The end of last week and the beginning of this week have brought on new challenges, struggles, and triumphs in the classroom.
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| Here are two of my students finishing a four way circuit. |
Last week I wrapped up not just 1, not just 2, but
3 of my first units, and am now moving on to new subjects in each class. In Ag Mechanics we finished up our electrical unit and are now moving on to building construction. This unit is especially exciting because not only will I be teaching about carpentry and how to build utility buildings, but, we also will be making model barns in the classroom, and, will be building full size garden sheds within the next 2-3 weeks. Talk about Exciting Stuff!!!!!
In my Ag Science and Horticulture classes, we are covering Pesticide Education and Application. While my Ag Science class will be finished with this unit by the end of the week. In horticulture, we will spend another 2-3 days on the subject to get a more up close look at how to properly use pesticides and how to use an IPM (Integrated Pest Management) plan.
The Ag Science Students are ending this unit at a perfect time, so we can do 2-3 days of floriculture, and prepare centerpieces for the Cowanesque Valley FFA Banquet. The Horticulture students will be assisting with this as well, and getting some hands on experience with the Floriculture Industry.
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| Our Pesticide Manual we use for class!! |
One of my goals last week was to make my classes more engaging, and less discussion based. I am slowly moving in the right direction, as I am utilizing more technology (powerpoint, video, internet articles), and more classroom activities and projects. For instance, last Friday, I had my Horticulture students research 3 different insects, and find why they were considered a pest, and what were some mechanical, physical, biological, and chemical controls to help stop the pest. It was a good way of bringing together some ideas we had learned about earlier in the week, and a good segue into this weeks topics: Pesticide Uses, Applications, and Safety. One of my main problems though, is that no matter how much I switch things up, the students don't seem entertained and they are losing interest. I hope to make classes more exciting for them, so they are more interested. One way I've found that makes them perk up, is with a stronger transition.
For instance, I utilized a 3 minute video from Mythbusters last week in class that got them asking more questions (Mythbusters seems to have that affect on everyone.) and today at the end of class, I showed them what the future of pesticide application might look like, by showing them a video of a RC helicopter and an RC boat, both applying pesticides in rice fields. That got quite a few of them asking questions, and discussing what other technology we might see used in the Pesticide Industry.
For this week, I want to continue on that path, and try to make my classes more interesting for the students, while making sure that they are learning along the way.
I would just encourage you to remember that you can engage students with the content in many ways. You don't always have to feel like you are entertaining them. You sometimes just need to get the content to them in such a way that will allow them to be knowledgeable in the content for other applications. Sometimes you just need to get them to know the basics, so you can do some more of the "fun" stuff later. Again, you can engage the students with good content through good planning, but don't get bogged down in what will entertain, but rather think about the objectives and how they can be met most effectively and efficiently.
ReplyDelete- Dr. Ewing