#AEE412 Unit Plan Reflection

When I first started writing my first Unit Plan a few weeks ago, I was overwhelmed. How can I know all of this right now? How should I assess my students? What should my unit goals be? WHY am I teaching this unit; what is its relevance to the community? The list could go on and on. Not to mention that I wrote my first draft before we learned how to write SMART objectives. But after submitting my first draft to peers for feedback and making edits on my draft, I believe I have come a long way in my knowledge about unit plans and how vital they are for effective instruction (with much more to learn...). Here are some takeaways from this process:

1. Identifying materials needed for a unit is important.

This week in AEE 413, our Program Planning course, we talked about budgeting for an Ad Ed program and it blew my mind that you pretty much have to know all of your materials you will need for the year around the time the fiscal year ends in June. That helped me realize why it's so important to list realia on your unit plans. In my first draft, my peer feedback helped me realize realia lists were lackadaisical. When I revised I really tried to identify the major materials I would need for each lesson in the unit. Especially for the labs we would be conducting.

2. Make sure your essential question and the level of objectives align.

When I was writing all of my essential questions, I first had a hard time organizing them in logical way. I knew this was important because the First Principle of Teaching and Learning states, "When the subject matter to be learned possesses meaning, organization, and structure that is clear to students, learning proceeds more rapidly and is retained longer." I also had a hard time making sure my objectives would ensure my students would know "How do you make biofuel?" for example. In fact, this is something I am still working on and I feel that it will come with practice. But, I am definitely more aware of it now as I work on my other unit plans.

I'm looking forward to improving my unit plan writing skills throughout the semester, and I'd love to hear your tips/thoughts! Thanks!

#AEE412 Weekly Investment: Changing the World through Autonomy and "You Matter"

Autonomy is key.

This week’s readings took me back to my summer book, Drive by Daniel Pink. The most important of the three psychological needs, autonomy is reached when people have choice over the four T’s: their task, their time, their technique, and their team. If we want our students to be able to successfully contribute to our world, then they must be encouraged to think outside the box and then actually be allowed to think outside the box. Both the article from this week and Drive discuss a concept called “20% time”. Basically, students spend 20% of their time in school learning about and creating things that interest them. Personally, I think this concept is pretty neat and I would want to set up days throughout the school year for students to share out what they have learned/created. Even if you can't do a 20% structure, you can include autonomy in learning activities, projects, and laboratory experiments. Also, as a teacher, it would be essential for you to be engaged throughout the entire 20% time process and encourage student reflection to ensure learning is occurring. This can be accomplished through asking effective questions, student reflection worksheets, and one-on-one meetings with students about what they’re working on. Honestly, the 20% time concept reminds me a lot of what SAEs are supposed to be all about. Students directing their learning. So let's make sure we're bringing that into the classroom, too.

You must tell students they MATTER.

The TEDx talk titled “You Matter” was very inspirational and moving. It was all about the notion that noticing and making sure people know they matter can change the world. As teachers, this is so important to understand and act on. I mean, that’s the real reason we are or are working on becoming teachers, right? To help people matter. This also makes me think back to the book Drive by Daniel Pink. One of the other essentials to motivation is PURPOSE. So by truly believing in your students and telling them they matter and have a purpose, they will rise to those beliefs and believe them as well. One thing that I would like to take into the classroom someday is beginning each lesson off with “You are a genius and the world needs your contribution”. Not only does this tell students they matter, it is a call to action. For some students, we may be the only people all day to tell them that we notice them and that they matter. Let's not let them down.


These are the two videos that were part of our Weekly Investment this week. Check them out!

References:

Cornell University Center for Teaching Excellence. (2015). Using Effective Questions. Retrieved from http://www.cte.cornell.edu/teaching-ideas/engaging-students/using-effective-questions.html

Pink, Daniel. (2009). Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. New York: Penguin Group.

Dyer, J.E. (n.d.) Effective Questioning Techniques. Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC08400.pdf

National FFA LifeKnowledge. (n.d.) Coaching Session Quick Reference Guide. Retrieved from https://www.ffa.org/myresourcedocuments/coachingguide/Basics_of_Coaching/coaching_Guide/Lesson02/pdf/Individual-Coaching-Session-Quick-Reference-Guide.pdf

Pursue Passion: Demand Google 20% Time at School

Tweak Your Teach: Dr. Tae's Building a New Culture of Teaching and Learning

#AEE412 Interest Approach Lab Reflection

This week's lab was all about creating a desire within our students to want to learn about a particular lesson/topic, or in other words, the interest approach. Prior to this semester, I was confused about what an interest approach was, so I was really excited to try my hand at developing an effective one. This coming spring I will be teaching a unit on Application of Biotechnology, so I decided to create an interest approach for my first lesson of that unit titled "What is the Green Revolution?". After watching my lab, here is one gem and one opp that I took away:

GEM from my Interest Approach Lab:

The video I showed truly caused an emotional response from my "students".

Causing an emotional response was one of my primary methods of capturing my students' interest in this topic. According to Lancelot's Primary Principles of Interest, "A subject is interesting if it affects us, others around us, or humanity at large." The Green Revolution occurred because people were concerned about the rising population and widespread hunger and malnutrition occurring in the world. Currently, we are facing a similar situation so by showing students that connection, they would hopefully be more interested in learning what the Green Revolution is and how it helped save over 1 million people from starvation.

OPP from my Interest Approach Lab:

I did not manage my time as effectively as I wanted to.

I feel like I should have been able to accomplish my interest approach in my 10 minute lab. But I think I took too much time on the bell-work which caused me to try and cram in my interest approach towards the end. And that didn't work. Next time, I need to make sure I tell my students as they begin their bell-work to alert me when they are finished so I know when to move on (ex. put pencil down and look at me).

#AEE412 Weekly Investment 4

Objectives at higher cognitive levels requires teaching at higher cognitive levels.

The cognitive level of your objectives must align with what you teach and must align with assessment. This was a focus of the weekly readings and it's something I want to always work on and continue to improve on throughout my #TeachAg Journey. The idea makes sense. Why would you expect high levels of learning from your students, teach them at a low cognitive level, and then assess them based on your objectives? It is a recipe for frustration and giving up. Thinking back to the article we read by Fink (2003), one way to ensure this doesn't happen is to "analyze the situational factors, formulate the learning goals, design the feedback and assessment procedures, and select the teaching/learning activities." Remember, begin with the end in mind.

Cooperative Learning, when purposefully planned, provides multiple developmental benefits.

This week's readings also discussed group teaching techniques and seemed to focus on cooperative learning in particular. We participated in cooperative learning in many of my high school classes, and I have experienced both the good and the bad. One particular point that was made about how to make cooperative learning effective is how you group the students. Size definitely matters; for example, if a group is too large, students can hide and get by without having to contribute. Reading about cooperative learning made me remember my Educational Psychology class I had a few semesters back. Our professor taught us an effective way to split students up into groups that promotes learning for every student. It was all about making groups with heterogeneous skill levels so that each student benefits from the cooperative learning. But with that being said, as a teacher I think you really need to ensure that each student is participating and there isn't just one student in each group doing all of the work. There is a reason I'm not a fan of group projects in college myself, so I'm determined not to have any of my students feel the same way. According to Groseta et al., the solution to that is staying engaged throughout the entire learning process by using the three steps of monitoring: observation, intervention, and evaluation.

Do you have any strategies you use to promote effective cooperative learning? I'd love to learn more!


References:

Fink, L.D. (2003) A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. Retrieved from http://www.deefinkandassociates.com/GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.pdf

Groseta, K.J. & Myers, B.E. (2006). Using cooperative learning in formal and conformal education. Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC06200.pdf

Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Whittington, M.S. (2005). Writing objectives in secondary agriculture courses that challenge students to think. Agriculture Education Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.naae.org/profdevelopment/magazine/archive_issues/Volume77/v77i5.pdf

#AEE412 1st Day Lab

It's the first day of school. The Goal: teach the first 10 minutes of your "first day" lesson plan. This lab was beneficial in multiple ways. First, I got to think through what would be a good way to establish classroom procedures right away, create a welcoming environment, etc. Second, I had the chance to teach for 10 minutes and practice classroom management skills with my cohort members who had transformed into students with various personalities. After watching my video, here is one thing I did well and one thing I can improve on for next time!

Gems: things that went well with my lesson.

Going over objectives and having them written on the wall/board: 

I believe it's important to go over your objectives for each lesson. This all goes back to the first domain of teaching and learning: Organization and Structure of Content Matter. Students learn better when they are aware of the structure of the content as well as see how everything their learning contributes to the end goals. Going over the objectives also helps you as a teacher remain business-like and on task by reminding yourself of what you want your students to be accomplishing during the class.

Opps: Opportunities for improvement in future lessons.

Giving clear directions and ensuring students are paying attention/understand: 

I realized while I was watching my video that students asked me to repeat directions and/or had questions about what I just asked them to do. This means that either I'm not giving clear directions and/or I did not have their attention. So, going forward I want to make sure I thoroughly plan how I want to give directions and then also make sure I ask my students to repeat back the directions after I give them. That will hopefully help my directions be more clear and ensure that students were paying attention.


I'm looking forward to practicing more during next week's lab on interest approaches! Thanks for following my blog, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

#AEE412 Weekly Investment 3

Objectives are CRUCIAL.

Objectives (along with assessments) are the guiding force of instruction. Newcomb et al. states, "in writing instructional objectives, teachers make definite decisions about the content of the problem area. The force themselves to establish parameters that in turn help define and limit the scope and content of the problem area. ... they provide a basis for evaluation" (pg. 91). We learned this week that your objectives and your unit assessments should influence each other. This makes sense because like I said in last week's blog post - begin with the end in mind and everything needs to connect. I found it interesting to learn about the three domains of learning that objectives can fall into.

1. Cognitive - objectives that deal with the acquisition of facts, knowledge, information, or concepts.
2. Psychomotor - objectives that deal with using the mind in combination with motor skills.
3. Affective - objectives that have to do with attitudes, values, aesthetics, and appreciation.

I had never heard of affective objectives before, and found it to be a very interesting concept. My methods book (Newcomb et al., 2004) stated that the most difficult area of objectives to include are affective. I believe this, but after reading some examples and learning what they are I would argue that they, too, are very important to include. I think one of the main purposes of education is to grow up leaders and people with good morals and values, so including affective objectives is one way to work on this. I can definitely see myself including some affective objectives into the Biotechnology & Food Science class that I get to teach in the spring!

Interest Approach - Say What?!

Before this fall, I was always confused about what an interest approach was and why they were important. Over the past couple of weeks I've begun to get a better sense about what interest approaches are all about. Newcomb et al. discusses a variety of ways to go about creating a desire in students to know more about a topic. I think that developing interest approaches based on students' SAE projects is a neat idea. If students can personally connect with the interest approach the WHY of the lesson will be so much clearer.

However, in a research article I found concerning interest approaches in Agricultural Education, the researchers found that the use of an interest approach at the beginning of a lesson had no effect on the students knowledge/learning or student attitudes. But, the data did show that student engagement increased with the use of an interest approach. They did state that more data needs to be collected to further analyze the results of the study. I would be interested to hear what other ag teachers think about interest approaches!

References:

Johnston, T. L., Roberts, T. G. (2011). The Effect of an Interest Approach on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Engagement of High School Agricultural Science Students. Journal of Agricultural Education, 52(1), 143-154. Retrieved from http://www.jae-online.org/attachments/article/1537/52.1.143.Johnston.pdf 

Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of Teaching Agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

  

#AEE412 Weekly Investment 2: Designing and Planning Instruction

Maximizing learning and planning instruction. Planning instruction was (and still kind of is) daunting to think about. But, after gaining some new insight through the readings this week, I think I'm beginning to get a better understanding of how these unit plans, assessments, and lesson plans are supposed to fit together. Here are some major takeaways!

You have to know where you want to end up if you want to develop an effective plan to get there. I believe this thought is essential to effectively planning instruction. This ensures that everything you are teaching in your class aligns together and thus promotes deeper learning for students. So before you start planning your first Soil Science class you need to stop and think, "What do I want my students to be able to do by the end of this class/unit?" Realizing this was very helpful because the other day I was staring at my computer at a loss of how to begin writing my first lesson plan for student teaching. According to the framework by Mctighe et al., first start by identifying desired results, then determine assessment evidence, and finally plan learning experiences and instruction. I really appreciated that the framework takes the time to discuss different types of assessment - performance tasks and other evidence such as traditional tests and quizzes. While I think there is a time and a place for both types, the most important thing is to make sure that everything aligns and nothing is slipping through the cracks. Now, I'm quite excited to try out what I've learned on the unit/lesson plans I'll be writing in the coming weeks!

I know I briefly mentioned this above, but this was a really important area of discussion in all of our readings for this week. When I was in high school, I never really took much thought into why we learned things in the order in which we learned them. All I knew is when I was learning and when I was completely lost/bored. But now as I'm working on writing unit plans, lesson plans, and assessments for my student teaching experience, my mind is a little overwhelmed. There are so many ways we must look for alignment and connection. Whether it's making sure the scaffolding is actually building up towards a specific skill to making sure the assessment is evaluating what we actually taught. But as Reardon et al. state in Strategies for Great Teaching, "Learning happens when brains are connecting in meaningful ways with the subject matter. It occurs when learners make patterns based on existing schema as they seek to understand new content".

References:

Fink, L.D. (2003) A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. Retrieved from http://www.deefinkandassociates.com/GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.pdf

Mctighe, J. & Wiggins, G. (2012). Understanding by design framework. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/UbD_WhitePaper0312.pdf

Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Reardon, M. & Derner, S. (2004) Strategies for great teaching. Chicago, Illinois: Zephyr Press

West Virginia University, (2010.). Bloom’s taxonomy. Retrieved from http://community.wvu.edu/~lsmong/Articulate%20Blooms%20Wheel/blooms_wheel.html

Come Check Out Penn Manor!

I'm really excited for my upcoming student teaching experience at Penn Manor! Want to learn more about their Agricultural Education program? Check out the video I made below, I'd love to hear your comments!