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.