Tour Fort Cherry Agriscience and H.G. Parkinson FFA with Me

The students of Fort Cherry's Agriscience department helped me to create this video and explore their Agriculture Program, FFA, and SAE experiences!

The Passionate Organizer

There is no secret that there are many methods to teaching and ways to handle your classroom and that students will learn from many different types of educators. However, there are some types of teaching and classroom management that may be more powerful and effective than others.

No one wants to have a teacher that is disorganized, dull, and seems more un-interested in the topics they are teaching than the students that are learning them. Students want someone in front of the classroom that is organized, has clear objectives and expectations, and is passionate about the topic and the students. It's good for teachers to blend teaching methods, such as, power points, marker/chalk board, group work, questioning, etc. This is great for both the teacher and the students' sake.

According to Maryellen Weimer's article there are six keys to classroom excellence:

1. Interest and explanation - Be interested in your topic, know what the students understand, and create connections.
2. Concern and respect for students and student learning - "Good teaching has nothing to do with making things hard. It has nothing to do with frightening students. It is everything to do with benevolence and humility."
3. Appropriate assessment and feedback - Avoid assessments type that force students to memorize material and then regurgitate it for an exam.
4. Clear goals and intellectual challenge - Create high expectations for your students and make them clear to your students.
5. Independence, control and active engagement - Don't "treat all learners as if they were exactly the same" by creating projects and tasks that allow creativity and student control.
6. Learning from students -  Be willing to change and take what your students say and use it to reevaluate your teaching methods and classroom management.

It's always important to make sure you are working to reach every student and as many different learning styles as you can - while still using your own skill set. One saying that I keep running across in my classes, reading, and research is "your students don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." I think that it is important to make sure you are constantly making connections and bonds with students to continue to build a relationship. In the Agriculture Education spectrum, I think that we also need to remember with those connections we do not just have students for 1 or 2 years typically - we hope to have them for 4 years in a high school setting. If we do not build that relationship, then we lose the students.

I am someone who has always loved school and learning, loves to be organized, and if anything, I care too much about others. I will need to work on my enthusiasm. Though, I may be really interested and excited about a topic, I do not do a very good job of outwardly expressing it (so tips are welcome!).

Photo Credit: Harry Wong, 

                                                                                                            "Unit A - The Effective Teacher"

References

Weimer, Maryellen. “Effective Teaching Strategies: Six Keys to Classroom Excellence.” Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning, 20 July 2009, www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/effective-teaching-strategies-six-keys-to-classroom-excellence/.

Pigs, goats, and cats, oh my!

In late June, Mrs. Hoover and I were able make five Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE) visits together. I was able to see market swine, breeding goat, and cat projects during these visits. This experience was very enriching for me as I have never worked in AET at all.

First, Mrs. Hoover and I set off for Fort Cherry High School to get some work done - mail out some thank you cards, send the chapter member list to the fair, and check on the progress of the project books we were going to see during our visits.

At the first visit we looked at three market swine projects where all three students were planning to show and sell their animal at the Washington County Fair in the middle of August. We then sat down with all three student and had them pull up their AET account to check out the progress in their project books. While all three students had worked on their books, a couple were ahead of the others - which is okay. Since we made this visit, we were able to catch up all three books to where they needed to be and fix any glitches.

After lunch, we made the visit to check on the member with the cat project. She recently graduated high school and was aspiring to be a Veterinarian Technician. Her books looked good and Mrs. Hoover talked to her about continuing her project next year so that she would eligible for locally awarded scholarship money to aid in her schooling expenses.

The last stop of the day was to check on some breeding goats. This FFA member recently completed her freshman year at Fort Cherry, but is not new to animals by any means. Actually, her family has had a farm for many generations and this is something that she has been involved in her whole life. Her goats were very well maintained and were more like dogs than shy farm animals. They did not have their computer there so that we could check her project book, but since Mrs. Hoover and I looked at them before we had left the school and hers appeared to be up to date. Mrs. Hoover told her that they would go over it when school started.

These visits helped Mrs. Hoover to see the progress the students had made, furthermore, we were able to give each student insight, tips, and other information to make improvements to their project books and awards they may be eligible for in the future.  

Minor errors, all-school assemblies, and parents - Part 3

The final section of our book led Mrs. Hoover and I to some great conversations about classroom management. The topic of Chapter 12 was “the ability to ignore”. Mrs. Hoover emphasized how important it is to ignore minor errors. This does not mean that you are ignoring your students by any means, but you are able to differentiate between giving students attention that they need and attention that they want.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, high achievers need to be handled in their own way as well. High achievers, just like the best teachers, are much harder on themselves than anyone else will be. Mrs. Hoover said these can be both her most challenging students and best students. Sometimes they are students who go above and beyond on every project or they might be more concerned with other classes than their agriculture class. She said it takes time to help the latter student realize that her class is just as important has their math class.

Another topic we talked about were school assemblies. “When the best teachers take their students to an assembly, what do they do? They sit by their students – and not just any students, but the students who are most likely to disrupt.” We discussed that many teachers have negative attitudes toward all-school assemblies, because they feel they could be doing something more productive. Mrs. Hoover described one time when she was at an assembly and she looked around and she was the only teacher there. She said while she could have been prepping for a class as other teachers skipped out to do, supervising school assemblies was part of the job. We also discussed how you can use the principal of sitting next to the worst students in your classrooms. You can always rearrange and adjust your classroom for the better. If you keep doing the same thing and getting the same results, you need to change, not the students. If the same people always pair up for partner work and don’t get work done, the teacher can make the decision to change that in the future – i.e. “randomly” selecting partners, or simply saying you must work with someone you haven’t worked with before. The goal of this is to help the students perform better.  The best teachers always keep the students’ interests in mind when making decisions in their classroom.

We also talked about how to handle belligerent parents. When a parent is arguing with you, they are in their prime. They don’t mind arguing and they want you to argue with them. When a parent is upset with their child’s performance, it is much better to let them know what the expectations are and what assignments need completed instead of arguing with the “why”. You don’t need to elaborate that Jimmy missed 3 days of classes this week, disrupted class, and was on his phone multiple times. That type of parent wants to argue with you about the “why”. Instead you can stop the argument before it starts by focusing on tasks that need completed. Mrs. Hoover explained that she has had to deal with parents in the past and when she takes this approach, she doesn’t have issues with the parent like other teachers and administrators have described.   

Students First and Genuine Complements - Part 2

As Mrs. Hoover and I continue our journey through "What Great Teachers do Differently: 17 Things that Matter Most", our conversations are becoming more and more meaningful. The second part of the book focuses on putting students first. The best teachers always ask themselves, "Is this the best thing for my students?" They are likely not to move forward if the answer is no, but more likely to if the answer is yes. More mediocre teachers may be more concerned about what is best for them. Mrs. Hoover thinks this can be really easy to fall into as an FFA adviser or agricultural teacher. While you might come up with a really cool project for students in the greenhouse or classroom, it may take a lot of prep time on the teachers part. A great teacher is going to see how the students are going to benefit from the project instead of how it will affect the teacher.

It is also important to focus on colleagues second and to stay out of the so-called complainers club. While it is valuable to interact with your colleagues, do not fall into the habit of complaining to your co-workers. Both the book and Mrs. Hoover agreed - stay out of the teachers lounge! Great teachers filter out complaints instead of adding to them. Many times if you start complaining about a student, the other teacher has a problem with that student too, even if they didn't before. Mrs. Hoover said she always tries to stop the conversation when a teacher starts complaining about "Jimmy" and how bad he is by saying, "Oh, really? He doesn't give me any trouble." This will generally steer the conversation elsewhere. And she tries to avoid the teachers lounge at all costs.

The best teachers have high expectations for their students and even higher expectations for themselves; to meet their expectations they are constantly repairing their relationships. "The best teachers consistently compliment and praise students." Praising students is one way great teachers keep their relationship with their students healthy. Mrs. Hoover added how important it is to have structure in the classroom. Although you want to leave room for creativity, students like guidance and consistency. If they have that, they are often more comfortable in your classroom, know what to expect of you everyday, and in return, know what you expect of them. This structure helps to keep a healthy relationship with your students and allows you to constantly repair.

Great teachers do consistently give praise, but they use five strategies to make it work. To be effective praise must be:
1. Authentic : Praise must be genuine and true.
2. Specific : Praise must focus on a specific action, such as an effective job asking questions during class.
3. Immediate : Your praise needs to be made in a timely manner.
4. Clean : There are two parts to clean praise. First, if you are complimenting someone with the sole purpose of getting them to do something in the future, your praise is not clean. Second, it can not include the word "but". You cannot couple praise with a criticism.
5. Private : The most effective praise is done privately. It may not be cool to have high grades to some, so if you recognize students with the highest grade, they may work hard to not get the highest grade during the next quarter.

Many people may have reasons not to praise their students, but I leave you with this - Do you work harder for your employer that praised the good work you were doing or for the one that never told you how good of a job you were doing?

2017 Summer Convention!

I had a wonderful opportunity this week to go to the Pennsylvania Summer State FFA Convention! It brought back a lot of good memories while I made new ones, too. I was able to spend my days helping at the Vet Science CDE - which was a whole new experience in itself, as I never had classes in Vet Science and definitely did not compete. However, I learned a lot and gain a whole new respect for what those students went through on Tuesday and Wednesday in those contests. Moreover, I was able to spend the Tuesday evening with the West Greene FFA Chapter, who invited me to dinner with them. Then, I went to the first session with the H.G. Parkinson FFA and the McGuffey FFA. It's been about 7 years since I was a student at the state convention, so it was an awesome feeling to be back and on a new level! I cannot wait to return again as a teacher with my own group of students. Thanks to all the chapters that welcomed me this week and let me hang out with them!

 

What Great Teachers Do Differently - Part 1

Mrs. Hoover and I chose "What Great Teachers Do Differently: 17 Things That Matter Most" by Todd Whitaker to read together this summer. So far we are both really enjoying it! We think that it is real. The author wrote this book on real life observations and behaviors he has noticed through his time as a teacher and principal.

In the beginning of the book, he discusses discipline a lot. He says that great teachers focus on expectations not rules. As a teacher - especially an Ag teacher - you may not always get the "cream of the crop", but great teachers will adapt to everyone and have the same expectations for everyone. These can be simple: Be respectful, be prepared, and be on time. When we focus on expectations instead of rules, we are less likely to lead students to doing something against the rules. Most students are more fearful of the unknown. If they know what will happen when they break a rule - for example detention - they will weigh they costs and benefits. If they don't know, then they are more likely to meet expectations. Maybe more importantly, the teacher needs to remember to think before they react. Is it really worth arguing with or yelling at this student? Is that an appropriate reaction? All teachers have the same "bag of tricks", but the great teachers use their bag less often and choose the right reactions at the right times. 

Mrs. Hoover said in her FFA program she expects students to behave in all school aspects to be able to go on field trips and participate in other activities. So if a student was kicked out of school or had another disciplinary action against them, they will probably not be allowed to go on a field trip with the FFA. 

Furthermore, we need to remember as teachers that we may be the problem. That we are the variable in the classroom. If students aren't paying attention in class or succeeding, we need to make a change in what we are doing. 

Lastly, one quote that stuck with me was from a teacher the author was observing. She had been teaching a long time and still had so much enthusiasm in the classroom, so the author asked her, how? She replied, "This may be my 38th year teaching 5th grade, but for these students it is their first time around." Really puts things in perspective!