Individual Learning Part Two - Different Ways Of Application

Individual Learning Part Two - Different Ways Of Application 

Individualized Teaching is a pretty cool strategy for learning. There are a couple of different ways as a teacher you could include this style of learning into the classroom. Some of the main styles are:

• Supervised Study
• Experiments
• Independent Study
• Student Notebooks 
• Sheet Resources

Each is similar but also different so here are some notes on each along with resources for more information:

Supervised Study

This could be one of two things. A mini research paper or could be a Supervised Agricultural Experience. The key here is getting students interested. The best example I have seen are scenario based which could be argued as a Problem Solving Approaches as well. There are six kinds of supervised studies:

1. All students study the same problem using the same reference.
   
2. All students study the same problem using different references.
   
3. Small groups of students (often called study groups) study the same problem using the same references.
   
4. Small groups study the same problem using different references.
   
5. Small groups study different problems using the same references.
   
6. Small groups study different problems using different references. 
   

Some big points to make is with this style of individual learning is that students will also have to be instructed in concepts such as note taking and research developing. One big key is that a supervised activity needs three points: a clearly defined objective, student understanding of the objective, teacher facilitation of gathering and interpreting of results. 

Resources:

https://learning.knoji.com/types-of-teaching-lessons-supervised-study-lesson/

Experiments 

The way I think about this style of individualized learning starts with a student asking a question. From there a teacher can assign an experiment to that student. The book used a lot of examples with plants which makes sense and could result into some fun projects for students to do. Experiments can be done individually or in small groups. 

Recommendations: 

Lab Handout - This is 100 % important. It gives the students a chance to self direct which is the most essential part of an experiment. By doing this students are able to see ahead and work ahead if able. Also students now work on the lab themselves and your role is to now answer questions of clarification and not provide direction. 

FORMAT TO FOLLOW IN REPORTING ON EXPERIMENTS

Title: (What was the experiment about? Keep it simple and clear. Example—“How does pH affect the growth of my ___________?”)
Purpose: (What did you try to accomplish? Example— “The purpose of this experiment was to see if too low a pH would reduce the yield of my _____.”)
Procedures: (A step-by-step synopsis of how the experiment was conducted.)
Findings: (The important data presented in the form of tables, graphs, or charts.)
Conclusions: (Based on this experiment, what can we now conclude? Example— ”As pH drops below the recommended level, ______________________________________ .)

This was in the textbook and I think it was a great way to give students an example for recording findings of classroom experiments. I know I plan on using it for my classroom to make it easy for students to record results.

Independent Studies

These are an Ag Teachers Trump card to keep students enrolled in the agricultural program as a whole. When a class doesn't fit into their schedule independent agricultural studies are a way for students to be enrolled and receiving credits at the same time. It's pretty awesome. The challenge faced with independent studies is that students need a place to perform the study and need to demonstrate findings of the study. These work great with SAEs because SAEs already require students to invest time into them. Now they get school credit to complete them as well. This is a great idea for students. 

Resources:

Example form for an independent study:

Notebooks

I plan on using notebooks for my student teaching and I plan on making my students create their own classroom notebooks as well. I think the cool thing here to do is to make students follow a format for a classroom note book. Additionally it could become something that you grade weekly / biweekly. Also you can have them use specific formats in notebook as well. 

Categories	Possible points	Points earned
Neatness	10
Completeness of Notes	20
Thoroughness of Notes	30
Accuracy	30
Plans of practice	10
Total	100

Also I would look at these resources about types of notebooks and styles. You can also buy fun notebooks and give them to your students. 

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/school-notebooks/
https://www.pinterest.com/jcval/interactive-notebook-ideas/
https://www.pinterest.com/explore/notebook-labels/

Handouts in class

Often lecturing students to death does not work like at all. There are other ways to disperse information to students. One such example is to provide it in handout form for students in class. There are three types of handouts: information sheets, assignment sheets, and skill sheets. All three are used in a unique and different way but all used properly can reduce the amount of "lecture time". 

Information Sheets - short handouts that provide the basic information which can introduce a topic or can be used as a review of information gained ahead. 

Assignment Sheets - this explains how to a process and how to check work to make sure nothing was over looked. 

Skill Sheets - Similar to assignment Sheets but these are more limited in scope and more focus on the particular skill. 

I would probably use the information and assignment sheet in my labs and when ever there is a lesson I want to preform that the students can do. 

Resources:

https://www.usma.edu/cfe/Literature/Mikits_09.pdf.
https://www.pinterest.com/plubrano/handouts-worksheets/

Other notes

I love the idea of individualized learning and honestly it makes sense to use it in combination with other things such as PSA and IBL. Also combining it with group learning during a lesson is a good way to break up a classroom experience. 

To Be Continued . . .