Student Teaching: Week 3!

This week I discovered by biggest pet peeve!

SNOW DAYS!

I was off school Monday and Wednesday for snow cancellations, Tuesday and Thursday were both two hour delays and finally Friday I was able to teach for a full period!

I did a Problem Based activity with my students on Friday. The activity is called “Slurb.” It’s used to demonstrate the spread of disease. I filled plastic cups with flour and in 5 of the 24 cups I placed about 2 tablespoons of baking soda. I explained that this is a “slurb” they are highly social animals and interact by mixing their contents. The students we’re then instructed to mix their contents with 2 other students. As the students did this the baking soda spread throughout the class.

Then I told them that there has been an outbreak of “slurbitis” and all animals must be tested! I squirted vinegar in the cups and the cups that foamed were infected. After determining who was infected the students had to solve figure out who was originally infected, I only told them that 5 started with the infection.

This activity was very student centered. At one point I even told them that I would not answer questions for two minutes! I had students off their seats and excited about figuring out what happened.

My major mistake as a teacher, that I continue to make, is not bringing the learning full circle, I fail to create the need to know and then wrap up with a great conclusion! With this activity I could have had a great conclusion but I missed it.

Later that day for Mrs. Morgan’s large animal science class she said we could do this activity again. This class Mrs. Morgan is still teaching, we started co teaching this activity and in trying to work the kinks out of the activity we ended up making it more teacher centered and structured and there was a great difference between participation in the first class as opposed to the last class! The students were engaged but not excited, they wanted to know but they just wanted us to tell them. They lacked the ambition to get out of their seats and solve the problem.

It was great to see the same activity on different spectrum of the scale as far as student centered and then teacher centered. What I learned most was that controlled chaos is a great thing!

Student Teaching: Week 2!

Monday:

I picked up my second course on Monday, Leadership, this is the unit I have been looking forward to most! I planned one week for a public speaking “boot camp!” This class is a actually both plant and soil science and leadership. The original plan was to keep them separate I would first teach leadership and then plant and soil but Mrs. Morgan and I decided that everyone needs public speaking so for the “boot camp” I would have both classes. The lesson for Leadership went really well! Mrs. Morgan said I knocked her socks off and I kind of surprised myself!

I split them into four groups and gave each group a brown paper bag with only a few things: colored paper, scissors, paper clips, and with either a plastic cup, foam cow key chain, braided key chain, or plastic sunglasses. Not all bags had the same things for example only two groups had scissors and the other two groups had tape. I told them they had 15 minutes to create something with their group and during this time I could not answer any questions! My plan was for them to use things from around the room to create something and not allow themselves to be limited to what was in their bag. The students were even more creative than I could imagine! I was blown away with what they created. The point was to make the connection that public speaking is much like this: not everyone has the same talents and some of us have to work harder at it than others, we can’t rely on only ourselves to create a speech and public speaking is all about stepping outside of your comfort zone.

My first period freshman class was not so hot. I feel like I got off on the wrong foot with this class from the beginning, I blew through the introduction about myself and my expectations and have been really relaxed with their lack of engagement. There are about 4-5 students that have been really engaged others are not so much. This is my largest class and their just little attitude boxes and I let them intimidate me. I knew I had to change something but I wasn’t sure how.

Tuesday:

Tuesday was a two-hour delay! As a student I loved two-hour delay, as a teacher—not so much. I started a lecture in my first period and with the leadership class I screwed up! I was so disappointed because I did such a great job on Monday I didn’t want the student’s to get the wrong impression.

Tuesday evening as I was reflecting upon my performance I was so frustrated! I decided that it was time to have a discussion with my first period class. And then I was up all night thinking about how I would go about doing it, I even woke up thinking about the same thing…

Wednesday

Wednesday morning I went to school with discussion points that I would have with the first period class about behaviors I am seeing and how they feel about my teaching so far and I was all ready to defend myself to the students. I was hopeful that I would get good feedback but also afraid that I would be eaten alive! After reading the announcements I told them before we begin we need to have a “meeting of the minds” (My dad always said this when I was about to get in trouble or he was going to say something I wasn’t going to like). They all looked at me and each other slightly confused. I explained that 55% of our communication is non-verbal, and that the body language in the classroom (crossed arms, rolling eyes, etc.) was shouting at me so I thought we needed to reflect on the previous week. I gave them all a piece of paper, told them this would be anonymous and asked them to tell me

 1. What I did that helped them learn, and

 2. What I could change about my teaching

I also told them to feel free to share aloud and we would discuss it as a whole. I walked around the room and collected the papers face down and mixing them so they knew it was anonymous. Some of the comments I received were: more slowly on the notes, better job at breaking things down, and clarity. So I read these three comments aloud and I explained that these were things that Mrs. Morgan and I talked about as far as my improvements as well, so I did know that I needed to work on these things. I also explained that I was not a seasoned teacher like Mrs. Morgan I am a student teacher and so just like they’re here to learn I am here to learn as well. As we had this discussion I could practically see the walls come down, the students became more open with me about what they would like to learn and different ways that they learn best. I came in with my defenses up and it turns out that I didn’t need them. I didn’t need to tell them about poor or inappropriate behavior that they may have been exhibiting. All of the cell phones went away they sat up and actually leaned forward and engaged in the class! I was very excited and felt proud as a new teacher.

After the students left I read more of the comments they had written down. Of all the comments my favorite is:

            “If you could, please explain yourself a little more for projects and paper. But, everything else is great! You are a good student teacher and I think you’ll make a great teacher.

The comment that I thought was most interesting was:

            “Good: You explain things”   

“Bad: You talk to much”

After having this discussion with the freshman I am really beginning to enjoy the kids, they know that if necessary they can slow me down and tell me to explain myself more.

Thursday:

For Today I prepared to teach about common diseases of sheep and goats. I created a PowerPoint with pictures of the animals with the various diseases, I gave them a chart and I told them information about the disease and they completed the chart. I have four students first period that according to their IEP need the teacher’s notes. So from my lesson plan I copied and pasted the information about the 5 diseases and they put them in a document for these students. I was under the impression that the students would do the same as everyone else but if they needed to they could refer to these notes. That’s not what happened…

I had one student that doesn’t let himself be defined by his IEP he does his work like all the others.

I had one student that listened intently but did not take notes.

And I had two students that did nothing.

I looked at the students quite a few times and knew they we’re not taking notes but assumed they we’re following along. However, after class Mrs. Morgan told me that one student was actually sleeping. I felt pretty dumb that I missed that one…Mrs. Morgan and I talked and she said next time to wait until after class to give the notes and see how it makes a difference. Looking back something that I could have done is have fill in the blanks on their notes this would at least give them something to do and it would have been less work than the chart.

Friday

Today was a pretty good day for me. I had my first period students do a disease poster and then present. Last week I had them do a poster on sheep and goat breeds and present. From the past week to this week they were much more comfortable presenting in front of the class. They are also beginning to ask me more questions rather than running to Mrs. Morgan right away. Between the two of us we’re just letting the student’s transition slowly rather than a blunt transition I think it’s easier for the students.

My leadership class didn’t got like I thought it would but when I asked a student if she got a lot out of that period she said she did.

Today was the turning point for my Ag Mech class. We’re doing small gas engines, this class was very intimidating to me in the beginning not only because of the material but also the students. I have eight students, three boys that have quite a bit of experience with SGE, one girl that I have no idea where she stands because she keeps cracking jokes about diesel fuel and a so called “folsum shaker shaft” (the reoccurring joke of Juniata), I have one girl that’s clueless, and three IEP students with developmental issues—two of which blew up their engine last year. To make a long story short, the students don’t want to be in the classroom any more than I want to be teaching SGE. Yesterday I had them create a SGE Small Gas Engine safety management poster. The idea was that I am the boss and I want to promote them to a manager but in order for me to promote them I need to be sure that they can implement safety habits with their employees. Today they presented this to me. I twisted the project to be how I plan to implement safety with them. For example they said employees should wear the appropriate PPE if they are not then they will first receive a warning and second offence they would be fired. So I said okay first time you’re not wearing safety glasses I will give you a warning second time your kicked out of the shop. They didn’t like this, I stuck to my guns though with this attitude as we went through the presentation. In the end I explained that I am not a “loose cannon” as one boy called me I was just cautious of their safety and the importance of them maintaining and learning good safety practices. We then played a game to learn the tools where I showed them the tool and they told me what it did. I had two teams and competition became an issue with profanity that I nipped right away. This was so far more beneficial to not only them but myself. I was able to see where they were as far as skill level and they not only learned the tools but learned that I did know a thing or two about SGE.

As I get deeper into my internship I am realizing that I have a great passion for education! I really look forward to engaging with my students every day. The best part about it is that there is never a boring day! The students are always keeping me entertained and as I try different teaching methods I have become more reflective and creative about how I could or should do something and open to asking students opinions on what they want to learn and how they learn best!

Student Teaching: Week 1

Monday: School closed Martin Luther King Day
Tuesday: School closed (snow day)
Wednesday: 2 hour Delay!

My first week was hardly a week! I picked up my first class and completed only 2 lessons. But as I sit back and reflect I'm glad. It worked well for me, I had about 20 minutes day one to introduce myself, get to know the students and introduce them to the unit. Day 1 went well but of course I really rushed through everything my nerves we're crazy!

My second day was a complete flop. I gave them the assessment for the unit which is to create a sheep or goat enterprise and I thought I explained it well, I told them we would be discussing a few sections of that in the lecture and I went through the lecture some took notes some didn't. What I thought would take the class period took me about 20 minutes leaving 15 minutes. Not because I didn't have enough prepared but because I went way to fast! And as I began to realize I was going to have 15 minutes left I started panicking and moving even faster. So with the remaining time I told them to work with a partner to start outlining their enterprise. By the end of the period I was exhausted answering questions that I should have been more clear about from the beginning and trying to explain  that it wasn't as difficult as they we're making it.

Friday went well I gave them a project to do in the computer lab, as my nerves began to settle I was able to slow down and be more clear with my instruction, the students still asked questions but deeper questions about the assignment not questions for clarity.

My overall reflection for the week is that I need to remember that there is a great difference between the college setting and high school setting especially for 9th grade students and I cannot teach my students like I've been taught for the last 4 years.

Final Lab Reflection

Was the teaching lab component a positive experience? Why or why not?

The experience of teaching my peers was one of the most positive experiences I have had this semester. With talking to my cooperating teacher, she stated that their only teaching lab was micro-teaching at State College. As I reflected upon that I thought how in three days can you really practice and develop teaching skills? It seems impossible to me. With the lab component of the semester I was able to develop my teaching by learning the following:

-          The importance of “wait time”

-          How to engage learners

-          The use of variability in teaching aids such as worksheets, objects, and visual aids such as PowerPoint

By fulfilling the requirements of the teaching lab I was able to not only develop my skills in the moment but to also reflect upon my performance. I was able to watch videos of my performance as well as my peers. Through this I could see that I wasn’t the only one struggling with different areas of teaching. As I gave my peers constructive reflection I was able to give myself that valuable feedback as well! Through the use of voice thread and blogger I was able to develop my teaching pedagogies.

How would you improve the lab component of AEE 412?

To improve the lab component of AEE 412, I would start by changing the reflective component. I feel that too often we’re afraid to critically assess our peers because we have our own areas to develop. However, it’s so important that we are able to assess our peers and help them as they develop their teaching ability. If I was running the AEE 412 lab I would link blogger and voice thread. Along with that I would cut back the number of reflections but ask more of each reflection. I would ask that the students critically assess their peers and link it to their blogs.

I think I would also assign students to reflect on three of their peers.

For example: I would read blog of “Johnny” watch the teaching video of “Johnny” and then reflect upon both.

Because we’re always trying to refine our ability to give constructive feedback I think it’s important that we receive feedback on our feedback. I think every week comments on how in depth we we’re or how we could expand.

 How you personally and professionally grown since taking the AEE 412 teaching lab?

With the role playing component of the AEE 412 teaching lab I feel that I have grown as a professional. As the role model of a classroom it’s important that we’re consistent with our expectations of our students. I found that with the teaching labs I was able to keep that consistency with my students (peers). I was able to commend great behavior and correct poor behavior.

Every time we interact with someone on a professional level we’re being interviewed. With the lab component of this course I was able to help make that first interaction a good interview! By presenting myself in professional attire and greeting students at the door I set the stage for my classroom. This is something I will take with me as a professional.

Do you feel you have become a more reflective teacher/learner? Why or why not?

Through this lab I was able to strengthen my reflective part. I was not only willing to give others critical feedback but I was open to receiving it myself. As a practitioner it’s so important that we’re always reflecting in order that we can continuously improve. I think one misconception of reflection is that things need to change. I disagree, if I have something great I wouldn't change it! However, I think that continuously assessing my performance to make sure that it is great is key!

How do you think incorporating reflection into your preparation, teaching, and learning will make you a better educator?

By incorporating reflection into my preparation, teaching, and learning I’ll be able to continuously improve. Being a reflective practitioner will ensure that I’m learning from what I do and continuing to improve. If I’m lacking variability in one lesson I’ll be sure to make note of that and change it for the next day or the next time I teach that lesson. It’s only fair to the students that they are receiving the best education and in order to tailor the necessary content to their needs I’ll continue to reflect and refine!

What do you wish would have been detailed more in depth for better understanding in the AEE 412 teaching lab experience?

I feel that everything needed for the labs was available to us and taking advantage of that opportunity was our responsibility as well. However, more expansion on expectations of us and feedback of when we are or are not meeting those expectations would benefit greatly. 

Life Knowledge at Juniata HS

I had a great time teaching at Juniata High School! It was a completely different experience than Central Mountain! I taught a lesson entitled "Understanding values, beliefs, character, and integrity" It was a pretty deep lesson...

I taught all day, and even after teaching 6 periods I felt less drained than one period for three days at Central Mountain. I had at least a dozen students that sat through the lesson two or three times. The students we're very smart they learned real fast to dig their papers out of the trash can or keep them folded nicely in their folder for all of the periods they had to sit through. One boy had four periods so he definitely understands values, beliefs, character, and integrity.

What was great to see was the leadership through out the classes, the students that had the lesson more than once stepped up to help give direction to the students around them.

This was the first time I could actually feel the enthusiasm in myself while teaching. The first period class was 26 freshman and they we're a little crazy, but it was fun, and after they left Mrs. Morgan said..."And your still smiling."

Some things I struggled with was determining what was when I had to much to cover in one period what do I keep and what do I leave out. Every period I made different decisions as to what I would keep and what I would leave out. Since there were so many students that were repeats I also tried to change up the instruction so it wasn't to boring for them, that was really hard. The power of proximity control is a pretty great thing! But I have on student that could care less how close you are. I was pretty much hanging over his desk trying to get closer and closer and he didn't care, I'll definitely remember him in the spring...

The objectives for the students and my objectives we're very different. My objectives were to get a feel for the different classes and how the students interacted with each other, how they learned, and what motivated them. I feel that I met my objectives and I think the students met their objectives as well.

Central Mountain Micro-Teaching

Day 1

I knew from the beginning that day one would be a success. I had a lengthy lesson that I thought would carry into day two and it would be fun and engaging. And it was fun and engaging and should have carried into day two, according to my learner satisfaction forms (LSF)  my students felt that it was to much information for day 1.

I thought I built some rapport with the students and I was working on learning names and I though I was set up for three days of a fun teaching experience.

My lesson was on the color wheel. I found a video online from The Floral Design Institute with a very simple way to understand the color wheel. It all clicked in my head right after watching it because she did such a good job. At the end of her video she said email me and I will send you a small color wheel to keep in your design shop. So I did email her and asked for a color wheel for each of my students, to my surprise she actually sent me a small color wheel for each student along with two large color wheels! I was very excited. To teach the lessons I gave the students coloring pages the color wheels and as I taught the different color harmonies I had the students paint their pages using the harmonies learned. The students really enjoyed the activity and I felt that they learned the information.

Day 2

I came into class excited for the second day because I thought I had a fun activity planned and I knew some students names which I was excited about.

Day two was "the history of the cornucopia" there are two origins of the cornucopia and they are stories from Greek Mythology. I planned to split the class into four groups and have two groups perform a skit and two groups create some type of art work to depict the events of the story. Dr. Foster gave me the idea to make it mission impossible: split the class into four groups, give each group an envelope of their "mission" and give them an amount of time to complete it in. Ms. Hack had the art supplies for students creating a project and it just so happened that when the filing cabinet was locked and wouldn't open. So right before class I had to change plans all students were doing a skit. Turns out Dr. Foster's idea and Ms Hack's filing cabinet issues were my answered prayers for the day. If I had to tell all of the students they were doing a skit I would have had 23 girls all at once telling me they didn't want to do a skit, and if there we're two groups doing a project rather than a skit the other groups would have complained the whole time that it was unfair.
To make a long story short I had to play bad cop and make them do it anyway.

Day 3

It was time to make the cornucopias! What was suppose to be the most fun and they didn't get to do much. I started by giving them a quiz, the students weren't happy at all. They also took 20 minutes to do the quiz, I should have told them 10 minutes tops and they would hand it in whether they we're done or not. I had visited my local florist to get help in making the cornucopia, she made a display for me and I took pictures of her as she was making it and put a PowerPoint together to show the students. Some of the comments I received on my LSF was they wanted a demonstration... which is what I did in the PowerPoint. Regardless, they apparently didn't listen to a word I said. When we went to the shop I tried to tell them different things that would help but they didn't care to listen. And in reality there were only about 4 students that we're disrespectful, the rest of the students we're really great, but it only takes one to ruin an experience. Because of the time taken with the quiz and the PowerPoint they really only had enough time to gather their materials.

What I learned:
- Students really like hands on as long as they can stay in their seats and they hate anything that requires getting in front of the class, even though they have no problem being the one to talk all period, it's different when they're in their seat.
- Always address the need to know, because they will ask, Students will not do something if they can't see the purpose.
- Always give the students the amount of time they have to work on something, other wise they will take 10 minutes to do something that should have been done in 5.
- Nip bad behaviors in the but right away. As soon as they get away with it once, they think they can get away with it every time
- Learn the students names! Its much easier to facilitate a class when you know names, and it makes it more personal when you correct bad behavior and compliment good behavior.
- Show enthusiasm, when you're not the students think your mad and upset with them and they either cannot learn, they are afraid to volunteer answers, or they behave poorly to combat your attitude.
- Be thankful for the students at my cooperating center!

Inquiry Based Lab Reflection

By far my best lab. Which is a big shocker given it was the most difficult. Dr. Foster gave an excellent model of IBI when teaching about the technique, and having the opportunity to watch it in action with Mr. Clark, and then having Mr. Clark put us through the ringer was a great experience. It all really helped things to click in my head. But I was still stuck on the idea that we needed to use the scientific method, the original model and the requirement of "a piece of scientific equipment" had me in that mindset, so I designed mine around it and it went just fine.

The root of my success was my content knowledge. I felt most comfortable with this lab because was very comfortable with the material.

One of the things stressed to us was that the students can have whatever they want but they needed to ask for it. To facilitate this I kept two items from the students until they asked for it.

1. The Salt
2. The Recipe for Ice Cream in a Bag

The question was "Does fat content affect the freezing point of milk?" I had an idea that it would, but I never had a chance to test it first myself so I was also anticipating the results, and it turns out that it does.

Like Mr. Clark had done, I first had the students brainstorm what they could measure with the items on the front table, and I then gave them a reading about the freezing point of milk. One thing I struggle with is remembering that people really are NOT psychic and can NOT read my mind. I always assume that because I'm thinking it people will just know. This is definitely need to work on. My thoughts were:

"The reading is about the freezing point of milk and I have heavy cream and skim milk on the front table, I'm basically spoon feeding them"

I wasn't.

They did get what I wanted to some degree but I formed the question for them which I planned on doing anyway.

Something that I really had to stress to the students was "what is frozen milk" and "utilize all of the materials on the front table!" Once again I assumed that they knew how to make ice cream in a bag but surprisingly they didn't so It was really exciting to watch them learn how!

I really enjoyed this lab because the learners were very engaged, so engaged that they forgot about their classroom management roles. Of course their is always room for improvement but I do feel pretty good about this one.

My biggest achievement with this lab was effectively utilizing PowerPoint, i am getting better at knowing how visual resources can amp my lessons!

Next Lab: Real Students at a Real School! Very excited =D