Weekly Writing #5 - Evaluating Learning

Evaluating Learning Through Rubrics

According to Stoughton and Myers, rubrics are tools that are created to help assess student performance ina  more reliable, objective and consistent manner. Rubrics are used to establish guidelines and help ensure that all assignments are consistently graded equally to each other.

There are two types of rubrics: generic and task specific. I personal like the task specific rubric. This type gives you the steps that need to be completed when creating a project such as a woodworking project.

Stoughton and Myers also state that the use of rubrics allows for a greater accountability and reliability in grading and offers a structure and guidance to students as they create their projects. It gives students the inside look into what the teacher is expecting from them.


Evaluating Learning Through Portfolios

This is another great way to evaluate students. It is used by students demonstrating their learning thorugh a collection of their work through-out the whole school year. According to Warner, the framework for establishing the criteria for the portfolio is the following:
1. Use a concept map to acquaint learners with the
content that will be assessed.
2. Determine the setting (e.g. workshop, in the
field, at an individuals home, etc.) where the
content will be applied.
3. Referring to the concept map, identify the
specific concept or sub-concepts that will be
assessed.
4. Clarify the work samples that should be included
in the portfolio. These samples may include, but
are not limited to the following:
 Literature review of the concept being
examined.
 Documentation of the laboratory
investigation (full reports and/or Vee
maps).
 Journals detailing the thoughts and
observations of the student related to the
laboratory investigation.
Visual representations of the laboratory
processes and results.
5. Develop and disseminate the criteria used to
evaluate portfolios.

Weekly Writing #4 - The Problem Solving Approach

Problem Solving Skills is a must/need to know skill that all employers are looking for in their employees. Students in the agricultural field learn these skills through many opportunities in the FFA. With FFA being part of the three circle model in Agricultural Education, the skills are learned through the classroom/laboratory portion of the model as well.

The problem solving approach followers Bransford's Ideal problem solving model which includes:
1. experience aproactive situation
2. defining the problem - clarifying the question to be answered
3. seeking data and information
4. formulating possible solutions
5. test possible solutions
6. evaluating results

These are all achieved by 

• interest approach
• objectives to be achieved
• problems to be solved or answered
• test solution through applications
• evaluation of solutions or assessments 

To sum it all up the problem solving approach has been used for a long time. (reminds me of the scientific method). It gives the students the skills needed to work in a real life job.

Reading Reflection #3 - Individual Teaching Techniques

Individualized Teaching Techniques

Individualized teaching techniques allow the instructor to work one-one with students. There are a number of techniques including the following: supervised study, experiments, independent study, student notebooks and information/worksheets. These techniques are used to help the students grow by growing their interest. They have the chance to build upon prior interest and discover new. This is a way for students to show the ways that they learn best.

When I get into teaching at Selinsgrove Area High School, I plan to use individualized teaching techniques more than anything. My students all have access to laptops which gives them the opportunity to research and do their own projects. I will also have my students keep a notebook with daily objectives and learning key points.

Reading Reflection # 2 - Principles of Teaching and Learning

For this reading reflection we were required to read the Principles of Teaching and Learning and Group Teaching Techniques in Newcomb's book. The first chapter focuses on the 16 principles of teaching and learning. There are as follows:

1. When the subject matter to be learned possesses meaning, organization and structure that is clear to students, learning proceeds more rapidly and is retained longer.
2. Readiness is a prerequisite for learning. 
3. Students must be motivated to learn
4. Students are motivated through their involvement in setting goals and planning learning activities.
5. Success is a strong motivating force.
6. Students are motivated when they attempt tasks that fall in a range of challenge.
7. When students have knowledge of their learning progress, performance will be superior to what it would have been without such knowledge.
8. Behaviors that are reinforced (rewarded) are more likely to be learned.
9. To be most effective, reward (reinforcement) must follow as immediately as possible, to ensure that the student connects the desired behavior with the behavior they have performed.
10. Directed learning is more effective than undirected learning.
11. To maximize learning, students should inquire into rather than be instructed inthe subject matter.
12. Students learn what they practice.
13. Supervised practice that is most effective occurs in a functional educational experience.
14. Learning is most likely to be used (transferred) if it is learned in a situation as much like that in which it is to be used as possible and immediately preceding the time when it is needed.
15. Transfer of learning is more likely to take place when what is to be transferred is a generalization, a general rule, or a formula.
16. Students can learn to transfer what they have learned; teachers must teach students how to transfer laboratory and real-life situations.

The most important message that I took from the reading this week is to try and remember all 16 principles and include them in every lesson plan. 

Also clarity is the number one choice/action that a great teacher must process 

Central Mountain Micro Teaching

Two weeks ago I was able to put my teaching skills to the test. I taught 3 days at Central Mountain in the floral design class. The prep for this lab consisted of writing 3 lesson plans on how to make floral bows. Grant it, this was not my first idea that I came up with. I originally thought that I would go over the principles of design, the color wheel and then have the students work on a triangular floral design. However, I was turned down with to the fact that the students already learned this. Ms. Hack gave me the idea of teaching floral bows.

The idea seemed like to would be easy but the more I started to prep for it I had a hard time coming up with new things to do every day.

My first day, I had a PowerPoint on the different types of ribbons and why floral bows were used. I wanted to have an example of all the types of ribbons to pass around to the students but was not able to find them so I had to show pictures. After the PowerPoint, I told the students we were going to go out to the shop to practice making bows. I did not have any key words for when the students were to head out so they started right away. I was able to grab the students attention and explain before they left the classroom. Once out in the shop I showed the students how to make the bows using the V-board approach. This went great, but a lot faster than I thought it would. Some of the students started to make bows differently. Since I did not have this planned, and I was not 100% sure on how to do it myself. I pulled the other students in to do the demonstration for me.

My review for the first day went better than I thought it would have. I got excellent or very goods in all most everything. Before I was given my feed back, I was asked to state how I thought I did. I started off by saying that it was not good and not how I wanted it to go. However, Johnathan told me differently.

The second day, I started off by showing the students a you tube video on how to make a puffy bow. Once the video was done, I sent the students back to the shop to practice that. I explained that after they had perfected the puffy bow I would give the a handout with instructions on how to make different bows. I wanted to see how the students followed directions and use a different way of presenting the information. This worked out for the most part. I did have one student say that she can't learn from reading a piece of paper. So I showed her how to do it while she read the instructions to me. Then I took my bow apart and made her do it. I also had other students helping others out when I could not be in all places at once.

The review for the second day went good as well. I was given some great feedback that went along with what I was thinking.

The third day was my worst day I think. I did not have as much planing in it. I started off with the quiz. I split the class into two. Ms. Hack watched half the class take the written part of the quiz while I had the other half in the shop. The students had to make a puffy bow for me by themselves. After that, I then switched groups of students and did it again. After the quiz was done, I had every come to the shop and we made a magazine bow. This by far was the best part of my teaching experience. The students were engaged the whole time and interested in how to make it. Once again I had a girl who knew how to do it so she took half the class and taught them.

I learned from this experience that preparation is key. I also learned that I strive more in the shop setting then in the classroom lecturing.

My feedback from my students was a mixture of comments. They ranged from being more prepared to do not change anything you did great.

Inquiry based instruction

This week I had to do a lab using the inquiry based instruction approach. When I first heard this I had no idea what that meant. However, after watching Mr. Clark teach at Greenwood High School I got a better idea. I had no problem coming up with a lesson to do but my instructors gave me a twist. I had to include a piece of scientific equipment in my lesson. I came up with the idea of doing a lab with the students looking at blood cells under the microscope and describing them. After getting help from my aunt and getting everything approved, I was set. Then I was not able to get a microscope so I had to change everything. 

In my research I found a lab that deals with osmosis. I decided to use this and relate it to plant science. 

The lab consisted of using gummy bears to show how osmosis worked. My scientific equipment was a scale. I went into the lab thinking that it was going to be the worst lab I did this semester. It was but wasn't. I was not a 100% sure what inquiry based was or how to do it so I went into it thinking I  going to do my best. 

Overall I feel that I did the best I could do. I had the students state what osmosis was and then I gave them the essential question for the lab which was "What effects, if any, does water have to gummy bears after soaking them in water".  The class was then to come up with procedures and conduct the activity and then share their results. They also were to come up with questions. 

The lab did not go as planned. The gummy bears did not change in size or weight. However, I asked the class what would happen if we left them in overnight. They were able to explain that the bears would grow in size and mass due to the water going into them. Which is true. 

Overall this was a great learning experience and gave me a better idea of how to do inquiry based units of instruction. 

Next week I will be back after I do a 3 day lesson at Central Mountain on floral design. 

Till best time........

Writing Objectives

Student Objectives

So far in class things have been crazy. We are covering so much information and things are moving way to fast. However, the reading for this week is one that clarifies what is being taught. This week’s topic is writing good objectives, but before we can do that we must understand what clear objectives are.

According to Newcomb, “Objectives help teachers decide what is truly relevant and worthy of students’ learning versus that which is “nice to know”.” Being in the agricultural field when I find a topic that I am really excited about I want you to know everything there is to know. However, this is not important. Being an effective teacher means that you have to pick out the most important information and present that to the students.

Along with presenting the information to the students, a good teacher also reads/has the objectives posted for the students to see. I remember in my school days, I would be sitting in class trying to figure out why I was there and what I was to be learning. Having those objectives posted gives the student the end picture and lets them focus on what they are to be learning. 

Understanding by Design Framework

The concept of understanding by design (UbD) framework covers two main ideas. First is to focus on teaching and assessing fro understanding and learning transfer. The second is to design curriculum "backwards" from those ends. After reading these two ideas, I was confused on the second one. At first glance I took it as start from the end and then go backwards. However, this goes against what I am being taught in my AEE 412 class. We are told to start with unit plans then work our way down the ladder. But, after looking at it more, I came to think of it as start with the end in mind.

There are seven key tenets for the understanding by design framework. They include:

• learning is enhanced when teachers think purposefully about curricular planing. This means that teachers must always look at the big picture when planing a unit or lesson. Each lesson should flow into the other and all lead to one end point
• giving the students the ability to effectively use content knowledge and skill. Being a teacher, you want to make sure that the information that you teach is something that is needed. One good thing about being an agriculture teacher is that you do not have a set topic to teach. Ag classes are based around what the community needs. 
• effective curriculum is planned backward from long-term, desired results to the beginning. Like I stated before, one must always look at the end project.
• teachers are coaches of understanding. Teachers may not always know the correct answer but they will know how to find the answer or bring someone in that can help. 
• reviewing units and curriculum against design standards. This is to ensure quality and effectiveness and the best type of information that you students can achieve from you. 
• continual improvement approach. Teachers are always learning and that is what must be known to understand how to design your classroom and curriculum

Now that the seven key tenets for UbD is taken care of, lets talk about backward design. There are three stages. 

1. Ask yourself these questions: what should students know, understand and be able to do after leaving my classroom?
2. Ask these questions: how will we know if the students have achieved the desired results? How will we evaluate student performance in fair and consistent ways?
3. Lastly ask these questions: How will we prepare them to autonomously transfer their learning? 

If you are able to answer these questions plus more then you are heading the right direction of UbD.

Problem - Solving Based Lesson

When you hear that you have to teach an agriculture lesson that is problem based you would think that this is going to be easy right? Well, I thought that until I started to think about what to actually teach that would relate to what I am teaching this spring. Its a lot harder than you think.

I just started to research things that I have dealt with on my farm and came up with scours in calves. I am going to relate this back to my animal science class, if not it at least gives me the practice of doing a lesson like this.

Doing the research and trying to figure out how to make it interactive with my students was another hardship that I faced. I decided to cover the bacterial, viral and protozoans that cause diarrhea in calves. Putting these along with a situation at a local farm back home my mind said that it was all going to go well.

I went into lab thinking I am not as prepared for this like I have been with others but I got this. Animals Science is my thing right, how hard could it be.

Well lets say this week was what I am going to call my worst week. Yes, that's right, it even beats my gross interest approach lab. I feel like i flew through the information. I did not get the students involved like I would have liked to, overall it was not what I thought it would have been.

If I were to redo this lesson/lab, I would have it so that the students were taking notes during my PowerPoint portion and then used that information to give ideas on what could be causing the problem. I would have also slowed down talking. I feel that if it is information that I know then others should know it to and I do not have to take my time. Well that is not the case.

The next time I would change a lot of things but who knows after changing things it may not be what I want it to be after all. Well, guess we will find out when I do it again.

Until Next Time...........

Ag Mech Lesson Lab

Well this week was interesting. I did a micro teaching lab on a demonstration that dealt with a class in ag mech that I would be teaching this spring. I decided to do my lesson on how to connect PVC pipe together with different fittings. At 4 am about 2 weeks ago, my father and I were sitting in the living room and I decided to talk to him about what was going on in school. I explained that I needed a lesson and he gave me the idea. We decided that I would teach how to cut PVC, prime and cement that to a fitting and then take teflon tape and use it to attach another fitting. I have a very unique opportunity at home which was great for this lesson. With my father being a past agricultural teacher, I was able to have him demonstrate the lesson for me and then I did it for him. 

Things at home went great. I knew all the information that I wanted to go over while each step was being done. However, when I got into the classroom things changed. I did not use my lesson plan as I planned which caused me to forget some of the information I wanted to go over. I had it in my head that I have done this plenty of times while dealing with water lines freezing on the farm, that I did not need to use my lesson plan. I can do this all by my head. Wow, was I wrong. Lesson learned though. 

Besides missing some information, I also did not clearly think about how to split my groups up. I was not thinking and had them split into groups of 2 but only had 3 students. Therefore, I paired up with the other student and was not able to provide all my attention to making sure the students all understood what was going on. Also I did not have enough supplies for them to be in different groups. 

As far as classroom management I believed that I handled this well today. I have one student who is very arrogant and just does not want to do anything. I feel that I used her view of doing this lesson to teach the class the reason why we are doing it. However, according to my grade that was not the case. 

Overall, I believe that I am going to use this lesson while teaching. With a couple of adjustments, I feel that it is going to be great. 

How to question without making your student feel stupid

After reading an article by James Dryer from the University of Florida Extension I feel that I have a better idea of effective questioning techniques. James starts off by stating that teachers on average ask between 300-400 questions per day which are answer seeking instead of using questions as a way to evaluate students prior or past knowledge.

Dryer goes on to say that there are a variety of reasons to ask questions and there are as followed:

• Assess the level of student's comprehension
• Develop student interest or motivation
• Develop thinking skills
• Establish relationships between concepts

Inorder to properly ask questions one must know the levels of questions to be asked. There are two levels, lower and higher level. Lower level is asking at knowledge, comprehension and the simple application level of Blooms. Lower level questions are good to:

• evaluate students' preparation and comprehension
• diagnose students' strengths and weakness
• review and/or summarizing content

Higher level questions are good for:

• encouraging students to think more deeply or more critically 
• solve problems
• encourage discussions
• stimulate students to seek information on their own 

I believe that in-order to ask the right questions teachers need to ask both kinds of questions. If students get the right answer then I would ask them to explain. Its one thing to know the answer but it is another thing to understand what is actually being taught. 

Once the teacher understands the level of questions to ask they must then understand what the difference is between open and closed questions. Open-ended questions relate to ones that have several ways of answering. A closed-ended questions is one with only a limited number of acceptable answers exist.

after that is understood the next area is genreal and directed questions. A general questions is asking a quesiton to the group as a whole and a directed question is asking a questions to one student only. Genral questions are asked to check the level of understanding of the class and a direct questions is done to either better control the classroom, to get a student to pay attention more or to even get a student to think beyond the basics.

Direct questions can be used with the section I am going to go over now. Teachers always wonder how to maximize student participation. Well Dryer has a great section on this in his article. Some of the ideas that I like are listed below.

• call on specific students to answer questions. Phrase a question first, and then call on a student. If you call the students name first, the rest of the class may not listen to the question.
• Avoid looking down at notes after asking a question. you should be looking for volunteers and noting confusion or understanding of students. This will give you the opportunity to see what other students do not understand the information presented.

After all questions have been asked, teachers also need to know how to respond to the students questions. After listening to the answer that the student gives the teacher, there are different ways to respond. Teachers can do any of the following

• answer the question
• redirect the question to the rest of the class
• help the student answer his/her own question
• ask the student to see you after class
• defer the question to a more appropriate time
• refer the student to a resource where they may find the answer
• admit that you do not know the answer but tell them you will find out.  

Overall, having classroom management and being able to see if your students are understanding the concept being taught is the best way to see if you are doing your job. The most important thing is to ask questions and do it the right way. 

What makes a good field trip?

All you hear now days is students and teachers complaining because they can not take a really cool field trip. However, what the students do not realize is it takes a lot of prepratation and money for a field trip to happen. I just read an article by Brain Myers and Linda Jones from the University of Florida Extension titled "Effective Use of Field Trips in Educational Programming: A Three Stage Approach". This article goes into detail about what is needed to plan a great field trip.

Some good points were made about how field trips now days are becoming more sparce and are not even fun for the students. I believe that all field trips should be part of the instructional program and provide participants with first hand experience related to the topic being discussed.

Myers and Jones put how to plan a good field trip together. There are three steps, which are as followed.

1. Pre-Trip
1. Adminsitration
2. Instruction 
1. topic content 
2. vicarious exposure
2. Trip
1. Role of Participants
2. Role of Organizer
3. Post-Trip
1. Debrefing Activity
2. Culminating Activity

The administration aspect of planning is to arrange logistics including transportation, schedule and permission slips. Great it the teacher is going to help with this, I mean it is their trip, however the administrator needs to have the final say. 

The instruction content of the pre-trip should be to get the students excited. All field trips should have a purpose therefore pre-instruction is needed. This is the teachers chance to explain to the students what to expect on the trip and what the importance is.

During the trip students and teachers need to know what is expected of them. Teachers are to be there for a reference for the students and the instructors. Teachers should not run the trip but allow the control of her students to be put in the organizer of the facility.

The students during the trip should be on their best behavior as well as engaged in the information being presented to them. Field trips are to be for the better of the students. There are to be used to ehance the learning situtation presented to the students.

After the trip has ended there should be a debriefing session, even if only on the way home. Students should be able to answer the following questions: what was the importance of this trip, what did I learn that I could not learn in the classroom, and was it worth to drive here and not just have a guest speaker come to the school? After the debriefing sessions the teacher should somehow have an activity ready for the students to show what they learned. This is a great way for teachers to show the administration that the trips they take are worth it.

Hoepfully these few tips along with reading the articled will help any other teachers make field trips worth while.

Interest Approach

Have you ever wondered how food gets from your mouth and then back out? Well, this is what I tried to teach in my interest approach lab. I found this really cool idea to use stocking, water, a banana and a piece of graham cracker. You smash all of the food up and some water in a bag and then cut a whole in the bag and squeeze the food through to the stockings, then a whole from one stocking to another. This is all to represent food passing. While passing the food through you are to ask students about what is happening to the food and how it is being asborded. Sounds messy I know.

I tried this lab out at home with my 7 year old sister and she loved it. It was not as gross as I thought it would be. However, when I did it in class it was a mess. I had one student say that he did not want help due to the mess.

Looking back on how I taught the interest approach I see that there are things that I need to change. I should have gone into more detail about each section and maybe slowed down some to see if the students were understanding it.

Some things that I thought that I did good was catching the students interest and keeping them involved. I had each student (that wanted to) do a part of the pushing the food through.

Overall I am planning on using this in my digestive system unit.

Lets see how next week goes.

First Day of Class

This week I got to practice how I would implicate the classroom exceptions/rules and consequences. Walking into the classroom for the first time is nerve wreaking. I thought that I could handle it due to teaching in classrooms for the last 4 years. But having your own class and not knowing what to expect from the students just adds to the nerves.

My first lab was called "First day of Class". I came up with a great lesson plan on how to start off my school year and an interest approach to get into the class after covering rules. My classmates had to role play different types of students that I may encounter. I had a complainer/whiner, constantly confused, the arrogant and then a teachers pet. I honestly thought that I could handle this but once I started teaching instantly the thought of "what did I get myself into?"

Looking back on my experience I realized that I did not handle everything the way that was best. I became flustered. I have learned that when a students ask a question about parents to maybe ask to talk to them after class. I have also learned that I need to be more strict. Also many commented that I need to be more enthused.

I also came to this lab with a project that I want to try out with my students. After teaching my lesson I asked my classmates what they thought of it and I was told that it is a great idea but maybe not to limit the species that may be researched and not to have so many options for presenting the information.

Overall this lab was an eye opener on what I need to do better and to change.

Till next time.......

Why Agriculture Education?

When growing up children always think about what they want to be when they grow up. Many always want to follow in their parents footsteps. Well that was me. I grew up with a mother who is a nurse and a father who is an agriculture teacher. Therefore, I have either wanted to be a veterinary (kinda relates to nursing) or an agriculture teacher. While in high school I was given the opportunity to work at a local veterinary hospital. This ignited my desire to work with animals. Right out of high school I attended the Vet Tech Institute in Pittsburgh. This is a great program, however after completing about six months I cam to the thought that I would be doing the same thing that I did in high school. I felt like I was paying $30,000 for a degree that others were doing as high school students. I applied to attend Penn State University for ag education at this point.

Why Penn State and why Ag Education? That's easy, Penn State has been a family tradition for the Laubs and they also have the best program for Agriculture. To answer why ag education. I went in thinking that 'what is something I can do where I can combine both of my dreams into one?', this is it.

Being an Agricultural Educator is more than being a teacher. Its about making a difference in your students lives. Like I stated at the

beginning my father was an ag teacher, he was mine. I was able to see the effect that his students had on him and the effect he had on them. I want to be that way too.

Stay turned for more to come.