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!