Well that was quite the experience if I do say so myself. I went in, guns a blazing, and walked out with plenty of things to reflect on.
A little background... My problem solving lab was about the new swine virus called Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus or PEDV. Sounds appetizing right? I started this lab by putting up a letter that had been "sent" to me from Mr. Rupert (fake person), who had a pig farm (fake farm) with a problem. His problem is that two of his hogs have died and 4 more are showing symptoms of watery stool and vomiting. These are symptoms of PEDV. Since ideally, students will have just finished a disease and biosecurity unit they might have some ideas as to what the disease is.
My focus was going to be on students creating a plan of action for Mr. Rupert to take with the remainder of his hogs and what to do in the future to prevent any further spread of diseases. So, if students were unable to discover what the topic might have been I would say "there has been a break through at the lab! They discovered the disease is PEDV." From there, students would be in groups to make large post-its on what the disease is. After that is completed, students are to write up a plan to Mr. Rupert. The students will include what the virus is, what he should do with the rest of the herd, and how to prevent this in the future.
Even though my lab didn't go well I still love the idea of this lesson. Before I give this lesson again I will definitely work on my clarity. I had specific questions I wanted to answer but didn't write them up for students to see and I need to include more higher order thinking questions. Also, I didn't have the students write down the problem which I was informed will help them in their thinking process. I didn't write my objectives on the board because it would have given the students the answer to some of the questions I asked. I need to ensure students understand what is expected of them though. I need to work on timing for activities and last but not least classroom management. So all in all it seems there isn't anything that doesn't need some kind of improvement.
On the bright side, I really like the content of this lesson. PEDV is such a hot topic right now because it's new to America and knowing that my students will be gaining knowledge on current events is exciting. I love the idea of giving student the problem and scaffolding from there into new information. So, thank you for reading!
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Teaching Students How to Learn. Weekly Writing #2
I'm sure we've all heard that old saying "Give a man a fish and you feed him for day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." I think of this for many things in life and learning is one of them. If you can teach a student how to learn, how to ask themselves the right questions, how to be perceptive, how to question facts instead of accept them and how to go in search for knowledge you can change their entire life.
Instruction in the classroom is important for getting the information students need. However, when you can take it to the next level and get the students to answer question for real-life problems they will have in whatever field you are teaching, well then you're on to something.
Supervised study allows students to do their own research, experiment and problem solving to discover the answer to a problem. This helps students gain the knowledge of the subject they are on but also the process of finding their own answers. This correlates with an activity my cohort will be participating in on Wednesday called genius hour. This is used by Google for their employees and has created many great ideas. The idea is that the employees, or in my case students, will be given an hour for them to discover whatever they want. Completely unstructured school time for students to learn about WHATEVER they want. It so empowering for the students and as a teacher it is slightly nerve racking. I will definitely try this with my students to see how it works. I predict that a mature class will benefit more from this because they are thinking more about their path in life and have more discipline.
I get very excited about these new types of teaching that grows the student into a life long learner. I love to see classroom knowledge that can grow and blossom into real life situations.
Thank you for reading!!
Unit Plan
My first ever unit plan!
Right now everything with lessons and units seems extremely extensive. There has to be a unit plan, then daily lessons, then objectives and materials for each lesson and it all seems quite crazy. I do believe some of the best teachers are a little crazy though. Bringing things back into perspective, I had to write a model unit plan for one of my core classes on becoming an Agriculture Educator. I can already see how this tool will help me stay organized and lessen the stress I'll have when I get my first teaching position. By the time this is all said and done I will have a good majority of lessons and units prepared and ready to roll out with my new guinea pigs... eh um I mean students.
A unit plan has many parts to it, a few major ones being the length of the unit, supplies, daily learning objectives, PA academic Standards, PA Ag Standards, unit goals, assessments/evaluation, references etc. It is a tad difficult preparing a unit plan when I am not sure exactly what lessons I want to teach but this is such a great tool to lay the ground work. I can see when I get into my first job position that being able to pull out my plan for the unit and review it will be a great way of keeping myself organized. With ever increasing technology, I expect to have videos, PowerPoint and documents that will correlate with each unit organized on a flash drive. I look forward to making adaptations to the lessons and unit as I grow as a teacher.
My first unit plan was... interesting, would be the kind word I would use. I began writing it and didn't realize how much went into a unit plan! My original goal was to make a unit plan for an introduction to FFA unit. I found it most difficult to decide how deep I should go and how long topics might take to cover in the classroom. Using from feedback from my peers I revised my plan. The main edit I made was to my daily learning objectives and to my lesson titles. Thinking into how much time some topics will take I realized that 1-2 of my lessons will most likely be a two day adventure. I want to ensure that my students get the information they need to be knowledgeable about FFA but I want to do it in fun and interesting ways. I want to incorporate different activities that will peak their interest. My assessment for this unit is a written exam at the end and a participation portion to get full credit. I really want my students to get an FFA experience so their participation requirement will be filled by them attending one FFA meeting and one event/social that the FFA hosts. With this requirement I will have to ensure this lesson is done at the beginning of the school year, so the students have ample time to find an event that correlates with their schedule.
This was a great learning experience and I can easily see how it will benefit my future. So one unit plan down and about 10 to do to get ready for student teaching in January! Juanita Valley here I come!
Thanks for reading!
Right now everything with lessons and units seems extremely extensive. There has to be a unit plan, then daily lessons, then objectives and materials for each lesson and it all seems quite crazy. I do believe some of the best teachers are a little crazy though. Bringing things back into perspective, I had to write a model unit plan for one of my core classes on becoming an Agriculture Educator. I can already see how this tool will help me stay organized and lessen the stress I'll have when I get my first teaching position. By the time this is all said and done I will have a good majority of lessons and units prepared and ready to roll out with my new guinea pigs... eh um I mean students.
A unit plan has many parts to it, a few major ones being the length of the unit, supplies, daily learning objectives, PA academic Standards, PA Ag Standards, unit goals, assessments/evaluation, references etc. It is a tad difficult preparing a unit plan when I am not sure exactly what lessons I want to teach but this is such a great tool to lay the ground work. I can see when I get into my first job position that being able to pull out my plan for the unit and review it will be a great way of keeping myself organized. With ever increasing technology, I expect to have videos, PowerPoint and documents that will correlate with each unit organized on a flash drive. I look forward to making adaptations to the lessons and unit as I grow as a teacher.
My first unit plan was... interesting, would be the kind word I would use. I began writing it and didn't realize how much went into a unit plan! My original goal was to make a unit plan for an introduction to FFA unit. I found it most difficult to decide how deep I should go and how long topics might take to cover in the classroom. Using from feedback from my peers I revised my plan. The main edit I made was to my daily learning objectives and to my lesson titles. Thinking into how much time some topics will take I realized that 1-2 of my lessons will most likely be a two day adventure. I want to ensure that my students get the information they need to be knowledgeable about FFA but I want to do it in fun and interesting ways. I want to incorporate different activities that will peak their interest. My assessment for this unit is a written exam at the end and a participation portion to get full credit. I really want my students to get an FFA experience so their participation requirement will be filled by them attending one FFA meeting and one event/social that the FFA hosts. With this requirement I will have to ensure this lesson is done at the beginning of the school year, so the students have ample time to find an event that correlates with their schedule.
This was a great learning experience and I can easily see how it will benefit my future. So one unit plan down and about 10 to do to get ready for student teaching in January! Juanita Valley here I come!
Thanks for reading!
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