Thursday, February 13, 2014

Blog Post #5

In Project Based Learning Part 1 and Project Based Learning Part 2 , Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps discuss a little about what project based learning does for students. Project based learning is a way to get students more involved and excited to learn. According to Anthony Capps, "a good project has an authentic audience, student interest, involves the community, and is driven by content". Anthony spoke about one project that he had his students involved in that one parent wasn't comfortable with. This goes to show that with anything that is done in the classroom, parents aren't always going to necessarily like it, and if they don't want their kids involved in it, their wishes have to be respected. Although things like this may happen from time to time, with project based learning, students are more prepared for their future in writing, and in thinking. Students have fun and get involved in what they are doing.

iCurio
In iCurio , Capps explains a little about iCurio. iCurio is basically an internet search engine that has already been filtered for kids to use. Not only is it safer and better for students to use for school research, but it also is great for teachers to share documents with students. Another great thing about this is that is has accessibility for handicap students.

In the video Strange List of Tips for Teachers , Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps give us five tips that could be useful as a teacher.
1. If you are going to be a teacher, you have to be interested in learning, yourself. After all there are going to be mistakes and some things are going to work while others don't, therefore teaching becomes a learning process.
2. Teaching is hard. There is so much that has to be done, lesson plans, grading, and so on. But Capps reminds us that even though teaching is hard, it can be very rewarding.
3. Be flexible. Things aren't always going to go as you planned, and there are going to be things that come up right in the middle of a lesson. Teachers have to learn how to work around those things.
4. Get students engaged in learning. If students are engaged they will be learning something instead of day dreaming. When students are engaged, they are interested and you are able to have their full attention.
5. Reflect. Because there are going to be mistakes, it is important to think about how you are going to fix them. How can you make it better? Ways to think about this would be to involve your students or parents. Ask them their suggestions and the things they would change. After all, they are the ones involved in the learning process.

Discovery Ed is a program designed to be interactive with students. It helps to bring what the students are learning into the classroom. It engages students with bringing what they are reading or learning about to life, helping students to remember more. With Discovery Ed, students are able to "bring experts into the classroom", says Capps.

Students using an iPad
In Use Tech, Don't Teach It, , Dr. strange and Capps discuss technology in the classroom. Technology is so important for students to use today, and often teachers feel the need to talk about what students need to do, kind of like lecturing about it, instead of allowing students to physically use the technology. By allowing students to actually use the technology they have, they are able to understand what they are doing. Students aren't going to learn everything in one day, so it is important to pace them. An assignment the first week might be for students to explore a new app or something, and then the next would be for them to apply what they have learned the first week to make something with it. This really gets students excited, but at the same time they are learning.

Last but not least, Capps gives us some Additional Thoughts About Lessons . According to Capps, a lesson is four layers thick. I visualize it like this: On the very outside you have the year, and inside of the year you have the units, inside of the units, weeks, and inside of the weeks there are days. It seems like so much. As a teacher you must meet the standards, and you have to figure out how you are going to do that along with fitting it all into the year. It is important to think about all of these things, and consider what your plans are, and how you are going to follow through with them.

So as I have summarized all of this, or at least tried, I have to say I'm a little bit scared, but at the same time excited about becoming a teacher. I think all of this was actually really helpful because Capps talked about his experiences along with some of the things he has learned from being a teacher. There is one thing that he said that really stuck out to me, though."Never limit your students. Create an opportunity for them to go beyond, and they will." I love this because I remember when I was younger there was always a certain way for things to be done, and we just sat there and listened to the teacher talk. With all of these things, they have so much more freedom and there is no way for the class to be boring. Students will have fun and be excited about learning, and that will make being a teacher that much greater.

1 comment:

  1. Very good job, your blog post this week was interesting and very thorough.

    The only thing that I would say to improve your blog is that your links need to be a different color than the body text. The reader can not tell you have links in your post.

    ReplyDelete