Thinking Big Picture

We all have those moments where we think about the big picture outcome of whatever situation we are facing or soon to be facing. Student teaching is no different. We have to plan for the end in mind. If we don't have a big picture outlook, how can we effectively teach our students? 

While I was reading the week three investment content there were three things that made me look at student teaching in a more clearer way. First and foremost we need to plan for success. If we want our students to get the most out of our class we cannot do surface level thinking, we need to dig deeper. Secondly, we need to plan with the end goal in mind. The big picture outcome. What is it? Why is it important? How do we get there? These questions need to be prompted in our minds to effectively plan. Lastly, writing plans helps us think and process the content to frame it effectively and clearly for the students. If we are not putting things in a sequential order it will be harder for the students to learn the concepts.

Looking back on my journey to this point in my college career there are connections between the information I read and the classes I have or currently taking. In AEE 413, we are being taught how to have a felt need to learn how an agricultural education program is effectively run. We need to have that felt need to know the content as we make our lesson and unit plans. That felt need is the jet turbine making it break the sound barrier. It gives us the motivation and power to see it through. Another connection I made is in AEE 100 we were taught basic lesson planing to perform a demonstration lesson project. We had all the essential elements but the plans were part of a unit. There are more connections that I could make, but it is important that I move on to why this is all relevant.

I found an additional article written by Todd Finley that was published on Edutopia. In it he talks about how to plan the best curriculum unit ever. One key thing I pulled out of the article is we cannot take a curriculum unit from another teacher or company and think that it will work for our students without revisions. We have plan for OUR students not for a general student body. 

Finley, T. (2014) Planning the Best Curriculum Unit Ever. Retrieved from
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/planning-best-curriculum-unit-ever-todd-finley