Week 12 Student Teaching

Using My DIY Project

One of my project for the Penn State Agricultural and Extension Education 495 course is to complete a DIY project of professional development. I was fortunate enough to be notified of an awesome source of professional development within my placement school. Mrs. Sheffer is a member of the Paideia National Board Council, and she was willing to train me in a Paideia practice called Socratic Seminars.

Socratic Seminar

1. Provide the students with a challenging text for them to analyze and form opinions on, prior to the seminar.
2. Read the pre-seminar script, which includes:
• Setting a class goal, developing goal, and one achieving goal from the goals provided.

1. Students participate in the seminar through active listening and contributing discussion's rooted from the text provided. 


• During the seminar students are working towards achieving their goals, such as talking twice, actively listening, not talking while others are, using quotations from the text, etc.
• The teacher's role is to facilitate the discussion by posing open ended questions, which can be opinion, analytical, or other types.
• Additionally, the teacher notes the flow of discussion and what is contributed by which students on their "map."
  
2. Read the post-seminar script, which includes:
• Completing the Paideia's Reflection Paper
• Giving themselves a letter grade for their progress toward achieving their goals.
• Ranking the class on a 1-10 scale for how well the seminar went.
3. The next day, students are asked to write a response to the Socratic Seminar and what was discussed.

My Experience

The socratic seminar was used in my small animal science class during the "animal rights versus animal welfare" unit. The text we provided was The Ethics of Animal Research, which was challenging to my students. 

To aid my students who had difficulty reading the text, I read out-loud, and paused at the end of each paragraph to allow time for them to highlight if they agreed or disagreed with the statements. Additionally, students were asked to research terms they weren't comfortable with or examples of animal testing.

During the seminar, 5 students dominated the discussion. Our class goal was to speak voluntarily at least twice. I began the seminar with a round robin question, which all were required to answer, "What percentage of the statements in this research article do you agree with?" Which transitioned into my opening question, "Our class is evenly split, 8 of 16 people say that they agree with 50% or more of the statements in the article, what quote made you agree or disagree with the idea of animal testing?"

Other Questions asked included:

• What is your interpretation of the statistics in paragraph G from GP Net.com.
• What do you think of the UK's Home Office Publishing anonymous animal research projects in paragraph I?
• Closing: How do scientists implement the 3R's (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement) of the use of animals in research?

Question for you: How can I encourage students to speak more openly? My training suggested calling on specific students in a way that gives them a second to think. Such as: "Luke, I see you agreed with 70% of the statements in the paper, what do you feel about the quote from paragraph H that states..."

Week 10 Student Teaching

Reviewing: when is it a waste of time and when is it constructive?

This week we finished a rather large unit in large animal science and I had two days of review. The first day was dedicated to a "wake up call" for the grade book to sum things up for the marking period, as well as starting independent work on the study guide because of several snow days and delays. The second day we experienced BreakOut EDU boxes for group review, as well as bringing things up to the whole class to review items.

My Rules for Review Days:

1. Students must always be working: Making up work, Completing the study guide, or Studying other material in the unit
2. Students should participate in group review and independent review.
3. Students should ask for clarification for content after they have asked their peers.

How do I prevent this from being a waste of time?

Technically, the content has already been learned and you should have an understanding of student knowledge from your formative assessment. I see the benefit of reviews for students who were absent or if you covered large amounts of content, but how can I prevent this from becoming a wasted day?

Week 7 Student Teaching

National FFA Week as an Advisor

This year I celebrated National FFA Week in my new capacity as an FFA Advisor and Student Teacher. Although the week was limited due to yet another snow storm I learned many things.

FFA Spirit Week

Having a spirit week is a great way to identify supporters and members of the FFA in your school. Dover had Blue Tuesday, Flannel Wednesday, Gold Thursday, and Official Dress Friday. On social media I noticed other chapters have an FFA Tee Shirt Day, Camo Day, or Agriculture Businesses and Supporters Day which participants wore logos of their favorites. 

Supporters Luncheon

Dover FFA hosted a faculty luncheon on Friday, where they enlisted the help of an OAC member to roast a pig, as well as frying catfish in the ag shop. FFA Members volunteered to bring in the other foods, and volunteered to cook, greet, and serve faculty during their lunch periods. 

This is a perfect way to reward people who support you year round as well as gain supporters by inviting them into your program. 

Recruitment Activities

Although the snow foiled our plans, we had the intent to visit all 6th graders in their science class and the officers would teach an agriculture lab in honor of FFA Week. By displaying agriculture as a science, the opportunities available in Ag and the FFA, and networking underclassmen to upperclassmen making joining agriculture classes and the FFA a lot less scary. 

Visiting West Perry

Different Program, Same Positive Impact

On January 18th I visited Ms. Winkloski at West Perry High School. During my time at the high school I observed Mrs. Miller teach a class, Mr. Hines teach a class, and Ms. Winklosky teach two classes.

When I visited I noticed quite a few differences between Dover Area High School and West Perry High School. First, the student body had a different feel. They were mostly quite and attentive and they enjoyed the project based learning I observed in Mrs. Miller's Class.

Additionally, it was a Friday, on a two-hour delay for snow. This could have affected their energy level. But, this quietness was quickly put to rest in Mr. Hines' intro course were they were learning Parliamentary Procedure! THE STUDENTS LOVED IT! They were awarded a certain number of points for serving as the chair, the secretary, debates, motions, seconds, and so forth. Once they got to 80 points they were no longer able to earn points, except for point of order.

Finally, although Ms. Winklosky was just starting out I noticed her ability to quickly interact with her students and motivate them! The students wanted to work with her and learn what she had to say about SMAW.

Although My time was brief, I was grateful for the opportunity to compare the schools, student body, programs, and teachers to my own experience. It is wonderful to be able to identify the benefits and drawbacks of the schools and programs. I feel this experience has made me better prepared to select a school i would desire to work at. 

Week 5 Student Teaching

"I already know how to do that"

A common theme I noticed this week was fielding the phrase "I don't have to do, that because I already know how to" or some variation of that. This phrase sparks frustration and even anger inside me. 

I respond with phrases like, "I'm glad you know how to do it, but it doesn't hurt to practice." or "Excellent, now you can help your peers figure out how to do that also." To which I have been ignored or I receive another excuse. 

What more can I do?

• I've explained the "Why" behind what we are doing (important to tests/grades, important in real life, important for the rest of the course.)
• I've asked them to be experts
• I've told them its not optional
• I've ignored them and hoped they'd come around when they didn't get attention

Nothing is more frustrating than wanting to help students that don't want to help themselves. 

I now realize I cannot get hung up on students that are negative and refuse to do anything, because I can't MAKE them do something. But, I surely can follow up with what they earned in grades and I'll have opportunities in the future to discuss why they should have put in the effort prior. 

ADVICE IS APPRECIATED! THANK YOU!

Week 4 Student Teaching

The First Summative Assessment

The Scenario:

In Large Animal Science we concluded our first unit "Animal Agriculture as a Science" within the early dismissals, 2 hour delays, and 3 hour delays. On Monday we conducted our inquiry based instruction egg dissection lab and finished the scientific method learning, Tuesday I didn't see the class due to an early dismissal, Wednesday I saw them for one hour and we worked on their lab worksheets and lab reports, Thursday I saw them for approximately an hour and a half and we played an extensive Kahoot which paralleled EACH question that would be on the test, and finally, Friday they took a 30 point, untimed, unit 1 exam which they were aware of several days in advance.

Because I love drawing correlations, I decided that the Bell Ringer (which I do every day in schoology, ungraded) was to complete a google form, assessing how confident they felt about the test and how well they prepared for the test. 

The Google Form Results:

The Results of the Test:

Out of 20 test takers (Three were absent, and one was a late add and will take the test next week)

• The Average Grade Received on the test was 80.44%
• Three students received a 100% 
• Eight students received an "A"
• Six Students received a "B"
• One Student received a "C"
• Five Students received below a "C"

Somethings I noticed:

Two of my students that earned 100% had expected a B. The students that did earned B or above paid attention in class or reviewed notes outside of class.

What I am Thinking:

I feel the test was an accurate assessment of their knowledge we covered in the class. I had matching, short answer, ordering, multiple choice, and one true/false question to assess different depths of knowledge comprehension. Additionally, I had them correlate the steps of the scientific method to the steps we completed in our lab, to display that we truly did experience every step.

If I could do this exam over again, I would have a short review game for Wednesday, in addition to the extensive review on Thursday. Granted, the bell ringers serve as a daly review of the content we had covered prior, and the closing with connections was a formative assessment tool I had used daily. I feel a short review a day earlier would give more time for repetition and another chance to handle the material for my less confident students.

My Question for You:

How do I motivate my students to perform on tests that don't care about their grade? I have students that don't necessarily care about the class, but apply themselves to meet academic requirements of sports. Although, I struggle to get students to see the value in performing well on tests.

ALSO

Two of my students (One earned a 29 and the other earned a 30) won't complete any other graded items and It is pulling teeth to get them to complete their lab report. How can I motivate them to participate in graded assignments OTHER than the test? They clearly know the material, why won't they practice it?

I plan to continue running this survey before each test, I'm also curious to see how their expectations change as they get more comfortable with the content and my testing style.

Week 3 Student Teaching

Energy!

My situation:

In large animal science this week I experienced a range of student energy. While playing with the seating chart and testing different methods of management, I noticed a considerable difference in their energy.

On Wednesday, I had a group of rowdy boys that were well intentioned but were difficult to curb their energy back to the class.

On Thursday, While recording for an Edthena reflection, my students were very unenthusiastic. I was having trouble generating the energy I wanted to have in the room.

Keep in mind, both days were manageable and we had a good lesson, but curbing/maintaining/creating energy is a useful tool that I wish I would have more experience with.

How You Can Help Me:

When experiencing a wave of energy and the crash following, how do you curb, maintain or create energy to manage your class?

COMMENT BELOW

Week 2 Student Teaching

Teaching My First Lesson!

In the grand advice of Mrs. Barzydlo, "You've been dreaming of your first day teaching since freshman year of college, it is impossible for you to perform up to your expectations you have for this day."

The background information

The students at Dover have recently gone through the ringer, my first week there they did keystone testing for four days and Friday was the only "normal bell schedule"I've seen. This week, Monday they had finals in Block 1 & 2, and Tuesday they had finals in Block 3 & 4. Then the big day came, on Wednesday,

On Wednesday we had career and college day. The first 3/4 of the day were spent with speakers, in workshops, and at lunch. Then, students had the opportunity to meet all of their 2nd semester classes and teachers for the first time, but only for 25 minutes each block. This Career & College day was the only thing between them and their 5 day weekend. 

So for 25 minutes I decided I would cover classroom expectations, procedures, and consequences with an activity and asked for them to write their most important quality in a teacher that I should master for them. Additionally, I introduced myself, what a student teacher was, and established classroom procedures of assigned seating and the bell ringer on schoology.

What actually happened

When the students walked in I heard quiet, but polite grumbles regarding the assigned seating. I fully, expected more push back, so this was a pleasant surprise.

When the bell rang, I walked in with Mrs. Barzydlo, who went straight to the back of the room and let me take the lead. I prompted the students to pull up the bell ringer on schoology, which was a first day survey. All the students pulled up the bell ringer, and all but two did so on a fully charged iPad, the other two used their phones.

Once everyone was finished I introduces myself and started the lesson. I was met with full participation and interest with what I was saying. Although that was it... They did not want to speak... at all.

I WAS TERRIFIED! What was a doing wrong? Why weren't they willing to talk? They were doing everything as they should have been, and I was warned this was a chatty bunch, yet I heard not a peep. I FLEW THROUGH THE LESSON, originally Barzydlo and I both thought I had too much material and wouldn't get through it all... and here I was, 10 minutes left, and 26 students were boring holes into my forehead.

Analysis & Future Plans

I've come to the conclusion that they were overloaded. First, they were burnt out from testing and a long day, and were eager for their 5 day weekend. Second, there were actually four teachers in the room (Myself, Barzydlo, an aid for my students with IEPs, and an aid for my students who are neurologically impaired.) Third, I had come out swinging with assigned seats and a straight to business demeanor that they may not have been expecting. Finally, they had never seen me before because they were all new students.

For next week, we have . few things planned to get my foot in the door a little better.

1. Barzydlo plans to sit in the office, with the door closed, but can hear all our interactions.
2. The students will be fresh and won't be expecting a long weekend (in a different mindset)
3. I will scramble the seating assignments to find the best flow, allowing the aids to reach their students easier. 
4. Engage in more "chatter" before class to learn my students, in addition to a name game, since our roster should be shuffle out.

Week 1 Student Teaching

The First Day & Field Trips 

On January 7th #PSUAgEd19 was FINALLY able to get in the classrooms, and for most of us we were hitting the road to Mid-Winter Convention. Dover FFA Had participated in the landscape contest, tractor restoration project, had one keystone degree recipient, and three jacket scholarship recipients. 

Being flexible was key because the day started with Keystone Testing and two of our members who were traveling with us had to finish the tests prior to our departure. Fortunately enough we were able to hit the road at a decent time and get to Farm Show in time to get lunch and a milkshake before Mid-Winter.

The rest of the week was a whirl wind of keystone testing, half-hour classes, mis-matched schedules, and meeting my great students. Friday was our only "normal day" and Mrs. Barzydlo began the Small Animal Science Final which will continue into next week. 

Looking Forward to next week, I unfortunately will not be teaching.... yet... Monday and Tuesday will have an adapted schedule for final testing, Wednesday is the career and college advising day, and then our students will be out of school until 1/22 while we complete professional development. 

Because of this modified schedule I look forward to visiting Ms. Winklosky at West Perry on Friday to check out what she is up to!