Web Resources

After looking through some of the websites available for student and teacher interaction in the classroom, I saw Wikipedia on the list and thought I'd do a quick search for 'agriculture education.'

This is what comes up (Wikipedia, 2011)

Which is great, but then if you click on the secondary education link - NOTHING HAPPENS. There is no page written! This got me thinking, I could totally have my upperclassmen write that page, and share it with the world! They would be working together as a team, and connecting with the entire world, on a notoriously recognized website. Students could access their work from home, and I would probably have them compile everything first in a GoogleDoc until we are ready to officially post. Kind of excited for this project, actually. It's a big undertaking, with some definite research involved, but it would be so cool.

A second site I plan on using in my classroom is, no surprise here, the 4-H Virtual Farm Tour through Education World (Virginia Cooperative Extension (2000). Some of the things are a little corny and geared towards younger children, but there is a bunch of good vocab, interviews with real people, and quick review games.



Virginia Cooperative Extension (2000). 4-H virtual farm. Retrieved June 29, 2011, from http://www.sites.ext.vt.edu/virtualfarm/main.html

Wikipedia (2011). Agriculture education. Retrieved June 29, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_Education

Theory to Practice Week 5

When dealing with learners, it is helpful to understand physical stages that affect them in addition to learning theories and social contexts, learning environments and influences, and more. If an educator understands the chemical, biological and physical changes and stages that affect their learners, they can make  better sense of possible solutions to problems that arise in the classroom because these factors combine themselves in various ways within the mind and body.

For example: if the is a student who is not performing in class, an educator can choose various pathways to address the issue. This teacher may call upon the student's past experiences and conceptual frameworks in a Vygotskian sense, where they are checking to see what previous data has constructed and where the student is in terms of the zone of proximal development for the concept/content area/task at hand. If the teacher finds that the student in question has a lower ZPD level, but that their conceptual framework supports the idea (i.e. the idea is clear to the student but the student is still not performing), they may come to the conclusion that it is motivation that is holding the student back. In this case, the teacher may try to inspire the student to foster intrinsic motivation, or through various extrinsic motivators.  When considering the use of extrinsic motivators such as positive reinforcement of good behavior (progress towards performance of task) as Skinner would support, it would behoove the teacher to understand how repetitive use of positive reinforcement changes the 'neural net' within the brain, and the chemical and emotional repercussions that may ensue.

A Good Teacher...

A good teacher... cares deeply about her students as a whole. Not only the group as a functional unit, but about each individual as a 'whole person.' A good teacher knows their content area like the back of their hand, is enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge with others, and presents that content in clear and multi-faceted ways (caters to many different learning styles and levels of understanding). A good teacher keeps in mind where their students are coming from, inquires about their previous knowledge and takes that into consideration. A good teacher loves learning themselves and vows to share that love with their students by facilitating intrinsic motivation. A good teacher is a role model for their students in and outside of the classroom, and inspires morals of respect and decency in the people around them.

from week 4's theory to practice, embellished in bold:

"The more theories that are presented for consideration, the more it all seems interconnected. If an educator can merge the basic concepts of multiple learning theories into a theory to practice, they are more likely to inspire whole person, optimal learning in their students. For example, it is helpful to understand Vygotsky's idea that students may come in with different conceptual frameworks and ZPD levels, but when merged with the theory put forth by Yero that teachers' past experiences shape the way they themselves teach, it gives another angle to consider. 
By employing Hansen's model of morals and ethics in their classroom, by displaying good moral judgement themselves, a teacher can evoke and inspire these values in their students, inside and hopefully outside of the classroom as well. When an educator hits a roadblock in the classroom, the more theory and experience they have to reflect on the more efficiently they can solve the problem."

Tech tools for special needs students

Technology is too cool sometimes! The technological advancements made today are helping the world connect to each other; helping to connect everyone, including those with special needs who may feel behind. Communication is the cornerstone of teaching, and today we can be clearer than ever before with the help of a few cool devices.

I have worked with students with hearing impairments before, and most recently a common solution for these students has been a microphone for the teacher/speaker to wear that sends wireless signals to an amplifier-type hearing aid the student wears. The microphone usually hangs around the speaker's neck on a lanyard, and is transfered if necessary very easily. They do not interfere with classroom instruction, and allow the hearing impaired student to be anywhere in the room to hear comfortably.

For a student with low-vision, an e-reader may be helpful. E-readers such as the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader offer large print adaptions of many texts, readily available. The Apple iPad also includes screen magnification and VoiceOver, a screen-access technology, for the blind and visually impaired. DAISY talking books are another option for the visually impaired.

For those students that may only need temporary aid, as would be the case of a student with a broken arm, wouldn't it be nice to not have to bother the student sitting next to them to have to type up all of their papers and homework for them? Oh right, there's a technology for that! Speech-to-text software is available that will convert the student's spoken words to text on the computer screen - they can compose their own paper without writing at all! This software may also be useful with an autistic student who may have trouble with grammar or spelling (really, any student having trouble in those areas may benefit) as the software lessens the burden on the speaker to control both the concepts and composition as well as grammatical tasks.


Apple Inc., (2011). Apple accessibility. Retrieved 6/22/11 from http://www.apple.com/accessibility/.

Wikibooks, (2009). Assistive technology in education/DAISY. Retrieved 6/22/11 from http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Assistive_Technology_in_Education/DAISY.

Wikibooks, (2011). Assistive technology in education/speech recognition software. Retrieved 6/22/11 from http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Assistive_Technology_in_Education/Speech_Recognition_Software.

Learning Theories Week 4

If/Then/Because statement, Evidence, Pedagogical Terms, Morals/Ethics, Context/Events

"The readings for today's class helped me to grasp what is going on inside my own little learner's brain: I think my personal framework concerning teaching, i.e. the way I've been instructing for the past ten years, differs from all the new input I'm trying to understand. As Piaget might say, I'm having difficulty discerning between what can be assimilated into my previous framework, and what needs to be accommodated. There is so much to soak in, so much responsibility involved in making sure I understand how it all connects - responsibility to myself, as a learner, to my peers and future colleagues, and to my students! I just want to do it right.

Is there a right way to do it all? Or is it not juggling, but a balancing act?

I laugh at myself a little, and then I continue to laugh, because I know that

this is just the tip of the iceberg, my friends.

Bring it on."

Week 4 Edit

If a teacher's own previous conceptual frameworks differ, even slightly, from the pedagogical frameworks associated with new input (theories, concepts, methods), then they may have trouble assimilating and/or accommodating that data, as Piaget suggests learners do with all new knowledge. There is so much to soak in, so much responsibility involved in making sure I understand how it all connects - responsibility to myself, as a learner, to my peers and future colleagues, and to my students! I just want to do it right.

Case Study - Vicki Davis

Davis’ believes that as teachers, we don’t have to be experts on what we are teaching so much as enable our students to learn on their own, with guidance. If a teacher is not completely competent in an area of content s/he is teaching, then looking to students who may have a leg up on that concept is a valuable tool for use in the classroom. As Vygotsky's social theory suggests, students (and in this case the teacher) may be at different ZPD levels; social interaction, in this case sharing with the class how to perform certain aspects of a computer task, enables learning on many ZPD levels. Davis focuses on students' strengths and weaknesses in this way, which also inspires confidence in her students, and also enhances their competence levels by sharing what they understand with others. Her use of the Wiki and DigiTeen provides her students with connections around the world - bringing to the table a level interaction that may foster feelings of relatedness that may have been absent or unclear just on the classroom scale.


Week 4 Theory to Practice


The more theories that are presented for consideration, the more it all seems interconnected. If an educator can merge the basic concepts of multiple learning theories into a theory to practice, they are more likely to reach and engage more students. For example, it is helpful to understand Vygotsky's idea that students may come in with different conceptual frameworks and ZPD levels, but when merged with the theory put forth by Yero that teachers' past experiences shape the way they themselves teach, it gives another angle to consider. When an educator hits a roadblock in the classroom, the more theory and experience they have to reflect on the more efficiently they can solve the problem.


theorists spreadsheet

WikiWikiWhat?

So I guess I'm on the fence about using blogs and Wikis and whatnot in my Ag classroom. It's not that I don't think they're a great resource - it's just that I'm having trouble wrapping my head around what I would do with it! I personally am okay with sharing my blog posts with the world, so everyone can see, but if I assign a reading response and have my students posting it on their blogs, doesn't it change things that they are high school kids? What about shy kids, or those who feel insecure or behind, who don't want to share their work with others besides their teacher? I think that if I were to go so far as to set up blog assignments in the classroom that I would feel the need to use it a whole bunch, and I don't know that I'm comfortable doing that. Not that I'm not or I think the kids aren't tech-savvy enough, I just don't think it's my thing. Not my style.

On the other hand, I do like the idea of a class Wiki in that it's a place where the whole class can come together outside of the classROOM, to tell others what they're doing in class, perhaps to brag a little :). A Wiki would also be a great place to post assignments/syllabi, and to connect and communicate with parents about what is going on in the classroom and let them have access to project due dates and the like. One project I've been mulling over in the back of my head since watching the Survivor Diaries (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 2006) video is that students could film and edit public service announcements (to be uploaded onto the class Wiki...) about common misconceptions about the Vo-Ag program and the bullying that occurs stemming from those misconceptions.




National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. (2006). Survivor Diaries. www.netsmartz.org. Retrieved 6/15/11 from http://www.netsmartz.org/RealLifeStories/SurvivorDiaries.

Week 3 T2P... it's getting complicated, yo!

There is SO MUCH involved in teaching! Coming in to this program I knew that I wanted my classroom to a be positive learning environment, a place where students wanted to come to each day and felt safe (physically, as well as safe to express themselves freely). I wanted learn the nuances involved in attending to students' emotional and moral needs, to lead by example in hope of relaying the ideals of respect I believe to be vital to personal growth, as well as conveying my enthusiasm and passion for animals and agriculture. I wanted to learn how to be an effective teacher, but also be chill and approachable.

I still want to learn these things, but the more time I spend in class the more complicated the behind-the-scenes work of teaching becomes. We have to think about how each student may have a different learning style, and plan accordingly. Ok, I can vary my lessons to include different and multiple approaches to concepts and skills. I can design assessments to cater to different styles, and it will be beneficial to all to have varied learning experiences. But it's not just learning styles, but learning abilities developmentally (Piaget's model), social aspects to consider (Vygotsky's theory that learning happens twice; first socially with help and then applied individually), the possiblility that some students' pre-established conceptual frameworks may differ not only form each other's but from the teacher's, and how that affects how they incorporate and understand new information is MIND- BOGGLING.

How is a teacher supposed to juggle it all?

The readings for today's class helped me to grasp what is going on inside my own little learner's brain: I think my personal framework concerning teaching, i.e. the way I've been instructing for the past ten years, differs from all the new input I'm trying to understand. As Piaget might say, I'm having difficulty discerning between what can be assimilated into my previous framework, and what needs to be accommodated. There is so much to soak in, so much responsibility involved in making sure I understand how it all connects - responsibility to myself, as a learner, to my peers and future colleagues, and to my students! I just want to do it right.

Is there a right way to do it all? Or is it not juggling, but a balancing act?

I laugh at myself a little, and then I continue to laugh, because I know that

this is just the tip of the iceberg, my friends.

Bring it on.