Can I have your attention please???

This week in AEE 412 Lab we were challenged to find engaging ways to get our students thinking about the topics for the day, as we focused in on our interest approaches. While working on this lab I realized that there are many ways that you can grab a students attention, however finding an activity that engages your students and contributes to the overall learning for the day can be quite challenging. 

For my interest approach I choose to write a lesson for the electrical wiring unit in my Ag Mechanics 1 class. Since we would be covering the tools needed to wire a single duplex circuit during this lesson I decided to start my lesson by having each student examine a single tool and answer a few questions about it. Below are the questions I posed to the students during this interest approach. 

• Have you seen this tool before?

• Have you ever used this tool? If so, what for?

• Do you know the name of this tool?

• What is its function in relation to electrical wiring?

  
  

After the students took a minute to answer these individually, I had them pair up and discuss their answers with a peer. Finally, we came back together as a class and each student took a turn introducing their tools to the class. Some students were able to correctly identify their tools and knew how it could be used for electrical wiring, while others weren't quite sure. We took a minute to discuss the correct names and functions of each of the tools. 

I felt my interest approach went well, and I got students thinking about the days content and moving around and engaging with one another. I also liked that the students got the opportunity to touch and feel the tools before getting into the lab portion of the class, which hopefully got them excited for the days activities.  Additionally, I feel that I set myself up to move right into the content part of my lesson without needing much transition time, as my plan following the interest approach would be to easily transition into my PowerPoint slides identifying describing the tools needed for electrical wiring. 

I learned a lot about interest approaches from this lab, and after watching my classmates present I feel like I can be a lot more creative with my future activities. My main concern about my interest approach was making it directly relate to my lesson, which I feel limited me in my activity choices, however now I believe that sometimes as long as it gets the students minds going in the right direction and excited about learning that day it has done its job. For example, Michaela made a "guess who" game for her vet science lesson, where students were given pictures of some veterinary procedures and different animals to use in the game. While participating in her lab I found myself thinking about the different procedures and tools in the pictures, but I was also having a lot of fun and getting engaged in class. Her lesson wasn't about games or all the different procedure shown, but her interest approach got me thinking about the subject area and ready to participate in class. I will definitely be thinking about being more creative in the future. 

Question: What are your favorite interest approach activities? 

We're Back! Who's ready for the First Day of School???

To kick off our AEE 412 Labs, we presented 10 minutes of a "first day of school" lesson. I think everyone can relate to the first day of school gitters, even teachers, but its important to remember this lesson is vital for setting the tone of your classroom for the rest of the year. I chose to write my lesson plan for my first block Ag Mechanics 1 class. I began the lesson by having students create name tags for themselves and introducing myself to the class. I made sure to cover my classroom procedures, expectations and consequences and allowed students to create their own expectations of me as their teacher (of course with a little guidance). 

A few things I feel I did well on during my lesson was clearly articulating my expectations and taking time to check for student understanding. I also felt well prepared for my lesson. Overall,  I am proud of how my lesson went, however I feel there are a few areas that I can improve on moving forward. 

Allowing more time for activities

Timing is always very important, and with a 10 minute lab its difficult to get a real feeling for how these activities will go in a real classroom setting, however I feel that I need to allot more time for student discussion and sharing. Specifically, allowing students to work through a full think, pair, share while creating teacher expectations would be beneficial. 

 More student engagement 

After watching some of my classmates present and reflecting on how I chose to go over classroom expectations, I feel that having students contribute to the meaning of my expectations would be beneficial to there understanding. For example, allowing students to brainstorm behaviors that would show respect to others or the classroom and then sharing with the class. 

Working on transitions

Factoring in transition time between activities is very important, and I would like to work on making these transitions smoother for my future lessons. I also think making sure students understand my expectations of staying on task will help with this. 

 

From this lab experience, I learned that the first day of school sets the tone for the rest of the year. Making sure students understand my expectations is very important. Moving forward as I prepare for my student teaching I will focus on the timing of my activities and find more ways to increase student engagement during my lessons. 

Questions: What advice would you give a new teacher to help accurately plan for activity times?

In what ways do you increase student engagement? Specifically, for days where lessons are heavily lecture based.