Thursday, October 3, 2013
Lab 3 - Demonstration
So for this lab we had to do a demonstration. I thought it was going to be a fun lab as I planned and prepped for it but ended up not so much being the case. I did my demonstration on learning how to make beads of weld by using crackers and easy cheese from a can. I thought it was a wonderful idea for a few reasons. The first being Dr. Ewing suggested it to me and the second because it allowed you to practice but gave you food to eat in the end so nothing was wasted besides the trap chain link I had to cut up for my interest approach. What is more fun than learning how to weld while getting to eat snacks? Nothing that I can think of! I feel I did fairly well on my demonstration although I did forget a few things which is kind of expected since we are all still learning and not experts yet. My grade however apparently revealed otherwise since it was awful. My lesson plan was also much better and more organized since I used the template everyone is familiar with. My times for the instructions even added up to the time length of the class although it was noted other wise on the plan. I made it really easy to follow the teacher says, teacher does; teacher does, student does; and student says in my demonstration which was good because that is what our instructions were. Either way, I had a lot of fun doing this demonstration that taught students how to weld as well as gave them cheese and crackers for a snack.
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Your idea for making the bead was really cool Billy. I think half the battle of teaching is creating an interesting activity that students will actually want to do. Sometimes you can't get caught up in grades, whatever they may be. You have to focus on what you can control, and that's your delivery of the lesson. Make sure to stay focused, and learn from the rest of the cohort. We are all experiencing the same things right now so don't get discouraged because it takes time to become an effective educator.
ReplyDeleteBilly, I know you may be upset because your grade doesn't reflect your enthusiasm of the activity, but I know that you know better than to dwell on it and that you should take the feedback in order to improve for future lessons/demos. We can't be the best fashioned teachers if we don't allow people to give input on how to polish and bend us! I know you will be a wonderful mechanics teacher because you really do know what you are talking about, just don't let the logistics of planning and organizing a lesson get you down (because I know those are not your favorite). KEEP SMILING, you're a winner :D
ReplyDeleteBilly, the failure of this lesson may have been because you didn't use a stuffed animal. Just Kidding! With Dr. Ewings suggestion I am sure it was a great lesson, it just needs to be more organized. Right now we have to fit a certain criteria to make sure that we know how to properly write everything and can create a complete lesson plan. However, when we graduate and get some teaching years under our belt everything will come more naturally and we will not have to stress out as much about writing the perfect lesson plan. You said your lesson plan was better this time and I am sure it will be better next time. Keep climbing up that ladder to graduation!
ReplyDeleteHi Billy,
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if using crackers and cheese would have a better place in your lesson as the interest approach rather than the actual lesson. My fear with teaching kids how to weld using crackers is that they will find frustration quickly. I know from my own experience that welding looks really easy but its NOT! But I can put spray cheese on crackers in my sleep, I'm afraid that students will achieve success with the crackers and cheese and when they don't achieve success with actual welding they will become frustrated and confused.
It also depends on you're objectives of the lesson, if you're intent is to teach the structure (length, width) of the weld you can demonstrate with cheese, however, the technique, maybe not.
It's great however that you were trying to think outside of the box and teach with limited resources, as Ag teachers i'm sure we'll be doing that often! Better luck with you're next lab, and look at you're grade as room for improvement, not awful!
Billy,
ReplyDeleteThat sounded like a really fun lesson! I have not watched your video yet, but I really wonder where the issue was that affected your grade?
(Laura, do you think you could comment on our blogs as well? It could be interesting to hear the "grader's comments" so we can learn from each others mistakes and successes?)
Back to you Billy, I wonder if you could have facilitated the lesson smoother? I'm intrigued now to watch your video!
Agree, it would be helpful as we plan for future labs. Especially since we watch others videos.
DeleteBilly I think you had a good idea, however the cheese didn't end up making a good representation of an actual bead. I think the cheese was a great was to show the process. I like how you had the students walk you through the process and made everyone engage. Good job and keep working on preparation.
ReplyDeleteBilly
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed teaching this lesson! Don't get frustrated we will all get better with time. Failing is never easy for as Allison says us "winners" but we have to accept our mistakes and learn from others to get better. I think your lesson was a great idea for a demonstration but I think it needed another component to fill a full class period. I do hope to use this with students because it was really fun even though we didn't want to eat it at 8am. Which brings up another point we have to find ways to wake those kids up at 8am!!! keep your chin up!
Billy ,
ReplyDeleteI think you had a great idea and effective ,because I honestly got more out of it than I did last spring. You shouldn't get discouraged, you covered all the steps to a good demonstration, it was measurable and applicable , and most importantly had all your students involved and you enjoyed with them. I do think a more creative intrastate approach would be need for 8am . Great Job and just keep swimming !
Hi Billy,
ReplyDeleteI thought that your lesson was great, what I could watch of it. I like how you explained why you used cheese and crackers. Overall, I think that you had a good idea for teaching how to make a bead. Good job.
Hi Billy,
ReplyDeleteI'm always up for food in the class room. I think the cheese weld would be great to use in an introduction to welding. The only thing that you would have to watch is that this lab would be more conceptual instead of building a welding skill. I think this would be a good interest approach for a first day of school activity for the class.
Hey Billy,
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great idea to utilize for a welding class. I think especially if you show different kinds of welds such as a lap, or T. This would make for a good introduction for students to understand the idea and motion that should be used to weld a bead.
Sorry your grade wasn't where you expected it, its challenging as we learn what goes into a great lesson.