Lab 2: Interest Approaches

What a fun lab! Five great interests approaches were presented this go around. Overall, I felt even more comfortable teaching during this lab after the first teaching lab last week. I presented my interest approach for my lesson titled, "What are the causes of air pollution?" I started with a clear jar of water representing clean air. I handed each student a 'compound' that pollutes the air, such as carbon monoxide or particulate matter. After debriefing the students about not eating the hot cocoa mix or dropping food coloring on their clothes, I began telling a fictional story of my week and having the students come up to the front and add a pinch or a drop of their 'compound' as I told them that I drove my car, mowed the grass, painted my nails, and so forth. The jar of clean water turned into a nice, gross dark green color, and I asked the students that if we could see what is in our air, like how we can see the water in the jar, would we want to be breathing this air? No! Then I made a connection to the objectives.

Vehicle exhaust releases CO, SO2, and CO2

First off, this lab was fun to do! It kept the tough students engaged for the most part. When I do this in a real classroom, I will keep it moving a little faster so it doesn't seem too redundant and drug out. Also instead of telling my story, I think it would be best to have them identify their own stories. In that way, I will be able to engage the students more, rather than me saying "I" all the time.

As far as presentation, I felt more confident; however, the trouble students got me a little flustered again, and I tripped over some words or didn't say certain things as clearly as I would have liked. I think the key here is just practice! Good thing we have almost a whole semester of lab left!

Overall, I'm excited to use some of the ideas that my lab classmates gave me and also watch some of the videos from the other lab session earlier in the day.

Weekly Writing: Effective Questions and Languaging in Instruction

This week's readings related to effective questioning and languaging in instruction, field trips, and cooperative learning. When I think of high school, the most effective teachers concerning questioning were the math teachers. They had developed excellent wait time, as they waited and waited until someone in the class figured out the math problem or started flipping through equations to try to figure it out. As a student, is was so frustrating when a teach posed a question but interrupted before anyone could think through the question or look at past notes to figure it out! Or it was always frustrating when a dominate student would interrupt an activity or Q & A session. These readings were helpful to prepare us as teachers to prevent or handle these situations.

Dyer gave gave excellent advice on how to use questioning effectively. The majority of questions that teachers ask tend to be low level rather than high level. A teacher can choose to ask directed or general questions or open or close-ended questions, depending on how he or she would like to engage the students. While student participation may be difficult, techniques can be used such as calling on names and being aware of dominant students.  Finally it is essential to give at least 5-7 seconds of wait time. While I could imagine that this is incredibly painful and long for teachers sometimes, it gives students time to process the question and retrieve an answer.

The reading from Myers discussed effective field trips. Remembering  my high school years, and even college experiences, some field trips were the highlight of the course! However, for some, as I think now, I can barely make a connection to the subject content in focus on those trips. How do we make field trips fun and also reinforce the subject content too? Myers explained this. There are three parts to field trip planning: pre-trip, trip, and post-trip. All three phases have clear connections to the content matter on hand. Also an important note that jumped out at me was the role of facilitator that the instructor plays during the field trip. It is his or her job to make sure the trip is being connected to the content. I am really looking forward to taking my students out on a field trip this spring.
                                           
Groseta discussed the implementation of cooperative learning. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to work with their peers and gain social and academic benefits. However, there are difficulties implementing this teaching technique, such as; assigning groups, behavior management, and evaluation of learners. The article discussed how to handle a lot of these difficulties. I am looking forward to incorporating cooperative learning in my classroom. I also think that the more I incorporate it, the more I and my students will be comfortable with it.

Reading Reflection #2: Principles of Teaching, Including Group Teaching Techniques

This week's readings were both from Newcomb et. al, Methods of Teaching Agriculture. Chapter 2 outlined the principles of teaching and learning, which many of them I have heard of previously. Others were new to me. The 6th chapter focused on using some of these principles through group teaching techniques. I found this unit especially helpful, as it has given me more specific ideas to include in my lesson planning.

With 16 principles presented in Chapter 2, there was a lot of information given. We had mentioned the importance of organization and sequencing of learning content, but the chapter mentioned the importance of the students' readiness to learn the material. I never gave much thought to the responsibility of teachers to provide the prerequisite material. While we as teachers expect certain concepts to be covered in other classes or previous grade levels, it is important that we gauge these levels and teach accordingly.

The next couple of principles were related to student motivation. What motives students to learn the content matter? The chapter pointed out that students should be involved in making learning goals and planning. I hope that I will learn more about how to administer this principle. It also mentioned that success is a major motivating force. This comes through frequent student progress feedback and timely student rewards. I can certainly related to this from a student's point of view. If I feel like I am making progress in a subject, I am more motivated to put more energy into it. The final principles were related to directed learning where problem-oriented learning is best.

 

Field Trip! 

Chapter 6 was very helpful for me, as it outlined different group teaching techniques. Due to the time limitations and often larger class size, large group techniques have to be utilized. However, this chapter mentioned many more techniques outside of the traditional lectures and discussions, including demonstrations, field trips, role-playing, resource people, and cooperative learning. It outlined the importance of utilizing demonstrations effectively by presenting them step-by-step, focusing on 'how,' 'why,' 'what it accomplishes,' and 'important safety tips.' I have only heard of cooperative learning briefly before reading this, so that was also an interesting section. While the liked the idea of the 'traveling folder,' I think there are many other ideas related to this group teaching technique that I'm looking forward to learning about. Overall,  theses were informative readings that taught me that I have A LOT MORE to learn!

Lab 1 Reflection: First Day of School

The first day of school is always an interesting day for students. A new start. Seeing friends again. Until recently, I actually never gave any real thought about the teachers' opinions about the first day. Our first official 412 teaching lab was quite an interesting dry run for me today, but I learned somethings that really wouldn't work and other great ideas I can think about including.

As lab preparation, I spent a lot of time preparing and brainstorming creative ideas to get the students involved RIGHT AWAY with my class expectations, procedures, and consequences. Upon entering the classroom, I handed each student a strip of paper with one or two expectations on it. My plan was to have them take turns reading the class expectations, procedures, and consequences to the class instead of me; however, it was a mess and they were all so confused! Well that idea flopped, but at least I know now!

Another technique used was a handout activity that had my classroom expectations, procedures, and consequences listed with words missing. It was an in class activity to fill in the worksheet and then sign at the bottom. I think this was a successful idea.

Finally, the 'trouble' students were really quite a distraction. I really didn't think that I would get so flustered, but I did! I wonder that if I just ignored some minor issues with students, it would be better. I spent so much time waking up students, quieting students, and taking their 'toys' away, that I completely lost my train of thought and therefore lost confidence.  We are going to be so prepared for real life after this semester of lab! We are going to think teaching high schoolers is easy compared to these "should-have-been-theater-majors- college-kids!" Alright, I'm just joking about that part, but we do have some good distracters in our teaching labs!