“Tell me and I forget, teach me and
I may remember, involve me and I learn.” We have heard this quote many
times before in regards to teaching and learning. Benjamin Franklin had a
point. As a student that is starting to
look at classes and content through the eyes of a teacher, I couldn’t agree
more. Reflect with me for a few moments…
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| This is a lot different than a vehicle, and the other skid steer I learned to drive! |
The first day of AEE 349, Shop
Processes for Agricultural Educators, Dr. Ewing asked us, what we thought the
class would be about. I watched three
other roommates take the class so I responded with confidence and a smirk:
“shop things.” We all laughed at how generic my response was, but reality hit
hard that first day, I knew close to nothing about “shop things.” The laughter and lack of knowledge about
“shop things” was funny in the moment, but I didn’t realize it would bother me
in the coming weeks. The realization
that I may have to teach agricultural mechanics processes one day set in, and
so did my nerves. Five weeks into class,
they still do. Every Tuesday and
Thursday at 4 pm, I feel this anxiety bubbles up inside me. Absolutely everything is new to me. Four stroke engines, hardscapes, circular saws,
welding, oxy acetylene… the list goes on and on. Some of it is a foreign language to me, and I
know a foreign language… But this, I might have to teach this.
When about 4:05 pm hits and we are
ready to get our hands dirty disassembling engines in the shop the look on my
face must reflect the inner anxiety I feel.
It never fails one of my classmates, the teaching assistant or Dr. Ewing
himself notice, ask if I am okay and reassure me that I can do it. I will learn, and they will take care of me.
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| One of our units is small gas engines, my partner and I are in the disassembling process. |
Some days it is easy to walk into class
and pretend to know it all, or act like we have it all together. When we are brave enough to raise our hand
and guess, and it’s wrong, sometimes we are encouraged, and sadly other times
we are not. It is easy to say “no, that
is not the exact answer I was looking for.”
It takes more thought and care though when a teacher responds with more
questions; “Hmm… why do you think that?” Or “what does this part do? So does
this make more sense?” In this class,
I can’t and I won’t know it all right away.
The process of learning something new is interesting and exciting, but filled with doubts and unknowns. I have decided I will ask questions, even the
ones with an obvious answer. I will
volunteer to explain how intake, compression, power and exhaust function, mess
it up and be corrected so I learn the right process. I will volunteer to use a circular saw in
front of class, to demonstrate safety- but more than that, to step out of my
comfort zone and put myself in the shoes of a student. When I
look at this with the eyes of a teacher, I realize I am learning. I may be surrounded by people that have taken
an agricultural mechanics class before, but chances are my future students,
will be in my shoes: curious, anxious, interested and maybe a little confused
or concerned.
To learn more about starting on the path to having a career that makes a positive impact on the lives of students across the globe by becoming an agricultural educator, please contact the agricultural teacher education program at teachag@psu.edu. Follow us on Twitter at TeachAgPSU, on Facebook, or on our blog.
Kayla Hack
Student Blogger
Twitter Handle: @hackkayla
2017 Agriculture Education Student Teacher
Great Post Kayla! You share similar feelings and thoughts that many preservice candidates (and all teachers!) experience when engaging with new content, which happens all the time in Ag!
ReplyDeleteKeep doing great things,