students that I will be teaching in the spring semester. I got to teach an introduction to  agricultural careers and leadership course that was all freshmen students in the ninth grade. This experience was very beneficial for my development as a student teacher and it was challenging for various reasons.

First, freshman are typically a rambunctious group of individuals which incorporates unique challenges in classroom management. I was not fully prepared for the high-level energy and short attention span freshman students exhibit, and therefore classroom management was a critical component of the speaking experience for classroom

Secondly, it was the day before Thanksgiving break started and so the students were not thinking as much about my lessons as they were about hunting, and Thanksgiving dinner. As a result it was very challenging to keep the students engaged throughout the lesson. 

Thirdly, I found it challenging to stay engaged myself because I had just completed a 3 hour drive in order to get to the school. Through this experience I gained a snapshot of what it be like to teach an all freshman class the day before a break.

I now know that in order to be successful I have to focus on providing a high level of energy and enthusiasm in my lessons to provide interest in my lesson. I will be sure to incorporate a lot of high energy activities in my class in the spring.

Me attempting to engage some distractable freshman.

Me with Mr. Hughes, my cooperative teacher.

A Race to Louisville!!!

525 Mile Expressway to FFA World!

 

FFA National Convention; the LARGEST national YOUTH convention in the United States with over 60,000 attendees!!!  What an experience.

Not everyone has the opportunity to travel to Louisville, Kentucky with six students and the FFA Adviser from Penns Manor High School.  Yet, I had the honor to do just this.  It was a valuable experience and the chance to watch, listen to and observe students and professors from the fifty states and Puerto Rico. 

There was so much activity throughout the week we felt like we were running a marathon, no, more like a triathlon. From touring a top notch Morgan horse farm and hunting zombies at an agrotourism park, to the FFA career fair and Kent State research facilities, Penns Manor students sped through a flourish of learning opportunities. 

As a chaperone and student teacher, I was reminded that I don't have to be GREAT all the time to have a LASTING IMPACT on my student's lives.  For example, one of my students had never left the small town of Clymer, Pa.  Her world has been limited to her house, backyard, and high school.  This trip to National Convention, opened her eyes to some of what the world has to offer. Mr. Hughes, Penns Manor’s FFA adviser, put on his parent hat and acted the role of papa for her and the other students throughout the trip. 

It was also interesting to see and remember how high school students interact with each other.  Being at college for four years, it’s easy to forget what high school was like.  I was impressed to see how well my students got along with each other.  It was very encouraging to see how they helped each other.  Specifically, the same student who never left Clymer, PA was very overwhelmed and got lost very easily.  The other female students took care of her and made sure she got the full experience.  They took her to all the booths at the career fair, they made sure she was awake on time and properly dressed each day. They helped her purchase gifts she wanted for family.  It was pretty cool.  

On the other hand, I was disappointed to witness certain student interactions.  One in particular that sticks out in my mind, was our dinner on the Belle of Louisville. A few students were acting inappropriately during the dance after the meal.  In one aspect, it wasn't surprising for I remember seeing the same issue when I was in high school.  On another aspect, it was disappointing to see the disrespect for women that many men have and to see this mind frame that is cultured at such a young age.  Additionally, it's discouraging that these females disrespect themselves by allowing such behavior.  As a result, Ag teachers alike were called to put on their mamma and papa hats to correct this behavior and teach them what right is.  

Overall, it was enjoyable getting to know a few of the students that I will have in the Spring 2015 for teaching.  I even had the chance to run a few ideas by them for lesson plans.  They seem to be excited for my internship and I certainly am looking forward to working with them in the near future.

Inquiry Based Instruction

Student Inquiry and the Scientific Method

Two weeks ago in my agricultural education classes we talked about utilizing the Problem Solving Approach.  In my Methods of Teaching Agriculture lab I even had the opportunity to practice a lesson plan I wrote to demonstrate how I would utilize the problem solving approach.  

This week, we're looking into the Inquiry Based Instruction.  A method of teaching that is very similar to the Problem Solving Approach yet very different at the same time. 

While students identify the problem in both methods of teaching (i.e. the Problem Solving Approach and the Inquiry Based Instruction), how the question is answered is different.

I will not sit here and tell you how to complete the Inquiry Based Instruction for you can read about it here: What is Inquiry Based Instruction?

But I will tell you a few of my thoughts regarding this method of teaching.

First, I really appreciated the fact that there are multiple levels of teacher involvement for this approach.  As in, there is no one way to implement it.  The main requirement of the IBI, is that students are answering a research question through data analysis.  I personally feel like this opens up the window of opportunity to be creative and flexible in designing a lesson which utilizes the IBI. 

Additionally, this appears to be a great way to encourage students to participate in a research SAE.  Then students could compete in the Agriscience fair.  What a better way to encourage student involvement in the FFA.

These are the main interests that I found while reading about the IBI.  I'm really looking forward to learning more as this is the very type of learning that I thoroughly enjoy and love!

Implementing Case Studies for Problem Solving in Ag Education

Problem Solving Approach 

As American youth, students in the agricultural department will be instrumental in solving world problems.  Many nations rely on the United States to resolve world issues such as hunger, spread of ebola, and global warming.Therefore, as an agricultural educator, it is my responsibility to develop students who are critical thinkers and problem solvers.  In order to accomplish this, I can use the problem solving approach to help develop students who can make great contributions to society.

On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to put the problem solving approach into practice.  While I still think my lesson plan was still pretty good, I have lots of room or improvement.  First off, I need to figure out how to construct my case study so that it directs the students in identifying the problem.  This time around, I basically told them what the problem was.

Additionally, I should keep in mind that it's a really good idea to have students who are being disruptive busy by assigning them in charge of keeping notes on the board, changing power point slides for me etc.  I missed the perfect opportunity to demonstrate this concept during my teaching lab.  

Overall, I believe that my lesson plans are getting significantly better.  I don't sound as shaky and uncomfortable either.  So I can see an improvement in the performance.  But no worries, there is still lots of work to do!

Evaluating Learning

How are Students Successful?

Student motivation is the second domain in the sixteen principles of learning. If we take a close look, we will find the principle number five stating:

"Success is a strong motivating force."

Reward & Reinforcement is the third domain of the sixteen principles of learning.  Upon taking a closer look, we will find in statement seven that:

"When students have knowledge of their learning progress, 

performance will be superior to what it would

 have been without such knowledge."

Why pull these two specific principles of learning out?  Because they address key factors that justify why student assessment is essential in education.  As an agricultural educator, evaluation of learning is a significant part of the job.  Therefore, we are obligated to provide accurate assessments of our students to depict student performance.  But not only are we obligated to, it is a valuable tool for motivating students through success, and providing knowledge of learning progress (Domains 1 & 2).  

From this week's reading, there was one  point that really stood out to me and served as a good reminder while developing lesson plans for my student teaching experience.  This involved ELL and IEP students.  When developing student assessment, I need to keep in mind that inflating grades (not accurately assessing student achievement) or assessing students on material that is not appropriate to their skill level, actually decreases student motivation.  For this reason it is important to make sure that assessment methods for exceptional students measure their achievement in accordance with individual skill level, rather than the student's achievement compared to lesson objectives.  

Learning from our Problems

"The majority see the obstacles; the few see the objectives; history records the successes of the latter, while oblivion is the reward of the former."

— Alfred Armand Montapert

Leaders who Solve Problems

Benjamin Franklin is a well know historian for initiating many programs in early america to improve the lives of many.  He was a leader, he was a problem solver, he is a legacy. As a society, we remember, record, and document the lives of individuals who defined problems and found solutions.  The desire for people who can help us is evident.

As an agricultural educator, we are responsible for developing critical thinking and problem solving youth to become mature, contributing citizens of the american and global society.  The question is, how can we accomplish this?

Early leaders in agricultural education (Dewey and Lancelot)  have already answered the question; Problem Based Learning.  Problem based learning encourages students to explore and inquire into a guided problem.  

Personally, I am really excited for the opportunity to encourage students to take ownership of a problem and solve.  For one, I will be more excited and passionate about the day's lesson plan.  Secondly, my students will be more engaged.  Thirdly, students will incorporate skills that will be used for the rest of their lives.

Getting to Know Your Subordinates

Leadership Parallels in the Army and Agricultural Education

As a leader, going beyond learning the names of a subordinate is critical.  In the Army, officers are expected to know their soldiers in order to maintain their well-being.  Similarly, agricultural educators are expected  to know their students well enough to support and encourage them to grow and develop to their fullest potential.  

"The mission of agricultural education is to prepare and support individuals for careers, build aware-ness and develop leadership for the food, fiber and natural resources systems."

If we take a quick look at examples of leadership expectations, we can see how alike officers and agricultural educators are.  Which, both are positions I aspire to fulfill. 

ARMY: FM 6-22  ARMY LEADERSHIP; Competent, Confident, and Agile

"Army leaders are responsible for being personally and professionally competent, they are also charged with the responsibility of developing their subordinates."

AGRICULTURE TEACHER'S MANUAL; A guide to local program success for preservice, new and experienced agriculture instructors (ffa.org)

"The mission of agricultural education is to prepare and support individuals for careers, build aware-ness and develop leadership for the food, fiber and natural resources systems."

Both professions have the same end goal; to grow and develop individuals who will be able to improve the organization. An opportunity for Army officers to learn more about subordinates is through counselings, where direct feedback on performance is given. One method Agricultural Educators use is the SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) visit.  Here, instructors can learn more about each individual outside the classroom and provide direct feedback on individual performance.    

I had the opportunity to conduct an SAE visit to one of my student's farms.  On June 25, 2014 I drove to Clymer, PA to accompany Mr. Hughes (Penns Manor HS Agricultural Educator) to visit Garrett.

Garrett is a senior at Penns Manor HS and will be the FFA Chapter President during this school year.  The visit with Garrett was not what I was expecting.  He has two projects that he is currently working on.  Raising, showing, and breeding beef and swine.  The love of beef came from his father who had started the beef breeding program with Angus.  Garret has chosen to keep it going!! And boy, he doesn't mess around.  The steer you see in the picture on the right, is very pampered, with his very own air conditioned room in the bar, special feeding diets, two baths a day and three brush overs a day, he can't have it any better!

When the National Champion steer comes back after national shows and relaxes, the swine are in full swing preparation for the Cooksport fair.

Additionally , Derek is starting a business selling livestock feed.  It turned out to be a really good conversation between Mr. Hughes and Garret.  I was impressed that Mr. Hughes had no shame in asking one of his student for advice in feeding.

Mr. Hughes was clearly invested in Garret's projects as demonstrated by his level of commitment to the project. 

As a future agricultural educator, I want to be able to understand and know my students this well.  The students greatly benefit from having a coach mentor.  

Individual Teaching Techniques

So Many Powerful Opportunities!!!

Recently I have read about Individual teaching techniques.  When I read the section on notebooks, an idea popped into my head.  Granted, this wasn't a new idea but something I haven't thought about doing during my student teaching until now.

When I present samples of my work to potential employers, I am going to want student samples of work in my portfolio.  So I figured, why not use the notebook as a means of collecting these.  There are so many benefits to this.

1. Students will learn organizational skills.
2. Students will see how units of instruction fit together to make the whole.
3. Taking and keeping good notes promotes learning.
4. Serve as an excellent reference for future use.
5. Students can visualize the progress of their learning as the notebook fills up.
6. Serves as a student completed sample of all the work done in my class.

How awesome is that!  Now I'm just downright excited to present the idea of having all of my students at my cooperating center keep a notebook.  

Now the question is, how can I do this effectively?  Newcomb suggests the following for notebook success!

1. Explain why they want to keep good notes.
2. Teach students how to format, record and use their notes.
3. Refer students to their notes when a question is raised.
4. Allow for students to meaningfully use notebooks as a reference for solving problems and answering questions on quizzes and tests-more likely to be well kept.
5. Require all students to maintain the same type of notebook.

I investigated a little further for samples of teacher portfolios, tips for improving your portfolio, examples of student notebooks and ways to implement notebooks into the classroom.  I found some amazing results and really great Ideas!!  They ranged from a three ring binder, to an online website. 

Here are a few links to some examples:

Sample Teacher Portfolios:

• Elizabeth Bellus' Teaching Portfolio         (e-portfolio)
• Amanda Fletcher's Electronic Portfolio    (e-portfolio)
• Cindy Salib's Portfolio                             (Paper Portfolio)

Teacher Portfolio Tips & Tricks.

• Great Tips and Tools to Create Digital e-Portfolios
• How to Make a Teacher Portfolio that gets you noticed!
• Creating a Professional Portfolio

Implementing Student Notebooks

• Getting Started with Interactive Student Notebook
• Student Notebooks on NAAE Communities of Practice
• The Use of Interactive Notebooks on NAEE Communities of Practice

Planning, Planning, Planning!!!

How can I improve my Unit Plans?

One of the most important skill as a leader in any situation is the ability to plan.  In the military, we plan for a mission, training, events.  In education, we plan curriculum, courses, and units. No matter what is being planned there are techniques that can apply to any situation.

www.jenniferbrouwerdesign.com

Technique #1: Backwards Planning. In this situation, I wrote a four week unit of instruction for a 9th grade class on international agriculture.  Knowing that I had four weeks, and knowing how much content I wanted to share, I had to make sure that I defined my end results in order to determine what information was needed to reach those goals. 

Technique #2:  The Worst Case Scenario.  I am beyond excited to take my students out to a local farm to see and learn about an applied biodigestor.  The worse case scenario; it's going to be in January and far too cold to take students out.  For this reason, I have a "plan B" to make sure I had a way to fill in that lesson.

Technique #3:  Include Everything. The more specific the unit plan can get, the smoother it will run.  For example, list the exact number of copies needed for a worksheet.  This helps define every little detail and strikes out any chance for it to go wrong.

www.webreference.com

Technique #4: KISS (Keep It Simple ...Silly!).  When there are too many moving parts, there is more room for something to go amiss.  I realized I had way too many standards listed in my draft versions of my lesson plan.  I was trying to include far too much content in the limiting four weeks for instruction.  There was just so much that related to it.  Plus I got way to excited to teach it!!  I really had to narrow it down.

Technique #5:  Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better! Sometimes it is ok to provide opportunities for your subordinates to outdo you.  In my case, technology is NOT my friend.  But I know that some students really excel at it.  So, to make it interesting, and to see what my students can do, I included the opportunity for students to be creative in the use of technology to create a portfolio. This is how I develop them to be leaders.  By allowing them to show their talents and perfect them.

utah.agclassroom.org

International Agriculture is more thank likely my most passionate topic.  And I am beyond ecstatic to share this Unit plan with the students at Penns Manor, my cooperative center.  It took me a lot of time to fix up my Unit plan.  I think the biggest lesson I learned, was to avoid being overambitious and to think about what I can realistically accomplish.  

Effective Questions and Languaging in Instruction.

What is a Proper Question to Ask?

Sometimes the hardest part about a day is asking and answering questions.  As a professional educator, I want my students to learn critical thinking skills so they can become problem solvers.  In order to do this, I need to make sure that my students are reaching the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.

For myself, this is a weak point in my teaching skills.  I need to practice developing questions that require a student to think before they answer.  I am really good at asking recall questions, but they are only appropriate for specific results. 

In regards to answering student's questions,  I tend to think that I need to have all the answers.  In reality, however, students are very bright and can find the answers themselves or answer a peer's question.  This reaches a much greater level of student development.

A great opportunity for students to develop questions is field trips.  If managed properly, this can be a great way to give students a close and personal perspective of the content being taught.  However, it is crucial that proper planning is placed before and during the execution of a field trip.  

These planning phases include Pre-Trip, Trip, and Post Trip planning.   

Here is an article on American Public Education under utilizing local resources for valuable field trip planning.  Think Outside the Classroom!

The Educational Value of Field Trips

Interest Approaches

How Can I Capture Student Interest?

On Wednesday I had the opportunity to create and demonstrate an interest approach.  Personally I believe there was some improvement in my performance from last week's AEE 412 lab. Which, in the big picture, is the goal of these practice labs.

 I appeared, and felt, more calm and relaxed.  This showed through my ability to provide clear instructions.  If you read through my blog from last week, you'll notice I struggled with repeating myself, saying specific words over again, being clear in my expectations and talking too fast.  Since I felt more at ease, most of those issues were not a problem.

What I do need to work on, is being creative.  I struggle with it and it certainly doesn't come to me very easily.  This I just need to practice.  I have noticed, as I continue to write lesson plans, ideas pop into my head quicker than they had when I wrote my first lesson plan.  Which means, I just need to keep practicing.  

I know for a fact that having really engaging interest approaches are going to be critical during my student teaching experience.  Especially while I am in Belize at Mopan Technical School.  Students there do not pay attention, they are very rarely engaged in the class instruction, and chitter chatter most of the time.  I struggled with getting student involvement and participation while I was teaching a lesson on Caribbean Livestock.  I believe the students can greatly benefit from successful hooks in the beginning of class. 

What Does A Good First Day of School Look Like?

He who opens a school door, closes a prison. ~Victor Hugo

Do You Remember Your First Day of School?

laborenglishzone.blogspot.com

Was your first day of school so full of enthusiasm, energy, and anticipation that you woke up early the next morning just to be sure you were there on time?  Or was your first day of school the hum-drum of syllabus day, monotonous and boring?  Maybe you didn't even go, you skipped out to sleep in late and you'll probably skip tomorrow too.

teachingjunkie.blogspot.com

We want our students to stay in school.  We want our students to succeed! So we have to hook their attention on the very first day of school and maintain the momentum throughout the semester. 

Why is it that the First Day of School is always so exciting yet a rather large disappointment?  It's because we fail as educators to grasp student interest, real them in tight, and hook them on the material that is their future.  

I was able to develop my Lesson plan for my first day of school and present it to peers.  Yup!  I need some work too.  While I still believe I had an good overall plan, I need to express my enthusiasm through body language, speech, and facial expressions more vividly.  I perceived time was moving quickly, yet, when I watched a video of my presentation, It looked like I was moving slowly.  It's amazing how our perceptions change! As I watched my video, I made a list of comments on my performance.  Here is what I had:

    "I say "so" way to many times. My directions were not clear at all. I may have just completely ignored Janae's question and confusion about the initial activity. I need to fix my "Example" expectation. My name isn't Ms. Rice :) I repeat some words a lot while I'm talking. The students were easy to manage, no problems there. I need to spend more time explaining each item on my expectations poster. STOP SAYING EXCITING!! Why did I say I was going to throw the posters out? Also, I had forgotten to mention that each class of the day will be creating a poster and then the next day each class would vote on the best one to be hung up in the classroom all year."

This Wednesday, I will be presenting an example of an Interest Approach.  Hmmm...What will be in store?

Stay tuned to find out more!

Exploring Learning Objectives and Group Teaching Techniques

Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives: Here is one of the most critical components of lesson planning.  I need to be able to provide my students a framework for the day's lesson, otherwise they fail to see any purpose in the lesson.  Yet, I need to be able to construct objectives that will lead the class into effective learning.

Poorly written objectives can have many negative effects on students.   For example, students may become overwhelmed with the material they will be learning and give up in class.  One of my classroom expectations is that students do not give up.  If I expect them to work hard all the time, I can't be setting them up for failure.  

Additionally, objectives help us to reach the higher levels of cognitive learning.  It is also really important to ensure that our lesson plans and teaching techniques match the level of cognitive learning that we write in our objectives.

Group Teaching Techniques

Before I start, here is a link I found to the top ten group teaching techniques.  This is a helpful resource to have on hand for ideas when creating lesson plans.

http://www.huntingenglish.com/2013/01/12/top-ten-group-work-strategies/

One main lesson for me from the reading in Newcomb's Methods of Teaching Agriculture was that I need to work on re-framing my mindset when it comes to lectures.  I despise lectures.  So I don't want to plan "lectures". Yet lectures are a really great way of providing factual information to a whole group of students.  However, excellent lectures avoid using monotonous teaching techniques.

With proper organization of the material, enthusiasm, variability in the rate and intensity of speech, illustration of major points, and a good summation of the content, lectures can be really exciting and engaging.  

Personally, I like challenges.  So I challenge myself to design the most engaging "lectures" so my students trash the idea of lectures being boring and dismal and dumb.  But rather, I want my students to be excited to come to my class for the next lecture I have waiting for them.