Evaluations

The topic this week is how to evaluate our students so we know that they are learning and that we are being effective teachers. One of my favorite quotes is "Some of us will do our jobs well and some of us will not, but we will be judged by only one thing -- the result." Vince Lombardi. By having evaluations it provides the teacher, the students, and the administration with the result. If there are bad grades maybe the teacher did a poor job in teaching the material or evaluating them based on objectives. If the students got a bad grade, a bad result, maybe they did not spend enough time preparing for the evaluation.

As a teacher I want to encourage my students to do a good job. I want them to learn the material and develop skills that will help them after high school. I liked how chapter 14, Evaluation of Learning, talked about affective assessments. In the case study it talked about two students, one that is really smart and good at tests and one that didn't do as well in school but was loved by her boss. I can relate to the second one, as I feel that while I made it by through high school and college, I am very bad at taking tests and translating what I learned onto the paper. At the same time, I never had any problem with authority figures, nor anyone that I worked under. While I personally typically despise tests, I do believe they serve a purpose and will provide me with results which are a necessity.

Thankfully, since I do dislike tests, there are many other forms of evaluation that I will utilize in the classroom. Examples including: concept maps, rubrics, check sheets, and portfolios to name a few. To make sure I have a balanced classroom and to cater to different types of learning styles my students may have, I am going to have a variety of ways to evaluate them and get results.

The readings this week provided a lot of good pointers to decrease student frustration and to provide clarity for them. It even included a website that has a lot of different resources for teachers. This one talks about making rubrics the correct way. This way they will know what they are getting evaluated on and can work on getting the result that they desire.

blogging out,

Jeanne

Problem Solving Lab - How can you change the situation?

Mellow rainy days for mellow thoughts. I thought that I had a decent lab today. I tried to be more enthusiastic and gave myself a pep-talk before my lesson. According to my reviews I did have better enthusiasm today but that it kind of died out towards the end of the lesson, but improvement is improvement and I will take it. My comment about the weather today though, is that for all of the presentations today the audience, while they were participating in the discussion, were pretty lack luster. They just didn't seem to have that much energy or to really be into the lessons. I blame part of it on the weather. On days like these where it is the middle of the week, its dreary out, and the room is hot... this is when the teacher has to work extra hard to keep their enthusiasm up and keep the students engaged. Most of the blame can go on myself and when the weather is not providing energy, I need to.

For my interest approach I showed a video of a restaurant in New York City that is using hydroponics on their roof to provide their restaurant with vegetables for the majority of the year. I then went into the situation that our class was going to work on figuring out today. I said that they cafeteria staff had approached me saying that they need some fresh vegetables to serve to the students at lunch. With the big health kick and it costing a lot to bring fresh vegetables rather than frozen ones... they needed a change and asked me for help. I told the class that after finding the video that I just showed them that I bet that we could help the nice cafeteria staff out. We then went into a discussion of how we would be able to do this with hydroponics. Our discussion traveled from supplies that we need, vegetables to plant, marketing plans, permission from the principal, superintendent and school board. I felt that we had a lot written down and that the students were really thinking about the task at hand. However, I felt that I led the discussion too much. I asked too many leading questions rather than leaving it more open to interpretation for the students. I feel that it could have been more student led rather than teacher led. I had written in my lesson plan that I was going to have a student write what their peers were saying on the board but I didn't follow through with that. I believe in the real classroom that I will since there will be more students and I will probably have a fidgety student anyways. 

My take away from my lab is to

1) Be exciting (especially if there are other factors getting students down)

2) Really know content knowledge ( I need to be more confident in myself and my teaching abilities and my knowledge)

3) Phrase questions in different ways to get different results ( more student interaction and thought rather than me leading them to the answer I am thinking of)

Keep being awesome and keep working on eating that elephant!

blogging out, 

Jeanne

Can our students solve world problems??

This weeks reading was based on teaching and utilizing peoples natural problem solving abilities for real life issues. To go into the importance of this reading, a couple of years ago I read, or heard on NPR, that NASA is having problems hiring new people to replace the ones retiring. Everyone that they interviewed had really impressive test scores and their resume looked really good, but when asked what they did for fun or if they took apart and rebuilt things when they were younger, the answer was no. These applicants that appeared qualified for the job, NASA didn't want. They wanted people who spent their time growing up being naturally curious about the things around them and completed hands on projects to break down and rebuild something. They wanted people who followed the natural learning process of problem solving.

What is this natural learning process of problem solving? According to Methods of Teaching Agriculture, chapter 4, the learning process has 6 steps.
1) Experiencing a proactive situation
2) Defining the problem - clarifying questions to be answered
3) Seeking data and information
4)Formulating possible solutions
5) Testing proposed solutions
6) Evaluating results

mihaelasharkova.wordpress.com 

These 6 steps are how people learn and problem solve in their daily lives. Sometimes this process takes a matter of seconds when recalling data and information that you already have. Such as, a problem of how to get to the grocery store and avoid traffic. A teachers job is to harness peoples natural ability and utilize their learning process to help them to solve problems in the classroom and get them to think critically.

According to the book it can be accomplished this way

1) Interest Approach - motivate students to learn, create that want/need/interest
2) Objectives to be achieved
3) Problems to be solved - questions to be answered
4) Problem Solution
5) Testing solutions through application
6) Evaluation of solutions (assessments)

Problem solving as mentioned above, is an important skill in the work place and something employers are really looking for. Problem based learning really focuses on providing new learning experiences, leading the students to new knowledge, and reinforcing existing knowledge, according to Problem-Solving Teaching in AG ED. As I am going to be student teaching in the spring, the chapter also says that teachers use problem based learning when encouraged by their professors and cooperating teacher. As being apart of the Penn State Agricultural Education department, I believe that we are being highly encouraged to teach this way.

Principles for teaching Problem Solving, stresses to teach problem solving skill in the context they will be used and to practice with a similar problem. This will prepare the students for different levels of solving problems. The reading also breaks problem solving down into three characteristics of problem solving.

1) Problem solving is cognitive but is inferred from behavior
2) Problem solving results in behavior that leads to a solution
3) Problem solving is a process that involves manipulation of or operations on previous knowledge

If we are able to tap into our students natural ability and teach them how to problem solve, they will be one step closer to their desired future career. Problem solving will also give them a skill to use inside and outside the classroom and will be beneficial for all. As a teacher, problem solving also creates that need to learn and desire which will make your class more relevant and enriching to young minds.

Demonstration Lab

ENTHUSIASM! This is what I need to work on. Unfortunately , this is something that I always need to work on. Even this summer when I was working at the youth conference that Pennsylvania Farm Bureau hosted, students asked me if I was having fun and enjoyed being there. I was really confused by the comment since I was having a blast... I was out of the office and I was working with students. My concentrating face or relaxed face is really bland and I often look bored or angry. I need to work on reassuring my students that I am happy to be there and excited to teach. This is something that I really need to work on and change as I move forward with the semester and my teaching career. Please give me tips on how I can look outwardly enthused.

For my demonstration I taught the class how to measure a cylinder bore with a telescoping gauge and a micrometer. In the essence of time I just did the bellwork and the demonstration. We went over the procedure page where I had the students take turns reading the directions out loud. I also made a student read the objectives on the board. I wanted to get a lot of the class participating and keep all the students engaged. After we read the directions as a class in their seats I had the students come up front and each measure a section of the bore. There were three students in the class and there needs to be six measurements in the bore. The each took turns measuring and recording their measurements. Looking back I would have one student come up and explain how to do it to another student or me, before having the whole class do it together. This is something I can approve on in the spring.

The aspects of the lesson that I liked was that all the students talked in my class whether that was reading the directions or answering questions. To end the demonstration I asked the students questions to see if they understood the lesson. Mike raised his hand first both times so I called on him. Instead, I should have waited longer to give the other students an opportunity to process the question and formulate an answer.

Individualized Teaching Techniques... Wait.. students aren't all the same?

This weeks reading assignment is based on individualized teaching techniques. In the field of agricultural sciences there are many different subjects and career paths that a student may go down. As a teacher it is impossible to have a class for every single thing a student may be interested in. This is why individualized teaching is so important in the agricultural classroom.

There are many ways to teach to an individual students, rather than the whole class such as a supervised study, experiments and independent study. In all of these the most important thing is STUDENT INTEREST. If a student is not interested in your class things will not go well, if a students is expected to do something by themselves or in a small group and they are not interested... it will not go well. Individualized teaching is meant to build upon student interests or discover new student interests. Supervised studies are mostly cognitive or affective and use a wide variety of materials to find out information about their area of interest. Experiments allow students to work hands on and learn better. It also teachers them to think systematically in a clear and thorough way. The teacher needs to direct the students through the process and make sure that they answer questions, and that the students are completing the experiment correctly. For independent studies, they are a good tool for teachers as they adapt to different student interests. They could involve programmed materials, self-paced instructional units, or computer-assisted instruction. During the study there needs to be face time between the teacher and student to answer questions, offer opinions and check progress.

While all of these are great techniques that teachers can use to increase independence in their students and cater to their needs... it needs to be done properly! Teachers must make sure that their students are actually following the plan that was developed for them. While the students are working  on their projects the teacher needs to be around to answer questions and monitor progress. This is not a time for the teacher to be checking their email.

With that being said, it will be exciting to watch students utilize the opportunities that these teaching techniques provide and come up with a lot of cool information and ideas!

blogging out,

Jeanne