Ag Demo Lab

How to use a Wire Nut

For AEE 412 we are required to develop a multi-step psycho-motor demonstration of agriculture mechanics to a group of our peers utilizing the method:

1. Teacher Says, Teacher Does
2. Teacher Says, Student Does
3. Student Says, Student Does

My topic I selected was fastening a wire nut for electrical wiring. The steps I used were:

1. With two pieces of wire, strip ½” of the plastic coating off one end of each wire.
2. Determine the size of the stripped wire end with the gauge holes on the wire ripper.
3. Select the appropriate wire nut for the number of wires and gauge.
4. Arrange wires together, ensuring all the ends are lined up and place them in the wire nut.
5. Rotate the wire nut clockwise until you feel the wires turn and lock together.
6. Test the connection by gentle tugging on the top of the wire nut.

What I learned:

1. Detail and Clarity are key for student expectations.
2. The method is sound in ensuring the demonstration is thoroughly absorbed.
3. Providing distinct steps aid in student learning for specific tasks.

Micro-teaching

Micro-Teaching at Bald Eagle High School

On November 12th-15th Brooke Ostrander, Beth Winklosky, and I were scheduled for one day of observation and three days of teaching at Bald Eagle High School with Mr. Biddle. I would be teaching three days of public speaking with their Agriculture Leadership class. Completing a leadership development event is a requirement of the course for all students to participate in. 

I had the opportunity to work with the students on learning what ethos, logos, and pathos (rhetoric devices) were and how to use them in speeches. Unfortunately on the last day, our lessons were canceled with the first snow day of the year.

Somethings I learned:

• Balancing the pace of student work is difficult, but not impossible, students that process information faster can aid in helping other students learn. 
• Bell-to-Bell class learning is highly enforced, if you don't have anymore planned work move on to the next day's activities.
• Student's misbehavior may not be deliberate or malicious, it may be them genuinely having fun while learning (I still am not quit sure how to handle this)
• Classroom flexibility is critical, weather and other issues will arise and push your classwork backward.

Weekly Investment #14

How does a Professional Learning Network impact our teaching practice?

Reflecting on our week in Texas

#PSUAgEd19 departed for San Antonio, Texas for our FAST Symposium at the NAAE Convention on November  26th, at early hour of 6:15 am. We proudly navigated to Texas on our own and met with Dr. Foster to reflect on our past experiences since we had last seen him, prior to micro-teaching.

Once we were on the same page, we had the week ahead of us to attend FAST, Participate in Regional Meetings, be recognized as Pre-service teachers during one of the General Sessions we attended, Be recognized as Region VI Outstanding Postsecondary Agriculture Program, listen to the opening session of ACTE, and learn from the Professional Development Workshops that many of us loved. 

We left the conference with many ideas and inspirations. But most of all we left with 80 new pre-service teaching peers to lean on, and countless connections to our professional network that had asked us to be utilized if needed. 

Influence of NAAE on my Classroom:

1. Interactive notebooks: For a "paperless" school, printed copies of paper may be restricted, but students can still use notebooks to engage in addition to their notable apps.
2. You may not be able to change a student's home life, but notify your supervisors and give them the best experience during the time you CAN change (aka while you have them in class.)
3. Global learning is critical in today's economy, and you can utilize your local community to accomplish this at AgCultures.com and Core101.org

Also, I had the ill fortune of making a trip to the ER. Although this was unexpected and unfortunate for me to miss some workshops and sessions, it brought a good learning experience forward for the team to learn from. 

ALWAYS :

1. Have medical information for all students readily available
2. Develop a clear action plan, Assign your students to group in with another chapter/use a second chaperone, as you accompany the student.
3. Communicate to the parents, other chaperones, and students appropriately.
4. Record the actions taken to ensure the student's safety and medical attention.

It was different because I was not a minor, although I am thankful for the discussion of planning that happened as a result of this misfortune.

Virtual Mentor Exploration #3

What are the best tips/resources you would provide to a new teacher regarding special needs accommodations?

1. Ask for help: Utilize the help of Special Education Teachers, Administration, the student's case worker, their parents and even the student to make sure their needs are being fully accommodated.
2. Record evidence of your accommodation. Yes, students will lie about your actions to save themselves, recording evidence ensures you were clear and accommodating to their needs. A good tool would be a check off sheet that you initial and date to turn in/file.
3. Address lab area accommodations that may not be specified in the IEP, a walk through with the student, parent, and caseworker may be beneficial to quickly identify their needs in the shop.

"Last piece of advice... have patience not only with the student but with yourself. I think this is always uncharted territory for both you and sometimes the student. You are not always going to make the right decisions and that is okay."

Weekly Investment #13

How does this work in “RealTime” 

Between the Buck Institute Books and other professional sources of Project-Based Learning have given me a strong background of knowledge for implementing Project-Based Learning during student teaching.

I aspire to create a few units during the spring semester to exercise this knowledge in Project-based learning. This seems easiest to implement with the Small Gas Engines course that I will be teaching with Mr. Bowen on.

Engine disassembly, trouble shooting, and re-assembly is a two unit long project that students will complete with engines that they obtain from the community. Mr. Bowen, in the past, and I plan to continue, have students find an engine in the community from various places. Once they bring in their engine we complete a pre-test on the engines to determine their overall condition, then we work together on disassembly, measuring, troubleshooting. We order parts and getting the engines up and running to be returned to the community.

This method of project based learning will facilitate student learning through the project rather than teaching them first and asking them to apply the knowledge later.

Inquiry Based Instruction Lab Reflection

Inquiry based instruction ended up being a whole lot less scary than I though! With the help of AgI2 instruction materials and the advice of Miss Krista Pontius I entered the lab with a pretty good handle on things.

My Lab

I practiced a lab that I hope to use in student teaching. Through dissecting an egg students can learn the basics of using scientific equipment, the metric system, completing a lab report, and understanding their expectations in an inquiry based environment. 

I had received positive feedback on my clear instructions and scaffolding for understanding student expectations, also my peers liked the step-by-step example of calculating mass and percentages prior to having to calculate their own.

I received constructive feedback on explaining the importance of the lab from the student perspective and allowing for more hands off learning that inquiry truly is. 

From this feedback I wanted to ask a few questions for my mentors:

1. In your first inquiry lab, is it better to error on the side of caution and structure or would you recommend jumping in the deep end and seeing what happens?
2. How do you gauge when students need more scaffolding and structure to achieve their goals?

How can we demonstrate Inquiry-Based Instruction?

"This national survey of 216 agriscience teachers investigated the current attitudes and practices related to reading in agriscience. Agriscience teachers generally appreciated reading for personal development and learning, but were in less agreement about allocation of time for reading. Further, teachers agreed that reading was important in agriscience, but were in less agreement about their role in teaching content area reading strategies (CARS). Reading is a fundamental part of instruction in agriscience, with nearly 20% of class time being devoted to reading" (Park & Osborne, 2006.)

1) Why does literacy strategies matter in ag class?

 Incorporating reading literacy strategies in class not only reinforces a critical skill for students, but it allows them to read, process, and format the information that learn in a way that make sense to them. Rather than being spoon-fed information, students can develop real skills to think and research independently.

2) How do we connect literacy skills to IBI.

We can utilize literacy strategies in our classroom to encourage students to rely upon their literacy skills in IBI. These strategies can include the following:

• Reading Anticipation guide
• Inside-Outside Circles
• Think-Write-PairShare 
• Numbered heads together
• RAP (Read-Ask-Put)
• Prediction Pairs (Usually for in-class reading)
• chapter tours
• double-entry diaries
• vocab strategies 

My favorite strategy that I will apply in the spring while student teaching: RAP (read-ask-put)

This literacy strategies can be applied to literally ANY topic I can think of, which is why I love it! Researching, specifically when reading scientific research papers, is daunting even for me, much less students. Teaching students to be effective paraphrasers will help them comprehend readings while they are learning through IBI!