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

Evaluating Learning

When I was in school I always thought that teaching techniques like using a rubric or citing information in a paper was brand new because I wasn't introduced to it until middle school or higher! So as the naive little girl I was I thought wow this teacher really knows what they're doing they came up with this thing called a rubric and it tells me exactly what I need to do to get an "A!" He should tell the other teachers about this! 

Even though I wasn't smart enough to know that my middle school teacher didn't come up with this I was smart enough to know that following a rubric was one of the best things I could do for my grade. Everything was laid out exactly how I should complete my project in order to achieve success. 

The resource I found in the ASCD was The Formative Assessment Action Plan: Practical Steps To More Successful Teaching And Learning. The description of this resources says that:

                "Students perform poorly on assessments primarily because they don't see the relevance of the content they are expected to master, they think they know the material but really don't, or teachers don't recognize that students aren't learning." 

The last part of that statement is pretty powerful! Teachers don't recognize that students aren't learning. Maybe I'm a little harsh, but, how does a teacher not realize their students aren't learning? Isn't that the purpose of formative assessment? 

The purpose of this resources is to ensure the following:

1. Ensure students understand the purpose of the assignment, task, or lesson, including how they will be assessed. 
2. Provide students with information about their successes and needs.
3. Capture the performance data that teachers need to guide student learning. 

Number 1 does a great job explaining the purpose of a rubric. To inform the student how they will be assessed. I think sometimes in education it's all about the element of surprise, for example teachers won't tell students what will be on a test so that they study everything, or they won't share the format of the test, and for what reason. So they stay up all night studying useless information, or so they worry their buts off to realize it's multiple choice. I think that as teachers we need to remember that education is about preparing our students for the real world. And the real world is about preparation and application. It's not a matter of regurgitating what they learned and forgetting it right after the "test." So we should prepare our students. Tell them what we expect and what grade they will receive for the level of effort their willing to put into their work. 

In all of the classes we have I try to draw parallels, because in some ways I feel like the pedagogy of teaching is very linear. And so in the Stoughton reading we learn that there are two main types of rubrics. There is task specific and generic. From there they are divided into analytic and holistic  And so to me the analytic rubric reminds me of a managerial lesson; assessing the students on their proficiency in the area. Holistic reminds me of a operational lesson; assessing the students on their ability to perform the task. We know that in a managerial lesson our goal is that the students would structure their thinking in the way of "solving a problem" per say  And so assessing their proficiency of a subject would be assessing their thoughts and knowledge of a subject. And operational lessons are assessing their ability to do something. So could they make a pen that allows the animals to be gathered and contained. Yes or no. Of course I could always be wrong in the way i'm thinking, I just wonder if for the different types of lessons we're teaching if we should be using a different type of assessment. 

I really like the idea of assessing students using a concept map. Like Warner says in the reading having students complete a lab only shows that they can follow directions it doesn't show that they know what's happening. A few weeks ago our reading reflection was to create a mind map for the principles of teaching. I found this exercise to be very helpful. We know that all learners are unique and learn in different ways. In creating a concept map the students are able to show the connections they make. It's more of a student centered approach. Like the problem solving approach, the teacher knows where he/she wants the class to go but allows the students to get there with little structure and direction. This seems like the same thing to me. With the different formats of concept maps we're able to offer that little bit of structure and direction but the student manages the learning. They complete the map and then we can look at it to see if their forming the right connections or if they need more clarity in a specific area. 

The first story in Chapter 14 is typical of the two types of people we hear about: Street smart, and book smart. I find that in high school the book smart people reign while in college sometimes it's the street smart. They already have the work ethic because they built it up in high school in order to do well. Struggling with a subject isn't a surprise to them they already know they will need to study more. Whereas the book smart individual has more of a fixed mindset in the manner that if they can't do well in a subject it's because they're not good at it.

As educators I think it's important that we don't promote the labels of street smart and book smart because the real question is "how are you smart?" Just as there are different learning styles there are different assessment styles. And we want our students to do well and succeed in order to do that we need to accommodate their need for a more unique assessment if that's whats necessary. In every unit we teach I think we should be striving to have 3-4 different forms of assessments so that our students don't fall under the mindset of "i'm not smart" but instead say "this is how i'm smart!"

I did follow the link in the Stoughton reading for a rubric generator and made this one. I think that's a great resource! I didn't realize they were so easily available!

Problem Solving Approach

Up until the point where Dr. Foster listed the four types of problem I was completely lost. I had no idea how to not only come up with a question but how to implement it into the classroom. The minute he listed the four approaches it came full circle, the light bulb turned on. OOH this is what he's been talking about. I met with Laura, and she said we only need to change a few things and I think it will be a great idea! So I it seemed like it was so much easier than I thought. I planned my lesson and was feeling very prepared. But like usual lessons always sound better on paper!

The first problem I had was that two of my student were not in lab and it changed my plans. My interest approach was to have one student get flowers to another student and from there have them talk about the way flowers makes one feel. I though it was a great interest approach and implemented appropriately I still believe it was. So anyway, the problem came when my students were jerks, Allison went in the hallway and I told Todd to present her with the flowers and I thought, "this should go well..." and the first thing Todd does when Allison comes in the room is throw a punch at Allison! And she throws a punch back! And so he gave her the flowers and as I tried to facilitate questions around this it didn't work. Allison was calling Todd ugly and I was just mad, so I yelled at Allison and sent her to the back of the room. It may have been overkill, but I knew I needed to nip it in the but.

The next problem was that I wasn't comfortable enough with my content area to structure the feedback I was getting from the students. I knew where I wanted them to go with it but I messed up in actually facilitating that.

If I could do this lab over again...

I would have prepared the questions that I asked the students. I think in the problem solving approach the two most important things you can do to prepare is:
                     1. Know your content area
                     2. Prepare the questions for the students
If I had prepared the questions to ask my students if things weren't really going well I would have been one step ahead. I would have been able to rope them back into the lesson.

I would also create a PowerPoint that could lead the discussion. I did have the bouquet which I used to facilitate the conversation. However, having a visual with pictures of flower arrangements would have directed the conversation and created a structure to the lesson.

Once again, I am not very happy with my performance in this lab, but I am very glad that I made the mistakes here rather than in the classroom and it gave me so many ideas for how to prepare lessons that align closely with this one.

The Problem solving approach

The problem solving approach is a great idea! Obviously it's nothing new, generations upon generations have learned through solving problems long before my time. To use it in the classroom is a phenomenal teaching method.

I am excited when I think about students learning through this approach. This approach takes the fundamentals of what you're teaching and applies it directly to the real world. Which we know is a principle of teaching an learning.

As said in the Handbook reading Dewey referred to the problem-solving approach as reflective thinking. Which is a great concept for high school students especially. Students in high school are still forming connections in their brain and forming their idea of the world and what they believe. If these students are following the scientific method in the classroom, they're practicing reflective thinking. It sets them up for success in the real world. They realize that when they are making a decision they must think through the outcome of that decision and determine what they will do. They make the decision, and then reflect on the decision. This is something students will be doing for the rest of their lives and if in the agriculture classroom we're setting them up for this then we're doing one of the greatest services to the students that we can. We're creating reflective individuals of society. How many other professions can say that!?