Reflection 7

STL Teaching 1

From this video you can see that my STL was technology in the field of agriculture. At first I was stumped on what to teach and I had no idea what kind of advancements there were in technology in agriculture. But i figured since I am from Idaho and my uncle is a farmer, I could figure out something. SO..... I did some research and I found one thing that caught my interest. Precision Farming!! Or GPS farming as it is known as. I thought it was interesting how it could control the tractor and tell it at which point would be best for planting and for tilling and so forth. I like the idea of how it being so precise that if makes farming more manageable and there is less room for mistakes and farmers could save money as well.

So my plan was to show the video above to the class and talk for a minute about how this process could help farmers plan out their fields and their crops and then we would do the activity. At first I thought that 20 minutes was way too long!! But as I started planning my lesson I realized I wouldn't have a lot of time to do most of what I wanted. But as I was teaching I felt the first part went pretty well and most of the class seemed to be listening to my lesson and most were answering questions. I still need to work on proximity and calling on people when no one answers at first. But after we all talked about the good points of gps farming, we did the activity I came up with. I had them break up into 3 groups and act out how GPs farming works. In the groups they have 2 satellites and one receiver who gathers all the data and then a tractor who plants the seeds and tills and fertilizes. They had to follow the map they were given and do all that it said. At first the activity was rocky and the instructions I gave weren't as clear as they should have been. I shouldn't have let them break up into groups until after I gave them all the instructions. I think it went pretty well after everything was explained.

Over all I think I did pretty good and that my point was well known why I was teaching what I was teaching. But I do need to learn to explain activities better and realize not everyone knows as much as I do about what I am teaching and I cant just expect them to fill in all the blanks. But that is why we practice right?!

Reflection 6

TSA


The TSA is a test what we have to take in order to get into the Secondary Education program in the Mckay building. I am with Geoff that it is a little insulting to us as Technology majors to have to take a test about technology to get into the program. But we all did it regardless.

One thing I found out about the test is that the time limit is harder than I thought. I figured I would be able to do it in no time but on one of the tests I went over. I think it was because I was taking my time too much on making it look exactly like the example and really they didn't care that much. I think if BYU really wants to say that there teachers are technology literate then they should have their future teachers take more technology classes.
While i was waiting to be graded on the Excel test I was talking to Evan and I said I don't ever use Excel so I have no idea what I was doing. And the girl behind the desk looked at me with glaring eyes and said "You will use it everyday when you are a teacher!" And you know what? I have thought about it and what is so great about us as technology teachers is that we do not limit ourselves to one medium of technology. We keep up with the times and yes we may even step outside from Microsoft office and explore other options that could do the same thing, maybe even better.

That is one thing I would like to do as a teacher. I want to be able to expand to other mediums and know a lot of different kinds of software and programs so if my students have questions or want another way of doing something, then I can be there to help them. That will be one of my goals as a teacher and step outside of what I am teaching and find other ways of doing something and not just the standard way.

Reflection 5

This week in class we talked about Persogeneics. We had to take a test to see what we were like as a person and the way we learn. After taking the test I learned that i am Expressive/ Amiable.

I thought the whole idea was interesting how it could tell us what we are by a few questions. Here is what it means by Expressive.....

The Expressive

Expressive Patterns naturally exhibit high-assertive and high-responsive behaviors. This means they communicate assertively, and are more open in their gestures and expressions than the other patterns. Expressives are very people-oriented. They desire a clear and open show of understanding by both sides in communication, and they use persuasion and exaggerated body movements to promote that understanding.

Expressives are recognized as being energetic, emotional, opinionated, sometimes loud, and always ready to take risks and volunteer. They are also playful and fun-loving, tend to dislike routine, and may at times appear to be unfocused in their work.

I can see why this is my primary pattern and I see myself in a lot of what is says and how I act. Knowing that I am primarily an expressive person I will know how I teach and how it could have an impact on my students.

My secondary style is Amiable. Amiable is defined as having or showing pleasant, good-natured personal qualities. In the break down of my results it also describes amiable as..

The Amiable

Amiable Patterns are naturally low-assertive and high-responsive in their behaviors. This means that they are not forceful in their communication, but they do outwardly show concern and understanding for others. Amiables are people-oriented and team-oriented. They are concerned with the happiness and satisfaction of all.

Amiables are peacemakers by nature. They are diplomatic, cooperative, patient, and strive to avoid conflict if at all possible. Amiables are slower paced when they move and in the gestures that they make and are softer-spoken and more moderately paced in their speech than most of the other patterns. Amiables are tentative and cautious in decision making, less apt to take risks than most of the other styles, and may at times appear non-committal and conforming.

In this it says that I am ambious and want to succeed in all I do but that I am also aware of the needs of those around me and that I will go out of my way to make sure those needs are met. I find it interesting that my primary and secondary patterns are somewhat opposite but I blend the two. I find it interesting how this could affect my teaching and that to some students I might come off too strong and that I will expect too much out of everyone and that I need to understand that everyone has individual needs and that everyone is at their own level. I found it to be appropriate that it says that I am comfortable telling people what I think because of my high assertiveness but that may not always be the way to be the best teacher. 

From doing this test and talking about the results I have learned that everyone has their own pattern or style of who they are and what is more effective for them and how they might learn on an individual basis. As a teacher it is up to me to learn the different patterns and learn the ways to teach to each different style of person.

Reflection 4

So this past week I finished up the Gong book we were to read in class. I found some very interesting things in that book that provoked more thought from me and had me see teaching and learning on a new level. I feel that the Gong book doesn't just instruct you on how to teach but also on how to be an effective learner as well.

Exponential growth of knowledge comes from two essential abilities: understanding and remembering.

I felt this quote from chapter three sums up a lot about what the book is trying to enforce. We as teachers need to encourage exponential growth but also practice it ourselves. Especially as technology teachers we need to be up on all the new technology and the ever-changing aspects of it. We can't let our thirst for knowledge stop just because we have completed our degrees.


In the last chapter of the book it talks about the L/T squared and how to take the learner/ teacher role to the next level and to apply it not only in teaching students in a formal classroom but also to everyone you may meet. The roles they describe are:

1. Love
2. Action

The reason I put a picture of Christ on the top of this Reflection was that while reading the last chapter of the book my thoughts turned to Christ. I have always seen him as an inspiration in my spiritual life as someone I want to model myself after but I never really thought about connecting him to my professional career. But in all the examples they gave the ones that made the most sense to me where the ones from the New Testament.

When they describe love they say that it is infinite and we must learn to be able to always love and to be loved. If we love what and who we teach it will be easier to help them grow and become better people and to listen to that which we teach. I couldn't think of a better example of love than Christ. If as a teacher I can learn to love the subject I am teaching and the students that I have then I know I can make a difference and isn't that what all teachers want to do??

Action is defined as an effect or influence. In the chapter it explains how a teacher was trying to teacher her students about technical writing and that she would explain it and see one student understand and then she would have him explain it to the class and then she would see more people understand and then she would have them explain it and so on until the whole class understood. I found this is something we do in the church too. Not everyone can sit down with the prophet personally and learn everything about the gospel from him but we have people who understand and teach others and ultimately we all learn together and grow from our teaching experiences. As teachers we will learn from our students like they will learn from us we just need to be willing to put into Action the techniques that we know are effective and we will be able to influence those whom we teach and will be influenced as well.