AEE 412 - Methods of Teaching Agriculture: December 2015

Being a 21st Century Agriscience Teacher: Maximizing Tools...

Editor's Note: This blog is part of a series of guest contributors from the national school-based agricultural education family. Mrs. Diane Glock-Cornman, MAgEd is an agriculture instructor and FFA Advisor at Penn Manor High School in Millersville, PA. She is a thirteen year veteran having taught at Juniata High School prior to her Penn Manor post. She has been involved in post-master's studies in Learning Technologies which lead to her serving as the PSU TeachAg Technologist this past year, where she presented workshops, posted blog posts and provided current trends in learning tech. She has been involved in developing online curriculum programs and is currently working towards her Google Educator 2 Certification. She currently posts on her personal blog at E-Learn in Ag. She grew up on a dairy farm in Juniata County, PA where she is still involved to this day.

"21st Century Learner", "Inquiry", "Flipped", "Blended", "STEM", "STEAM", "One-to-one, BYOD: in today's educational climate it is hard to find a place to begin. We find ourselves many times wanting to do everything all at once and sometimes nothing at all. I believe this comes from a place of how rapidly information is becoming available to everyone. This infographic from August 2015 shows us what can happen in just 60 seconds.

Image from DOMO

Recently while attending Google Teacher training, we were told the main reason Google changed the font type of their logo is so download time is decreased on a multitude of platforms - that the sans serifs slowed us down.

Image from Mashable

The sans serif (little feet on letters) impede the downloading rate of information, thereby decreasing the amount of information available to let's say a student in India. Think about that for a moment. A global, billion dollar company is (still) concerned about how quickly information can be downloaded in a developing country. To me, that is a beautiful thing. The logos behind that sentiment is at the heart of what we try to do in our classroom every day. To reach as many students in as many ways possible to broaden their horizons. But, how do we do this today when we are not only combating complex societal pressures on our students, but we compete for their very attention.

There are countless resources out there to utilize in the realm of educational technology and everything having the allure of being "techie"; however, I believe when considering all the 21st Century Learners out there, we must visit our 20th Century basics to begin. There is no substitute for a teacher who presents/challenges rigor and relevance in their lessons. Regardless of the tools an educator can present, students need to see the relevance to them. Many times, we are the ones showing them those connection points in their lives to the content needed to be successful, so we must never underestimate that influence. We must have high expectations of ourselves and of our students. As agriscience teachers, we at times, feel as though we are juggling many different hats in life to meet the demand of an agriculture department, but we must not allow that to effect the rigor at which we teach. It is hard enough to combat often negative and outdated views of agriculture education in our communities and schools, let alone allow our curriculum to be watered down. Many see us as this:

American Gothic

When, we know the precision of how we conduct agricultural practices today:

Image from New Holland Agriculture

Finally, students must see that we care about what we teach and how we consider them. Being validated is a fundamental need and our students need that connection in some way. This means you should get to know the interests of your students even if they are not yours or take a moment to say hello. These small investments will reap huge dividends in your overall instruction. But, how does this translate into utilizing 21st Century teaching tools and strategies?

I believe a fascinating argument on how to present information to our students is posed by Erno Rubrik. "Questions are more important today than the answers" a quote heard via a Google video presented by Rich Kiker, the leading Google Trainer, on Erno Rubrik.

In the spirit of maximizing tools to become a 21st Century Teacher, I believe there are a few things one must do in order to be effective. Edutopia does a great job of outlining 15 Characteristics of a 21st Century Teacher here. However, this list can be quite daunting to a new and beginning teacher, so I have created a short list of ideas to help anyone who is either beginning teaching or entering this world of technology.

1. Don't be afraid to allow students to drive their own education and experiences. From using Wordpress in the classroom and FFA Chapter, to allowing students to determine their own research topics from something they are interested in, allow them to "open source" or be a maker in their own education. You can insert the information/course content required through those experiences.

2. Stay connected, but I mean real human connections - not "liking" a Facebook post. We live in a world where the CEO of Apple is one direct message away on Twitter. This is awesome on so many levels, however this also allows us to have an ambiguity that allows us to stay uninvolved. Develop a Personal Learning Network and actually engage with these people. Find experts in the fields and areas of education/industry that fascinate you and than find individuals who are not "social snobs" and will communicate with you. I am blessed to have found some great people in and around technology who simply want to help. Engagement is everything on social media and we are starved for personable interactions.

3. Find a few great technologies/platforms that you love and build from there. Don't try to master everything at once. Agriculture teachers don't have that kind of time and you will burn yourself out. Use tools like Graphite to help you find apps and websites that will work with your level of technology integration at your high school/program.

4. Get organized. Utilize platforms like Evernote or Google Keep to organize your "to-do" list for the day, month and year or use it to store great ideas out there that you would like to come back to and try. I have a folder in Evernote just on "Technology to Try". Use Remind to help send out information to your groups. Also, share these storing platforms with students - they too need to see how these tools can work in their own life.

5. Advocate digital citizenship. I can't stress this enough. Just as we would want to teach our students' table manners for an important dinner with legislators, we want them to understand their digital presence. Really, their digital and real presence will become one in the same to some degree. This is why as an educator, you too must be super-sensitive to what your digital presence is. However you decide to brand yourself must always be in a professional manner. We must always stress the old adage "once on the Internet, always on the Internet". Common Sense Education has a wonderful collection of resources and curriculum to help you with this endeavor.

After 13+ years of teaching, I am in no way an expert in this arena; however, as Dr. Brene Brown says in some of her books, it's easy to sit in the cheap seats. We live in a Sans Serif restricting world, where we can make the decision to stay connected or not. Our students are connected and will continue to be. It is our responsibility to use the tools within our reach to create an innovative and safe learning environment where students can reach their full potential. Just like the "are you feeling lucky" Google search, it's not always perfect, but the more important part is that you tried.

You can find other and more specific tech tips on the PSU TeachAG Roars Blog and Department site.

Yours in the Quest to be a Tech Savvy Aggie,