Dawson Shannon

Vision Statement

Thomas Edison once said, Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed
in overalls and looks like work. I believe as a teacher success is created by opportunity
and opportunity is derived from motivation. Without motivation and opportunity we will
never engage in a successful life full of creativity, education, power, money, and
stability. Students in todays economy need exceptional stability from a teacher along
with motivation to help promote opportunity to create their success. As a teacher I am
focusing more on the motivational and creativity portion of teaching styles to engage
students in building an opportunity for a better future. My vision as a teacher is to teach
students with hands-on experience by bringing real world materials and research into
the classroom. I will educate agricultural students to a higher level of opportunity in
future job prospects and teach non-Ag related students how agriculture drives our
economy.

In my classroom I strive to create a stable environment for all students to feel
comfortable and motivated to learn. Within the Kagan textbook Kagan Cooperative
Learning I have discovered structures that will organize my content and help engage
students learning ability with social interaction. Kagan breaks down each learning
structure and explains how students can work together using PIES. PIES is an acronym
for the cooperative learning tool using four basic principles. Positive Interdependence
which creates mutual support among the students also increases the frequency and
quality of peer tutoring. Individual Accountability increases student participation and
motivation to achieve. Equal Participation is students that would normally not engage
in group activity become a little more involved with working together. Simultaneous
Interaction is the amount of participation a student engages in. Kagan also mentions
that group work should not be graded but with the use of PIES students can show
individual accountability. I will utilize Cooperative Learning structures from Kagan in my
classroom to engage students, show equal participation on projects, independent
accountability on group work, and positive interdependence among each student. The
students will also show their interaction among groups with simultaneous interaction.

Jensens textbook The Brain in mind breaks down the learning process and teaches the
different parts of the brain that help students learn new material. In my classroom I will
better understand the cognitive and metacognitive issues students are faced with
everyday. With the help of Jensen I can better understand how high school students
organize, process, and retain new information while their hormones are changing on a
day-to-day basis. I understand the type of motivation students need and how to keep
the students creative while learning new information. In my classroom I will use the
learning styles from Jensens textbook The Seven Critical Factors in the Learning
Process. These Critical Factors consist of Engagement, Repetition, Input Quantity,
Coherence, Timing, Error Correction, and Emotional State. Engagement consists of the
goal-oriented, attention, and action. Repetition is the reviewing and priming process.
Input Quantity which is a major portion is the capacity of knowledge, the flow of
material, and chunk size to fit the learning style. Coherence is the modeling aspect of
the learning process along with relevance. When using coherence you have prior
Dawson Shannon

knowledge of something you are comparing it to. Timing is the intervals students learn
throughout the day. Students have different times of day they are more motivated to
learn and focus. Error Correction is the feedback and support to help the student
understand the right answer. Emotional States is the state of dependency. Students
also need the correct emotional state in the classroom. If the students feel Fear or being
threatened it will impair the hippocampus and derail the learning.

When planning my lesson for students I will be using the five part lesson cycle system.
Focus to grab the attention of the students and engage them to the material. Second I
will use Instructional Delivery to define what the content is and explain the importance
of the material. Third will be the Guided Practice where I will show the students how to
practice the material in cooperative learning structures without grading. Fourth is
Independent Practice where each student will do the lessons by their selves. The final
step is Closure where I will check for understanding the material. Each lesson plan will
also have a CBC included. The CBC is the Condition, Behavior and Criteria. What do I
want my students to learn and how do I want them to learn the material.

Education professionals should have the common sense and know correct boundaries
they cannot cross with students. I will obey the Texas Code of Ethics and watch over
my students for other educators to obey as-well. A teacher should always be
professional to students as-well-as other educators. As educators we should be calm,
respectful, and care for the students for we have the biggest enfaces on them.
Helping one student fulfill their dreams of getting the best education I can provide them
is more than a pat on the back for me. I would like to guide students into a future they
will be able to expand their own interest on. As an Agricultural teacher I would like to
educate students on future careers they may need a jump start on, help students earn
scholarships to attend the college of their dreams, raise that Grand Champion steer, or
help a student become an active member in the FFA (Future Farmers of America) one
of the Worlds largest student organizations. Students need motivation but they also
need a mentor/teacher that will help them succeed. As for Thomas Edison saying
opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work, I
want to educate students that it is not the overalls and work that is opportunity. Its the
motivation inside the person that drives the opportunity to success.

Dawson Shannon

Works Cited
Dr. Kagan, S. (2009). Kagan Copperative Learning. San Clemente: Kagan Publishing.
Jensen, E. (2008). Teaching with the brain in mind. Alexandria: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-
Publication Data.