Dear New Teacher... A Letter on Classroom Management

Dear New Teacher,

Congratulations for embarking on one of the most challenging yet rewarding careers! Teaching is hard, but there are certainly best practices and tools to make your teaching experiences, and your students' learning experience better! Let's talk about classroom management.

New Teacher, I am writing this too you because many educators and educational experts agree that "what you do on the first days of school will determine your success or failure for the rest of the school year. You will either win or lose your class on the first days of school." So... New Teacher, make sure to keep these items in mind as the school year approaches!!!!

New Teacher, classroom management is ESSENTIAL for an efficient, safe, and effective classroom! My biggest advice for you is start out stricter!... you can get "looser" with students, but it's very difficult to get tighter. Now please don't misunderstand me, I am not saying that you absolutely can't smile or joke until the second week of school, but be careful.  Students will start testing your limits right from day one, be prepared. This means having procedures, or guidelines! ROUTINE is key here! If students know what you expect of them, this whole classroom management thing becomes so much easier.

There is a difference between 

being friendly and being friends. 

As a new or young teacher, this is a 

distinction that MUST be solidified.

Now don't freak out New Teacher... this isn't all rocket science I promise! Here are Ms. Royer's top 5 suggestions for managing your classroom:

1) HAVE SET PROCEDURES

- New Teacher, you should definitely ave pre-established guidelines, procedures, and consequences. Students need to know what they should be doing when they enter the classroom etc. As creatures of habit, students like a routine and schedule. While it's nice to change things up every now and then, having a routine schedule is helpful for students who are anxious or don't like change. Additionally, students who know what to expect will get to work faster in the classroom, etc. 

2) HAVE PROCEDURES POSTED
- You will definitely want your procedures, classroom expectations, and consequences posted in your classroom. This should be visible so that students can be reminded of them. 

- Have students and parents/guardians sign a contract or agreement, confirming that they have read and accept your classroom procedures, expectations, and consequences. This shows students that you take your classroom atmosphere very seriously, and demonstrates to parents/guardians that you have a protocol for classroom management. There should be no surprises as to what would warrant a consequence, etc. 

3) NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION IS EFFECTIVE

- New Teacher, please know that you don't have to always be talking to manage your classroom

- You can

         - look at students who are talk

         - walk near or stand near students who are misbehaving, etc

         - wait until students are quiet to talk

         - motioning to be quiet with your fingers to your lips, etc.

4) BE ORGANIZED

- This can help in so many different ways. Organized teachers have set places for their colored pencils and safety glasses and notebooks etc. If you want your students to respect your classroom and tools etc. ensure that you are respecting them as well. You cannot expect your students to clean up after a lab or class if the room started out unorganized. By providing bins and designated spots for items in the classroom, students will know where items are supposed to be placed etc. 

- Additionally, organized teachers are better able to help students. Instead of frantically searching for that extra vocab sheet for the student who missed yesterdays class, you know exactly where it is. 

New teacher, I know that organization is tough, but it's worth it!

5) USE POSITIVE LANGUAGE

Foster a positive environment for your classroom. Ensure that all students feel appreciated, respected and safe. This can be done by using positive language with your students, and also encouraging other students to do this as well. Let's "catch good behavior!" and show students that you notice their good work, etc. 

No pressure or anything, but New Teacher, please take this letter seriously. Wong et Wong (2009) state that "student achievement at the end of the year is directly related to the degree to which the teacher establishes good control of the classroom procedures in the very first week of the school year."

--------------------------------------------------------------

So PLAN

Set Routines

Outline Procedures, Expectations, and Consequences

Ensure an effective, efficient, and safe classroom by managing your classroom with a strong yet friendly hand. Best of luck New Teacher, you will do great things. Don't hesitate to ask other teachers and educators for help, you are not alone!

Best

-Ms. Royer 

PS... check out this site http://www.edutopia.org/blog/classroom-management-tips-novice-teachers-rebecca-alber Lot's of awesome ideas about classroom management 

Micro Teaching at Williamsburg Area HS: Environmental Science

You get your hands in it, plant your roots in it

Dusty head lights dance with your boots in it

Dirt, dirt, dirt...

"Dirt" By Florida Georgia Line

Micro Teaching at Williamsburg Area HS: Environmental Science

I had the opportunity to teach an Environmental Science class for three days in a row at Williamsburg Area HS under the guidance and direction of a very generous and understanding PA Ag Educator, Ms. Robyn Bechtel. This class, comprised of 13 boys and 1 girl in 10-12th grade was a handful, but I learned many valuable lessons and truly enjoyed teaching these high energy, high spirited students. 

The learning objectives for the three days are outlined below:

Day 1:

1. List the three different soil particle sizes to 100% accuracy.

2. Compare and contrast particle size between sand, silt, and clay to teacher satisfaction.

3. Calculate the surface area of “sand, silt, and clay” post-its to 80% accuracy.

Day 2: 

1. Utilize the soil triangle to determine soil type to teacher satisfaction.

2. Estimate soil type with supplies provided and the soil triangle, to teacher satisfaction. 

3. Describe soil texture and its importance in soil classification to teacher satisfaction.

Day 3:

1. Review and recall soil vocabulary 

2. Describe the proper way to collect a soil sample to 100% satisfaction

3. Describe the reasons for soil tests to teacher satisfaction. 

4. Summarize how soils relate to our everyday lives, to teacher satisfaction.

Here are some of my initial thoughts I wrote down after each class

Day 1: 

- It was good starting off with my expectations: 

- Love the energy of the students, I need to harness this energy into learning

- Math CAN be (somewhat) fun!

- Didn't get through everything but that's fine!

Day 2: 

- Definitely tough working with students who missed earlier classes. I need to develop strategies for my future classroom as to how students make up missed work. Additionally, I would like to gather some best practices from other teachers how the cope with students missing class. 

- Need to be more conscientious of students LANGUAGE and CELL PHONES

Day 3: WOW! Went so fast.

- Students really do want to know that you care

- Names matter!

- YAY, students learned things about Soil (quiz went well)

- Students appreciate being valued and respected, were excited to take survey

- As the teacher, I can set the mood/ energy (TLAP type activity with quizzes in a really neat but mysterious folder!) 

Biggest Takeaways from Micro Teaching

1) TIME MANAGEMENT

- WOW... 40 minutes goes by really fast! The first day my bellwork was like 8 minutes! Not ideal! 

- Need to make sure that students are on task!

- Even though periods are short, don't be afraid to take the extra time to really ensure that students are understanding the content/ directions. This can alleviate more questions or confusion later

2) KEEP EM BUSY

- I had some very high energy, easily distracted, don't like sitting still kind of students. It was very beneficial to have them up and moving around a lot. 

- I at first struggled with students who got done before others. On the second and third day I made sure to have items the students could work on if they were done with a worksheet etc. before others. 

- It was my goal to keep the students so busy that they wouldn't realize 40 minutes had already passed! At least one student every day was like "woah... class is over?" Granted the first day, I was one of those people! (#TimeManagement) BUT busy students don't get into trouble. 

3) VARIABILITY... Different is fun

- Many of the students expressed they liked a portion of the lesson or the lessons simply because it was different. Learning surface area in math=normal. Discussing how to determine surface area, and it's importance in relation to soil particle characteristics = not so normal and therefore more interesting. 

- Students who are interested and engaged add so much more energy and curiosity to the class. This positive energy is infectious, and added a lot to my experience. 

4) BE FLEXIBLE

- KEEP CALM AND PRETEND IT WAS ON THE LESSON PLAN!

- There was a lot of activities modified, worksheets shortened, math lessons expounded, and objectives shuffled. And that is OK! After day one I was so nervous because I didn't get through everything that I wanted to... but it's ok because we shuffled for day two and it all worked out. 

- Also important to be flexible with technology, supplies, etc. 

5) SHARING

- Ms. Bechtel was so generous with us all week. I think that she demonstrated to Mrs. Gouger, Ms. Sessamen and I the importance of sharing resources with others, and the kind of generous heart ag teachers have. From actual tangible resources to advice, Ms. Bechtel floored me with her willingness to share! Thanks so much for hosting us Robyn!

STUDENT AND TEACHER FEEDBACK

 Feedback from Ms. Bechtel
- watch time management
- during power points, have guided notes and share additional stories so that students have enough time to write information down
- When demonstrating how to use something (like the soil triangle) Have it on the projector or blown up on a poster to share
- Keep up the high energy

Feedback from Mrs. Gauger and Ms. Sessamen 
- good positive and high energy
- good starting out with expectations
- name tents useful for names, etc.
- great job building up anticipation for Soils Quiz... #TLAP
- good job keeping students on task
- good job engaging disinterested/sleepy student
- nice key words "When I say texture..." and having students repeat directions

- watch students language
- watch students phone usage
- watch clarity of instruction
- TIME MANAGEMENT... day one was right at the bell
- be careful with soil samples... might make a mess
- explanation for using soil triangle confusing
- power point was fast!


Feedback from Students

Gems:

- made learning fun

- class was interesting and very intriguing

- liked moving around in class

- made math interesting for once

Opps:

- too many papers

- not a fan of math

- wanted to actually play with dirt!

One student totally made my day for the question that asks: "What did you like least about the instruction for this lesson."... Student response "Your only here for 3 days... wish it was longer."! That was really neat to read!

Thanks for reading !

Best

-Sarabeth 

Appreciating Individual Talents and Strengths at ATHENS

Appreciating Individual Talents and Strengths at ATHENS

On Friday 11/20 I had the opportunity to teach a Life Knowledge Lesson to the 1^st period Horticulture Class at Athens Area High School. This jam packed 40 minute lesson on Appreciating Individual Talents and Strengths represented a lot of different things for me!

During the school announcements before I was able to begin teaching, there were a lot of thoughts, emotions, and feelings running through my head: … I was nervous to be actually “teaching” for the first time in front of my cooperating teacher, but excited to get to know more students. I was anxious about my time management for a 40 minute period, but felt determined to keep the class moving and reaching our ambitious goals. I felt prepared in that I had all the proper tools, papers, and worksheets, but also secretly wished that I had practiced giving directions just one more time.

But then… the bell rang … and I had 19 pairs of eyes looking at me. Some looked curious, others hesitant, and thankfully some looked excited. Many seemed to be questioning in their head “who is this girl and why is Mr. Steinfelt sitting at a desk in the back.” Aaaaaaaand, it was show time.

 

We started off the class by creating a name tent and determining one thing they wanted Ms. Royer (me) to know about themselves, and also determining one of their strengths. This portion took longer than I had anticipated, and I think that I definitely stressed some students out by giving them a time limit! Next, we participated in an interest approach relating to memory! About 22 common school items (safety glasses, books, pens, stapler, tape, paper clip, candy bar, etc.) were placed on a table with a blanket on top. Students were given one minute to review the table, then the items were covered and students had one minute to write down everything they could remember. Next, students were allowed to get into groups and determine how many they could all collectively remember. This activity demonstrated the idea that individuals can bring different talents/ abilities to a group that make it stronger or more effective. After reflecting on this activity, and relating it to working as a group in Horticulture, we transitioned into a Go Get It E-Moment. (WOW, I had the students move a lot during this lesson!) Students retrieved one orange and one yellow slip of paper that had scrambled words on it. We unscrambled the words in order to fill in the blanks of some statements regarding the benefits of identifying  individual strengths and methods of capitalizing on individual talents. We then reflected on these ideas and related this lesson to Horticulture Class, FFA, and then life in general. After completing the learner satisfaction form, students were able to reflect on the lesson by either drawing a picture or writing about their biggest takeaway from the lesson.

Whew, that was a lot to do in 40 minutes

 

GEMS: Here is where I think that I did a good job.

-         -  Working students from bell to bell

-         -  Ensuring all students are engaged

-         -  Relating the lesson to Horticulture Class and life in general so it wasn’t just a random lesson

-        -  Using students names!

-         -  Keeping students active, I had no discipline problems at all

OPPS:  Here is where I think I could have improved

-         -  I totally FORGOT to go over objectives! This would have clarified to the students what we were actually doing in class for the day and what my expectations were for them!

-       -    Interest Approach at a better location to ensure everyone can see better

-        -   Having students re-state directions to avoid confusion

-         -  Time management! Whew, I kept them busy from bell to bell, did they have enough time to reflect?

-         -  Scramble challenge! OH NO more stressful for students than I had anticipated

Feedback : Here is the feedback from students and Mr. Steinfelt

STUDENT FEEDBACK

The students completed a survey asking them questions about what they liked most or least about the lesson, if they understood directions, if they were comfortable with the speed of the class, etc.

-          - It seems either students LOVED being up and out of their seats a lot… or HATED the movement. I think it’s important to have kinesthetic moments in the lesson, but this had a lot of movement, and I may have wasted valuable instruction time with students out of their seats.

-         -  Some students felt that the activities were childish

o   Ex. One student wrote they didn’t like doing thumbs up if they understood the directions and felt the activities were below their grade level

-        -   While most students appreciated the speed, some felt it was too rushed.

-          - Many students said their least favorite part was unscrambling the words.

-         -  Most common response for what would have made this lesson better… FOOD ha ha

 

 

 

FEEDBACK from MR. STEINFELT 

-        -  Need to ensure all students engaged, don’t ask the same students all the questions

-        -  Ensure thinking about audience! I wasn’t aware of this before but I had six students with IEPs. The scrambled work activity probably caused many of them stress and may have decreased their interest or desire to continue with the lesson

-      -    Didn’t go over objectives! Should definitely do that and even think about checking them off at the end of the period during the summary, to say yes we learned this.

-       -  Good job summarizing at the end :)

-      -    Good time management working students from bell to bell

-      -    After gaining students attention, ensure they are complying with request. If try to modify students behavior, take the extra moment to wait and watch or hear them change their behavior before teaching again.

I truly enjoyed being up in the “Northern Tier” to teach a lesson to my future students for next semester. This experience helped to make next Spring seem more “real.” I am very excited to be at Athens starting in December, and can’t wait to be working with these students and Mr. Steinfelt every day. 

Best,

Ms. Royer 

You Digging It? IBI Lesson on Soil Texture

You Diggin It? Inquiry Based Instruction is tough. Why, because it's different! Because it forces the students to take ownership and lead the classroom discussions and learning. Because the class might end up going in a different direction than the instructor had anticipated. Because IBI requires a lot of planning.

But then again, in many ways I am starting to think that IBI is awesome because it is different, because it challenges and stretches students, because it is unexpected and exciting. Perspective right, perspective.

So, this week I facilitated an inquiry based lab on Soil Texture with my students. The students, at this point will have learned about the properties of sand, silt, and clay, were introduced to the soil triangle, and have previously discussed surface area of the different particle sizes and how this affects soil properties. Thus, this lab consisted of students determining their own hypothesis, materials list, and set of procedures to determine the soil texture of the sample. Tools and soil samples were provided so that the students could see some possible materials, and create their procedures based off of the available items and their previous knowledge.

This was tough! I will admit that I can certainly see that students would push back on this lesson. The second day of this lab would consist of the students sharing whatever procedures they came up with to the class. Then the students would get two different sets of procedures to use the soil ribbon method for determining the soil texture. Students would then choose one, compare it to the procedures they had written the previous day, and then conduct the experiment to determine the soil texture.

I had a lot of fun facilitating this lab with my students. They challenged me with how high school students would react to this sort of inquiry lab, and I think that I handled it pretty well. As the facilitator of learning, I kept the energy high, and while the lab did not go as I had planned, we as a class learned together.

 

 

GEMS:

 

- This week I think I kept the energy positive and made sure to encourage students during the difficult laboratory exercise

 

- I tried to say "I appreciate your hard work" and "great job using all 45 seconds to complete this" versus just saying "great job." I want to foster a growth mindset and not a fixed mindset.

 

- It was good having the students generate a list of what is important for an experiment (Hypothesis, materials, procedures, etc.) versus just giving them the handout.

 

- I was a little hesitant at first, but I decided to be very transparent with the students. I told them this is hard, but it's helping you to understand this better.... still not 100% sure this was the right way to go, but watching the video I think it helped with rapport and students attitudes.

 

- I came over when things were getting heated! Ha ha I laughed at myself because at one point I walked over and said "I am sensing some frustration here!

 

 

Opportunities for GROWTH:

- I had a lot of oral directions this week! Maybe add written directions for the interest approach to the ppt slide so that students can read it and hear the directions. Additionally, maybe have it written somewhere to ask at least 1 student a question before asking me.

- Time wise, I decided to skip the portion of the lab where I would give students a post-it to write their initial question after hearing about the experiment so that we could review questions together... this might have clarified the directions for them.

- At times, I could have introduced a power clap or something of that nature instead of saying "good job"

- Questioning... I think that my questions are getting better (more intentional) but I am not leaving enough WAIT TIME.... wait for it... just a little longer... they might get it... just hang in there a little longer... ok now you can rephrase the question!

-  For this lab, the students should have to notify me when their procedures are done so that I can review them before they start experimenting.


Overall, I think that the lab was a success. I did not feel super confident after finishing it, probably mostly because 30 minutes wasn't enough time. However, my students said they enjoyed it and two wrote down they wished they could have finished the lab. That was really nice to hear.

I am looking forward to altering the lab just a tad, and implementing it next semester in the Environmental Science Unit for the Introduction to Agriculture Class. Oh boy, IBI here we come. Let's DIG in.

National FFA Convention... Athens Style



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its already 5:30 AM! Oh my word!

I quietly (well, as quietly as an accident prone person like me can) slipped out of the house and walked down the street, across the road, and through the parking lot to the Athens Agriculture Department. It was 5:45 AM sharp, and it was time to get rolling.

Destination: Louisville KY

Adventure: 88th National FFA Convention

Cast: Mr. Steinfelt --> Agriculture Educator and FFA Advisor
Carla --> Female Chaperone and School Van Connoisseur
Me --> Ag Teacher Wannabe

Crew: 12 Athens High School Seniors who are active members of the Ag Program and Athens FFA

On the way to Louisville, we were able to stop at the Elk Center (Shout-out to previous PSU Grad TOBY!) This was a great chance to stretch out the legs, look at some beautiful wildlife, and get to talk more with the other students.

 Here is a snapshot of our week!

TUESDAY: Traveling for miles and miles and miles. Well, that's one way to get to know your students!

WEDNESDAY: Finished the last stretch to Louisville and got to the convention center. Students were able to explore the FFA Mall, as well as the Expo Hall to see industry professionals and look at different schools. Then we drove out to the beautiful cabins we were staying at in Taylorsville, KY. Then we finished off the night at the concert. And whew did we have neat seats in the nosebleed section... I think the air was actually thinner up there! What an incredible day.

THURSDAY: We started early on Thursday and made it to the Opening Session of the 88th National FFA Convention at 8:00AM. In this session we heard from Michelle Obama, were reminded of the FFA Creeds origins, and were inspired by guest speaker Dr. Rigsby. WOAH it was a great session. Y'all can watch it if you want at https://www.ffa.org/broadcast. We capped off the evening with a Belle of Louisville Boat Dinner and Cruise! Good times had by all

FRIDAY: We had a more relaxed day Friday, which was nice after having such a hectic week! We visited the Expo hall for a bit after a late breakfast, and then headed over to Churchill Downs. Here, we were able to go into the museum and learn more about horse racing. After this we went back to the cabins and relaxed before making dinner together. I really enjoyed eating as a chapter at the cabins. The relaxed evening allowed for plenty of joking, laughter, lots of food, and a nice reflection of the week.

 

SATURDAY: Driving for DAYS! Or so it seemed! We took a different route to drive home and it was nice seeing the wildlife. We saw deer, turkeys, lots of birds, and a bear! Pretty incredible.

 

I truly enjoyed attending the National FFA Convention with Athens FFA. While it took me awhile to respond to Ms. Royer, I feel so lucky to already know and have a relationship with 12 students at Athens. This trip has made me even more excited for student teaching next semester!

 

So next stop: Student Teaching... Athens Style 

Best

-Sarabeth

What in the world is I.B.I. ?

I B I... what does that stand for?

Well if you guessed Inquiry Based Instruction (which I am sure that you all did, ha ha) then you would be right!

Inquiry Based Instruction is a method of instruction that allows students to learn through questions and problems. As one teacher in a focus group on IBI in the research by Thoron, Myers, and Abrams said, it might not be the easiest or most natural way to teach a subject it is "definitely a natural way of learning" for the students. Other teachers in the study : Inquiry-based Instruction: How is it Utilized, Accepted, and Assessed in Schools with National Agriscience Teacher Ambassadors? applaud IBI. One said, “IBI is more rewarding and students are actually engaged in learning.” Other teachers agreed that while creating inquiry based lessons required more planning and thought, they resulted in better lesson, engaged students, and excited learners. 

So how and why does this happen?

According to Warner and Myers, inquiry based instruction allows "teachers to expand students' science skills and help mold lifelong learners" 

Well, I want to do that with and for my students!

When students engage in IBI, they learn through inquiring about the essential question or problem. For example, why are some of my plants dying in the second greenhouse?

Students engage in this IBI process through 5 steps

1) Question
2) Investigate
3) Utilize Evidence in order to Describe, Predict, and Explan
4) Connect evidence to Previous Knowlege... and if not, gain more knowledge!
5) Share Findings... that's right, sharing is caring!

IBI is effective because this is how our brains work! If there is an issue at home, we don't have someone (a teacher) there to tell us information, we normally have to investigate the issue and problem solve for possible solutions or answers. However, this is a pretty big change for the teacher... we become facilitators and not merely giving information in the front of the room (NOT to say that there is anything wrong with that!) With IBI, teachers facilitate the learning process, introduce the problem,  provide resources, and help keep students on track.

Warner and Myers in the article on Implementing Inquiry-Based Teaching Methods provided a helpful outline of what the teachers new role is in IBI. While the teachers role might change slightly, the goals of student success and student engagement remains the same.

So here it is, the list by Warner and Myers:

Teacher Role
1) starting the inquiry process
2) promoting student dialog
3) transitioning between small groups and classroom discussions
4) intervening to clear misconceptions or develop students’ understanding of content material
5) modeling scientific procedures and attitudes; and,
6) utilizing student experiences to create new content knowledge

The teacher needs to plan ahead for Inquiry Based Instruction. From gathering new materials and discerning possible questions students might have before the lesson even takes place, teachers will also be engaged in the lesson.

Edutopia has many articles and videos relating to IBI... check it out --> http://www.edutopia.org/topic/inquiry-based-learning

Thanks for reading!
Best

-Sarabeth