Cultivating Curiosity with Ms. Cusate

This week #AEE412 looked a little different than past weeks because we learned about Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) from Dr. Laura Rice! My cohort members and I now have a better idea of what CRT is exactly and how to implement CRT strategies in our classrooms. The following are some of my main takeaways from the week! Culture Goes Beyond Where We Come From One of the most important things I learned from this week was that culture goes beyond where we come from. Before, I thought that when talking about student culture, we were talking about where a student is from and their culture's customs. However, after this week, I know that student culture is about all the aspects of a student's life that they bring into our classrooms. From family life to experiences, languages spoken, and values, culture entails a lot more than just where a student comes from. There is Cultural Diversity All Around Us During part of our class on Monday, a representative from State College High Sc...

Full steam ahead as we move through week 8! For the past two weeks in #AEE412 lab, we have been tasked with leading our students through the Problem Solving Approach.  For my lab, I chose to teach a wood construction lesson that included a scenario, or situation to be improved. My scenario was about how the local FFA chapter needed to create a new stand to sell and market the products they make in-house, but since it was made out of wood and left outside, it started to warp and split. I took the think-pair-share approach and flipped it so that first students would share out as a class, pair with their seat partner, and then finally think of solutions on their own. I asked my students what considerations they should think of when building a new stand, and what a possible solution could be to stop the warping and splitting. But where did I fall short? A big part of being able to use the problem-solving approach effectively is being able to ask the right questions to guide your studen...