Why Do We Do What We Do?

Hello World,

So this blog is a few days late, but it serves as my second blog of the month of March, just catching up after my weekend! So the longer I teach the more reflective I become.  I put a large amount of time thinking about why I teach the lessons I do and what the general outcome is supposed to be. 

Last Friday I had my midterm student teacher meeting in Ames, yes I know it was a little late, but we had to reschedule due to weather concerns.  We started the session with a go around about our experience thus far.  One question was "what was the first class you took over?"  Many of the student teachers described the curriculum they have covered so far in this class and many had similar answers to the following.

"My first class I took over was Ag. I, so far this semester we have coverd ag. mechanics, small animals, aquaculture, and electricity."  Wait WHAT?  This was my first thought when I heard this.  How do those topics connect in a continuous string of learning?  Working with CASE has shown me the importnace of building knowledge in a curriculum.  We need to cover simplier topics, before we move on to more advanced ones. We need to teach with direction rather than teach to fill our time.  Are all the concepts important to teach at some point in the curriculum?  Yes, I am not saying they aren't, I am sure most of us that took ag. classes covered these concepts at one point or another, but as my cooperating teacher says "This ain't your daddy's ag. class."  We need to challenge students with more rigorous curriculum, teach scientific concepts that serve our students futures.  I finished teaching a rations unit today in my advanced animal science class and afterwards I looked at my coop. teacher and said.... "Why did we do that?"  How many of my students are going to formulate rations for animals?  None, most likely they will order a complete ration from the co-op if they need one.  Is it more important to teach the general characteristics of a good ration intead of how to make formulate one?  I believe so.  General concepts that can be used as foundations for future learning and knowledge building are where we should focus our efforts.  Each of the students in my class did not need to know how to figure the percent crude protein in a beef cattle ration. In the future if I teach an animal science course again I will modify that unit to better fit the different needs of my students.

I will step off my soap box now and bid you adieu.  If you are a fellow educator, please take some time to think about why you are teaching what you are and if it is with a purpose or to just fill up time and is a "neat" activity.

Keep Calm and Carry On,

Mr. Werner