Classroom Management

Classroom management can be difficult. As students grow and change in your classroom, other classes may be added on or removed, so a teacher's classroom management may change. The way I plan to teach, I must have variability in different classrooms that I have. For example, my classroom management techniques will be very different in my agricultural mechanics class, where I will have 15 to 25 high school aged boys, to my introduction to agriculture class where I will have 25 8th grade students who are only in middle school. Both of these classes I will need to be very aware of my students and the things they are doing. To help my manage my class room, I have created some rules, procedures and consequences.

To have a great classroom and learning experience, I have classroom expectations. My expectations include coming to class prepared to learn. This leaves the door open for students to be open minded about my class. Students will be required to be respectful of everyone and everything. I find that students can learn more by respecting ideas, equipment and themselves. Students also must be timely to my class. I feel that this will not likely be a problem, as most students are excited to come to ag class. Always be productive with class time. This allows for me to make sure students aren't fooling around. Lastly, I'd like students to give their best effort during class time.

Classroom procedures will help begin and continue my class. Students must immediately behind the bell work as soon as they enter the classroom and they will need to collect the materials for the day. I have a short 43 minutes of teaching and I want to use that time to the best of my ability. For questions of concerns, students will be required to raise their hand when called upon. This helps control a classroom environment more. Students also must remain engaged in class time. This will help me prepare for my next class and wrap up the current class.

Classroom consequences in my room will have up to 4 offenses. The first offense will begin with a verbal warning, and if the behavior continues, students would have a written warning which would be a detention. The 3rd offense would be a call to home, and lastly a 4th offense would be an office referral so a student would have to meet with a principle.

Following these guidelines, consequences and procedures will help me set up a successful classroom and learning environment at McGuffey High School.

Meat Science Lab - Microteaching at Juniata!

This past week, I had driven down to Mifflintown Pennsylvania, and I was introduced to a group of students in an animal science class. Over the four days, the first day was an observation day.  I sat in the back of the room and introduced myself to students. They all seemed kind and polite, but somewhat timid of me as well. This class was a lab on cheeses. They were tasting and deciding which cheese was which. It was sorta chaotic as students were talking and moving around, but there was quite a bit of control over the group. You could see the respect that some students had with this, while other students refused to eat the cheese. It was interesting to watch them communicate and work with each other, and it was just how I remembered it was when I was in high school. After my observation day, I hoped that my student would be as well behaved as they were for Mrs. Morgan.
The next day I came in and I had their bellringer up on the overhead. This confused them. I should have had it on the white board like Mrs. Morgan had the other day. The students were pretty quick to adjust, and I went through my lesson plan. The first day we talked about grading meat and marbling in meat. The first day was my worst day to put it plain and simple. I think I had good activities planned for my students and some went better than others, but my first day was definitely rough. I did have some trouble keeping attention and having students not talking in their small groups. I really like having the desks grouped together, but it can also encourage talking among the students. My biggest problem with my first day was that I planned my lesson plan just like the PSU ones are and how I have been taught recently. Changing the topics and switching gears every 12-15 minutes and moving on with the lesson. Let me tell you, THIS DID NOT WORK WITH MY STUDENTS. I'm sorry, but this was horrible!!!! My students would finally really get into something, and then I would change gears. I could tell that they were frustrated but they wanted to give me a chance. I was very honest and upfront with my students, as this was my very first time and I told them how this was my very first time teaching a classroom of high school students. So they were pretty nice to me and they did put their best foot forward, but I needed to step up my game for the next day.

The next day I did my own way of teaching. I didn't want my student's to be frustrated again. So i taught in the beginning, and then I had them begin their project. The second lesson went better, but my students were more misbehaved. It was a good lesson besides some of the bad things my students did. I should have been more strict, but it was extremely difficult for me to enter a classroom and just teach. These students don't know me, I don't know them, and we have no trust with each other. I just felt so disconnected to these students and I don't ever want to feel that way or leave feeling that way. The next day I knew was going to be difficult. Not only was our class extended from 40 minutes to an hour, due an assembly the students had, but I was also conducting a lab. The students would cook different cuts of meat, after they identified it, and compare the flavor, tenderness, dryness and color and smells. During this lab, I also had my students working on their projects from the day before. So my head was all over the place and it was a hot mess in the classroom, but the students enjoyed it and they learned some materials so I was very please with that.

Day four and my final day of teaching was the best. Students were moving around and completing different tasks at different times and it was a beautiful mass of learning chaos. At the end of the class, I had a very brief discussion about how my teaching was. They did enjoy me, but they told me to be more stern with my rules. By the fourth day, we were definitely gaining an understanding and connection with one another. I feel that this was a good sneak peak as a sub teacher, but I know it may be a little different with my students at McGuffey as we already know each other and have an understanding of one another. Overall, I had a great micro teaching experience. A lot was learned in 4 days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ2-TTcqqLs

IBI Lab - Growing Crystals

Today I taught an inquiry based instruction lab. Inquiry based instruction, or IBI is when a teacher sets up a problem or situation and gives students the tools to solve or make a hypothesis on that issue. IBI can be difficult because you are giving a lot of trust into your students and it really forces them to work to find a conclusion, without the instructor giving them materials or an answer to the problem that is presented. In my lab, I wanted students to make a hypothesis on adding sugar and water together to make sugar crystals. This would have involved mixing the sugar with hot, warm and cold water, different amounts and different kinds of sugar.

Students were asked to make their hypothesis, a methods and materials list. Once this was completed, they could begin their experiment. Some groups had the right idea, others did not. But either way, they were applying what they knew or didn't know, just to learn more. I felt confident. I felt super confident after my last lab because I was told my improvement was awesome. I am getting better, and I wish I could do it everyday, but soon enough I will be able to.

#TeachAgChat - Teaching Global Competency In Our Classroom

Each day there is something new out there for consumers to buy into through advertisements and publicity. One new way for agricultural educators to be one step ahead of the game is a social media platform called Twitter. Twitter is an app and website where users from around the world can communicate and share ideas with one another. Using a hashtag (#) and words directly behind it, can help categorize a topic or basically create a thread for users to follow. One hashtag that is used for agricultural educators is the #TeachAgChat. A #TeachAgChat is where a group of people gather together and talk about different topics in agriculture and education. 

For the first time, I helped host the chat and it was an interesting experience to me. I felt that it was extremely helpful, but as I learned that the three questions I created I was looking for more answers rather than to create discussion. This then became helpful as more people entered the discussion and added their thoughts. I enjoyed all of the discussion and it felt reassuring that all the people of the agricultural community would come together all over the country. 

One thing that I would consider changing about this assignment is timing. I believe the timing is not appropriate due to the fact that it is the week before and after National FFA Convention, and with that many teachers who may participate in a #TeachAgChat might have been too busy to be participate. I also personally wish there was another way to host a #TeachAgChat. I feel that Twitter can be too cluttered and it can be difficult to hold conversations within 140 characters. I feel that there should be a new social media platform that should be created where group discussion can be help while gaining valuable information with more than 140 characters. Maybe it could be accessible at all times, but have a 'hot hour' where all members strive to participate in a larger group discussion. 

Those are just some of my thoughts on the #TeachAgChat. I think there is a lot of room for improvement, but I think it is a great idea that can be greatly improved upon. 

Weekly Web Wonder #9 - Inquiry Based Learning

Inquiry based teaching is a type of teaching where an instructor would pose questions, problems and/or scenarios rather than presenting the information to students through a lecture or a PowerPoint. I believe the best part about the inquiry based learning is how moldable it is to student in classrooms. Saying this, I mean that it can be used in any and every classroom, and students will challenged enough to begin to think deeper. This also can be useful to students by helping them develop skills that would be used in the real world to help create questions, apply new information and seek a better understanding of the issue.

Through inquiry, students learn how to question, investigate, using evidence to describe, explain and predict, connecting evidence to knowledge and then finally share their findings. The first task of students is learning how to question, create those questions into deeper meanings and use them to help solve their problems.

Image taken from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/
based-learning-9-ibl-inquiry-based-john-dsouza

Once students have decided they have created and asked the correct questions, they can move onto the next step of investigating. This is where students would complete their own digging and compete research based on the questions they have asked. Step three is using the evidence to describe, explain and predict what may happen next. This is more individualized work where students can reflect and think about what may happen in the future. Set four is connecting the evidence to knowledge. This is where I will have the most trouble until I get enough practice. I want my students to think about how this connects to the essential question of the day, and maybe how they could build on this if this would ever happen again in a similar way. Lastly my students would be sharing their findings. I want them to share with more people then just in the classroom. I would have them interview someone on the experiment they did, and compare and contrast what they may have learned, taught others, or new ideas or experiments that they would like to try in the future.

Inquiry based learning helps support other standards that are required by your state, and it allows teachers of agriculture to include other classes and possibly work with other teachers to build stronger connections. Overall, inquiry based learning has some of the best outcomes and I can’t wait to be testing it out in my classroom!

References:

Warner, A. J. (n.d.). What Is Inquiry-Based Instruction? - edis.ifas.ufl.edu. Retrieved October 26, 2016, from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC07500.pdf

Weekly Web Wonder #8 Individualized Teaching Techniques

Individualized teaching techniques are ways to teach each student by themselves. There are several teaching techniques to ensure success through this method. Supervised study, experiments, independent study, student notebooks and information or task sheets are all individualized teaching techniques.  One thing I plan to use in my future classroom is the student notebooks’. I plan to use them daily as a warm-up and a ticket out. This way, my students can fully prepare for the day and reflect on what they have learned. It is a good way to build interest and start to plant knowledge inside students’ minds. Other ways to include individualized teaching techniques in my classroom is through experiments. I plan to create experiments and labs in my lesson plans. This way, students will work individually in completing experiments by asking themselves questions, actively thinking and creating solutions to problems that are presented to them.

Image from: http://painterandassociates.com/blog/individualized-education-plans

            Another way I plan to use individualized teaching techniques in my classroom is through supervised study for my students through their SAE projects. This easily relates to the three-circle model, which I also will use with my students by teaching them information, and then having each student create a project for them to work on for hopefully a minimum of 3 years. This allows students and teachers to communicate and work together to identify the objectives and goals that should be accomplished, the students responsibilities with his or her project and then a plan of how to achieve what they have creates for them. This allows students to work by themselves and think at higher levels, which is what I am reaching for. I look forward to using individualized teaching techniques in my classroom because I can adjust it for each individual learner and have each student personally guided through the lesson.

Problem Based Learning Lab

After I completed my problem based learning lab, I felt awesome about what I have completed so far this semester, and I felt that I could easily pin-point my next hurdle that I will be jumping over soon. For my teaching session, I taught my animal science class about biohazards. In this lesson, I decided to create a story where my neighbor Annie has a large flock of sheep and they keep dying. With previous materials that my class would have, they would be able to solve what is killing Annie's sheep.

Some of the feedback that I got from my students and Dr. Rice, as well as myself is that I need to seriously work on my transitions. I need to think of better questions to ask my students. I really want them to dig deep and think at a different level. Another thing that I could have improved upon is my transition from my interest approach to back into my classroom learning setting. Dr. Rice did say I did a good job, but I felt that I could have improved it. With more practice, I do plan to get better. Some things that I did well included the problem that I presented my students. It was awesome to see them thinking simply and then more in depth, like where the sheep had traveled, what the sheep looked like, if they had any previous health problems and so on. I know I had done a great job in creating this lesson to be specifically problem based for my students to take control and find the answer. I plan on using this lesson for my biodiversity unit at McGuffey, and I can't wait to improve upon it!

Weekly Web Wonder #7 - Evaluating Learning

This week I feel as everything is starting to come together. I am beginning to feel much more confident in my teaching abilities and the way I present information to a class. I feel that I can easily explain what I am thinking and have a classroom with students grow and understand. With this, I do feel uncomfortable with the word 'assessment'.

Throughout my years of education, I have a cultivated a strong dislike for timed events and tests. My anxiety levels usually get so high that I blank out, I would start crying and nothing would be accomplished. Throughout my student teaching experience, I would like to be able to give exams and quizzes as assessments, but I would like to look at other ways to measure growth in my students. This week's readings have really helped me with this.

Other than having an exam, have a project where the students are thinking at their highest level and create a rubric. A rubric is beneficial to both students and teachers through keeping expectations clear and concise, a pretty simple and straight forward way of grading and is beneficial to both group and individual student assessment.

One thing that I really enjoyed and took away from this that I plan on doing is after I know my student for a little, I plan on having them create their own rubrics, with my assistance. This way, I know the students will be active in their learning and I can be sure to help direct them accordingly.

Something very similar to rubrics include concept maps. I have yet to create my own concept map, but I am in love with the idea of them because of how they can connect so many different ideas and situations together. This really can spark that student engagement and knowledge, which I am so excited to see for my students in the spring of next year!

Image take from: https://www.travelingcoaches.com/
blog_details.php?bid=222

Looping around and coming back to typical assessments of giving tests and quizzes, I also learned how to best set up quizzes. From experience as a student, I know that most of the easier questions should be at the beginning of the exam then rather at the end. This helps the student 'warm-up' to more difficult and higher level thinking questions. Other tactics that I learned include different ideas about short answer questions. As short answer questions allow the student to recall different yet specific material from class, it is something where they can make answers their own. As a teacher, it is important to read through the short answer questions as throughly as possible, as some students may write the same thing over and over again and not answer the question in its entirety.

Evaluation of learning is a large concept that many people focus on. State officials want the hard numbers, so up until this point, it is very important to make sure you are on track with your teaching and your students 'get it' and are growing as much as they can. I look forward to using some of the different assessment techniques for the spring that I have read about this past week and as I continue to search for more questions and answers
.

Weekly Web Wonder #6 - Looking at Problem Solving Approaches

I close my eyes and imagine myself back in 10th grade in my English class, biology class and health science classroom. Thinking about those classes, I can easily pick out which two were my favorites, the english and biology classes. I remember sitting in the middle of my classrooms and being fed information. Some days in English it was through reading and acting out what we had read and meaningful discussions. In biology we would have a problem where there were several steps to complete it and solve it, and then apply it to a lab experiment with my group. Health class was a little different. Our teacher would lecture us for the entire block period, or we would watch a movie and fill out a worksheet to show that we were paying attention. Unfortunately, I don't remember much from health class. I never saw the importance of it other than to show my teacher I could get a good grade.

I read a few articles for todays blog post, but one that caught my attention was a article called Main Course, Not Dessert written by John Larmer and John Mergendoller. Through their article, they give a story as to how a student convinced other students about a specific country and the attractions it had other than the history and the jungle. In the story, the students were passionate and truly interested in what they were learning and discovering. I have had my fair share of projects that I did just to complete them and get a grade, but after reading a few articles, I can't wait to add purpose to my classroom and students. I will strive to make my classroom projects into project based learning. I want students to gain knowledge they will retain and share. One way I plan on doing this, is have students inform others about what they learned, why it is important, and what they had gained. Learning is more enjoyable, when you can also teach others. It brings people together.

Image found from:http://idbyid.blogspot.com/2011/01/chunking-principle.html

When creating knowledge and teaching my students, it is important for me to know what levels of knowledge there are. There are three declarative knowledge types, which include facts, concepts and principles. The facts are at the lower part of the spectrum. This is just a student knowing a simple fact. This just involves memorization. It can be as simple as knowing Valentine's Day is February 14th. The next level up is concepts. Concepts include knowing multiple and being able to name off a few examples. An example of this would be naming holidays that people celebrate in the United States. These examples include Valentine's Day, Christmas, St. Patricks Day and Halloween, just to name a few. Moving on we go to the principles. Principles explain the 'knowing why' something happens. This could include why we celebrate Thanksgiving and how it starts many years ago. Learning about all of these concepts really make me want to dig deeper in my classroom and have my students at the level of using principles. Although I know we can't just start at principles, so it will be a learning process for all of us!


References:

Kirkley, J. (n.d.). Principles for Teaching Problem Solving. Retrieved October 2, 2016, from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.117.8503&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Main Course Not Dessert (by BIE) | Project Based Learning | BIE. (n.d.). Retrieved October 02, 2016, from http://www.bie.org/object/document/main_course_not_dessert#

AEE 412: Model Unit Plan - Introduction to Greenhouse Production

Last week, I created my very first unit plan. I was pretty excited to begin this journey, but extremely nervous when creating this, knowing I may be creating these for the rest of my life. Wow! 

My reviewers were Nate and Matt S. Both of them gave me a great amount of help. I learned that I need to have planned out my unit plans a little bit more. I forgot to include the number of materials I would need, and I also found out I was putting in my Common Core Standards and any other standards in wrong! I was only adding half of what I needed! Thankfully through my peer reviewers, I was corrected and now I can successfully add the materials I need to all my future unit plans and lesson plans. 

One thing that I really enjoyed from this assignment of peer reviewing, was how to format our unit plans. From reviewing two other students unit plans, I actually wish I could have reviewed more. I wanted to see how others would set their unit plans up and organize them. One persons unit plan that I did peer review was a bit scattered. I liked how some people grouped their item together per lesson plan, and I found it really helpful if they wrote that a lesson plan would go on for two or more class periods. This was extremely helpful. 

Another thing that I learned about peer reviewing and working with my cohort is that we made a shared Google Drive so that we could share our lesson plans, unit plans and materials.  This is super helpful to all of us, because if I needed help or some ideas on what to do for a biosecurity and diseases, I could easily look up some of my classmates materials and create my own lesson and objectives from that.  Overall, this was an extremely helpful project for not just our lesson plans, but for us to work together as a cohort. 

AEE 412: Model Unit Plan - Introduction to Greenhouse Production

Plant Identification Unit Plan

Greenhouse Production

Unit Rationale: Students enrolled in the Greenhouse Production course will gain knowledge on plant-based careers and knowing harmful and helpful plant species in Washington County.  These students participated are in grades 9-12. Plant identification is relevant in a way where students will develop sophisticated observational skills while becoming familiar with outside educational resources. About 4.9 million dollars worth of nursery, greenhouse, floriculture and so products were sold in Washington County in 2012. (Census of Agriculture, 2012)

Number of Class Sessions Needed: 15

Length of Each Session: 43 minutes

PA Academic Standards and Assessment Anchors Addressed:

CC.3.5: Reading Informational Text: Students read, understand, and respond to informational text – with emphasis on comprehension, making connections among ideas and between texts with focus on textual evidence.

CC.3.5.11-12.D. Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 11–12 texts and topics.

CC.3.6: Writing: Students write for different purposes and audiences. Students write clear and focused text to convey a well-defined perspective and appropriate content.

CC.3.6.11-12.C. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

CC.3.6: Writing: Students write for different purposes and audiences. Students write clear and focused text to convey a well-defined perspective and appropriate content.

CC.3.6.9-10.E. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

PA Agricultural Standards and Benchmarks Addressed:

Plant Science.02.01. Classify plants according

to taxonomic systems.

Plant Science.02.01.01.c. Classify agricultural and ornamental plants according to the hierarchical classification system

Plant Science.02.01.02.a. Describe the morphological characteristics used to identify agricultural and herbaceous plants (e.g., life cycles, growth habit, plant use and as monocotyledons or dicotyledons, woody, herbaceous, etc.).

Plant Science.02.01.02.b. Identify and describe important plants to agricultural and ornamental plant systems by common names.

Plant Science.02.01.02.c. Identify and describe important plants to agricultural and ornamental plant systems by scientific names.

Plant Science.02.01.01.a. Identify and summarize systems used to classify plants based on specific characteristics.

Plant Science.02.02. Apply knowledge of plant anatomy and the functions associated with plant systems.

Plant Science.02.02.05.b. Apply knowledge of flower structure to differentiate between the types of flowers and flower inflorescence (e.g., complete, incomplete, perfect, imperfect).

Plant Science.02.02.06.b. Analyze and categorize the major types of seeds and fruit.

Plant Science.02.02.05.a. Identify and summarize the components of a flower, the functions of a flower and the functions of flower components.

Plant Science.04.02 Create designs using plants

Plant Science.04.01.01.a. Identify and categorize plants by their purpose (e.g., floral plants, landscape plants, house plants, etc.).

Unit Goals:

·      Students will be able to:

·      Identify common regional plants

·      Use a dichotomous key

·      Identify and categorize plants by their purpose

·      Explain the functions of a flower and seed

·      Identify different types of flowers

·      Distinguish the hierarchical classification system

Lesson Titles, Daily Objectives, & Realia:

Essential Questions	At the conclusion of instruction, students will be able to:	Materials and Supplies
1.     What are some different methods of identifying plants?	1.1  Explain different methods of identifying plants to 100% accuracy. 1.2  Identify key aspects to observe when looking at different plant species to teacher satisfaction.	5 Paint Brush (Interest Approach) 15 Sticky notes 8 packs of Markers 6 Plants 3 Tree branches 3 Leaves
2.     What is a dichotomous key and how do we use it?	2.1 Use a dichotomous key to teacher satisfaction. 2.2 Identify a specific plant using a dichotomous key with 100% accuracy. 2.3 Identify parts and usage of a dichotomous key to teacher satisfaction.	15 Dichotomous Key 15 Playdough 8 Sticks 8 Legos 15 packs of Markers/Colored 30 Pencils 6 Plants 1 per student, Computer/Tablet
3.     How do we classify plant species?	3.1  Describe how to correctly identify plant species to 100% accuracy. 3.2  Identify specific plant species to teacher satisfaction. 3.3  Identify at least three plant species classification to 100% accuracy.	1/student: Notebook 6/student: Paper 15 packs of Colored Pencils 6 Plants 6 Plant Images 1/student: Resource books
4      What is the difference between monocots and dicots?	4.1  Identify the difference between monocots and dicots to teacher satisfaction 4.2  Identify monocots and dicots to teacher satisfaction	5 Monocot and dicot seeds 5 Knife 18 Surgical trays 18 Magnified glass
5      How can we identify and classify different leaf shapes?	5.1  Identify different leaf shapes to 100% accuracy 5.2  Describe the different leaf outlines to 100% accuracy 5.3  Identify elements needed for leaf identification to 100% accuracy	1/student: Graphic Organizer – Hand made 10/student: Paper 15 packs of Colored pencils 15 Scissors 15 Glue bottles
6      What are different types of flowers?	6.1  Describe different types of flowers to 100% accuracy 6.2  Identify the need for different types of flowers to teacher satisfaction	1/student Poster 15 packs of Markers 1/student: Computer/iPad 15 Glue bottles 25 colored Papers 1/student Magazines
7      How do lifecycles affect the plant/flower? (2 day lesson)	7.1  Identify different lifecycles of plants to 100% satisfaction 7.2  Describe the different lifecycles of each type of flowering plant to teacher satisfaction	100 Story paper 1/student Pencils 15 packs of Colored pencils
8      How to identify specific flowers?	8.1  Identify common flowers of Washington County to 100% accuracy 8.2  Describe common methods of   identifying specific flowers to teacher satisfaction	1/student Brochure 15 packs of Markers 100 Papers 15 Glue bottles 15 Scissors
9      How are trees identified? (2 day lesson)	9.1  Identify major trees of the forestry industry to 100% accuracy 9.2  Describe the top two methods of identifying hardwoods to teacher satisfaction 9.3  Identify the way foresters tag trees to 100% accuracy	Poster Competition 1/studentPoster board 15 packs of Markers & colored Pencils 2 packs of Paper 2 packs of Craft paper A box of Styrofoam 3 bags of Pipe cleaners
10   How are different shrubs identified?	10.1 Identify different types of shrubs found in the local area to 100% satisfaction 10.2 Describe the top 3 methods to identify shrubs to teacher satisfaction	1/ student Notebook 1/ pair of students Field guides 1/ student Pencils 15 packs of Colored pencils
11   What are common weeds in our area? (2 day lesson)	11.1        Identify weeds in the local area to teacher satisfaction. 11.2        Describe ways to control weeds efficiently to teacher satisfaction	1/ student Weed notebooks 6/student Paper 2 packs of Colored paper 15 packs of markers & pencils
12   How do we identify unknown plant species without foliage?	12.1        Demonstrate proper identification of unknown plant species teacher satisfaction with foliage. 12.2        Demonstrate proper identification of unknown plant species teacher satisfaction without foliage.	1/ student Camera/Cell phone 1/student Field guides Previous class materials 1/student Notebooks 1/student Pencil

Unit Assessments/Evaluation Strategy:

Plant lifecycle Project: Students will be spaced into groups and then instructed to create a story of a specific plant and its type of lifecycle.  Students will be assessed on knowledge they have learned throughout the class and how much each has specifically wrote to have a fair grade.

Poster Challenge Project: Students will have several class periods to create a poster and then will presented to small groups of the class. Students will be assessed on content knowledge that is put into the poster as well as appearance.

Shrub walk/verbal quiz: Students will work in pairs and be assigned to walk around to different shrubs around the building.  The students will then identify each shrub on an evaluation sheet and give feedback of how they identified each shrub.

Dichotomous Key Quiz: Students will have a written assessment evaluating their knowledge and skills on usage of a dichotomous key. This will be a fill in the blank, matching and open-ended question quiz.

Exceptional Children Strategies/Accommodations/Adaptations:

Advanced students are required to submit all of the same work that other students are assigned, but different and more elaborate rubrics will be assigned along with extra classroom readings. Special needs students will be provided guided worksheets if they ask for accommodations. Examples include more thought out sentences and phrases as well as clear and simplified at the top of each document. Instructor will identify additional accommodations based on individual students’ IEPs.

Specific Science, Math, or English Enhancement:

Science: Biology – Lifecycle, plant parts

English: Narrative story writing, objective essay writing

SAE Integration:

Assist in program greenhouse

·      Experimental-Farm field based research

·      Placement-Employment, floricultural shop, landscaping

FFA Integration:

·      Floriculture CDE

·      Forestry CDE

·      Landscape and Design CDE

Careers Prepared For:

·      Horticulturalist

·      Foresters

·      Farmer

·      Researcher

·      Extension agent/teacher

References (APA):

Census of Agriculture - Washington County. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2016, from https://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Online_Resources/County_Profiles/Pennsylvania/cp42125.pdf

PDE SLO Template: