Group Teaching For the Win!

Me learning as much as I can during this week's reading!

 This week's reading came from Chapter 6 of Methods of teaching agriculture

One of the most impactful questions I ask myself on a daily is, how do I want to be as a teacher and what am I doing to better my skills? This reading was very relevant to the stage that I am at right now as I am preparing for student teaching. While writing my lessons, I think about what I think my students will enjoy and how I can deliver the information in a meaningful way. 

One of the first things that I took away from this reading is regarding the variety of group teaching approaches. The seven group teaching approaches are . . . 

1. Lecture
2. Discussion
3. Demonstrations 
4. Field Trips 
5. Role-playing 
6. Resource People 
7. Cooperative Learning

My first question to my future students is, "for each of these categories of teaching methods, what value do you get from each one? Why should a teacher incorporate them into the lessons throughout the year?"

As I look at this list, I can find value in each one, but I would love to know the student's perspective because there may be something that I overlook and cannot understand the value of that a student might get. 

My second question is for my cooperating teacher. "How can I incorporate discussions, presentations, and cooperative learning over a virtual platform?" Given the state of Covid, I want to make my lessons adaptable so what are some ways to increase student engagement in these learner-centered teaching approaches? 

My final question is for my wonderful cohort members. One of the most unique methods I read about was role-playing. My question is "how would you use this technique in your future classrooms?" As a new teacher, I fear that students might get carried away and I want to make every activity meaningful. How would you use role-playing as a meaningful activity to advance student's learning? 

All of the information in this article was very helpful! I loved how each method was broken down into how to approach it, its application, and some downfalls of each approach. I am excited to use the variety of methods in all of my classes to help my students engage with the material! I also found our online readings very interesting. My favorite article was about how what we say can impact student motivation and engagement. The chart that demonstrated things a typical teacher might say and then providing an alternative that will motivate the students more was very informative! All in all, I think the readings for this week were very impactful and are helping me get prepared for student teaching. 

At this part of my agriculture education journey, it is starting to become very real that I will be teaching very shortly! All of the work is piling up, but I am so excited to work and grow now so then I can be the best teacher in the future to help and support my students! Thanks for coming along with me on this journey as there will be much more to come!