Day 22: Teaching to Inspire – Our Final Malaysian Teaching Experience

During our group reflection on Monday evening, Shelby, Thomas, and Nisa asked us the question:

“Why do we teach?”

Members of our group quickly responded with the following phrases:

  • “Pass on knowledge to students”
  • “Give every student the chance to succeed”
  • “Inspire students to find their passion”
Melissa assists students to select the materials to create a poultry digestion mural.

This question resonated with the group as we had just finished our last teaching episode at Dato Lela Maharaja Vocational College. Our 3 teaching experiences scaffolded from teaching Form 2 students (14 years old), then hosting an Agriculture Day for 60 secondary students, to finally teaching students (16-19 years old) at a Vocational Agricultural College.  At Dato Lela Maharaja, students are part of a specific agricultural program (Agronomy, Poultry Agro-Industry, Ruminant Agro-Industry, Agro-Mechanization, Aquaculture, Ornamental Horticulture, Architectural Landscape, or Agriculture Food Processing). Our 6 teaching teams each chose a content area and were tasked with preparing a 90-minute lesson for a group of students. During our planning, we needed to consider that students may have advanced content knowledge, may (or may not) be confident in their English communication skills, or may have covered the topic of our lesson previously in their studies. Nonetheless, our teaching teams collaborated and utilized teaching strategies centered around student engagement, inquiry, and project-based learning.

Ruminant Agro-Industry students label their petri dishes and read the biosecurity scenarios they will replicate

Drawing upon past teaching experience from an inquiry-based curriculum, two teachers decided to utilize an activity they implement in their secondary Agricultural Science programs in the United States. Melissa Grant, Indiana AgriScience Teacher, and Darla Romberger, Pennsylvania AgriScience Teacher, are both Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE)-certified in the Agricultural Science—Animal course. Melissa’s group consisting of Manny Catala (@MCatala35), Azira, and Ain provided instruction to the Poultry Agro-Industry group while Darla’s group of Mikaella Koster (@MikaellaKoster) and Fatin instructed the Ruminant Agro-Industry class. Knowing that both lessons needed to be challenging, engaging, and somewhat flexible, the CASE-certified teachers decided to utilize inquiry-based lessons from the CASE curriculum and conduct each lesson in a Malaysian classroom.

Poultry Agro-Industry class with completed Digestion Murals.

The poultry instructional team led a class of Form 4 students (ages 15-16) and focused their lesson on internal anatomy and physiology of poultry animals. After briefly introducing the function and appearance of internal organs, students created digestion murals of a broiler chicken (Project. 5.1.4.) utilizing assorted craft supplies. Before creating the mural, students needed to justify how each craft item accurately represented each organ. Melissa noted, “It was awesome to see students in a different country enjoying the same activity that my students do in Indiana.” The students loved being out of their seats collaborating and creating a poster that they could display to other students in the program.

After washing a boot with water and a disinfecting solution, a student swabs a petri dish to observe bacterial growth between both biosecurity treatments.

The ruminant instructional team led a class of 19-year-old students (that would graduate with a Vocational College diploma at the end of the year) and concentrated on the topic of biosecurity and the effectiveness of various biosecurity practices.  After a brief introduction about the various control points in a biosecurity plan, students replicated various scenarios on a farm to evaluate the effectiveness of biosecurity practices (Activity 3.3.2. Biosecurity: Managing Risk). The class had already discussed the concept of biosecurity, but our group was confident in the problem-based activity we had planned. The instructional team explained the purpose of a nutrient agar petri dish and gave instruction on how to label, swab, and seal a petri dish with parafilm—all new concepts for this group of students. Students then predicted which biosecurity scenario would result in the least bacterial growth and therefore be the most effective practice to reduce the spread of disease. At the end of the lesson, I reflected, “It was rewarding to see project-based learning and inquiry strategies come to life in a Malaysian classroom and hope that I inspired these students to ask questions and become more engaged in Animal Science content.”

After teaching in Malaysia and the United States, I’ve realized that teachers across the globe teach for the same reasons—to inspire, motivate, and share knowledge with students, regardless of what country we teach in. When tasked with teaching a class of Malaysian students, I instantly thought of all the barriers we would have while teaching (language, content, etc). However, I quickly remembered why I enjoy teaching—sharing my passion for animal agriculture with future generations of students. This motivation will continue as we enter our classrooms next fall and continue to motivate, inspire, and share knowledge about global agriculture and our second home—Malaysia.

Ms. Darla Romberger (@DJR_131) [Cumberland Valley High School (@FlyCVEagles)] is a secondary Agricultural Science Teacher (@CV_AgSciences) & FFA Advisor (@CV_FFA1954) in
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania!

THE National Curriculum – Learning Day 20!

We have been in Malaysia for 20 days or so.  Even though our time here is almost up we are only just beginning our adventures back home and personally. 

Lots of things have changed on this trip for all of us.  Personal perspectives have changed as well as education as an entirety.  We have learned a lot about the Malaysian education system compared to the US education system.  For example, secondary teachers in Malaysia do not get the chance to choose where they get to teach, they are placed.  Not only are they placed in a school but they are also unable to leave their job if they decide they do not want to teach anymore.  Malaysia also has a national curriculum that they teach from.  Comparing this to the US you are probably thinking that that is so different and maybe even what you would classify as weird.

As we continued our trips through the different SMK schools [Public secondary education in Malaysia is provided by National Secondary Schools (Sekolah Menengah KebangsaanSMK)], we have started to understand how the national curriculum works.  We realized that when they said national curriculum, they really meant national uniformity.  We have observed two different schools both doing the same hydroponic lab.  In the demonstration performed by the students, they both used “Solutions A” and “Solution B” as the nutrients that they added to the water.  there were also two different aquaponic systems that we had taught at previous schools about. 

As a pre-service ag teacher, I really don’t understand the stress that I may or may not be getting myself into as a future teacher, but I am willing to find out and try.  I will probably wonder what it is like to have a national curriculum that you have to follow.  I also wonder what it is going to be like to create my own curriculum.

Here is to a future of teaching!

Mikaella Koster (@MikaellaKoster) pre-service teacher candidate
Iowa State University (@AgEds__IAStateU).

It’s Not All About the Fish! Aquaponics Ag Day at SMK Seri LaLang – Day 14

We finished off our FELDA Ayer Hitman visit by teaching Form 1 students (13 years old) at their Aquaponics Ag Day at SMK Seri LaLang before returning back to UTM in Johor Baru. We were initially greeted by our students playing instruments and each handed a very unique flower and egg on a stick combination as we departed from our bus. In a brief opening ceremony, we observed for the first time students, faculty, and visitors stood for the nationals anthem of Malaysia. 🇲🇾 As we finished logistical matters, the students were divided into four groups. Please keep in mind groups are comprised of separate genders, this time we had two groups of boys and two groups of females.

 

 

Accomplishing the WHY is always our mission as educators. But,  why were we at FELDA Ayer Hitam SMK Seri Lalang today? We hoped to accomplish the following learning objectives as a team today by discussing AQUAPONICS:

1.  Classify the components of an aquaponics system.

2. Differentiate between the three types of aquaponics systems; NFT (Nutrient Film Technique), Ebb and Flow, and Raft/DWC (Deep Water Culture).

3. Create the cycle through an aquaponics system.

4. Assess the pros and cons of an aquaponics system.

At the close our session, we had a few minutes for questions, where we learned that several students were curious about our favorite back home food, a student shared that he loved to beatbox and even heard him play, they were also curious about if we enjoyed wearing the traditional batik and hijab to teach in. I have to say it was very tight fitting around your face but I appreciated the culture adjustment and felt very welcome. Also relevant is that we were in a school and teaching on a Sunday. In the state of Johor Bahor they observe Friday and Saturday as the weekend and as such, we were at school today.

Melissia Grant (@MelissiaGrant8) is a secondary agriscience teacher at Western High School in Indiana.

Ag Day Prep… And Then Some! Day 8

When this adventure began, we knew that we were coming for a focused professional development purpose.  We knew that we would be engage in teaching opportunities (or episodes) two to three times while in-country.  Our second teaching episode would have a different context of a large group; similar to what we might know as an “Ag Day”.  

Our first teaching episode was in a traditional classroom context and on the topic of Aquaponics!  Did I know anything about aquaponics?  No, I certainly did not.  Don’t worry, all I made it though that lesson just fine thanks to our UTM students help.   Though this entire adventure the UTM students have helped us in more ways than we can really even mention.  They help us with social activities, planning our lessons, teaching our lessons, and even the most simple tasks like communicating.  I just want to take a second and say, THANK YOU UTM STUDENTS!!!!!

As we began preparation for our second teaching episode “Ag Day”, critical information was dropped on us.  Once again, we were teaching aquaponics.  This time we were teaching as a group and we were teaching more students.  The school would also have flexibility on the standards that we had to meet.  Each of us split into our groups and we concord planning each of our group lessons. 

A great part of planning? They also got us pizza for lunch!  Fun fact:  There is tuna on pizza in Malaysia.

As the afternoon came, we had a few hours of unscheduled free time.  Some of us decided to go to a local mall, some went to downtown Johor Bahru, and others stayed back at the hotel to catch up on some sleep and get some other work done.  I ventured to the mall.  This excursion was a lot of wondering around just checking stuff out and comparing this mall to an American mall.  There are some similarities and also some differences, just like you would find in any other mall. 

One major difference that is noticed everywhere is the toilet situation.  Pretty much every stall that you will enter has a bidet in it.  Some stalls do not even offer any sort of toilet paper.  You have to provide your own or just go without.  Finally, the main focus, the toilet.  Sometimes they aren’t even there!  Talk about a surprise when you enter that stall.  I refer to these as squatty potty.

Our final activity for the day was a musical instrument lesson.  We learned what each instrument was, its tone, and the purpose that it served.  We practiced and tried out some instruments.  Finally, it was our turn to play.  I wouldn’t say that we did too shabby for a crash course.  I will just say that Clover is now an expert.  Also, thank you Ali for taking the time and having the patience to teach me.  

 

Here is to more adventures and another day in Malaysia!

 

 

 

Mikaella Koster (@MikaellaKoster) is a pre-service agricultural education student at
Iowa State University.

Teaching to Learn: My First Malaysian Teaching Experience

“Knowledge is the most powerful tool a student can obtain.” Today was the first time I lead a class in another country (whose first language was not English) with the goal of sharing knowledge about aquaponics. Aquaponics is a system of aquaculture in which waste produced by fish will supply nutrients for plants grown hydroponically.

5 Steps to Building a Simple Aquaponics System

My team’s objectives for the class were:

  • Explain a simple aquaponic system
  • List six components of an aquaponic system
  • Build a sample of an aquaponic system using recycled plastics.

I would know the lesson was successful if questions were being asked, students were engaged in the activity, and the students were having fun.

The reason our #AgEd2Malaysia team taught this lesson is because Malaysia does not have large amounts of available land to use for growing vegetables or raising fish as a source of protein. This lesson has allowed students to gain knowledge and skills in identifying the components of an aquaponics system and build a simple model.

At the start of class we had students in small groups creating a mind map of the components of an aquaponics system. They considered why each component was important,  sketched pictures, and described how the plant and fish need to survive in the system. Teaching alongside a student teacher from UTM (Ain and Suhana) and a teacher from the USA (Darla, @djr_131), we had to gather materials to make a simple aquaponic system. This system is made out of an empty 2 liter bottle, shower loofa, aluminum foil, tape, mini pots with plant and growing media, and a goldfish.

Since this was my first experience teaching in a classroom (ever), reflection was very important because I want to become a better teacher and student. The #AgEd2Mayalsia experience has helped me become just that. This group of people are unique because we not only get the chance to teach in front of class, but also the opportunity to reflect as a group at the end of everyday. These are five questions and answers I challenge myself and the #TeachAg crew at the end of the day:

 

1.What went went well in the lesson today?

-Teamwork

-Students were engaged in  the lesson

-We heard laughter and it showed they were having fun

-Asking questions

2. What problems did you experience?

-Ability level of students

-Teaching pace because of the language barrier

-Students needed more confidence in their english

-Students were very shy

3. What could I have done differently?

-Ice breaker to get to know the students better so they felt more comfortable

-Improve teaching roles in team teaching

-Add more hands-on activity

-Making the activity more flexible for time

4. Was it “student centered’? Should it have been?

-As as whole we all came to the census that the class was facilitated with conversation more than lecture.

5. What did you learn from this experience that will help you in the future?

-Empathy towards ESL learners

-Be clear, concise, slow & deliberate with instructions

-Confidence & communication

-Knowing when to keep it simple and in depth

I could not have been more proud of the students in Form 2 (age 14) at SMK Seri Pulai Perdana. To some people we

hear a foreign accent, but today I saw a sign of bravery. Asking a 14 year old to speak another language is not an easy task and I was very impressed with all the students. The people that made up the school were all welcoming and so happy to see Americans. This is a memory and feeling everyone on this trip will remember and hold a special place in our hearts.

 

Kristi Mensen (@kristi_mensen)

Hawkeye Community College (@GALC_Hawkeye, @HawkeyeCollege)

Iowa State University (@AgEds_IaStateU)