My Ag Ed Journey

First Day of School During this lab experience, I presented a lesson for the first day of Ag 7. Overall I think the lesson went well I didn’t feel as uncomfortable during this lesson as I did during the first lab or previous presentations that I have given. This lesson was simply to introduce agricultural science to seventh-grade students. One thing that did happen was that my classmates misinterpreted what grade this class was for. As the grade was misinterpreted my classmates did not react as they likely would have if they had known the age group. In spite of this, the lesson continued and seemed to go over well with my classmates. Due to this experience, I realized that I need to work on my clarity so that I can avoid misunderstandings while I am student teaching. Clarity is very important to present a good lesson, if you are not clear to your audience then they are unlikely to completely understand you. By providing more clarity I hope to present better lessons to my studen...

Learner Variability and Lesson Planning All learners have methods by which they learn best. Some individuals learn best through testing themselves with flashcards, others through recitation and some through physically performing either the task they are trying to learn or a set of movements related to it. Due to the differences in learning styles not all lessons are going to work well with all students, as their learning style doesn’t work in the same way as the lesson. One of the best ways to combat this difference in learning style and the lesson is to vary the way that different lessons are presented. By doing so learners with different learning styles will all get a chance to learn in the way that best fits them. One effective way to insert lessons using different learning styles is by using E-Moments. E-Moments are short learning activities that are interactive ways to gauge how well your students are learning. These e-moments can be used as a check for understanding...

Teaching and Learning While there are many connections between student teaching and the assigned readings, I feel that the following may connect the best. The first is learning to use different methods of teaching and learning to improve your educational environment. Learning new methods for teaching and learning is key to becoming a good teacher. Good teachers not only use a variety of teaching methods they also find the methods that work best for themselves and their students. This will improve the educational environment for both the teachers and the students.   By varying my future teaching methods, I will be able to create a more interactive and engaging environment for my students. The second connection is how the regular use of different teaching methods will create a more enriching educational environment. A part of the use of different methods for teaching and learning is related to the planning of daily activities with students. By planning different types of lesso...

Effective Teaching and Learning What is effective teaching? To me, effective teaching is using your knowledge, skills, and resources to teach your students the course material in a way that the information will stick with them long term. Effective teaching takes many forms as to how you teach effectively varies with the circumstances of the lesson, for example, an effective lesson for high school students, on a given topic, would not be taught in the same way as an effective lesson for elementary students, on the same topic. This is because elementary students have not yet developed the cognitive skills have not yet developed to the point where they can understand more complex ideas. As a teacher, it will be my job to work to determine what methods are best to use for each lesson with students of different age groups. By doing so I will help to ensure that as many students as possible are learning effectively. What is learning? Learning by definition is the acquisition o...

Back to School Week Fall 2019 RTL Reflection This has been an exciting and stressful week back to school. During this week we did our first pre-teaching lesson of the semester. I was feeling alright before my scheduled lesson but as soon as I started my mind went blank and I forgot what I wanted to say. I knew what I needed to say but I felt like I couldn’t get the words out. Through my classmates and instructors, I found that I did better than I thought I did. I know that I still have a ways to go but I look forward to seeing how I progress through this semester. One of the things that I did notice rewatching my lesson is that I appeared less stressed than I felt during the lesson. However, in spite of this, I had trouble deciding what I was going to say and how I was going to say it. Due to this, the main question that I have is how do I keep myself calm while I am giving a lesson? Even when I feel I know the material well or I am simply very interested in the topic I have troubl...

Why agricultural education? This is a question that I have been asked quite a few times already and I know I will be asked again. As I mentioned in a previous post I did not grow up with an agricultural background. I have always been interested in animals, plants and the world around me in general but I didn’t take part in agriculture-related activities growing up. This is due to myself and my family being misinformed on what different programs, such as 4-H, involved. As I’ve continued on through school I have learned more about the different forms of agricultural education and I have come to the conclusion that this is what I want to do. While I have not always known what I wanted to do there were two things that I knew for sure. I wanted to do something that in some way involves animals and I wanted to help people. At first, I had thought I wanted to be a veterinarian, as I’d thought this would be the best way to accomplish these goals. And while it is true that I would be working w...

Going to the TLT symposium was an interesting and fun experience. Attending talks about different ways professionals are using technology to help their students learn was very informative. While I did know that technology is useful for education, I didn’t realize how many uses there were for technology. There are also so many ways to use the same type of technology for slightly different purposes. I enjoyed getting to learn how technology has been used to create a better learning environment. Both by providing easy access to educational material and the opportunity for students to experience what they are learning about. Similarly, to the professionals presenting at the TLT symposium, professionals in the agriculture field also use technology to spread awareness for what they do. By using some of the technologies presented at the symposium I think that we can further agricultural outreach, literacy and awareness. While none of the technologies discussed were directly related to agr...