AEE 412 Weekly Writing #5: Effective Questioning

Before completing this week's readings and viewing several Ted Talks, I had never truly though about the impact and effectiveness of the questions we ask as teachers. Changing one word in a sentence could completely change the level of thinking required by our students. After reading Dr. Dyer's information on effective questioning techniques I decided to create a visual aid to some up his idea on lower and higher level questions. I love how he ties it in directly to Blooms Levels of Taxonomy. This is a tool I will use when designing questions.

As educators we need to determine how and when to ask certain questions. We can use lower level questions and the probing of higher level questions to determine our students' current knowledge of subjects. This gives us the baseline we need to work from.

We should always be looking to push our students to the next tier of Blooms Taxonomy. I think we should always be asking questions that are one level above their current understanding, and come back to lower level questions as needed. Coming back to lower level questions can help refresh students minds and they will gather the important takeaways. These questions are very important in the fact that it helps students summarize the content area.

The best teachers ask the hard questions. These are my favorite teachers from high school and college. They push you because they want you to be successful, although it may not seem like that at the time. Looking back, these are the educators I respect the most. They did not take the easy path of complacency. They pushed, prepared, and inspired their students to be the best they could be, while having a little fun along the way.

Good teachers ask questions, but great teachers ask the right questions.

References:

Cornell University Center for Teaching Excellence. (2015). Using Effective Questions. Retrieved
                  from http://www.cte.cornell.edu/teaching-ideas/engaging-students/using-effective-                               questions.html

Dyer, J.E. (n.d.) Effective Questioning Techniques. Retrieved from                          

                  https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC08400.pdf

National FFA LifeKnowledge. (n.d.) Coaching Session Quick Reference Guide. Retrieved from
 https://www.ffa.org/myresourcedocuments/coachingguide/Basics_of_Coaching/coaching_Guide/Lesson02/pdf/Individual-Coaching-Session-Quick-Reference-Guide.pdf

Maiers, Angela. (2011) You Matter. Des Moines: Tedx.

Simonds, Kate. (2015) I'm 17. Boise: Tedx.

Von Jan, Katherine. (2011). Pursue Passion: Demand Google 20% Time at School. Retrieved from:                       http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katherine-von-jan/unstructured-                                                             classroom_b_1024404.html

Tae. (2012). Tweak Your Teach. Retrieved from:                                                                                                       https://tweakyourslides.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/tweak-your-teach-dr-taes-building-a-                     new-culture-of-teaching-and-learning/

AEE 412 Lab #3: The Interest Approach

Image taken from
https://sites.google.com/a/lajunta.k12.co.us/
gifted-talented/home/student-interest-inventories

During this past week we have explored the science of generating student interest. Great teachers know how to cultivate student interest and grow students through that interest. For my laboratory demonstration I decided to test an interest approach form a lesson out of my public speaking unit.

Overall, I believe the attempt was a success. My peers seemed to like the interest approach activity and might use it themselves, in the future. Although the activity was a success, the learning experience can always be improved. After analyzing the feedback, I received from my peers, I have categorized my areas for improvement into four areas.

Teacher Awareness

After reading the feedback, I realized that one of my “students” was on their iPad for the majority of the lab demonstration. I never noticed the whole time while I was teaching. As a teacher I should have first discovered the issue and then acted upon it.

Establishing a Time Frame

It also became very clear that I the facilitator did not set any sort of time criteria on the activity. If I were to do the activity again I would make it clear that each student has 45 seconds to talk and restrict myself to that time limit as well. I believe I spoke for one and a half minutes when I gave the students an example.

Setting the Bar High

My example speech was not high quality by any means. This is mostly because I had not prepared for it at all. I thought about coming up with an idea prior to class, but I thought the students would enjoy it more if I was “put on the spot” as well. One of my peers made a good point, and now I am second guessing what I did. If I were to prepare for the impromptu speech, students would see a much better product and they would work to match it.

Image taken from http://www.mechanictomillionaire.com/
204-making-the-connection/

Make the Connection CLEAR

After conducting the activity, my peers did not see where the lesson was going. Talking through my transitioning questions would help out a lot with this, but it should have been foreshadowed while they were participating in the interest approach. When I am designing interest approaches or any kind of instruction, I must ask myself why. Why am I teaching this this way? As a learner, why is                                                                                      Mr. Snyder having us do this activity?

I truly believe that this interest approach could be a keeper, and I will work to improve it for my time at Mifflinburg High School. I am interested to see the differences between teaching this to my peers and teaching it to actual high school students. 

AEE 412 Weekly Writing #4: Teaching in Groups

We have all had that teacher who has a PowerPoint presentation for everything right? Every day in class they just pull up a new slideshow and lecture for another 50 minutes. How about the teacher who shows a class long video every day. I have had both of these in high school and I am sure you have too. How much constructive knowledge is created when half the class is sleeping through the video? How much information is actually obtained when the students are bored out of their mind. These teachers never really have objectives for the class. As long as they lecture from bell to bell they believe they are doing their job.

Establishing student engagement can be helped by simply telling students where the lesson is going. We tell students this through creating and explaining our objectives. Objectives always begin with an action word. Below is a resource for selecting action words from Bloom's Taxonomy.

Image was taken from teach thought.com.
http://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/blooms-taxonomy/14-brilliant-blooms-taxonomy-posters-for-teachers/

If students are given clear and measurable learning objectives, they understand what they really need to focus on. 

The portion of this week's reading from Newcomb and company covered techniques for group teaching. Teaching in groups can be very effective when done correctly. One of the types of group facilitation is discussion. In order for discussion to be effective, the educator must determine what avenue they should take. Class discussion works well for large groups as long as students aren't timid. Usually a couple students take charge and are the only ones to contribute to the discussion. Teachers can also use buzz groups or pair share to facilitate discussion in smaller groups. When students are grouped into small groups they feel more of a need to contribute. This promotes everyone to share their thoughts. After the use of smaller groupings, the facilitator should have each group share out with the rest of the class.

Image was taken from global-english.com.

http://www.global-english.com/news/tips-for-tefl-discussion-classes/

As an educator I believe that discussion through small groups leads to the most growth. I am not opposed to trying larger group activities because of my inexperience in the classroom. However, throughout high school, I have seen many large group activities fall right on their face. I look forward to experimenting with these different techniques over the next year, especially during my semester of student teaching.

References:

Whittington, M.S. (2005). Writing objectives in secondary agriculture courses that challenge

                 students to think. Agriculture Education Magazine. Retrieved from

                 http://www.naae.org/profdevelopment/magazine/archive_issues/Volume77/v77i5.pdf


Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of

                 teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Groseta, K.J. & Myers, B.E. (2006). Using cooperative learning in formal and nonformal


                 education. Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC06200.pdf

AEE 412 Lab #2: The First Day of School

Hello students and welcome to Mr. Snyder's introduction to agriculture class! So in this week’s lab session we demonstrated what we believe to be a good lesson for the first day of school. As we have discussed in previous reflections and classes, the first class is key in establishing the environment and rapport of the class. 

After gathering feedback and hearing from my peers I have identified 3 areas where I need to improve:

Clarity: I feel that my lesson took off pretty fluidly. Students understood the bellwork and were being productive for the most part. To improve my clarity, I should have posted the day's objectives and discussed them. This will happen for sure next time. The bellwork question cards were handwritten on sticky notes. Next time I will type these out and print so they are easier to read.

Transitions: This piece needs some work. As I began class, I was trying to discuss the bellwork as I was pulling up my video for the interest approach. Students were able to see what I was doing so some got distracted from finishing the bellwork. In the future I need to pull up the video or set up my attention getter before the class even enters the room. I have mixed reviews on the transition questions (from my interest approach to the first activity). I myself thought they were okay, however they can be much better. 

Enthusiasm!: This is possibly the biggest hurdle for myself. I have a very laid back personality that does not convey much enthusiasm to begin with. I feel like I have come a long way with this in the past year. However, my voice is very deep and monotone so even when I am enthusiastic and really trying to excite students there is little to no change in my voice. 

Overall I believe we did a good job as a class. We have established a great place to start building from. With eleven more weeks of hard work, I truly believe we will be ready for the spring.

AEE 412 Weekly Writing #3: Making Content Relative

Everyone had a least favorite (hated) subject in high school right? Well I did for sure. That was English, and I'll bet you can guess how much I applied myself in those courses. Little did I know; I would be writing a professional blog here at The Pennsylvania State University during my senior year. If I could go back to high school, you better believe I would have tried a little harder. Capturing my thoughts on paper would come slightly more natural. 

The thing is, students don't know what they need to know. They do not see how developing as a writer will help them later in their careers. They do not see how learning the Pythagorean theorem will help them as a contractor. (as we saw in AEE 350) They do not even see how learning to budget will save them money. As educators, we need to open their eyes and make learning more relative to their interests and the world around them. What good is knowledge if they do not know how to use it? 

Image was taken from HCRC Staffing.
http://www.hcrcstaffing.com/2016/02/02/patients-for-life-making-connections-that-last/

Our weekly reading from "Methods of Teaching Agriculture" covered the importance of learning objectives and relating them to the content our students need. It also talked about the interest approach. When writing objectives, we need to distinguish between content that is nice to know and content that needs to be known. Do our students need to learn this to be successful? Nice to know content can be extremely helpful to students as well. However, students need to master the basics first.

The interest approach can be a great tool to reinforce the importance of learning in nearly any content area. A simple real world example, experiment, demonstration, or exercise can kick-start the student mind. Great interest approaches really get the wheels turning. Make them fun and interesting to students. Make connections to student SAE projects. When you make learning relative to student interests and/or future opportunities students will want to learn. Show students how relative the content is to their future. Get them thinking as soon as they get to class. They will appreciate you much more after their high school career.

References:

Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of

teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

AEE 412 Weekly Writing #2: Establishing a Gameplan

Camera, action! Wait was I missing something? Teachers just jump out of bed everyday feeling lead what and how to instruct right? Most people truly don’t understand the amount of preparation that goes into teaching. You’ll often hear students talking about how teaching could be their “back-up plan” if their selected major becomes too grim. If only they knew the time and preparation it takes to be an effective educator.

This week’s readings provided me with the reasoning behind preparation, how to prepare, what questions to ask, and how we maximize learning. All beginning teachers need a clear plan on how they will attack and carryout each class period. Once teachers become established in their classroom, they can sometimes get away with teaching on the fly. This is simply because they have taught the same content so many times that they already know the most effective ways to teach.

Image was taken from Accelerated Development.
http://accelerateddevelopment.blogspot.com

When developing courses/units/lessons we must consider student concerns and always be able to answer the “Why” questions. “Why is it important that I learn how to write a check, Mr. Snyder?” or “Why do we need to know the difference between four and two stroke engines?” These two statements should not be hard to answer. I can tell you from experience. I was one of those students who questioned my teachers, and now I realize that they were right. I’ve also determined that I should have paid more attention to those teachers, especially the English teachers. The fact is students don’t know what they need to learn. It is our job to teach them what they need to know and how to apply their knowledge.

In “Methods of Teaching Agriculture” Newcomb and company went into great detail on how courses, units, and lessons should be sequentially and effectively organized. This is a topic that we have begun to touch on in AEE 413. As educators we need to be deliberate in what, when, why, and how we teach. Organization leads to more effective learning methods.

In “Strategies for Great Teaching,” Reardon discussed creating “E moments.” Effective educators incorporated these into their lessons. “E moments” provide different examples and ways to view certain concepts. The statement, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat” could not be more true. I myself think about things differently on some occasions and am confused when a teacher presents something one-way. This reminds me of AEE 350, when we were converting decimals of an inch into sixteenths of an inch. We were instructed to find the answer by multiplying through a series of fractions. I was able to find the answer more easily by using the guess and check method.

Always remember: plan, ask questions, organize, plan, provide different learning opportunities, and plan again!