Blog Post #6

After watching the the first video, Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher , I attained a much better understanding of what Project Based Learning (PBL) actually means.  Project Based Learning is an approach taken in a classroom to engage students and help them attain knowledge.  Anthony Capps and Dr. Strange discuss how beneficial PBL can be in a classroom.  As Anthony Capps says in the First Video,“The goal of a good project is one that has an authentic audience, has student interests, involves the community, and has driven content.”  I agree that it is so important to involve the community into the project so that children can relate it to the real world. I enjoyed hearing about Mr.Capp’s examples of projects he has done, such as getting his third graders to write to a congressman.  

 In the second video between Dr. Strange and Mr. Capps,”Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher,” I learned that when you are approaching a classroom with the style of PBL, never limit your students.  Always keep them searching for as many answers as they can so that they can learn as much as possible.  I believe PBL will get kids excited about learning and can be a big confidence booster. Especially, because the students can look back at what they have accomplished and feel proud with a better understanding of information.  Before watching the third video, “iCurio,” I had no idea what iCurio was.  I now know it is an online tool that can be used for a few different things. One, it serves as a safe and effective search engine for not only web information, but also audio and video. It offers a storage system for students and teachers to store valuable information they come across.  I learned that iCurio is a great way to start teaching students to organize information virtually at a young age, which will be helpful throughout life.  ICurio is a great way for students to gather and organize information in a safe way. It also has the option of text reading.  I would like to continue to learn about iCurio so that I could possibly use it n my future classrooms. 

In the video, “Discovery Education,” Mr. Capps and Dr.Strange continue to talk about PBL and Discovery Education.  Discovery Education is a very useful tool, mainly focused on visual learning.  Just like iCurio, I have just been introduced to Discovery Ed after watching this video.  It offers information on every subject and can be used by teachers as well as students to help bring text alive with pictures,audio, and video.  

In, The Anthony - Strange list of Tips for Teachers Part 1, The conversations between Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps continues, as they discuss how to prepare future elementary school teachers.  Dr. Strange makes it clear that as educators, we must be able to continue and love to learn ourselves.  I liked how Anthony went on to say that with teaching, work and play can go hand in hand.  This is one of the reasons I chose to seek a degree in elementary education.  As future teachers, we must be flexible and alert.  I also learned that to be a successful teacher, we must realize that teaching and learning never stops.  There is always more knowledge to be obtained.  

Don't Teach Tech - Use It is a great video explaining how technology is emerging and should be used in the classroom.  You should teach technology, as well as use it in your curriculum.  Another thing I took from this video is as teachers, we need to get technology into our students hands.  

Additional Thought About Lessons, is the last video provided that discusses thoughts on lesson plans. Anthony believes a lesson is “at least four layers thick.” Mr. Capps tells us to think about lessons in terms of how it fits in with our year. The next layer is the unit size on how to make it meaningful and connected.  next is the weekly plan, and lastly we have the daily plan.  The daily plan helps measure what your students learned that day and helps you as a teacher, to prepare on what to focus on the next day.  

I learned excellent tips on how to be a successful teacher from all of these videos.