Weekly Vitamins: Objectives and Interest Approaches.. No Longer the Gummy Bear Vitamins

Anyone ever have to take the gummy bear vitamins? Maybe they take Flintstones vitamins? I've never taken them because I never really needed to and always thought they were a silly promotional movement to get kids (and I'm sure some adults) to take their vitamins. OF COURSE vitamins are important, but I guess I always felt that you should only take it if you needed to take them. And as I now know from my food science course, Americans eating a typical diet get plenty of vitamins in the foods that they already eat. So unless you have a specific deficiency, you don't need to take extra vitamins. Even before this tidbit of knowledge, I thought they were unnecessary; pointless. 

bjs.com

Full disclosure time... that was how I felt about objectives and interest approaches a while ago (gasp!). I assumed that they were part of standards and procedures that teachers had to do, but didn't actually want to do. For some reason, it seemed like something that was dreaded. But before you become outraged, know that there is a happy ending to this story. 

The main objective of using objectives

In our book, Methods of Teaching Agriculture, I love how they define the purpose of objectives: "what the teacher wants to achieve from the unit". Overall, it's about what the students should be learning at the end of the day, unit, and semester. They are the underlying goals of the fun labs, interesting videos, and informative articles. Everything, then, must be purposeful. 

jongose.ninja

As I push myself to think like a teacher, I realize that this is important. Especially when I think about how I'll be teaching 42 minute classes. I'm used to my high school block scheduling with about double this time, so I need to make sure each aspect of my lesson and unit is purposeful. 

Some highlights for the importance of objectives from the book are as follows:

• relevance of the assignments
• structuring the sequence and order of the course
• growth toward the knowledge/skill to be learned
• provide a basis for evaluation

Students and teachers alike can look to objectives to know what it is they are going to be tested on, what they are doing that day, and what the whole point of the lesson is. 

I remember in my educational psychology class, we used the acronym "TSWBAT" which stood for "the students will be able to" and then inserted our action verb, and finished with the evaluation portion of objectives. I think this is such a useful equation that they also mentioned in the book. Another source I found ties in several of the key concepts we've been learning about including Bloom's taxonomy and domains to make objectives. Check out this article on using Bloom's to figure out your objective. It is the older taxonomy version, but I think the same principles apply. 

The three domains

Just like vitamins serve a specific purpose, some domains focus more on specific areas of learning than others. By being sure to include the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains, teachers can better differentiate their instruction to include all types of learners. Students should be challenged in many ways; pulling them from their comfort zones and getting them accessing their brain from all means. 

One thing that objectives can encompass this is by using action verbs to describe the action that needs to be performed by the students. They used the example of saying "explain" instead of "list". It requires the student to not just say, but cognitively express their understanding of the information they learned. 

Keeping these things in mind will keep my lessons purposeful and make sure that students are engaged in learning in more than just one way. I think this is so essential as I learn about student strengths and ways to be adaptive. I also think that even the most skilled students require differentiation. I recall from my summer reading book, Teaching Outside the Box: How to Grab Your Students by their Brains by Louanne Johnson, that people learn better when their brains are surprised. If I keep my students on their toes, I can keep their interest, no matter what level they're on.

Speaking of interest...

Speaking of that, I should mention those interest approaches. I hadn't even heard of interest approaches until my junior year of school and even then it sounded funny to me. Do you always need one? What is its purpose? Did my teachers in the past use one?

edutopia.org

I honestly can't remember any of my teachers in high school using an interest approach. Not to say that they didn't use one... just that I don't remember it. But I don't think that's a bad thing. If they did in fact use one, they were able to successfully link it to the lesson that day, so it didn't seem like it was a random activity or random start to the class. 

When I first really learned about interest approaches, I thought they were just fun little packages of information that piqued the interest of students. It would have had something to do with the content, but wouldn't directly roll over into the main lesson. For example, if I were teaching a lesson about the water cycle, I might have thought a good interest approach would be "discuss all of the uses of water". While the students might touch on the parts of the water cycle, they probably would have talked about food, cleaning, the beach, etc. While it relates to the subject at hand, it's not what I want to teach about. 

Now I understand that interest approaches directly and (again) purposefully pertain to the lesson. Some interest approaches are actually a part of the lesson. I thought that was really interesting too. In the book, it shares some examples of types of approaches. Some are just meant to be discussed at the beginning of class, and then there is a transition into the lesson. However, some are questions that the students discover they can't answer until they learn more. The teacher will teach new content, but carry that initial approach until the end of the lesson so that students can see if, with their new information, if they can figure out the solution. 

Clarity and reflection

As I've stated many times throughout this blog post, I'm discovering that everything teachers do is purposeful. Sitting through 12+ years of school, and I never realized the real reasons for why teachers did what they did or said what they said. Now it's becoming clear why my teachers would write out the objectives on the board, or why they used the transitions that they did. I'm excited to begin implementing these ideas in my lessons. Perhaps those silly gummy bear vitamins truly served a purpose.

Leaving Thought:

"It's very difficult to plan a journey if you don't know where you are headed and have no mileposts to guide you; and so it is with planning instruction"-(Newcomb, et al., 2004)

Weekly Vitamins: A Spoonful of Principles Helps the Units Get Planned

Just as the children Mary Poppins nannies need some sugar, the readings for this week were just what I needed to understand the value in unit planning. I knew on the surface what unit plans were, but didn't understand the tie-in between other units and goals of the year. I simply thought they were the over-arching topic and the lessons within the unit taught about that topic. Now I understand that every teacher has an interwoven structure that links all of the topics taught in a class and that there aren't only connections found within each lesson, but also connections between lessons and units. 

The chimney sweep

I had to clean out some of what I knew (or thought I knew) about unit planning and start from scratch. The general idea isn't what was new. It was the planning principles that I needed to understand. I found it really insightful reading about Bloom's taxonomy. I have known and even referenced it many times in the past. But I never knew it was revised. Seeing the two taxonomies side by side made me think about why it was changed and how knowing this new order would make a difference in how I went about teaching. 

The main difference that struck me was the switch in order between synthesis (now creating) and evaluation (now the verb form: evaluating). This new change makes sense to me. Students should first evaluate based on their knowledge and experience and the steps leading up to that one. When they are able to express their thoughts, it is then that they can add on to it or create something from what they've evaluated. 

psia-nw.org

I would liken it to a mechanics project. Students should evaluate what the best techniques are and critically think about how the project is made, what the best materials are, what important procedures they need to follow, etc. and then they can create on their own. If they've created what they've carefully evaluated, that would show the deepest understanding of the subject.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Just like the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious can be a mouthful, so can some of these theories and principles. But each list provides such valuable information that can be chunked into more manageable meanings. 

Significant learning (Fink, 2003) is all about the backbone of unit plans. There are many steps involved but they split it into three basic areas: building strong primary components, assembling components into a coherent whole, and finishing important remaining tasks. What I like about this set-up is that part 1 (building strong primary components) is all about the heart of the operation. This is the part that students experience and are directly impacted by it. Part 2, (assembling components into a coherent whole) is the fitting together of the course and determining the flow of the course. Finally, part 3 (finishing important remaining tasks) is the one that the teacher is impacted by the most. I'm glad Fink included this part because it talks about grading, potential issues, and reflection. This is so essential to the process. A teacher cannot only plan and implement, they must evaluate and reflect on what they've seen.

More and more I am seeing the need for self-reflection and the benefit it has to a classroom. I'd hope to get feedback from my students but also look at each element of the lesson, unit, and course as a whole and see how effective I was at meeting the objectives and goals established in part 1. 

There were also a lot of great principles outlined in Strategies for Great Teaching. The main points I got out of this were that every brain is unique and must be catered to in different ways. Emotions, experiences, and practice will help maximize learning and will allow students to be motivated. 

I'm sure every teacher faces the challenge of adapting to each students' specific needs. I hope that I would be able to find ways to include all of the elements of learning modalities, motivation, and types of intelligences to impact as many students as possible. 

The bottomless bag 

Just when I thought I've seen all of the theories another one finds its way to me. The theory of Understanding by Design is something so simple, yet is something I wouldn't have thought of in the same way. I love the concept of planning with the end in mind. What do I want my students to know when they leave? What is important for them if they were to pursue a career in this area of study? What should my lessons/units connect to when we reach the last day?

I tend to like working in chronological order so I would assume unit planning and course planning would start with identifying the units, and then planning lesson 1 for unit 1, then lesson 2, etc. I realize now that I can still follow this format, but if I don't first identify the desired results, I might just be teaching in circles. Or worse.. I might commit the "twin sins" of either activity-driven lessons or content coverage.. yikes! 

Content coverage doesn't teach what's important and doesn't make connections. It teaches that they should know a bunch of information by the end of the semester or before the test.
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If we teach with intent and purpose, and if students are actively working toward that purpose with a clear understanding of the goals, it won't be about covering information and sprinkling some activities. It will be about finding meaning and connections to the information they are learning. 

Relating to reality

Some of the readings really dove into the brain and how students learn. In my summer reading book Teaching Outside the Box: How to Grab Your Students by Their Brains by Louanne Johnson, she mentioned that there was a really good TED talk about how the left and right hemispheres of the brain operate differently, even though information is stored in all parts of the brain. She thinks that most teachers are more left-brain dominant, meaning that they are more analytical and thrive with literal meaning. Students, she feels, are right-brain dominant, so they seek images, patterns, and context to find meaning. Check out the TED talk on The Divided Brain to see what connections we can make to how students learn in the classroom and how teachers can use this information to adapt to their students.

Leaving Thought

"Great teaching is a series of purposeful acts, professional judgments, and designed decisions based on experience and theory about how learning happens best"-- (Derner and Reardon, 2004)

Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of
teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Reardon, M. & Derner, S. (2004) Strategies for great teaching. Chicago, Illinois: Zephyr Press

Mctighe, J. & Wiggins, G. (2012). Understanding by design framework. Retrieved from
http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/UbD_WhitePaper0312.pdf

Fink, L.D. (2003) A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. Retrieved
from http://www.deefinkandassociates.com/GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.pdf

West Virginia University, (2010.). Bloom’s taxonomy. Retrieved from
http://community.wvu.edu/~lsmong/Articulate%20Blooms%20Wheel/blooms_wheel.html

Greenwood Ag Sciences Program Video!

I'm super excited to share my video on my cooperating center at Greenwood High School. In this video, I highlight some of the key areas of the program including their agriscience program information, FFA Chapter, SAE projects, local industries and community support for the program.

 

Enjoy the video!

Thanks to Mrs. Pontius and Mr. Clark for working on this video with me and allowing me to record their facilities!

A Trip to the Perry County Fair

This weekend, I visited my cooperating center at the Perry County Fair in Newport, PA. I arrived at 4:30, right in time to see the livestock auctions where students across the county proudly showed off their SAE projects in hopes to get a bid for their animal. These students all had Ownership/Entrepreneurship projects.

Perry County Fair, Newport, PA

I was able to observe the roles Mrs. Pontius and Mr. Clark had in the auction as well as helping students prepare for their SAE's. Mrs. Pontius and Mr. Clark like to check on students throughout the summer that are showing and help them with anything they need for their SAE. She especially helps them with training the animals and teaching the students on showing techniques. 

How typical visits go

When there was some down-time, I asked Mrs. Pontius about how she does other types of SAE visits such as research, entrepreneurship, crop farming, etc. She said that her and Mr. Clark would usually go and check on how the students were doing and update them of when their records were due on AET. They would help students if they needed assistance with their projects.

Thomas' project on his lambs

She also talked about how they would seek out their employer and ask them questions like how is the student doing? Is there anything we (the ag teachers) could do to help make the experience better? What skills or topics should we teach to help prepare students for a project or career in your line of work?

I especially liked that last question because not only does it tie in the classroom part of the three-circle model, but it shows the community that they're not just sending the students out to do a project, they want to prepare students and get their resources from the employers themselves.

Procedures during visits

Bethany's project on her rabbit, Bella

Having never been on the receiving end of an SAE visit when I was in ag classes, I was interested to know how they were facilitated and what types of rules they had to follow. Mrs. Pontius and Mr. Clark always travel together to visits to ensure that there is more than one adult with a student. If one of them can't go, they will find school administration or other teachers to go. Mrs. Pontius even mentioned bringing chapter officers or members along to the visit. Teachers would just have to keep in mind that they should drive with more than one student or have the student meet them at the location. Rules aside, having administration visit would show them some of the work that teachers and students do over the summer, ensuring them the need for things like extended contracts. As for students visiting, it might be nice for them to see other types of SAE's or seeing what their peers are working on. 

Both teachers will also only visit the student if there is someone else like a parent present. This ensures the safety and comfort for everyone and also allows the teachers to meet the parents if they haven't already. They might also ask questions about how they can help the parents make the process better.

A little piece of Greenwood

While I was at the fair, I got to meet some of the officers that were helping out with the auction. I asked if I could steal some officers to have them take me around the fair. They eagerly took me around the fair and showed me some of their projects, the FFA stands, and of course the prized food booths. I asked them a ton of questions about their community and things in the area, neighboring schools, and things their FFA officers did. I also met some members who will be my future students so that was neat to start forming those relationships with them. 

The Agriscience Poster Project

I commend myself for introducing myself as Ms. Kane to everyone I met. It felt really strange but I didn't slip up and say my first name, so I think the transition won't be too challenging! However, as I was walking around and interacting with the officers and members, I realized that my role is now changing from visitor to their school to their student teacher, Ms. Kane. I had to take a step back and think about the things I was saying and doing. Of course, I wasn't saying anything wrong, but I wondered what do teachers talk about to their students? How do they carry themselves? How do I handle controversial topics like politics? How do I relate to them not as a peer that's only a few years older than them, but an adult that should be seen as an authority figure? 

Ethan showing his project at the auction

It was definitely a reflective moment as I asked myself those questions. The reality of student teaching is certainly starting to creep in as I feel out my role and how I interact with my students. 

I really enjoyed visiting the fair and seeing the teachers and students as they worked hard to show their SAE projects. I couldn't help but smile at how many times the students sought out the teachers for their questions. I envisioned that one day being me helping my students with all of their concerns, questions, and advice.

 Leaving Thought

"Wake up in anticipation something great is going to happen today" -unknown

Weekly Vitamins: The supplements to teaching techniques

Weekly Vitamins: The supplements to teaching techniques

Periodically, we have readings about various topics relating to education. These materials are meant to give us the extra information and promote further research or discussion about the topic. They give us the extra boost we need to strengthen our teaching bones and energize our brain. This week we read:

Warnick, B., Straquadine, G., Elliot, J., Knight, J. A., Rudd, R., Deeds, J. P., Swortzel, K. A., Nevin, N. A., Knobloch, N. A., Miller, G., Whittington, M. S., Connors, J., Boone, H. N., Boone, D. A., Gartin, S. A. (2005) The Science of Teaching. Agricultural Education Magazine, 77:4, 5-28.

Vaugh, P.R. (n.d.) Effective teaching: Notes for the Beginning Teacher. Retrieved from

http://www.casnr.unl.edu/aps/teachman.pdf

Wong, H.K. & Wong, R.T. (2009). The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher (4th ed.). Mountain View: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.

Structure makes the world go 'round

These sources were a compilation of multiple articles expressing the need for teachers do perform various different tasks or portray certain characteristics. For the most part, the articles provided a reassurance to what I have learned in my classes previously. However there were a few that sparked my interest. 

steelstructures.co.za

One of the points I made note of was structure. In The Science of Teaching, it said that having structure makes students be more on-task and keeps them focused. Learning goals and objectives are good ways to give students structure. Doing something that is familar to them and getting into a routine will not only ensure better classroom management, but will get their minds going in the right direction as they enter into the classroom and begin to learn.

Along with this, the article also says that teachers should use motivation and praise (of course). They talk about criticism and how researchers observed that praise usually is met with better scores, better understanding, etc. while criticism is met with lower scores and less motivation. I was about to argue (in my head, of course) that criticism can be a good thing when I saw the next line talking about how teachers should still give "academic direction". I thought that was brilliant. The word criticism is usually seen as a negative word, but giving academic direction means doing what is needed to keep students focused and on track with their learning. I think it brings a whole new meaning to what people have always termed as "constructive criticism".

Problem solving methods

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Just telling me that I should incorporate problem solving skills in my classroom is great but how? With such a broad and over-used term as "problem solving", I think people assume that everyone knows how to use it, or even how to teach with it. So when I read about it in The Science of Teaching and saw specific examples on how to use it, I made note of it all. There were several so I won't  explain them all, but it made me realize that just like there may be more than one solution to a problem, there may be more than one way to go about solving the problem as well. Perhaps its comparing your current state to the goal you wish to reach. How do you get to your goal? Maybe the method is choosing between choices and deciding on which choice is more important in that moment for what you are trying to accomplish. I would like to incorporate these methods into my teaching but I want to use the appropriate type of problem solving method for what I want my students to eventually understand.

Growth for student learning

I loved reading about the two questions for opportunities for student learning in The Science of Teaching. The first one asks "Did the teacher give equal opportunity based on learning styles and needs?" and the second one then asks "Did the student show the teacher what they learned?". These two questions coupled together bring the whole lesson full circle. Not only does it focus on whether the teacher was adaptive, variable, and patient, but it also checks whether or not at the end of the day did those methods and adaptations work and can your students walk away saying that they learned something new?

I also really liked in Wong's The first days of school article how Wong made a point that there is a difference between efficient and effective teaching. Efficient is doing things right. Effective is repeatedly doing the right thing. We can teach our students to be effective in what they are doing and how they can continue those skills even after they leave the classroom.

Top ten

Rosenshine and Furst was a pair that I recalled learning about previously and was mentioned a lot of out the three articles. Vaugh takes the time to go through each of their top ten characteristics of teachers. After participating in our RTL experiences, I find it funny how many of these same traits we mentioned we could improve on were in this list. 

1. Clarity

2. Variability

3. Enthusiasm

4. Task-oriented/ Business-like behavior

5. Positive reinforcement

6. Student opportunity to learn

7. Avoid criticism

8. Structuring comments

9. Effective questioning

10. Humor

Most of these were stated in the other articles that were read above, but I liked how they were a little more drawn out in Vaugh's article. I also thought it was interesting as I reflected on the order that Rosenshine and Furst placed the traits. Clarity being the number one trait of effective teachers means that students really value when assignments, deadlines, key information, and more are made clear. I can completely understand this being a top frustration. When I walk out of my classes and don't know what the teacher expects of me or wants me to do, or when I am still unsure of deadlines, it creates a frustrating situation. It will be something for me to keep in mind that I should spend extra time on complex subjects, or take a few extra minutes to go over the project guidelines. I shouldn't assume that students understand what I said or that a rubric will be enough explanation for them to start a project.

Related resources

On one of my favorite sites (Pinterest) I came across this fun little pin about icebreakers to do on the first day of school. There are some really good ones in here that students will be more eager to do (they're not your typical 2 truths and a lie.. yuck!)

http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/classroom-icebreakers/

These could also be useful for other activities throughout the year!

pitt.edu

I was really interested in the problem solving parts of the articles for this assignment, so I tried to do a little more exploring. 

http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/771-great-ways-to-teach-skills-like-critical-thinking-and-problem-solving

I came across this article which shares some neat things about teaching critical thinking and problem solving. But I loved the probing Einstein example towards the end which explains that given an hour to solve a hard problem, Einstein would spend 55 minutes figuring out solutions and alternatives, and 5 minutes to actually solve it. I am eager to see what that kind of mentality would look like in a classroom and how much more it would benefit students. It would force them to not just try and solve the problem and get it done with, but figure out whether there was more than one way or if the initial solution would work all the time and if there were alternatives. Something to chew on!

RTL's (Reflective Teaching Lesson): Our Guinea Pig Experience

RTL's (Reflective Teaching Lesson): Our Guinea Pig Experience

The first week of school was not your typical syllabus week, here at Penn State. We started off right away with labs and presentations. One of our labs was to partner up and to a demonstrate Reflective Teaching Lesson. This lab wasn't focusing on the content as much as it was just getting our foot in the door and reflecting on what we learned.

The planning period

Nate Repetz (http://firingonallcylindersteachag.blogspot.com) was my partner for this RTL, and my role was to serve as a mentor while he presented the lesson. We were given a lesson on teaching about the structure of a castle... so the blueprints including a moat, towers, walls, rooms, etc. A little outside of our realm of agriculture, but again the focus was on reflection and teaching rather than actual content.

We were given the materials needed including a final exam, and we decided to teach from that. Instead of just simply showing them a blueprint and having them memorize, we thought it would be nice to visually walk through the property and have our students piece together the house as we described it. So our first question was about the moat. What do you encounter first? We would continue with those questions. We would try to emphasize the importance of the different parts of the house, and we wanted to make connections to houses now-a-days.

After this, we would distribute an exam with an unlabeled blueprint, and students would write in the names of the rooms. There were also two other questions about the time period these were used and why they were built the way they were.

Execution

Along with the other lessons presented, I think our lesson went fairly well, and I think the students have an understanding of the parts. Nate asked questions that guided the students to not just "what" it was but what it might have been used for, who would have used it, why it was placed where it was, and let students use their imaginations.

Reflection

Being aware that we had not only a short period to plan the lessons, but we also only had 15 minutes to present the lesson, I would say we did a fairly good job. Out of all of the lessons that we presented, somethings we all noticed that went well were:

• Pacing
• Variability
• Flow
• Resources

I think we have those "basic" concepts down of what a classroom looks like. However, some things that we believe the group could be stronger on is:

• Clarity
• Purposeful/using objectives
• Preparation
• Awareness

I think some of these traits go hand in hand. As far as clarity goes, being able to explain tricky concepts using specific vocabulary will allow students to focus on what needs to be done rather than what the teacher said. Even being more descriptive in procedures is important. So instead of saying "and then put this here... and that goes there" a teacher might say "now place object A on the weighing bowl, and place this on top of the scale". Clarity in all aspects will benefit all students in more ways than one.

In teaching purposefully, this stems from the idea of letting students know what they're learning and why. Instead of just jumping into a lesson and teaching, objectives need to be said. And instead of using precious class time to have students do an activity or answer questions that won't necessarily help with their end goal (but may relate), teachers can skip these non-essential questions and get to the meat and potatoes. For example, if a teacher were starting their lesson on small gas engines, they shouldn't ask questions like "who's been in a car before?". I think it's safe to assume that 100% of your students have been in some type of vehicle before if you're teaching in a school in the U. S.. Unless the area is atypical, teachers can skip those questions.

Preparation is key! Maybe filling out every single little detail in the lesson planning process isn't necessary (especially for our little 15 minute presentations)  but I think it is so important to have a written list of what is being taught. Teachers don't have to hold it or read from it (and shouldn't) but should just use it as a guide and to make sure they are asking all of the right questions, in the right order. That was one thing I really tried to stress as we planned our RTL presentation. Guiding the students room by room meant asking a lot of questions. If we wanted to ensure that we asked all of the appropriate questions in a logical order, it was important to write it down. And of course, being prepared material-wise is important.

Awareness we took to define as just always being aware of where your students are at, which ones are struggling, what you are doing and what they are doing. Are you standing where your students can see you and hear you? Can they also see the board? Are your students scratching their heads or are they excited because they understand? Was your explanation clear the first time? The second time? Placing ourselves in the seats where our students sit and asking ourselves these questions can eliminate many of those uncertainties. 

Part 3: Reflection on Summer Reading

Part 3: Reflection on Summer Reading

My insight on the book Teaching Outside the Box: How to Grab Your Students By Their Brains by Louanne Johnson

 

Part 3 began with power and ended in a bittersweet way. Chapters 9-11 spoke about motivation and persuasion, and the scoop on real questions from real teachers and real answers for real situations. Chapter 12 really brings the whole teaching deal full circle when you can see testimonies from students who were so positively impacted by their teachers. In reading these chapters, I had 4 burning questions that I hoped to figure out before I student taught. Mrs. Pontius, my cooperating teacher at Greenwood, assuaged me that what Louanne Johnson said in her book was true and Mrs. Pontius expressed her own philosophies as well.

What's the big secret??

tweakers.net

Motivation, motivation, motivation. It's one of the few things everyone wants to master but there is no definitive way of going about it. There are so many factors involved and even when something works for one person, it may not work for another. My fear going into teaching is not being engaging enough or having students who resent work. Hopefully the advice from teachers and my own self-discovery will give me the resources I need to get students motivated to learn.


Johnson stresses that there is always more to the story than what we see. Sometimes, it's the students that are having issues. Maybe they are not comfortable with their classmates or perhaps they don't understand the content and are afraid to ask. They may prefer to suffer in silence rather than risk being made fun of or facing disappointment. Other times, Johnson has discovered that it could be the presentation or facilitation by the teacher. She talks about group projects and why some students dread them. It could be because the teacher is asking them to do things they haven't learned yet. This may be seen more so in younger students, but if you ask them to do a group project and they've never done one before, they are going to struggle trying to figure that out. Or if they haven't used a microscope before and you ask them to analyze their data, they're going to be more focused on figuring out the microscope than analyzing the data. By first teaching students those skills like teammwork and delegation, or using their tools and resources, they are better able to focus on the content and learning.

Something both Johnson and Pontius mentioned is letting students have ownership not only of their work but of choosing what to do. Pontius suggests letting students decide and design the curriculum. She tells them what topics she wants them to know before the end of the semester and they choose how they want to go about learning it. Letting them decide not only lets you know what students really want, but it gives them the sense of responsibility that they seldom get to practice.

Negative vs. Positive Reinforcement

The next burning question I had was when to use negative reinforcement and when to use positive reinforcement. Both can be really good and helpful for students... but both can also be degrading, unfair, or instant gratification and nothing more if done incorrectly. So how can we use it correctly?

4pawsu.com

This topic ties in with the above question about motivation. Pontius suggests not relying on negative reinforcement, such as taking away points, activities, or rewards. Instead, she feels that by allowing students to take ownership of how they are learning and letting them be involved with the planning, it will eliminate the need for using reinforcement at all. Students don't like being told what to do and will push the limit. But if they have a say in their own education, they won't have any reason to complain.

Praise craze

Students so strongly desire the attention from their teachers. And that's not always a bad thing. I recall being in school and feeling really confident about an assignment. Seeing only corrections in bright red pen or a simple "Nice job" scribbled on my paper meant little to me. Thoughtful praise and constructive criticism meant much more. Some people might consider that positive reinforcement, but praise used in the right way is just simply being a good human; a good person. It's about boosting someone's confidence and self-esteem. It's about showing someone that even though they might make mistakes, they make progress in other areas. 

Some of the ways Pontius suggested giving praise to her students is through giving back papers with thought-out notes and even using stickers and stamps (she says even high schoolers crave them!). She also mentioned that trying to visit students in their activities outside of school like sports or theater can be really encouraging to them. If you can't go, she says the next best thing is to ask them about how their game or a recital went. When you take time out to show students that they mean more to you than just a quick scribble of words or seeing them as a number in a classroom, they really value you as a teacher and person. 

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Johnson also made some genius suggestions. One that I really liked was that she would write the names of all of her students down on a note card. Every day or every week, she would pick out two or three name cards at random. She would put them on her desk as a reminder to herself to pay special attention to those students. She would take note of the things they did well or the small acts of kindness they performed in the classroom. She would then write them a quick little note before they left for the day saying thank you. Those little notes might have been the only praise that student heard all year (hopefully not!). How precious are those moments where students start to see value and confidence in themselves. 

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There is one other thought that Johnson shares about motivation and effective means of encouragement. She says: "Praising students for being intelligent results in short-term good behavior and long-term bad behavior; praising them for their efforts results in self-confidence and increased effort" (Johnson, 2015). One thing I will need to remind myself is that there is a difference between student work results and student effort. Usually, they go hand in hand; if you work hard, the results will be good. But there will be students that try their best despite opposition. Others might do well but hardly lift a finger or will cut corners to get there. In those cases, I would have to admire the student that put in an honest effort even if they don't completely understand. 

Questions, comments, or concerns

I asked Mrs. Pontius for the burning questions that she had before she student taught and even afterwards. Among the stories she shared, one thing she said was to ask as many questions as you can. In a field like education, other teachers want to help. They know what a young student teacher may be going through and would be more than happy to pass on their wisdom. Even ask questions to your students, she says. Ask them what activities they liked, what they want to learn about, and questions about what's going on in their lives. Fostering that connection with students will make it much easier to approach them when problems and concerns come up. And confidently approaching other teachers will allow you to not go through that struggle alone.

 

Book report

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After having read this book, I feel much more confident in myself as a teacher. What I love about this book is that the advice is not only for new teachers, but also for the experienced ones. I can flip back on this book in my first year of teaching or my thirtieth year of teaching and get see things outside the  box or remind myself of a procedure. I strongly suggest this book to anyone who has questions about a specific topic or just wants to hear real cases and real feedback of methods tried. Johnson humbles herself enough to explain her faults and mistakes and advice on how she resolved the issues. These stories from her years of teaching put my mind at ease as I now have an inkling of the life of a teacher.

 Leaving Thought

"...for taking on one of the most difficult, challenging, frustrating, emotionally exhausting, mentally draining, satisfying, wonderful, important, and precious jobs in the world. Thank you for being a teacher. You truly are the unsung American hero. You have my respect and my gratitude"--Louanne Johnson