Problem Solving Approaches - The 2014 Cohort Footage

2014 Cohort!  Take a deep breath!  You are more than half way through your fall semester!  You only have one more lab in front of your peers!  Can you believe it!

For the Problem Solving Lab, you all did great!  Problem Solving Approaches are difficult to teach.  It takes a TON of preparation, and well grounded content matter understanding and application.  I encourage all of you to continue working on perfecting these approaches at your cooperating schools!  

Always feel free to seek out assistance from the AEE Instructional Leadership Team!  We are here for you!

Below you will find all 17 lab videos for the PSA Lab #4.  Please make sure you select two videos of peers outside of your lab section.  Post your feedback on VoiceThread!  

Allison Hoover

Tyler Cremeans

Annette Sprenkle

Caleb Wright

Quinn Cashell

Meagan Slates

Brittany Rigg

Cassie Foster

Jeanne Case

Mindy Stoops

Emily Urban

Kate Livingston

Valerie Laub

Mike Petrun

Billy Saylor

Jessie Ross

Todd McMillen

Follow up to Session 15 & Session 16 - Problem Solving Approach

Response to Ticket Out

What are you curious about?

• It seems that situation to be improved and cause-effect seem to be very similar?
• They may be similar, but they are two different problem techniques that will work better with one problem over the other.
• Good Problem-Solving Lab Examples
• Ms. Rice posted a video and I am sure you saw some great ones in Lab.
• Which units I should apply this to?
• Most any unit can be approached in this way
• I am curious about how to analyze solutions of students, if they do not get the intended answer.
• Remember, with the Problem Solving Approach, you are working towards one right answer. If students do not get that, perhaps you have to send them back to try again.
• How do you bring global issues into the classroom?
• Make the issue relate/connect to their life.
• Should we be using this technique a lot? is it bad to use this too frequently?
• This is a very solid teaching approach, however, remember that variability is a key effective teaching characteristic
• More ways to include "Effect - Cause" in a classroom?
• This one is an easy one! Just put the problem in front of them and ask what caused it..ie an engine that will not start, a dead calf, a poor crop, etc
• 
  

What did you learn?

1. I have many ideas for my leadership class lesson plans!
2. Involve students in instructional planning to develop ownership!
3. Problem Solving Approach is a fun and a great way to engage students
4. Let Student Think Critically on the Problems. Don't spoon feed!
5. Four specific Techniques for PSA
1. Forked Road
2. Possibilities/Factors
3. Situation to be Improved
4. Effect Cause
6. Real World Problems Work Best!

What do you want to learn more about?

• Developing these lessons and seeing what my peers come up with!
• I am sure lab went great
• Can you minimize the problem solving approach to a one day lesson?
• Yes
• How would objectives look for a unit introducing this approach?
• The same as any other unit...perhaps you need to tell me more so I understand.
• How do you decide what kinds of problems students should solve?
• It should be problems they can relate to in their life.
• How do you break yourself from giving too much info to students?
• Ask more questions. Tell less information
• Does having a small experiment each day count as an interest approach, changing one variable a day?
• Maybe! Remember, Variability is Key!
• 
  

Lab #4 - Problem-Solving Approach

Wow!  You are into the planning phases of your FOURTH lab!!!  You have mastered the First Day of School, The Interest Approach, and The Demonstration.  You should feel good about yourselves!! You all are doing great things and we see a LOT of growth occurring!!  To help you prepare for Lab #4, take a look at the video below.  This is 2011 graduate, Morgan Bacher, presenting her lesson using the Problem-Solving Approach.  As always, don't hesitate to ask questions!!! We are here to help!

Follow Up to Session #14 - Individualized Teaching Techniques

Follow Up to Session #14 - Individualized Teaching Techniques

What are you curious about?

• More examples of what individual teaching techniques are
• You can read more about individualized teaching techniques in your Teaching Methods Text, Chapter 7.  You can also utilize some really great educational websites for more information on supervised study, independent study, experiments, personal notebooks, worksheets, and many others!
• Using reinforcement when a student answers question wrong
• You never want to make a student feel bad about answering a questions wrong, so thank them for answering, followed by a probing statement, such as "That's not quite what I was looking for" and rephrasing, redirecting, or refocusing the question to allow the student to rethink their answer.
• Keeping both the 'smarter' kids and those that need more help engaged
• Differentiated Instruction!! - http://www.ascd.org/research-a-topic/differentiated-instruction-resources.aspx
• How to Use Supervised Study in class

• Supervised study; a discussion of the study lesson in high school  a book written by Alfred Lawrence Hall-Quest is a great resource for learning how to utilize Supervised Study in high school classes!

  
  

What did you learn?

1. Individual Teaching Techniques
2. 5 Characteristics of Effective Questions
3. Supervised Study
4. Asking student to look deeper is not negative
5. Ways to get student to think
6. What is negative reinforcement
7. How to Phrase Questions to get the most positive thinking with students

What do you want to learn more about?

• Negative/Positive Reinforcement and Negative/Positive Punishment
• http://www2.psychology.uiowa.edu/faculty/wasserman/glossary/reinforcement.html - This website provides great definitions and examples of reinforcement and punishment
• More examples on how to use Individual teaching techniques in classrooms
• You can read more about individualized teaching techniques in your Teaching Methods Text, Chapter 7.  You can also utilize some really great educational websites for more information on supervised study, independent study, experiments, personal notebooks, worksheets, and many others!
• Planning Question!
• Refer to your Teaching Methods Text!  There is some great information in there regarding how to script questions!
• How to Use Supervised Study in class

• Supervised study; a discussion of the study lesson in high school  a book written by Alfred Lawrence Hall-Quest is a great resource for learning how to utilize Supervised Study in high school classes!

Follow Up to Session #13 - Effective Questioning

Follow Up to Session #13 - Effective Questioning

What are you curious about?

• How to deal with emotionally disturbed students
• Wow.  This is a really intense question.  Unfortunately we don't spend a lot of time teaching pre-service teachers about this.  Refer to your Educational Psychology and Educational Theory texts for more information regarding this question. You can also utilized high school guidance counselors and professional development seminars offered at the high school level to build this skill set when you are out in the 'real world'.
• Monday - KILE
• Hmmm...I'm not sure what this means.  Please contact me! (ddf@psu.edu)
• Questioning Levels
• Get Excited! This is coming on Monday!!
• Teaching with just questions
• This aligns with Inquiry Based Instruction. Just hold on!  Its coming up soon AND you get to perform IBI in a lab!!!

What did you learn?

1. Key Characteristics of Effective Language in the classroom
2. How to break down questions for student to achieve desired task.
3. Questioning
4. Ways to build positive relationships with students through communication
5. The proper language to use to positively engage and encourage students and create positive attitudes!
6. How to set the stage!
7. Classroom management!!
8. Stating clear directions!

What do you want to learn more about?

• How much should the use of language dictate our lesson objectives?
• This is interesting.  I would love it if you could provide some clarity. However, remember your objectives should be SMART and always contain a behavior, conditions, and criteria.
• Phrasing Questions
• So excited you want to learn more about this! Stay Tuned!  More to come on Monday with Mrs. Rice.
• Putting written out questions into the lesson plan, then not worrying when not everything goes as planned!
• Awesome!  Yes scripting out a lesson can really alleviate stress when your day doesn't go as planned!! You will learn more about this on Monday.
• More practice writing effective questions
• Mrs. Rice will definitely incorporate this into the lesson on Monday!
• Triggers!
• MONDAY!!

Follow Up to Session #12 - Utilizing Group Teaching Techniques

Follow Up to Session #12 - Utilizing Group Teaching Techniques

What are you curious about?

• Utilizing Teaching Chips as an instructional tool 
• Those chips are an Awesome Tool! They can be purchased on Kagan online!  You can also be very creative and make them yourself!
• Principles of Teaching and Learning
• Continue reading about PTL in your Teaching Methods text! There are also great resources online and in your AEE 412 Course packets (class and lab!). Keep looking for them and utilizing them!
• Demonstrations!
• Yay!  Lab #3 on Wednesday!  For the lab we ask that the demonstration be at least 3 steps. The demo should follow a "Teacher says, Teacher does; Student says, Teacher does; Student says, Student does" approach.  Refer to your Teaching methods text and utilize Mrs. Rice for more information!
• Role Playing in Agriculture - Is it well taken?
• Role playing is a great teaching strategy to implement into your classroom to foster interest and to assess students understanding.  As you have learned, every student has a different learning style, some students will LOVE it and others would rather jump in the lake.  However, the way in which you present the task and instill the importance of why they need to know the information can make students excited and engaged in and about role playing.
• Asking Effective Questions
• Great!  We will be covering more of this on Friday!  Stay Tuned!
• Resources to Find Cooperative Learning Strategies
• We are so excited you are interested!  Utilize your teaching method texts as well as online tools that do a great job of providing activities and projects!  Cooperative Extension also has a lot of resources online that could be useful!
• Effective Lectures!
• Lecturing has a bad wrap for being boring.  However, it doesn't have to be!  Include graphics, music, humor, or short videos throughout your lecture to keep students interested.  A key to effective teaching is to have variability in your instruction.  Be sure to keep your lectures to no longer than 15 minutes!  Also, your excitement about the topic and the information you are sharing can also increase the effectiveness of the lecture.  Utilize your methods text and the internet to find more engaging ideas!
• Teaching Styles!
• We all have different styles and approaches to teaching.  You will discover your style and add your own personal SWAG as your grow and develop as an educator!  

What did you learn?

1. Cooperative Learning!
2. Demonstrations!
3. Differences of People!
4. Group Teaching Techniques!
5. Lecture is not the 'Bad Guy'!

What do you want to learn more about?

• Principles of Teaching and Learning
• Continue reading about PTL in your Teaching Methods text! There are also great resources online and in your AEE 412 Course packets (class and lab!). Keep looking for them and utilizing them!
• Teaching Chips 
• They can be purchased on Kagan online!  You can also be very creative and make them yourself!
• How to Make Lectures Fun
• There are many written and online texts on teaching strategies that address how to be an affective lecturer!  Investigate these resources!  They are chalk full of information! Adding graphics, appropriate music, and humor are just a few ways to increase the entertainment level of a lecture. 
• Phrasing Questions Correctly
• Stay tuned! More on this on Friday!
• Group Teaching Techniques - How do we implement effectively?
• Practice, practice, practice.  Try new things.  Don't be afraid to try techniques at your cooperating center.  You will only begin to understand how to improve if you try different techniques.  PLANNING IS HALF THE BATTLE!  Make sure you are taking the time to plan and plan well!  
• Other fun toys/tools that can be utilized to reflect on learning?
• This is an interesting question...can you expand?  See Dr. Foster for more information!