Cumulative Reflection

Wow! This semester went really fast! I enjoy my time in lab and learned a lot. My lab group was very interesting and had a lot if neat ideas and approaches to the different types of labs. Each lab was challenging in its own way.

The early labs such as first day of school and interest approach were nice to learn how to do fundamentals of teaching. These first few lessons really made you think about what you wanted your students to take away from in the lessons. The interest approach lab was unique because I think it is a struggle to find good ones to use. Because of this lab I was able to take away from others ideas as well as find good resources for them.

The demonstration lab was fun because it was practical but challenging in such a limited setting. This was where for the first time my classroom management was clearly tested. My lab included fire and handling distractions in serious situations. I think I handled the situation decent but definitely seen evidenced why it is important to have smaller groups and select the groups to prevent issues. I learned a from this lab that j have used elsewhere.

In general I found the labs to be practical and relevant to good teaching strategies. The interactive labs is the type of teacher j strive to be. The problem solving labs were a good way to implement this into our teaching.

I an thankful for my lab experiences in addition to the real classroom experience as it has better prepared me for spring!

AEE 412: Lab 7 reflection

For our creativity lab we went to dollar tree with $5 of spending money in order to buy items to enhance our lessons. This was quite a challenge to me because I don't think of creative things to add to lessons on the spot.. this typically happens when I drive or through the night. I think browsing the store and being aware of what they have will help in the future to come up with ideas. I did get a few things to use for team building in my leadership course as well as creative items to use in floriculture. I am excited about the ideas of my cohort and look forward to adding more creative ideas into my lessons.

AEE 412: Life Knowledge Lesson

I recently presented my Life Knowledge lesson at Cumberland Valley High School to the first period Advanced Leadership class. The freshman leadership class also joined us making a total of twenty students. My Life Knowledge lesson was called Defining Teams which compared the difference between group work and team work. It was a very interesting topic and the students reflected on successes and things that didn't go so well in their chapter. It encouraged students to think about how they approach tasks with other students.

To add to the lesson I had the students do two team building activities both very similar to each other. The first was the students were in groups of four. I provided them with a piece of paper and a sponge and asked them to all maintain both hands on the paper and then flip the paper over without dropping the sponge. After a few quick trial and error attempts every group was successful. The next team building activity was I divided the class into two groups. I laid two blankets on the ground and instructed each group to flip the towel over just like previously but without anyone stepping off. Their methods of attacks were interesting. After having to have one group restart they determined a new plan. The students were challenged to be outside of their comfort zone to complete this task. After both activities were completed I asked them if they felt they were working as a team or a group. Both groups felt they needed to support each other to accomplish the task and that it was team work.

I really enjoyed my lesson at Cumberland Valley. I was nervous going in because I was concerned the material would be hard to keep the students engaged which for parts of it, it was. Many students said later they really liked the team building activities despite how challenging it was. I defiantly pulled some great ideas from their reactions to incorporate into my Spring leadership class. It gave me a better handle on how the senior class needed to be taught because they are harder to keep engaged. They really enjoy independent work that they work in small groups on.

When comparing this experience to mine at Tyrone I felt both were enjoyable experiences that were good ways to develop my teaching. I think I maintained the same style in my teaching not changing too much. I really like doing something hands on that keeps the students physically engaged because it results in having to do less classroom management in terms of talking or behavior. Both experiences gave me insight on how to be prepared with students on both ends of the spectrum of understanding the content which was good. I think it will help be focus my teaching to meet the needs of all students. One big difference between the students are that at Cumberland Valley it was a greater struggle to halt some of the talking between the older students. Overall it was a good experience and  I am looking forward to working with them in the Spring.

Lab 6 Reflection:: Micro Teaching at Tyrone

My Micro Teaching took place in Mrs.Hoy's 8th period Vet Science class at Tyrone High School. The class had 13 students. I covered injections focusing on how to draw up syringes properly and the three main types of injections- intramuscular, subcutaneous and intravenous.

I sincerely enjoyed this class and enjoyed teaching more than I expected. Many students were interested but I defiantly struggled with a number of them to stay involved.

The first day didn't start out as I would have liked but I felt rushed for some reason. Once I got settled into it and started to connect with the students it went really well. Unfortunately I went through my first portion of content quickly since I was nervous but also a few students knew the content. I continued to switch the content so the students would stay engaged and it worked. There was a group of students that half were working but the others were more concerned on social aspects. I was running low on material so I implemented an e_moment. I was trying to have them write a parody or rhyme but only one group (out of 3) actually worked on it. Being the very end of the day also put me in a tough situation.

On day 2 I handed students a post card with their table and for their bell work as they entered. Not only did the actually do the bell work I had less issues with talking!

Day three was putting all the skills they had been working on together. I started our with a jeopardy review game but struggled to get students involved I could tell right away they were ready to be done for the day. Once we got through the game I passed out chicken legs and wings as well as a scenario to test their knowledge of all the skills I taught. It was very successful but this time we ran out if time to do the last activity. It felt sort of unorganized for me because it wasn't my lab but otherwise I think it went well. For the first time I had every student engaged right up to the bell.

I asked the students to provide feedback from the three days, only a few students responded because we ran short on time but they said they learned a lot and enjoyed the approach with hands on learning.

I thought this was a great experience and I learned a lot about classroom management.

Lab 5 reflection

I struggled coming up with a lab for Inquiry Based Instruction. I felt it was hard not to give away too much information as I was planning. I ended up selecting a lab that was not as complex in what the students were to do. My lab serves as more of interest gaining lesson for the start of the subject of soils.

I think my lab went well. I ended up giving the students parts of the question but I left it very open as to what they were to do. There was many ways they could have approached it, all of which would have been fine. I just ultimately wanted them to look at the soil and recognize differences in the soil samples.

I told the students to start working and after 5 minutes I would take questions. I thought this was fair and successful. Questions that were asked I was able to answer back in a question to keep the students thinking.

Because this lab was engaging I didn't really have behavior issues but I also have found that labs in general are more successful when the instructor selects the groups.

AEE Reading Reflection #4: Inquiry Based Instruction

Inquiry based instruction is a combination of student interest and prior knowledge incorporated into the scientific method. It requires critical thinking but provides the opportunity for the teacher to serve as a facilitator and students learn from others on different levels because of their individual strengths and weaknesses.The teacher is able to help guide thinking and scaffold the student to think critically.

As students work through inquiry based instruction they are:
1) Questioning
2) Investigating possiblities
3) evaluating evidence to create predictions
4) analyzing the data collected with prior knowledge
5) identify results and findings 

The teacher should implement inquiry based instruction between the mid-point and end of instruction so that the students have prior knowledge and are able to analyze the situation with more detail and thought.

The teacher should:
1) start inquiry process
2) promote student dialog and discussion
3) make the transition from classroom discussion to small group and vise verse
4) clear up misconceptions and scaffold thinking 
5) model the scientific method
6) utilize student experience and knowledge allowing them to expand on their horizons

As a teacher, inquiry based instruction should be gradually introduced so the student builds up the level of thinking desired. Starting with more structure that utilize more step by step instruction is a place to start so the students understand how this type of thinking works. Next, more guided instruction should be implemented by providing materials and procedures but allowing the student to design the methods. As the students experience advances more open instruction can be done. This is when materials are provided and very basic instruction. Lastly, the learning cycle allows more detailed concepts to be incorporated with only vital procedures being known. This will maximize critical thinking and force the student to design the plan.

I think it is important to gradually build up to the different types of inquiry learning so the students are trained to develop their critical thinking. To help teach students how to collect accurate data and interpret it, pre-designed tables could be presented to efficiently collect the data. I think this is a good tactic however I find it to be similar to the problem solving approach and I'm not completely sure how to distinguished the difference based on the topics I am thinking of.

Lab 4 Reflection- Problem Solving

My lab this week was designed for my leadership class as they will help take charge of planning their Spring Trip to Maine and participate in a college visit. I felt my lab went really well, it was calm and laid back. I started off by spitting students into groups that they would later use to work on their assignments. This worked out well as an early classroom management.
I presented the scenario but left any additional information out. I then allowed for time for the students to think about what information they needed. I felt this made the students begin to start processing the activity and then when they would be released to work in small groups would already be on task.
I really like problem based instruction as I think it offers the opportunity for students to take personal ownership of their learning. As a teacher I believe the less I talk, the more a student needs to think for themselves thus resulting in a higher level of thinking.
One thing I need to continue working on is avoiding filler words as well as projecting my voice. Overall I thought this was a good lab that definitely gave me ideas for Spring!