Ms. Williams
TPACK lesson plan 
Corn

1.     State Competency - Benchmark CRP5-4: Students will identify the parts of a seed and the characteristics of good quality seeds.

2.     Objectives for this lesson-

1.     At the end of this lesson students will have a better understanding of corn production and marketing.

3.     Materials and Resources—

1.     Smart board

2.     Smart board lesson  

4.     Instruction

1.     Introduction – I will begin the lesson by asking if the students have any students have prior knowledge about corn production. I will then explain how corn gets to the table  

2.     Instructional process—I will begin the interactive slideshow having the students answer questions and having the students come up to the front to  

c. Closure – I will end the lesson by asking the students to come up to the board and drag an icon to the correct place. And close the lesson by asking if anyone has any questions.
F. Modifications/Accommodations – If there was a student with disabilities I would modify the  lesson accordingly

G. Reflection – The smart board is really helpful for this assignment and I think it gets the students thinking and up and moving. I feel the main change I would make is maybe more activities for the students to participate, but that will come  with a longer lesson as well.

3D printing

3D printing is the next big thing. I feel like being in the agriculture industry there are many opportunities for creating new equipment or hardware for machinery. I know even in my years on the farm there have been many times I've thought to myself "I wish this was a little more like this other piece" and not been able to get something fixed because it wasn't an exact match. with 3D printing I think that students will have the capability to create their own ideas and make them come to life. There are many many uses in agriculture for 3D printing so I think that any student in an ag class could find use for 3D printing even if they were using it on a prototypical level, it would be beneficial for them to be able to think about something and make it come to life. sometimes many students just need the vector to be able to create and reach their full potential and I think 3D printing could do just that. Especially in an agriculture classroom.

Reflection pages

“Teaching and teacher education”

            This article focuses on how new teachers adapt to changing environments or curve balls thrown at them, versus how well seasoned teachers react and adapt to those situations. It states that occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and social workers received lots of help from their older peers and co workers who had more experience, while young freshly graduated teachers did not receive that help. I find that interesting because I see it as “if im willing to care for and teach these students then I want them to get the best education from all of their teachers.” So why wouldn’t I help my younger colleagues? In this article it states “No other profession takes newly certified graduates and places them in the same situation as seasoned veterans, and gives them no organized support”, and that hit me hard. Because its true! I cant think of any job that I’ve ever had that will hire someone with no experience to be much higher than the low man on the totem pole. So why do teachers have to go through that? They go in as a first year teacher and have just as much of a workload if not more than veterans and they have to get it done, and likely for less money! It just doesn’t make any sense. All of these other jobs and career paths require job experience and lots of training and starting low, but not teaching! The turnover rates for teachers are around 50% in the first five years, I WONDER WHY? They have so much pressure and work load with little to no support and are expected to preform with all of these standards and guidelines. It just doesn’t make any sense. This article made me think about teaching on a whole different level.

FROM PRESERVICE TO INSERVICE TEACHING: a study of technology integration

            This article discusses how teachers are supposed to be able to apply the technology that’s changing to the technology they learn through out their degree program. Some of the reasons that teachers are unable to fully understand and be competent in technology are, insufficient training, inadequate resources, limited awareness, content coverage and preparation time. A lot of these I feel are things that we as panhandle students will struggle with. We don’t have a lot of access to the new technology that is coming out to aid teachers and students in classrooms. I mean think about it, even the equipment we do have rarely works the way it is supposed to. I do think that the professors do everything they can with what they have and that’s all we as future educators can ask for. I just think sometimes students from larger universities will have the upper hand just for the lack of resources here. As future educators we are taught how to do things in a general aspect, but these articles are trying to make us see the bigger picture, we cant always just go off of what we have been taught. We as teachers have to be able to adapt and change based on the technology and even the guidelines we have to follow. Because the world is ever changing and there is nothing we can do to stop it. I know personally I think about having to adapt to different cultures or different schools when I think about a lesson plan. I realize that I will have to be able to change and compromise based on my environment and there is nothing I can do about it, especially starting out.  

Ashby Williams

Reflection 

            All of these articles really make you wonder where exactly technology is going to take us. And how truly useful that humans are going to be. Its as if we are smart enough to create robots and devices to "make our jobs easier" when in fact we are just eradicating jobs for ourselves. I think technology is necessary and very beneficial to an extent, I just don't believe we need to lose our ability and purpose here. 

        Some of the inventions our of the two invention articles that I really thought were neat and useful were the folding helmet, the baby monitor, and the ocean vacuum. The folding helmet really struck me as genius because I know a lot of people that choose not to wear a helmet when riding a bike just because of the lack of convenience once they get to their destination. But if the helmet fold up and easily fits in a backpack or side bag, then I don't see what grounds someone could stand on to say they were not going to wear a helmet. The baby monitor is incredible. I know even as an aunt and babysitting my nephew when he was an infant was an extremely stressful time, even more so when he was asleep. Wondering constantly if he was breathing okay, or if he was doing alright in his own bed or even in bed with me. I know if they would have had this device 4 years ago I would have gotten one just to ease my mind a even a little bit. Another useful device would be the ocean vacuum, we know how awful our pollution to the ocean is, so if we have something that would even contribute to the clean up just a little bit, that it would be effective. 

        A few of the inventions that I thought were strange were the gluten sniffer, and the sweet potatoes. I don't really believe in the gluten sniffer because I feel if you're allergic to gluten you know what it is an ingredient in and shouldn't need a sniffer to figure that out. I believe there are way more serious allergens that this unit could be effective for. Just not gluten. Also the sweet potatoes that are high in vitamin A, I know that many years ago someone created a rice, called "Golden Rice" that had this exact same purpose. It was high in vitamin A assisting in preventing blindness and malaria and a many other issues that poverty struck countries have to deal with due to lack of necessary food sources. When Golden Rice was created it was functioning and doing its job and out of nowhere the FDA came and made it illegal to produce so those people who were relying on it, were back at square one. So Im not sure the difference in the rice and the sweet potato, but I can't imagine its much. 

    I also have a problem with the robot toy box, only because I was a terrible little kid and I can only imagine what mine will be as pay back. But I know if my toy box had to tell me to pick up my toys I would make an even bigger mess to keep it busy. But that could just be me. I don't really agree with the comfy chair at all. As nice as it would be to be able to whistle and have a foot rest come to you. If you can't get up and move the footrest to you, there are bigger problems. And also the thought of my furniture moving around at night absolutely terrifies me, if we are being honest.