Weekly Investment The Problem-Solving Approach

Essential Question:

What is the Problem-Solving Approach?

Key Questions:

What is Problem Solving?
How is Problem Solving related to Project Based?

Key Takeaways:

Problem-Based Learning is when students are presented with a problem and they work together to find potential solutions to said problem. They figure out what subject/content knowledge is needed followed by choosing how and with what they will find a solution.

• This could be really useful in my future classroom or even in the spring at Cedar Crest. It could be used in an animal science class (among others). Students could be given a problem regarding an animal reproductive system (that's a unit I'll be teaching in the spring) and then given time to set their own guidelines for solving it.

In order to use the problem solving approach, problems should be stated in question form and be relevant to the students' lives.
It is easier to use this method when the teacher knows how much the students know about the subject. Also, it's easier when the students know how the problem solving approach works.

• This can bring scaffolding into a teachers classroom. Start small by explaining the problem solving approach. Then build upon it, giving students more and more autonomy each time.

I will also relate this to last week's topic of Questioning. It is always important to ask the right questions at the right time! Whether it is a non problem solving lesson or not, (the right) questions are key for student understanding and thought.

Reports, presentations and rubrics are all forms of assessment commonly used in problem based learning.

• This is something that I know I would have had trouble figuring out if the reading wouldn't have said it.

Kirkley Reading

The first thing this reading talked about was the importance of the Problem-Solving Approach. Studies have shown that more and more industries need people that can think at higher order levels and that can problem solve at higher order levels.

Finding people that fit these criterion keeps getting harder but by using the Problem-Solving Approach in schools, this will start to be remedied.

• I agree that this is really important! I don't know if I could go to a complete problem solving curriculum/plans. I know it's hard to get away from the traditional approach to teaching but I would definitely like to try my hardest to get away from it!

In Project Based Learning, students learn the main concepts from completing projects. It also requires problem solving skills!! That's where the problem solving approach to teaching comes in! The next 2 readings talked about project based learning.

• I have some ideas (sorry no spoilers here!) for projects in the spring. I was going for the more traditional approach of teaching the subject then having the students do a project. This got me thinking about it and I may try flipping that and having the students learn from their projects!

8 Essentials to Project Based Learning

1. Significant Content

2. A Need to Know

3. A Driving Question

4. Student Voice and Choice

5. 21st Century Skills

6. Inquiry and Innovation

7. Feedback and Revision

8. Publicly Presented Product

All of these are interrelated!! Problem Based Learning, Project Based Learning and even Inquiry Based Learning are have many things in common. More on Inquiry Based Learning/Instruction will be coming in a few weeks! There are more connections to be made!

References:

Buck Institute for Education's "PBL Starter Kit." 2017

Phipps, L.J., Osborn, E.W., Dyer, J.E., & Ball, A.L. (2008) Handbook on agricultural education in public schools, 1st Edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. Note: Chapter 15 – Problem Solving (PDF Canvas) 20 pages

Kirkley, J. (2003). Principles for teaching problem solving. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.117.8503&rep=rep1&type=pdf Note: Principles to Teach Problem Solving (Canvas 16 pages)

Larmer, J. & Mergendoller, J.R. (2010). The main course, not dessert: How are students reaching 21st century goals? With 21st century project based learning. Retrieved from http://bie.org/object/document/main_course_not_dessert

Larmer, J. & Mergendoller, J.R. (2010). 8 essentials for project-based learning. Retrieved from http://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/attachments/article/1058/8_Essentials_article_small_file_size_Oct2012v ersion.pdf

Model Unit Plan Reflection

This meme is what I learned these last couple of weeks while preparing this unit plan.

One big thing we, as pre-service teachers, have to do is write unit and lesson plans. We were told to write a "model unit plan" that we would receive feedback on. This model unit could be used by us to base the rest of our units off of (the format and how we planned the unit).

Unit Plan Essentials are as follows:

• Name of Unit
• Unit Rationale (why teach this in your community)
• Anticipated Number of Class Sessions Needed
• Length of Each Class Session
• Supplies Needed for Unit
• PA Academic Standards/Assessment Anchors
• PA Ag Content Standards/Benchmarks (or AFNR; Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources)
• Names of Lesson Titles
• Unit Goals (major concepts that will be taught)
• Specific Daily Learning Objectives Addressed (performance, criteria and condition for student to complete task)
• Unit Assessments/Evaluation Strategies
• Exceptional Children Strategies/Accommodations/Adaptations
• A Specific Science and/or Math and/or English Enhancement (how it relates to core subjects)
• Total Ag Ed Program Connection (FFA and SAE integration)
• Specific Careers Prepared For
• References (APA Format-resources used to make unit/gather information)

At first, I panicked. Then I started to think about it and type it all out. As soon as I started the process, I calmed down because I was getting a feeling for all of the components. Of course, it's not going to be anywhere near perfect but practice makes perfect!

Honestly, I was not real comfortable with bullet points 5-11; the core of an unit plan. I knew about them and what needed to happen, I just wasn't comfortable writing my own yet. We had some practice with all of it but I didn't feel as if any of mine was good enough.

The Good and The Bad

After my peers reviewed my unit plan, I felt a lot better! They said that everything looked pretty good. My lesson plan names were all in question form and I did not use "understand" in any of my objectives. For the future, I will definitely keep that the same!

One big thing that I struggled with at the start was making unit assessments. My peers commented on that as well; "these may be hard to assess." As in, the lesson plans may be hard to assess without some solid form of assessment (ex. rubric). For the future, I will seriously consider using rubrics (which I did include for this unit after the revision). I will explore other types of assessment to be used with any and all subjects. Although, I do not want to have the same type of assessment all of the time because I feel like the students would get tired of the same thing over and over again.

Weekly Investment Effective Questioning

Weekly Essential Question:

How do we transition between techniques using effective questions?

Key Questions:

Are all questions the same?

What is the coolest teacher "question tip" you want to incorporate?

Why would asking questions at higher levels of cognition (think Bloom) matter?

What is Student Agency or Student Voice?

Key Takeaways:

Something I found throughout all of the readings was that teachers can't just ask yes/no or multiple choice questions. Asking questions to higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy is what you want.

• gets students to really think about and comprehend what they're learning
• that's when the WHY question comes in (thanks Dr. Foster for pushing us with always knowing the why)!

Dyer reading

The second sentence really caught me off guard. It says, "...Research shows that teachers ask between 300–400 questions per day..."

• If I really think about it, yes it is definitely true!
• about 3 questions/student/period, about 20 students/period, about 8 periods/day = 480 questions asked!!
• that's a lot of questions! If a teacher is going to ask that many questions a day, they need to make them matter by being effective!

There was a good section on "Handling Student Responses." Some different methods were reinforcing, probing, redirecting and rephrasing. 

• I think that knowing how to use these is important. Use each one for different situations; praise the student who doesn't answer often, probe the student who answers with a general statement, redirect when you want to check another students understanding with this students response, and rephrase when students don't quite get the question!

Another thing that stuck out to me was responding to student questions: "Often, students do not realize how much they actually know."

• if a teacher helps them to realize that they actually know the answer to their question on their own, then the "light bulb" goes off in their heads. That's the moment I want to see in every single one of my students!

Tweek Your Teach

"School sucks" was the premise for this reading. Students just sit there and are lectured at (for the most part). Nobody learns anything and nobody wants to be there.

• This is why I really love ag! I've heard so many stories (and even seen some in my high school) where students don't do well and don't want to be in school in their standard subjects but they get to ag and they love it!
• Get students up and moving; this will help them to get their thoughts flowing as well as actually wanting to be there! (For example, this is what I wanted to do with my interest approach lesson this past week)
• They may not get it the first time (or you may have to keep trying different ways of teaching) but you will get it eventually. Just keep going and you will get to where you want to be eventually!

Pursue Passion

This was about how Google let their employees have a day to work on whatever they wanted; to explore new inventions or ideas that the employee had. This significantly worked and out come things like Gmail!

• This is like inquiry based learning for me in a way. They can have questions or thoughts, then have time to explore. They can apply what they know from the classroom (the students) or work (Google employees) and do something for themselves!
• This could also be related to SAE projects! Students get to explore anything that suits their interests, whether or not it has to deal with agriculture. They have time outside of school to do that and sometimes in school (especially to update records as that is a major point of SAE).

This all makes work and school not so mundane!

I will strive to keep my students engaged by asking meaningful questions and challenging them to go beyond how far they think they can!

I want to inspire my students to go out into the world and follow their dreams no matter what they are. I may be an agriculture teacher but that doesn't mean that all of my students have to pursue careers in ag (but they definitely should)! My hope is that all students when they get out of high school (no matter if they take ag) will be well rounded, respectful, knowledgeable citizens who strive to make themselves better and help others.

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 

 

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

 

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

 

Read: Pursue Passion: Demand Google 20% Time at School

Interest Approach Teaching Lab Reflection

For those of you who may be reading this and don't know what an interest approach is; it's a pretty simple explanation. Coming up with an interest approach can sometimes be a different story!

-----An interest approach is the hook at the beginning of a lesson or a unit. It's what gets the students interested in the topic (especially if they aren't already).

This week's teaching lab was on interest approaches. I didn't want to spoil my favorite one (for the animal science genetics unit) so I had to think of another one right off the top of my head! I chose to do an interest approach for the Food Preservation/Fermentation unit that I will be teaching first thing in the spring. I mean because why not?? Everyone loves food!

I'm going to start with the "Opps" of my lesson. These are things for me to think about or change for future lessons. If I improve these, I will be on the right track to becoming a more effective teacher!

• I was more nervous this time than I was last time! I don't know how I regressed but I just have to keep pushing forward. I know my material as much as I can, so I will be fine!

Here are the "Gems" of my lesson! These are some of the things I did well in my lesson. If I keep doing them, then I know I am on the right track!

• I used food, which is something everyone likes for my interest approach. I realize that I can't use food in every lesson I teach so I will come up with some creative ways to get the students out of their seats.
• I believe that I did a good job of getting the students back onto the conversation at hand. Keeping the students on the main topic of the day is very important if you want to accomplish your objectives.

Staying positive is something I need plastered on my walls this semester. I need to always remember why I am doing this. I'm doing this for the students; I want them to have the best high school experience that they can. This means working hard to write lesson plans and teach to the best of my abilities!

Weekly Investment Objectives and Instructional Design

Weekly Essential Question:

What structure do we need in our instruction? Applying Instructional Design Techniques

Key Questions:

Why are objectives important?

How does Bloom's Taxonomy impact instructional design?

How can Group Teaching Techniques be Effective?

Key Takeaways:

I think that this one was rather challenging for me. It may have been because I was reading it in the van on the way home from The Big E in Massachusetts but I'm not sure. I see the topics for this week and I feel like I understand them but I feel as if I'm missing something. I don't know if I'm missing anything and if I am, I'm not sure what it is!

Objectives

• They are very important as they provide students with a map of what is going to be learned in class.
• They must have "action measurable verbs;" there are several levels of thinking.
• It's better when objectives are presented at a higher order level of thinking and followed by a higher order level of teaching.
• I'm worried that writing at a higher order level for objectives causes me to become less clear. I feel as if I use bigger words and try to make it more articulated so I lose my clarity. How do I overcome that?

Bloom's Taxonomy

• Knowledge, Comprehensive, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation
• The farther you go through this list, the more "harder thinking" that has to happen to accomplish the task.

Group Teaching Techniques

• Cooperative Learning; students work in small groups.
• pretty self explanatory, this technique is very useful when needing all students to know the same information.
• teachers must think of group demographics and room setup
• if students must monitor and evaluate their own and their peers work; they are more likely to behave and get the given task done

• This picture is what I hope does not happen in my classroom!

References:

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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

First Day of School Teaching Lab Reflection

The first time teaching a formal lesson....it was the 1st 10 minutes of what we would do on the First Day of School.

My thoughts were that it wasn’t terrible; it actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be!


Here are my “opps” or opportunities to do better.....

• Be more assertive when students misbehave; I didn’t get worked up but I could have said “let me put your phone on the table and you’ll get it back at the end of class.” I just need to be confident in implementing my consequences.
• Clarity: I could be clearer and more concise when stating my objectives and directions for activities.

Here are the "gems" of my lesson.....

• I was positive!!!
• I was enthusiastic!!!

I was starting to channel what I learned from The Energy Bus!!

Virtual Mentor Exploration....Part 1!!

There are three questions that we were to ask our virtual mentor team. I also included my cooperating teacher when sending this question out. There are 3 questions that we must ask our team so there will be three parts to this as well!!

This month's question was "What is your philosophy/or core values as an Agricultural Educator?"

To start off, all of my mentors said that they basically believe an Ag Ed program should be student centered and even developed by students!

• I agree! This is really important when it comes to the Three Circle Model of Agricultural Education (Classroom/lab, FFA and SAE). It is about the students and their growth.
• My worry (not only for myself but for others too) is that, as teachers, we have to make sure we are not living through our students. This is their time!

Another common theme I found throughout this endeavor was that when students are engaged in the content, there are potentially less classroom management problems.

• This makes sense to me because we always say that "if you have a farm, you don't have time to get into trouble." Of course students don't have to have a farm but the point is if they have something to do, then they won't have time to do anything else (get in trouble).

My mentors believe in inquiry based learning.

• (and so do I)!
• If students get the chance to ask questions, then they will have a greater interest in learning and discovering what the answers are to their questions than otherwise being lectured at.

Mr. Fellenbaum also told me that part of his philosophy was to have assessments be as real life as they can be!

• I have to agree with that. Some examples of this could be digging a soil pit and practical welding projects.

Ms. Rippole mentioned that enthusiasm and passion are big things to think about.

• I think this goes for most everybody; I even start my philosophy statement off with a personal story.

Dr. McLean quoted the National Association of Agricultural Educators creed by saying "I am an Agricultural Educator by choice not by chance."

• I know a number of ag teachers who live by this and a few who I don't always see it shining through but that still doesn't mean it isn't there.
• Although I did not include this is my philosophy, I firmly believe in it as well. Especially given how I even got to this point....I made the CHOICE to be here and do this....for the students and their growth!!
• This point also goes back to not living through your students. Remember you're there for them and you had your time (if you were lucky enough to go through an ag program)!

Mr. Haussener made a big point of getting to know your students, really make the connections with them. Go on home SAE visits, get to know their parents.

• Every time I go to Cedar Crest for a visit, I see him asking students what they did or what they're going to do this weekend (depending on the day I go). That's just one little thing he asks them; he knows a lot about what goes on outside of his classroom which helps the students know he cares.

I want to say so much more about my mentors philosophies but I decided to keep it short and sweet. I thought it would be best if I took a couple of common themes and one important (semi unique, maybe its true for many or all of my mentors but only one really said it, who knows) theme from each of my mentors.

I can't wait to continue to dig deeper into what my mentors think and have experienced through their years of teaching in various schools across the state (and in NJ)!!

Weekly Investment Engaging Instruction

Weekly Essential Question: 

What is engaging instruction?

Key Questions: 

How does the uniqueness of our learners impact lesson planning? 

How does "e-moments," multiple intelligences, domains, and modalities impact instructional design?

Key Takeaways:

I found all of this weeks readings particularly intriguing. Maybe because it was on engaging instruction so the writers all made it interesting or maybe it's because I'm in a different mindset. Who knows either way but both options are great!

In the Newcomb chapter, they talked about objectives and interest approaches. 3 Domains of Learning are cognitive, psycho-motor, and affective. Now, while I understand the concept of all of them, I struggle with affective. I understand that the following scenario I have (adapted from the example in the text) won't always happen/may be rare but take it into consideration.

• if you tell students "by the end of the unit, you should appreciate the beauty of..." I feel as if some students may say "why do I care to appreciate something like a landscape" or "that's not a cool thing to do (appreciate something as silly as a landscape)."
• Note: I'm thinking back to my high school experiences, some of the guys would make fun of that objective and just not care that much more if they heard that. Would it be possible to get them out of that mindset? I'm guessing that they may also end up appreciating it but just not saying it out loud.

A completely written objective should have:

• the behavior to be accomplished
• the conditions under which the behavior is to take place
• how the behavior is to be measured by the teacher

I believe this is true. The example given in the text seemed really intense to me and kind of scares me of writing complete objectives.

I also believe that objectives are the best way to have CLARITY in your lesson (BECOV is life!). I know some people agree with me and I think that objectives are an easy tool for me to use to help myself as well.

Regarding interest approaches, the text recommends using SAE stories, case studies, etc. I won't spoil it completely but I am really excited for an interest approach I have planned for my Animal Science Genetics unit in the spring. It is one of the last units I teach, so it will be awhile before I get to try it.

The "I'm 17" video really hit home for me. Even though I'm almost 22, I sometimes feel as if my voice isn't being heard. I do know and realize that I can and do have a voice and that adults will listen to me if I speak up (which is still hard to do).

• when I'm in the classroom, I hope that I can always implement this idea of listening to all students and giving them ownership in the subject area.
• give the students respect and hold them accountable; they also need to return that. This was a point that Kate made towards the end of the video.

"You Matter"

• "I'll do whatever it takes because you're that important."
• "I see you as a human being."
• "You are a genius and the world needs your contribution."
• Another point that was brought up in the video was "what if you make a point of noticing things and then write them down." What kind of an impact would that have on others?"
• I absolutely love these quotes; they remind me to give everyone a compliment. You never know when someone really needs to hear something like that.

"Strategies for Great Teaching"

• chunking, rote rehearsal, elaborate rehearsal, pattern recognition and emotional involvement (Wolfe's 5 strategies to enhance conscious information processing)
• E-moments are something we were introduced to the other day. Caine and Caine came up with 12 Principles of Brain/Mind Learning that were reduced to 9.
• all of them have many e-moments that encompass their theory
• I really enjoyed the Elements of Motivation Theory acronym....
• Degree of difficulty
• Relationship between activity and reward
• Emotional state
• Feedback
• Interest
• Tension
• Success
• I think this is a great way to remember these! DR. E. FITS
• Analogies are amazing so here is another one that I love...

This could be used in so many different ways. I believe that if you "build" your lesson to the best of your ability, "they will come" meaning students will, in fact, learn! Learn from your own mistakes and change things for the future. It may take time, but it will happen.

***I thought including the Einstein memes were fitting because my e-moment for this week is called the Einstein Moment***

References:

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. Note: Chapter 5 –Planning for Instruction (6 pages) 91-97  

 

Reardon, M. & Derner, S. (2004) Strategies for great teaching. Chicago, Illinois: Zephyr Press Note: Pages 7-22 (15 pages

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OkOQhXhsIE "I'm 17" by Kate Simonds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FHdHUzRnms "You Matter" by Angela Maiers

Cooperating Center Video

This is my video exploring Cedar Crest! I hope you enjoy! I'm really excited to teach young Falcons!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z-yMAqXrXA&t=89s

Week 3 Investment Instructional Planning

Weekly Essential Question:

What is a plan and who are our learners?

Key Questions:

How do we plan for instruction?

What are the similarities between Significant Learning, Understanding by Design and the Universal Design for Learning?

How will you incorporate the three pillarsof Universal Design for Learning: multiple means of representation, multiple means of action and expression, and multiple means of engagement?

What is scaffolding?

Key Takeaways

• plan to help the students find answers to essential questions of the unit

Ex: This would be like stating the title of the lesson in a question and making sure the students were able to get the full answer to that question.

• start with the objectives and plan from there

Honestly, I read this just made sense to me. If I were to start planning a lesson without objectives in place, I'd be totally lost. What would the purpose of writing the lesson be if there was no objective? What would I have to teach to get the point of the lesson across.

I really enjoyed a table that they had laid out as a way to put directions into the lesson plan. The one side of the page would have "Directions to Self" and the other had "Key Content." I really like how that is organized. I could see my own directions and see the content that I need to teach at the same time.



In the second paper I read, I really liked how they stated that teachers are "coaches of understanding." Check if the students are getting it or not and change what you're doing if they're not. It's also important to note that this paper talked about starting backwards with what you want the students to know when you're done.

• clarify your priorities

I think it is important that I make sure my students know that I am there to make sure they have a general grasp on as many aspects of agriculture that I can teach. I want them to know that this is for them; to better their knowledge.

Learning goals, teaching/learning activities, feedback/assessment are important factors for significant learning. They are all 3 connected and if there is a broken line between any of them, it all falls apart.

• significant learning comes from deep reflection; this could come in any form-writing, talking, by yourself, with others, etc.

Scaffolding in teaching is very applicable when it comes to ag business and animal science. Those are just the first two examples that come to mind.

• ag business: doing math problems when dealing with finances
• animal science: particularly nutrition when formulating rations

It's all about building on the students understanding. Start at a basic level then go to the next and so on.

References-in the order of the above sections

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. 

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

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

Scaffolding Instruction  - https://study.com/academy/lesson/scaffolding-in-education-definition-theoryexamples.html