Weekly Investment 7 - Rubrics? What?

I hate assessments, but I LOVE rubrics. I can complete most assignments well if I have a rubric. Why? Because I know EXACTLY what my instructor is looking for if their rubric is clear. If their rubric is clear, I would almost just take the rubric over the instructions for the assignment. It tells me what I need to know and what I am being graded on. People of all ages want clear and accurate directions that are easy to follow - A.K.A. a Rubric.

I also feel that rubrics create consistency for the teacher. It takes opinion out of the equation and helps the teacher/instructor to stay on task when grading many of the same assignments. As much as a rubric gives the student guidance, it also gives the teacher guidance - when teaching the material and when grading.

What I did not know before this reading was the different types of rubrics and I learned some things I would think to use a rubric for - like class participation. ASCD has a published book all about rubric, but also has some nice guidelines online. Is the rubric holistic or analytic; general or task-specific? It lays this information out in a nice table seen here:

I personally like task-specific and analytic rubrics, but I think there is a place for all of them. For example, if you are writing a rubric for a whole unit, it may need to be more general than for a specific assignment. General rubrics can be handed to students at the beginning of an assignment, while task-specific rubrics function more as "scoring direction."

While I see myself using task-specific rubrics more often, I can now see the need for a general rubric. "Rubrics help teachers teach…rubrics help students learn." I said earlier that rubrics can help teachers stay consistent and this doesn't just go with grading - but also in the classroom. Furthermore, it helps students to look ahead and see what you may be building up to, which will help them to organize their learning in your classroom. I am interested in taking some more time to look into this and maybe read the full book!

 References: 

Brookhart, S. (n.d.). Chapter 1. What are Rubrics and Why are they Important?Retrieved October 8, 2017, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/112001/chapters/What-Are-Rubrics-and-Why-Are-They-Important%C2%A2.aspx. 

Stoughton, A.L. & Myers, B.E. (2008) Creating and working with rubrics. Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC06900.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
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Problem Solving Lab - What to give and what not to give.

This past week I was able to complete a lesson plan for and teach my first problem solving lab. As I work through my "Basic Principles of Soil and It's Land Uses" Unit for spring, I chose to do my problem solving lesson on finding soil horizons. My essential question was "How do I use soil texture, soil color, and soil formations to find soil horizons?" At this point in the unit, students will have been taught and have practiced soil texturing and soil coloring. They will have also learned about soil horizons. Therefore, I thought it would be best to have them do an activity where they used all of those skills to help them find soil horizons based on characteristics.

In the beginning of the lesson I set up the problem and gave them some information they would need. In the future teaching this lesson, I would start out by asking them questions and letting them give me the information that they needed to complete the assignment. I feel like this would further the problem solving and push them more into the application and analysis sections of Bloom's taxonomy.

I also think I will forgo the power point so that it is more of a discussion. I or a student can write their answers on the board and leave them there to help them during their lab. I think this would be good to give them a break from the power point and also increase the classroom discussion. Furthermore, instead of having the directions on a power point, I may have a printout of the directions to give them, as well as verbally stating them. Also, I think that I need to at least put the soils in order that they were taken out of the pit. Since it will be January/February when I will be teaching this they will more than likely not be able to go to a soil pit. It would not be fair to not put them in order, because if they were able to be in the pit they would be able to see what order the samples were in and just need to distinguish the soil horizons. There would be too many variations of "right" answers if I do not. I think that I will need many stations set up so that students can work through them easily and more efficiently.

I found this lab challenging because I have not taught my peers information that I will be teaching my students, so it was a little confusing for them. I also do not think I could have set my lab up the same way I plan on changing my lesson plan for my classroom - because my peers needed that information. Whereas hopefully if I do my job, my students will be able to give me the information when prompted. Otherwise, this lab gave me insight that I need to not give so much information and let the students give me the information.

Are we preparing students for the 21st Century?

This week's readings had a lot to do with problem solving and the problem solving approach. There was also a reading on "How are students reaching 21st century goals?" Since we ended up talking a lot about problem solving in class last week, I wanted to touch more on it for my weekly investment.

Our reading focused on Projects vs. Project Based Learning. I found this very interesting because I can recall many times in high school and college where I have been giving a project that contributed little to nothing to what I was learning. However, I can only recall a handful of times where I was given a project that was beneficial to my learning. It is easy to fall into the hole where you give students projects to break up lecture, but are they really learning from it? Project based learning is when students learn the material from completing the project. The project requires critical thinking that revolves around an open ended question, allows student voice, and includes processes for reflection and revision.

When we are using projects in the classroom to help teach students versus teaching students to help them complete the project, I think they get a lot more value out of it. I am not saying that you are not teaching them some of the material, but you may not be teaching them all of the material - and may the project helps them to connect the dots of what they have been learning.

We also talk about the 4 C's in class last week: Communication, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, and Creativity. I found an article from Oxford University Press about how these 4 C's prepare students for the 21st century. Although, the article is geared towards English classrooms, I think it lays out 5 good steps to help in any classrooms.

These 5 steps are:
1. Let your students lead the learning.
2. Create an inquiry-based classroom environment.
3. Encourage collaboration.
4. Develop critical thinking skills.
5. Encourage creativity.

In summary, students learn best when they are empowered and if you have empowered them to lead the classroom they need to be able to ask questions. A classroom that promotes sharing, is simultaneously promoting speaking and listening skills. When we are taking students beyond comprehension and challenging them with real world problems we are developing their critical thinking skills. And finally, students need to be able to express what they have learned in a creative way.

Hmmm..... this all sounds a lot like the 3 circle model in action. ????
  


References

ELT, O.U. (2013, October 9). 5 Ways to prepare your students for the 21st Century. Retrieved October 1, 2017, from https://oupeltglobalblog.com/2013/10/09/5-ways-to-prepare-your-students-for-the-21st-century/

Larmer, J. & Mergendoller, J.R. (2010). The main course, not dessert: How are students reaching 21st century goals? With 21stcentury project based learning. Retrieved from http://bie.org/object/document/main_course_not_dessert
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1st Unit Plan - So much editing

So I just got done with my thousandth draft of my 1st unit plan. I have wrote, re-wrote, re-organized, re-re-organized, and contemplated. And repeated that process. I feel like I am still trying to squeeze a whole bunch of stuff into a little bit of time, but I am not sure how to shorten it anymore.

I feel very overwhelmed when starting a unit plan - and maybe it is because I started this one mostly from scratch with help from a textbook. I did not really use a "borrowed" unit plan or lesson plan, because I really like soils and thought this would be a good unit to really dive into (plus I did not like ones that I found). It was really hard to wrap my head around and figure out at first. I think I have a better grasp on it now that we have learned more of the information in class - like writing objectives properly. I think the next 20 unit plans should get easier! (At least I hope!)

I would really appreciate any tips or suggestions! I would be happy to email the document to anyone that would like to provide feedback for me 😊

Listening to Students - Weekly Investment #5

This week, Kate Simonds, "I'm Seventeen" TED Talk really hit me hard. It honestly gave me goosebumps. This is what we, agricultural educators, are really about - and I am glad that I am going to be able to be a part of students being about to reach their potential and make their own decisions.

It is really important that we as teachers listen to our students, even though this can be hard for us sometimes. Why is hard? Well, as teachers, we are over achievers with a lot of ideas. Sometimes its hard to step back and let our students take over, make decisions, and make mistakes. I know I am guilty of hearing outrageous ideas from students, and shrugging them off. What I should be doing is asking the right questions to help them through their thought process to build on their idea - show interest and listen to what they are saying, not just hear it.

I think that Kate made some very good arguments in her TED Talk. One was that students have some really great ideas, and adults are solving our country's problems so why are we not asking the students for help. I am only 25 and I know and can tell that my ability to be creative and come up with good ideas is on the decline. It was so easy for me in high school to make a really creative project and really easily. Now, it takes a lot of work, thought, and pinterest.

I found a graphic I really liked that can help us with the process of listening to students.

Jackie Gerstein listed some listening skills for the educator that included keeping an open mind, remaining empathetic, using nonverbal cues that demonstrate that you are focused on the speaker, and to summarize what the speaker said. Seems pretty typical? This is what we do as adults when we talk to our peers, right? Like Kate said - she had to gain respect when she walked on to the TED Talk stage because she was seventeen, when most adults already had gained it before they spoke. She also says to ask students open-ended questions and ask them how they can relate back to what they are learning (metacognition). I think that even though these seem like pretty simple ideas, we need to keep them in mind. 

Jackie Gerstein also discussed what happens in our classrooms when we listen to students. As a teacher you create a safe environment, better you relationship with your students, create a positive culture, and and let the learners seem themselves as active partners in their own education (autonomy). 

This really helps me to think about and be more conscience when I am listening and responding to students. I hope to be the teacher that listens to all of my students idea - no matter how outlandish and respond to them sincerely and with questions that will help them to connect to their learning. I hope that as a teacher I can give students purpose to their education. 

References: 

Gerstein, J. (2015, November 19). Student Voice Comes With Teachers as Listeners. Retrieved September 23, 2017, from https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2015/11/20/student-voice-comes-with-teachers-as-listeners/

T. (2015, February 09). I'm 17 | Kate Simonds | TEDxBoise. Retrieved September 23, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OkOQhXhsIE

What is soil? Lab 2 - Interest Approach

The Bellwork:

Yesterday during my interest approach lab, I taught students about what soils really are. The students' bellwork was to write down things they thought were making the plant grow. I asked them to set this aside and we would come back to it later. I wanted them to have their list, so at the end of class they could reflect upon it and see if they agree with what they said from the beginning. I think I need to do this once during a full class period to see if I like it or not and see if it works or if I need to revise and review the bellwork at the beginning. 

The Interest Approaches:

I really love soil! However, I am not blind to the fact that most people do not have any interest in learning about the soil. This is why I tried to bring in several approaches to catch their interest - first with the bellwork. I passed around a soil sample and asked the students what they thought was in the soil to hopefully spark their interest about the soil actually being there. If I was teaching this class in the fall, I would maybe take the students to a soil pit; however, I will be teaching this class in January during my student teaching internship and they may not be an option. I may give groups soils samples that they can touch and look through to see what it in it in the future, though.

Afterwards, I showed the students a 2 minute and 45 second video that explained what soil was to help build the interest. This enabled me to start a class discussion and help the students come up with their own definition of soil and edit definitions they made as their "ticket outs" the day before.

One thing I already added to my lesson plan is "why?" I forgot to ask the important 3 letter question: Why? I could have been asking this all through my lesson to help my students work their way up Bloom's taxonomy and understand better. Why do you think there are nutrients in the soil? Why do think their needs to be air in the soil? Why do you think organisms benefit the soil? I really need to practice asking the why in the classroom and not taking that for granted.

Wrap-up:

Overall I think that my lesson went fairly well, but a few improvements I talked about can only make it better!!

You can see the video I showed in class here:

Bloom-ing into Writing Objectives (Weekly Investment #4)

When I started my first unit plan, I really struggled with writing objectives. After completing the reading, it really interested me and I wanted to dive into the use of Bloom's Taxonomy when writing objectives.

First of all, "Bloom's taxonomy is the classification of different objectives and skills that educators set for their students." Even though these six levels of learning were originally proposed in 1956, the terminology has been updated recently, as needed. Here are the six levels ("Teaching Innovation"):

1. Knowledge
2. Comprehension
3. Application
4. Analysis
5. Synthesis
6. Evaluation ("Writing Objectives")

Blooms taxonomy really helps us understand how learning takes place. For example, you cannot understand a concept before you have knowledge of it. Likewise, you cannon apply said concept before you have comprehended it. And so on, and forth until we reach the top of the pyramid. In every class we do not always have to start at the bottom of the pyramid. Lower level classes very well may, but when I am crafting objectives for higher level or advanced classes, students generally have the knowledge and possibly even comprehend, and need to work on applying and analyzing the skills. It is important to note that students may need refreshers in this information, but the majority of your lessons for a unit will probably not be "information dumping" for more advanced classes. ("Teaching Innovation")

When looking at objectives you can take some key things into mind when considering what level of Bloom's Taxonomy my objective is on. Phrases like "what is",  "how is" , or "where is" typically relate to Knowledge; while phrases like "how would you compare…" typically refer to Comprehension. Moving up Bloom's taxonomy to Application, questions about how to build, construct, develop and organize will help to test the student. Analysis you need to have students  categorize, classify, and discover; if students have reached Synthesis they can solve, design, and develop. Finally, you Evaluate. Can students defend or criticize their findings? ("Writing Objectives") Looking at this and how this questions are proposed have really helped me to understand objectives and goals in the classroom. 

These readings have really helped me to submerge myself into Bloom's and understand it a little better moving forward and while designing my lessons. While all students reach each of these levels at different times or points of instruction, I really need to take into consideration the students in class who may be way ahead. This means, having some extra things for them to work on so that they are bored and they are continuing to grow and push themselves. Even though, at some point in the not-so far away past, I thought that learning "how kids learn" was not all that important. Since I have started this journey, my thinking has thankfully changed and I have come realize how important it is to understand these theories at a deeper level instead of just on the surface. 

References

Teaching Innovation & Pedagogical Support. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2017, from https://tips.uark.edu/using-blooms-taxonomy/

Whittington, M.S. (2005). Writing objectives in secondary agriculture courses that challenge students to think. Agriculture Education Magazine. Retrieved from  http://www.naae.org/profdevelopment/magazine/archive_issues/Volume77/v77i5.pdf

Writing Objectives Using Bloom's Taxonomy. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2017, from http://teaching.uncc.edu/best-practice/goals-objectives/writing-objectives