Motivation Restored

 

Early this week I had the opportunity to do a micro-teaching experience at East Juniata High School. Myself and 2 fellow member of my cohort went to teach one class each day. I taught an Introduction to Agriculture class of mostly freshman. I did a mini-unit on horses; the first day being breeds and coat colors, the second being horse tack and the last being types of riding. Each lesson was filled with activities like pin the part on the saddle.

Micro-teaching was a lot of work. I spend so much time preparing the lessons before we went to the school. After I taught the first day I didn't cover all of the material so I had to adapt my lessons which took even more time. One concern I have is teaching multiple classes and preparing lessons for each.

Now with all of the negative out of the way, I absolutely loved it. The time I spent teaching the students or guiding them while they learned was amazing. I loved when they asked me questions and I could clarify for them. The questions showed me that they wanted to learn the information and it got me excited to teach them.



I think the way I displayed the information was really great and the activities paired well with it. However, I planned too much for time I had. Time really flew once we started the lesson. For the last day of my teaching I wanted the students to create a large poster that had different types of riding on them. Each group was given 1 article with all the information they needed on it. Unfortunately, most of the groups didn't finish their poster so I wasn't able to grade them.

All in all it was a really great experience that has resparked my motivation for teaching. I can't wait to get back in a classroom!

Don't spread it!

Hello blog readers! This week on History in the Making I will tell you about inquiry lessons! This was by far the most difficult lesson I have tried to write. It took me several days just to come up with/find an idea. After much consideration and research I decided to do a lesson on how a disease spreads through herds and why it's important to identify the sick animal to remove from the herd.

Inquiry lessons themselves take some finesse to facilitate. When doing an inquiry lesson you want the class to be as student centered as possible. The students should inquire into the information instead of be instructed in. This increases there critical thinking and is very pertinent to everyday situations. Also with inquiry, students should be using some type of method to find their answer. This method will likely follow the scientific method. The "secret ingredient" or twist was that we were required to use some type of scientific equipment. At first I looked at this as a burden but have since completely changed my view. The scientific equipment made the lessons more hands on and interesting.

For my lesson I had my "students" all grab one vial of water. There were to be 6 students including myself so I had prepared 6 vials in all, however one person was absent from lab so I had to adapt and I had 2 of the vials. All 6 vials were half full with water except for vial 3. This magical vial had substituted some water for vinegar. I then had the students exchange liquids with 2 people by them putting half of their solution into another persons vial, and then that person giving half back, therefore mixing the liquids. I then used the "disease tracker", which was a pH indicator, to see which vials had been infected. It turned out that only 2 animals in the herd had not contracted the disease.

The lab went fairly well as far as a lesson can go. Per usual my clarity needed some work. I find it difficult to instruct my peers as though I would instruct high school students on a lesson. However, I enjoyed my lesson and the others I had sat through that day. I see inquiry lessons being very beneficial but equally as difficult to facilitate. I have high hopes that with continued practice and use of them in the classroom I will be able to better conduct these lessons.

Thank you for reading!!

Inquiry Based Instruction

What is inquiry based instruction? The University of Florida explained it well, "Inquiry-based teaching is a teaching method that combines the curiosity of students and the scientific method to enhance the development of critical thinking skills while learning science." This type of instruction focuses on students inquiring into the information instead of being instructed in the topic. When using inquiry based teachers will have the students discover the problem, investigate it, research it and connect their findings. This makes the classroom more student centered while the teacher becomes more of a facilitator. This developed the students skills to think critically about a topic. A skill that is transferable to everyday life.

There are 4 types of inquiry the first being structured. This is when the students are given a step-by-step instruction that has all the information they need and the questions to prompt them. The next is guided inquiry when the students are given materials and asked to make something. They are guided by the instructor but use creativity to make their object. Then there is open inquiry when students are given materials and must discover the process behind how they work. Lastly is the learning cycle when students follow guided inquiry procedures and then discuss their findings.

As a teacher facilitation inquiry based learning can be difficult. First, you must be very knowledgeable in the subject. It is possible that the students take a route that you never planned for and by being an expert in the subject you can help steer them in the right direction. You must identify the procedure (usually the scientific method) that students will follow to inquire into the information. This could be as simple as state the problem, research, findings and conclusion or it could be much more elaborate. Lastly, be sure to work your way into inquiry based instruction. If you or your students are not used to this type of instruction you should work them into it. Start with a small activity that students will inquire into and then developed it into a project or problem.

Thank you for reading!!