Ms. Walker's "Wise" Tales

This weeks reading around student-centered learning and making sure we give students control of their learning was really insightful in ways I would like to bring that into my classroom. Here are some of the questions that I had from those: A question for my future students: What do you want to learn in our ag class? What was your favorite class ever and why? A question for my cooperating teacher and university supervisor: How do you give students ownership and creativity in what and how they are learning? A question for my cohort: How do we build in "flex" time for students who do not understand content/time for them to be more creative while still staying on track and keeping students who are learning faster engaged?

Since my first unit that I will picking up is animal reproduction in animal science that is what I decided to write my lesson plan on. The lesson that I wrote a plan for was what are the female reproductive parts?  For my interest approach, I had students(my peers) go on a scavenger hunt around the room to find parts of a car. They were racing against the other team to assemble the car. Then, we discussed the why we did that and how it was important all the parts of your car were functioning in order for it to drive. Then, we connected to how this is the same for the reproductive system. I also tried to connect how it is important for us to understand a basis of how the car runs just as it would be for them or farmers to understand the basis of the reproductive system.  After discussing how to improve the approach, instead of using a car as a middle step just to have students try and assemble the reproductive system. This would allow to students to connect the content easier a...

3-  Identify 3 relevant connections to your student teaching internships 1. One obvious connection for me was group learning. I feel in agriculture classrooms using group learning is very important in learning. So utilizing these techniques in the future will be beneficial.  2. I was writing my unit plans and was thinking about supplies or ways of teaching different concepts. Examples of Media that can be used with uses as well as teaching techniques will be useful going forward in student teaching and planning.  3. We are going to have to manage a classroom in the spring so looking into the article(s) about/related classroom management was helpful for me because that is probably one of my biggest concerns.  2- Identify 2 connections to other courses that are part of your #TeachAg Journey 1. One connection that I can think of is when we did e-moments in 412. This was an example of small group ...

 This week was different. COVID is a thing. And a thing I got. So this week instead of tackling my first day of school lab at class with my peers, I completed this task at home in front of my iPAD.  I was able to record my snap shot of a lab at home which was nice that I was able to still complete the assignment, but was definitely more difficult when there was no audience. I completed my lesson plan with a this or that interest approach, a get to know me presentation, student interest engagement, and review of the syllabus and expectations.  In my snap shot I focused on the student and teacher introductions so it started with the this or that interest approach. Basically, I gave students a prompt with two options and that has to pick a side of the room based on the option they chose. I think this could be helpful to just get the students moving and have low stakes activity for students to build connections. When I demonstrated this activity I did not allow time to discus...

After watching the two ted talks, reading about instructional planing, and diving into different e-moments  it gave me a lot to think about in regards to student teaching and here are some of my questions: A question for my future school administrators ... How do you intentionally create a learning environment where students know they matter, feel valued, and feel heard? As a school is this mainly put on the teachers or how to you try as entire faculty to make students feel valued, because while it is a goal for all schools and teachers (I hope) it definitely can take conscious effort. A question for my cooperating teacher and university supervisor. .. Which is your favorite e-moment to use and/or which one do you use most often? Ideally, these would be rotated through and used in different times with varying needs, however, I would love to hear if there is one that you have found to be very success or that you use and why you feel that one has worked.  A q...

Student Teaching Connections   1. The power of planning. All of these reading are a reinforcement that planning and making that a priority will benefit us all in the long run.  2. Plan for the assessment first then determine which is the best methods for instruction. I think this will be very helpful in student teaching/unit planning and using that backwards planning approach to determine my lessons.  3. In the article about significant learning it discusses and shows this model of active learning and how it is made up experience, information & ideas, and reflective dialogue. This is an important reminder for me to make sure I have these components in my lessons, especially making sure I am intentional about fostering reflection for my students.  Connections to Other Courses   1. In 350, we did this lesson planning activity and based our plan off of our project/assessment which was a good example of backwards planning and how that can be utilized.  2. T...