Week Twelve: Can You Show What You Know?

Four-day weeks are supposed to feel short right? I wish that was the case for this week but the return from spring break felt like anything but short. 

This week I have significantly reduced my course load to just three preps: Introduction to Agriculture, Environmental Science (2 sections), and Food Science. And I must say, it feels good to not feel like the sky is falling 24/7. This week I also got to experience another nuance of being a teacher - getting a new student! This was exciting for me but in hindsight probably awkward for the student since he only got to meet half of his class. 

In other news, Cumberland Valley is transitioning from a hybrid schedule where students are in the building two days a week (but only one day in my class) to a hybrid schedule where students are physically in the building four days a week (but in my class for two days). This change has come with much excitement and anxiety and I just hope that I will be able to keep up with the spacing, the sanitizing, and not repeating any lessons for any groups. With students having the option to continue coming to school two days (A and B Groups), move to coming to school four days (C group), or to remain remote (CVVA Group) as a teacher I need to have up to four versions of my lesson at all times.

When I looked back on my lessons from this week in search of a topic to write about, I realized almost all of my lessons emphasized students showing me what they learned in class. I think it is so important that students can explain and show what they know versus simply memorizing content for one week and forgetting it a week after the test. 

Here are some examples from my classes this week:

Food Science - For the last few weeks we have been discussing product packaging. We discussed the 4 P's of marketing, planograms, and the purpose of product packaging. This week we wrapped up a 2-week project (well it would usually be 2 days, but 2 weeks because of COVID). Last week, I challenged students to build their own product packaging using a select list of building materials each with a cost associated with them. Students had to build a package for a PBJ sandwich that would withstand a crush test, a drop test, and a water test AND their goal was to make it as cheaply as possible. Unfortunalty, I forgot to take photos of this lab. But here is a screenshot of the building materials students could use and the price for each. Students incorporated the concepts we had been learning but not just creating a sturdy package, but also creating a package that was appealing to customers by designing the outside of the package using marketing strategies we discussed earlier in the unit. 

Introduction to Agriculture - This week in my Introduction to Agriculture class we started our Animal Science unit. The focus of this week was terminology - anatomy terminology and names of animals based on gender and age. Students completed notes on Wednesday and asynchronous activities during the beginning of the week. On Friday I gave students the chance to show me what they learned during the week by playing a bingo game. #PSUAgEd2021 cohort member, Megan, also shared with me an online bingo website, which was perfect for my Zoom students in the afternoon. 

Environmental Science - My freshmen students in Environmental Science are nearing the end of their Climate Dymanics unit. We have discussed the difference between weather and climate, the factors that influence climate, causes of climate change, and the impacts of climate change. This class is taught as a collaborative effort between six other building teachers and the course is structured to include an assessment structure that maximizes student autonomy. Students complete assessments that are called basic level part one, basic level part two, application layer, and mastery layer (summative assessment). For each of the layers, students are given a choice of three assignment options. As the unit progresses and students move up in the layers assessments they also move up Bloom's Taxonomy pyramid - starting at remember and moving up to create. This week students were working on their basic level part two assignments, where they had the opportunity to show me what they learned thus far in our unit. Follow this link to see the assignment description I shared with my students!

#PSUAgEd2021 how you prompt students to show you what they know?