Blog Post #5

After watching the videos of Anthony Capps and Dr. Strange I learned a tremendous amount of valuable information. The first two videos I watched were Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher and Project Based Learning Part 2. Anthony explains that project based learning is a form of learning not showing what you learned. He also addresses what a "good" project is. A good project is one that has an authentic audience, promotes student interest, and has driven content. The examples discussed in the video involve all of the above. Anthony goes onto explain two crucial parts of project based learning: opportunities to reflect and revise their work and the students' ability to have a choice. These two parts will empower students and allow them to have pride in their education and work.

The second video I watched discussed the online tool icurio. This tool is a student friendly search engine that is filtered for educational purposes. The icurio tool also has a storage function that allows students to learn how to virtually organize information. This tool also has a directory function for historical figures. I feel that out of all the other tools I have been introduced to thus far in EDM 310, icurio is the most beneficial. This tool can be used for all grade levels and appears to be user friendly.It also has the capability to help students who may have hearing or learning disabilities through the read aloud function. The video about Discover Education left me very intrigued. From what I saw in the video, discovery ed. is an educational research engine that allows students to visually enhance their learning experiences. I am interested in learning more about discovery ed and seeing it used in a classroom setting.

The Anthony-Strange list of Tips for Teachers was my favorite video. I felt that the tips listed are extremely important and are things that every teacher should strive to do. The six tips that Anthony Capps and Dr. Strange came up with were

1) Be a constant learner yourself.
2) Teaching never ends. It is hard work and it is very rewarding.
3) Be flexible. The unexpected will happen.
4) Start with a goal.
5) Engage 100% of your students 100% of the time in 100% of their projects.
6) Reflect,revise, and share work with an audience.

The final video was Use Tech Don't Teach It. This video just stresses the importance of using technology to help the learning process for your students but not spending valuable time teaching them the technology itself. Obviously the students need to know how to use the technology but it is more important how they use the technology to learn. Teachers should focus on one technology tool at a time. They should not expect their students to master imovie, icurio, and discovery ed all in the same lesson.

These discussions between Anthony Capps and Dr. Strange were interesting and taught me a lot of new things. It was very intriguing to see how 3rd graders are ahead of college students. I hope that as a future teacher I will be able to help my students the same way Anthony and Dr. Strange have.