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!