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.