Teachers Learn too!
Over the past couple of weeks of not being in the classroom, but generating enrichment lessons though google classroom: I have learned a lot. These things that I am learning from those that I am "stuck" in quarantine with will be subjects that I can expand on with lessons with my students someday. These things could be body work on a vehicle, or learning large scale diesel mechanics.I learned that the more body filler you use the better, you can always sand off the extra, but when its too late you can't add more. This lesson I took to heart, just like teaching, you can always put a lot of effort into your lessons but when the class is over, that 42 minutes is over it is over. You really need to use each and every minute of those 42 minutes because you don't get more minutes if you need them in a one day setting.
The next lesson I learned was about diesel mechanics. Always make sure your trailer and truck is greased. The grease is a lubricant that keeps things running right and keep metal from rubbing directly on metal and eventually causing parts to wear out. So this fits into learning as well. you never want to wear out your students you always what them to stay greased with knowledge, with lessons and with hand on learning. When you start feeding them the same thing over and over or even a different thing in the same way, they will lose their grease and then they will eventually wear out.Now for those of you that don't know. These two men that taught me this past week, they never went to college, they are not "educators". With that in mind, they did teach me, they showed me how things work in subjects that I am unfamiliar in.
Thanks for reading, What have you learned during your time in quarantine?
I love this!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite lessons with my students comes from someone who isn't trained in education, but has the heart of an educator nonetheless. Pardon me while I hijack your blog:
Several programs here in Oregon still have students working with large machinery. Our on-campus lab pedagogy class heads to the dairy every fall to drive tractors and Pete serves as tour guide, mentor, and failure-allower extraordinaire. It’s really fun to watch our students go from having never driven a tractor to at least being comfortable. This is because Pete engages many of the principles of the problem solving approach and key techniques into his process (whether he knows it or not).
Interest Approach: Pete motivates students by reminding them why tractor operation may be important to their career thus also establishing the usefulness of the skill, he readies students to drive by giving a tour of the tractor and demonstrating it’s operation. In addition to these principles, he employs the techniques of raising perplexing questions, giving a skillful demonstration, and asking questions of the students.
Questions to be Answered: Seeing a demonstration is one thing, actually being in a tractor seat for the first time is another. Students don’t have a lot of questions until they’re sitting in the seat needing to drive a tractor themselves. Ultimately, my favorite response from Pete is, “Try it and see.” Pete embraces the spirit of failure that really allows learning through this approach.
Problem Solution: This is where Pete shines. We watch students think about the obstacle of driving a tractor, sitting in the hot seat as an active process, and providing that directed learning through the objective of “everyone will drive before we leave today.” Students ask Pete questions, try things, and learn what they practice as they drive tractors around the dairy. The reward? Not popping the clutch! :-)
Back to your regularly scheduled blog post question: What have I learned during my time in quarantine:
--My kids are hilarious little people
--My husband really has very little to tell me about his day without his co-workers ;-)
--It's okay if my kids make guest appearances in my classes
--I don't have to entertain my kids every minute (they're wonderfully creative little people)
--How to light my home office for extended campus (online) recording
--How to get everything done in about four hours a day
--That my routine is an ESSENTIAL employee
I'm actually really amazed at the things I've "learned" that I probably knew all along. I just needed to take the time to actually see them. <3
That's awesome that you've been able to learn some new things. I can't say that I've really learned new things as much as I dove in deeper into other things. On the ag side of things, I made a whole Pest Murder Mystery activity where they have to read case files, coroner's reports, lab results, etc and determine which pest caused the soybean damage. I wish I could have done this with the students in class, but I honestly never would have had the time to put into making this activity if it were a regular school week.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, I've just been trying to figure out how to make the work that I'm sending home interesting. We aren't allowed to assign online stuff because many families in our county are without reliable internet, so everything we assign is on paper. I frequently give in and just assign an article from AgEdNet and give the questions or do a powerpoint and have them fill in the blanks like they would in class. But I make an effort to provide at least one or two really unique things (like the murder mystery assignment) that they can do that make learning a little more fun without making it a hassle or complicated.
For my animal systems class, I designed a lesson where they read about ruminant and non-ruminant digestion, then they are given a diagram of a ruminant and a monogastric animal (cow and pig). There is a third paper where they do what I call a "Paint by number... and more". Basically each step tells them what to write, draw, or do on the diagram. For example, I would say "color the part of the digestive tract that absorbs water yellow". They would have to know what that part of the digestive tract I'm talking about which is the content challenge, but then they get to have a little fun with the coloring and drawing.
So in total, I haven't learned anything new to the point of a new skill, but I've been stretching existing skills and have surprised myself with some of my creations that I'm excited to be able to use next year. It almost excites me to make these alternative lessons (key word: almost lol) because I now have a variety of tools to teach with next year that I am itching to see my students try.
P.S. I know that while this might be a great time to catch up on your lesson plans and unit plans and all of the other assignments you have to do, I know it's heart breaking to be away from your students and to miss out on the joys of student teaching and graduating. I pray that you were able to take away a lot of amazing experiences and that this experience will make you ready and motivated to work with students in the future. Because really, none of us can say that we've ever experienced anything quite like this pandemic. So even though you're not in the classroom getting your teaching experience, what you're getting instead is the experience to think on your feet, solve problems, manage stress, and continue working hard to interact and communicate with students and parents. You'll be well prepared for those skills when you get into teaching in the future. And honestly, that's a big chunk of year 1 of teaching. So to look on the positive side, you're much more prepared for teaching year 1 than many of us! :) Good luck! I look forward to any future posts.
I have learned how to Zoom better :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. Keeping adding to your teacher toolbox and communicating back!