Action Based Research Reflective Blog

For my action based research project, I contacted Mrs. B when I first heard about it. She is currently completing her masters degree and had to complete research for it as well so she invited me to jump on the band wagon. We researched student and teacher perception of agricultural courses at our high school.

Through the research we found that the top 3 non-ag student perceptions were that they....

1) selected other classes for future careers

2) no room in schedule/ do not believe ag classes will help future career

3) not interested in ag classes

Top 3 Ag Student Perceptions were...

1) interested in/ enjoy ag topics

2) ag classes will prepare for future career

3) advised by an adult to take ag classes/ FFA member so needs an ag class. 

Top 3 teacher perceptions

1) leadership skills are important

2) variety of subjects is important

3) would recommend ag to interested students/ academic rigor should be present in every class. 

I thought these results were really interesting! Non- ag students were not taking the classes because they were not career relevant?! I bet I could tie their career into something in agriculture, especially something that needs a soft skill or leadership skill!

Though something that I have also noticed in my classes that I have taught, is that even some of the students in agricultural courses don't think that the class is relevant. An example of this is a student that had to write a speech for the prepared public speaking CDE. She was convinced that nothing would relate to what she wants to do, and that she definitely didn't want to be a farmer. I tried to make it career relevant for her by having her research advertising and the importance of a logo on agricultural products and how it ties in with marketing and product success. I believe that helped, because she seemed more interested in the topic and the assignment.

This research was really interesting since it will be applicable in multiple agricultural education departments. What I learned here about how academic students are really interested in becoming prepared for their careers, I can use that information in my own future program. This assignment was also helpful to get my toes wet with action based research. I have the experience from my own school and experience, but I will also learn about what the rest of my classmates have done and I am sure that all of our experiences are different. I also got more experience working with powerpoint to create a professional poster to showcase the research that I have completed. 

Week 14

Monday

Ag Leadership - Students did a good job working in their committees and getting things planned. There was an FFA meeting so they had to be prepared to present their motions and run for office. The students and I talked about sunburns and what we did for Easter as well. It was a good day.

Tuesday

Ag Leadership - I am not as happy with how today went. I feel that I did not have a good enough introduction. The students were supposed to be finished with their media projects today and the group of gentlemen were not working up to par. I still have not found a way to get them to consistently do their work. I really did not want to crush their spirits by being mad at them all of the time, and it would not have been good for me to be mad all of the time. I had a good review at the end of the day though and talked about the importance of community and how our project in class was affecting the community and how we were involved. One of my students told me that today was a good day and they actually got a lot done.

Wednesday

Ag Leadership - Today was an SAE day and it went okay. I showed them everything that they needed to have complete on the white board and went through where to find them. Then I walked around the classroom and helped students out that had questions. However, a lot of the students that told me they had completed everything, I realized had lied when I started grading them. That was disappointing to me. Their work ethic has been a little lack luster this week. I think if I wasn't leaving it would be easier to keep their attention, but I think that they think Mrs. B will be easier on them.

Thursday

Today we had a two hour early dismissal. Keeping track of time is still one of my downfalls. I had the students do a gallary walk around the room to grade different agronomic crops and figure out their disorders, then they had to research an agronomic career to wrap up the agronomy lesson. I assigned the agronomy as homework because they did not have enough time to finish it in class.

Friday

Today we finished the agronomy unit and the local and global hunger unit. They got almost 300 cans donated!! I am proud of them for pulling through with that. I don't think they are going to miss me. The horticultural students got me a cookie cake this morning that I shared with them and the ag business had a little party for me while the other students were out at lunch. I am going to miss all these students so much.

Week 13

Monday

8th Grade - Today we learned about how to safely handle raw meat. We read through the page in the book then they worked in pairs to complete the review questions at the end. 1st period went well, they completed it and we went over how tomorrow was going to go. 2nd period was in some kind of mood, I called them all chatty Cathy and it confused them. They then asked me if you could cut a chunk out of the cow and eat it and the cow would still live. This led us to talk about how they cut a hole in the side of a cow so you can put your hand in and look at how they are digesting the food. I also told them how I palpated a cow to measure the uterus, and their faces were priceless. I doubled over laughing. They kill me. It blew their minds. It was perfect. Tomorrow we are completing a burger lab and will get to have burgers to breakfast. YUM!

Leadership - Ohhhh they made me so mad today. They have not been hanging in their assignments, they are talking when each other is talking, sassing me and not the normal students that sass me. I made them reread the assignment rubric for the global and hunger unit and I made them repeat it because we had a public speaking unit and that is not how I taught them. Other students were not working well with each other and that was making me mad. I hope tomorrow will go better.

Ag Mechanics- I told them that I only have today and tomorrow as their "teacher" but that I would still be around to help out. After I said that a lot of them were like yay!! Then the said just kidding, they also kicked me out of the room. I didn't know if I should or not because that would mean they are bossing me around, but I was thinking it was so they could do a surprise for me and I like surprises... so I left the room. Mr. Stollar was in there... so it was okay. They then worked on their engines. I traveled around to the different groups and helped out. One group realized that they did not put their piston pin back in correctly... so they had to take everything back out and put it back in. Another group was having problems with putting their linkages back together and I didn't really know how it went back together so I called a more knowledgeable student over and he was like do you need help and I just kind of nodded and he came over and helped without saying anything to tear me down or the other students for not knowing how to fix it. I was proud of how maturely he was acting today, Mrs. B noticed it during 5th period as well.

Tuesday

Today was my last day with all of my classes.

8th Grade- Today we made burgers. It we co-taught and made sure everyone got their burgers made on time. Mrs. B got a lot of stuff together the night before which made for smooth sailing. She was also no technically there today since she had to bring her daughter to an appointment in the afternoon, so it was her, myself and the sub running this class. The students got to measure the temperature of the meat and Mrs. B and I were the grillers. I tweeted a picture of some students with the burgers. The students had a blast and it was also a time for administration to see what we do since they got to some and enjoy the left overs. However, for the rest of the day, I smelled like I was wearing burger perfume.

Leadership- Today the students actually worked well. They got a lot done and I did not have to do a lot of redirecting. It was very nice to see that with how crazy they were yesterday. They also decided to google me and some pictures from the blog and Teach Ag society came up. They then started to try to look up if Penn State was still the top party school and see if there were any pictures that way and I told them they were taking the joke too far and needed to get back to work.

Ag Mechanics - They are happy to not have to do bellwork after today. One of the groups tried to start their engines today, but it did not run. Another group was trouble shooting and the carburetor is broken and gas started to go everywhere. Students kept picking on me as usual. It was a good last day. The students have really impressed me with how far they have some and their mentality towards me as well. I am very happy with where we have ended up as a whole.

Wednesday

I spent first and second period organizing my desk and my note books. I also started to write my newspaper article and look at the jobs in Nashville.

Leadership - I should have checked to see if their computers worked on the projector, because they didn't. I then put my computer up and had them all save it on echalk. That worked out pretty well and we finally got into our presentations. Some days I feel like I never taught public speaking. Their presentation styles are lack luster and are just boring. I had to yell at a couple students for not facing their audience. We had a cool discussion about biological pest management and called my dad so he could explain what we are currently doing in our greenhouse.

I then helped a little with ag mechanics. The majority of the students have their engines all put together. We took a small gas engines class photo.. which was fun. I will really miss that class.

Thursday 
 I worked on a lot of assignments for Penn State in the beginning of the day and created a schedule to make sure I get everything done by the deadline. I enjoy the time to myself to get everything done. I talked to the class about their hiring process to be able to complete the mock interview on Monday.

Leadership - Today in class was a we need to get things done day. I created a list on the board of things that they owe me and I had them write down three things they wanted to accomplish on a sticky note. I then managed the classroom and answered questions related to the assignments and worked through getting their stuff done. A lot of students got a lot done during the time that we were there and it was generally a good day. At the end of the class a student told me to have a nice Easter and then I realized that I had kind of been jumping down their throats and I felt really bad about that. I told them that I wanted them all to have a happy Easter as well. I don't hate the class, I am just frustrated that things are not going how I envision them in my head. One student, who is kind of a challenge, brought be a cupcake today. I think things have come a long way with this particular student.

In ag mechanics I worked on grading everything that the students had completed in leadership class. It was good to use that time because it also motivated the students to work hard as well. There was a PAAE meeting in Harrisburg.... and I left with more than enough time....but I got lost like three times because I am not use to going to Cameron street from the Harvey Taylor bridge...so that didn't really work out well for me. I need to make sure I know where I am going next time. The meeting was interesting, it was my first time at one besides the northern region. It went well and i got to see a lot of the teachers that I had developed friendships with. The student that came for SOCS stayed until the meeting was over to see Mrs. B and I. His politeness always amazes me and I hope others learn from him.

Friday 

Today we didn't have school! So I enjoyed my time at Penn State catching up with friends and working on my Penn State assignments.

Week 12

Monday 

8^th Grade – Today we cracked open eggs and looked at all of the different layers in an egg. Mrs. B taught the first class so I could see how the lab works. I taught the second class. We cracked open the eggs and the students talked about the different layers in their groups and then Mrs. B cooked the eggs and make scrambled eggs. (The way to an 8^th graders heart is through food). I love it how interested they are in learning. The groups were actually on task and interested in looking at the different layers. One student that is super cool in second period thought one of his friends said something mean about someone else and started telling him off. It was cool how he didn't have a problem standing up for someone that he is not friends with. I still do not have all of their names memorized. There are so many of them and I don’t see them that often….it is really bad. I really need to get on that, even though I am only going to be with them for five more days.

Leadership- Today there was independent work and they created posters about identifying weeds and why it is important to be able to do that. Most groups got done within the allotted time. There was a moment in class where Mrs. B made the ag business class be really quiet and my whole class got silent and started whispering and shushing each other. It was super interesting how much social pressure plays a role in a classroom. Tomorrow we are having a guest speaker and I forgot to remind them about it. I hope tomorrow goes well.

Ag Mechanics – Mr. Stollar and I are concerned that they are not looking up their torque specs despite the both of us hammering them about it. Today they had to look up all the specs in class before they went out to the shop. For those of them that have been writing them down as they go, it was really easy for them. For others, they had to actually look them up in the repair manual and write them down.

Tuesday

8th Grade- They had PSSAs today so we only saw the one class for a little bit of time. We did a wildlife activity that they had to finish from the previous unit. This kept the classes from getting far apart from each other.

Leadership - For my community based unit, I am doing local and global hunger. To cover the local hunger I had a volunteer from the Dover Area Food Bank come in to talk about their purpose and who they help in the community. It was a casual presentation, she sat at one of the desks and talked to the students about how it works. We learned about how much the federal government and the state, and how much the DOVER COMMUNITY donates to the food bank. We discovered that yearly they give away 300,000 dollars worth of food. Most of which comes from the Dover Community. We also learned about the other resources that they have at the food bank and how they help families out. The students also got to learn how despite the people getting food from the food bank that they can still be hungry since they can only go at certain times and get a certain amount of food. The lady went over time a little bit and went into their lunch time. The students glanced at me and saw that I was waiting for a pause to interrupt her and thank her for her time. I am SO proud of my students for not being rude and getting up or starting to fidget. They just waited until I could get her attention and thank her for her time. After lunch they worked on their projects then we reviewed what the Dover Food bank representative talked about.

Ag Mechanics - Today they had to find the answers from a previous state small gas engines exam before they were released to the shop. The students complained that I gave them too much book work for a shop class but I just said too bad so sad and Mr. Stollar said that I cleared everything with him before I taught it in class. The students told me I needed to not be so salty. (goofballs) We then went out to the shop and they worked with their engines.

Wednesday

8th Grade - Today we learned how to measure horses and what hands means. I had an old tape that measured a horses height and weight. It has been sitting in my barn for a long time so it kind of smelled. First period thought it was really gross and didn't want to touch it, but second period didn't mind and were really curious about finding out if anyone was a pony height - they had a lot of fun with the tape. They had to complete a worksheet on it and find out their partners height in horse hands.

Leadership - Today they took an agronomy quiz and started their project on how to grade agronomic crops. I tried to relate it to a lot of their SAE projects as to why it is important information for them. The students today were so hyper and I believe it is because they had to eat a different lunch because of the 8th grade PSSA testing. I was getting frustrated that I was getting observed and they were being crazy. I had to yell at two students (and ag business silently cheered for me, I saw them creepin and looking at me). After a little, they then settled down and got to work. I believe I am going to let them correct their tests for half credit. I want to make sure they know the information since it is basic soil science and will help them out in future classes.

Ag Mechanics - Today they had to analyze a senario about a local grandmother bringing in an engine to their shop and requesting that they fix it. The students had to look up parts on the computer, be able to calculate their wages and figure out tax. Taxes was something that they struggled with and they didn't know how to calculate it. We then went out to the shop to work on the engines.

Thursday 

8th Grade - We learned how to analyze what is in a pet food bag and why it is important to keep track of an animals diet. The then had to work in groups and travel around the room and analyze different feeds.

Leadership- Today was a committee day. It is really hard to get some of the students to follow through with their ideas. Two students are really creative, but they never get anything done. They were working on writing a letter to the 8th graders to have them join FFA and they wrote in there that they had to take an ag class to graduate (which is a lie) but they didn't want to exaggerate how exciting FFA is and why they should be involved. I kind of got mad with that, they just don't make sense and the FFA president that is also in that class agreed with me and I had her try to help them to create a better letter... which was supposed to be due that day.

Ag Mechanics - We reviewed shop safety today and talked about how it played into the small gas engines competition. They then went out to the shop. WE had an engine run today! And of course it was the group that slacked off the most.... oh well. They did a good job and they were like are you happy now? We slacked off a lot, but we were the first ones to finish and it actually ran. I am very happy that it started, I just wish they would have a better work ethic! I worked with the other groups and they told me to not be so salty. I don't exactly know what makes me salty but it seems to be the word of the week. At least I don't hear Ms. Snapchat as much. The students also asked again if I was going to teach there and I said there was not a job and they said to take Mr. Stollars job when he retires and I said that was not for five years, so they told me I should just hang out in Dover until then and get another job. Good gravy, I like that they want to keep me around, but they are goofy.

Friday

Today I traveled to Juniata to watch my friend Mrs. Annette Sprenkel teach. She did a good job of sounding super calm and confident in front of her students. Annette had good rapport with her students, and they all seemed happy to be there. It was enjoyable to see a different program in the state. The amount of diversity in the agricultural programs are always really impressive. How their school is set up is very interesting since they are attached to the middle school and the students have to walk down from the high school. I really enjoy their bulletin board that tells the students about what is happening in the program and what they can sign up for. Another student teacher, Val, was also visiting and we went over a lot of the Penn State assignments that we know that we need to work on for the next three weeks. It was a good day end of the week activity.

Week 11

Monday 

8th Grade - I thought today went a lot better! I thought that had I much more energy and was asking 8th grader questions and interacting with them on their level...but then Mrs. B said my gentlemen in the back were still talking during most of the class. :( dang it. I can only improve though and if I felt like I did better today, maybe I will actually start improving.

Leadership - They did group work today to come up with different games and worksheets to learn how to identify seeds. I tend to hover a lot during group work and they just keep asking me questions rather than working in their groups and doing the work themselves. So today I forced myself to sit behind the desk and manage from there. It was hard to do this. A lot of the groups did not think very far out of the box and it was annoying to me. But, I guess they will get annoyed tomorrow when they have to do the same thing over and over again. A student was sassing me later on in class, I really need to learn how to be firmer and follow out my threats. I also need to be more organized so the student knows when they are going too far and I will have proof for mom and dad that their child is acting up.

Ag Mechanics - They are so smart when they actually shut up. I am also running into the problem that everyone is disassembled, but they do not have all of their parts in. So there is a standstill. Mrs. B suggested creating a bulletin board for them to have things to do during the class period. It can be employable things and practical skills that they can use. It will be posted for them to work on their time.

Tuesday 

8th Grade- I don't know how to do this class. I think because it is so structured in Mrs. B's way, that I just do not feel comfortable with how it is laid out or the points to touch on. Today we did the butter lab. Mrs. B did the first class and I did the second class. I had read over the lab materials, went over their worksheets, I thought it would be okay. But then she started comparing the milk fat percentages with the milk fat in milk vs cream and the price differences. My brain was not wired to work that way. I did the lab portion of the class correctly, no one broke anything. However, I stumbled through comparing the prices and talking about fat percentages. I am also having a rough time because I do not have everyone's names down. I typically learn peoples names by having interactions with them. However, I don't really have one on one interactions with the eighth graders. The classes are only 40 minutes and it is a lot of lecture rather than group work or activities. I am really frustrated with myself in this class because I am not living up to the best of my abilities.

Leadership - I liked my activity today. Before lunch they went through everyone's stations and competed in the activities for seed identification with agronomy. We developed a winner and the students went through and self graded themselves on how they think they did on their projects based on creativity, usefulness, and quality. Afterwards, we have a powerpoint that showed different agronomic plants. The students guessed what the plant was then we talked about it. This went pretty well. Except I am being bad. I yell at some students more than others for phones and I am not really being fair. I wasn't totally noticing I was doing it until Mrs. B pointed it out. I am really going to have to work on this because I don't want to be unfair and I don't want to cause frustration with my students. I am not satisfied with how this class is going. I need to step up my game these past couple weeks.

Ag Mechanics - Today since the engines are taken apart, and we are waiting for parts, I did a speed round for a powerpoint of parts. I didn't read off the screen, I kept clicking unless they had questions or I asked them questions about how things worked together. I then assigned them ten parts and tools that they had to find in the shop then present to the class. This went well. Some students complained, but you cant please everyone. The second half of the class I allowed them to continue cleaning and tinkering with their engines. Tomorrow, we will complete the other fifty tools and parts. Although, I am slightly concerned that my shop represents a zoo sometimes. The students are always really hyper since it is the last class of the day and they actually get to experience things hands on.

Wednesday

8th Grade - I felt like today went well, but I wasn't totally satisfied with it. I was still pretty frustrated. However, Mrs. B said it was my best class yet! So at least I am improving. We learned about shearing sheep today. I dug out my ANSC 201 notes so I would have the technical background knowledge. I got a cotton kit from the Family and Consumer Science teacher as well as wool patterns that the students could pass around. Mrs. B also had shears and brushes for carding the hair. I also learned that angora rabbits can be used for wool also. New fact every day. For first period I gave them assigned seating and that worked much better, the whole class was paying attention for once. Second period, there is this one student who is so cool, he sows! I really hope he joins the agricultural program next year at the high school.

Leadership - Today was a committee day. Today everyone had a sticky note on their desk. I instructed them to put their cell phones away and that I did not want to see them for the rest of the class. If I did or if they were off topic they would get a camel on their sticky note. Each camel was a one point deduction. Some of the students got multiple camels, but it was a way for them to visually see what they were doing wrong. For the ticket out the door, I wanted them to write how they accomplished their goals. I was expecting a paragraph. I got a sentence. I was upset with their work, but Mrs. B said students like to take the path of least resistance. So I am giving them the opportunity to fix their answers tomorrow at the beginning of class.

Ag Mechanics - For the first half of class the students found the second half of the tools list created for the carer development event. Mr. Stollar gave a twenty minute presentation on the caburation system, comparing the old ones to the new ones. Students engine parts did not come in. I told my students that I want them to be started before I leave or I will feel like a total failure. But it is not going to happen until the parts start to come in.

Thursday 

8th Grade - Today we learned about Pearson squares for determining the fat percentages of ground beef. First period I took too long to do my explanation. I need to work on being clear and concise. Also with writing on the board. I need to get better handwriting and organize myself on the board better. Second period went better again. Mrs. B kept making weird faces and it was kind of freaking me out. I felt like I was doing a bad job and I was getting really frustrated with how I was doing with explaining math. Turns out, she got bored watching it twice and her throat was kind of hurting, so I really need to not look at her unless I have a question. The students also asked me if I was a junior or a senior and where I wanted to teach and what I was going to do with my life.

Leadership - Today we worked on our media products. For the first half of class I had the #dlead4hunger on the twitter feed on the front of the board. The students enjoyed watching their tweets showing up on the screen, however it was a little distracting so I took it down the second half. A student requested to have the camels again today so instead we had moose. Only one particular student got moose. Most of the groups were working well together and getting a lot of stuff done. One group packed up with 12 minutes left in the class. This made me really mad especially since they have a lot of stuff to finish. I yelled at them for it and they didn't understand why I was upset with them. I found out a particular student doesn't really like me and is counting down the days until I am gone.... I can't wait to hear how that goes since Mrs. B is more strict with them than me.

Ag Mechanics - I found a small gas engines career development event test, so I printed out the first thirty six questions. I told the class to get into pairs and told them the team with the most correct would get a prize. We had a football, water bottle, cards, and a bag. The class was quiet with everyone working hard on the paper, it was actually quite impressive. The test was also worth 20 points for a grade. One team was especially passionate and stood over my shoulder while I graded their test. After they were done, we went out to the shop to work on the engines since some of the students parts came in.

Friday

8th Grade - Today we learned about the female reproductive track of a hen and the different layers of an egg shell. I had them try to label the parts with groups in their notes, then we completed it on the board as a class. I talked about all of the different layers and their purposes. When then read the notes together and had then completed an activity. They picked different parts of the female reproductive track from a cup and had to stand in that spot. Someone was the mapper and had to make sure everyone was in their correct area. The narrator had to tell the story of what was going on. One person that was the yoke traveled down a line though the different reproductive areas and got different parts added on such as the albumen and shell and shell membrane, then was hatched out at the end. The student were funny because none of them wanted to say vagina.

Leadership - Today we worked on SAE projects. I played music during class if they stayed quiet and worked, that worked pretty well, didn't really have any problems today. I worked with a student who's original SAE idea fell though and wasn't going to work anymore. I also helped another student start to set up the display case. Ag Business figured out how much money I am not going to make when I start teaching.

Ag Mechanics - The students parts came in today so we started putting our engines back together. Monday I am going to incorporate another aspect of the career development event. However, today since we had a 5th period and the day was shortened, I figured it would be good to get a lot done on the engines to get them reassembled. The students like to pick on me too much because it makes me smile and they like that. However, they like to swear or pretend swear because then I yell at them about it.