Sunday, September 28, 2014

Blog Post #6

teacher with a book in his hand
Conversations with Anthony Capps

1. Project Based Learning Pt 1 & Project Based Learning Pt 2

Any teacher can be a project based teacher, however, it takes a good teacher to be an effective project based teacher. Students need to be content driven. They need to want to learn and expand their world. Projects need to be modern and authentic. By making the projects modern and in tune to today's changing world, this helps students connect to the project. This will encourage them to research the topic because it affects them. Even if the project is a history project, Anthony Capps took a modern headline and turned it into a time travel through history. Students had to research women who broke the stereotype and exceeded the expectations. He then told them to use this information to back up their standing on should women be allowed in combat. Reflection and revision are important. Going over projects and answers, this allows students to think over questions and how that answer was created. Never limit the students. Keep projects open and allow students to find their own groove. Projects are not always going to go as planned, but that's what makes it fun.

2. iCurio and Discovery Ed

iCurio is an online tool that students can use. It creates a safe learning environment for students to explore through images, videos, and other web content. It also has the capacity to be an organizational tool. Students can save important information along with teachers. Not only that, students can use it as a directory for certain historical figures. They can search based on gender, race, nationality...etc.

Discovery Education takes the learning experience to another level. It brings experts into the classroom via video and it can bring text to life. Teachers are not Google so they can not know everything. This gives students a chance to learn from an expert. Students are becoming listeners and watchers, in the words of Dr. Strange, instead of the former readers and writers. The hope for the future is that students will convert from consumers of knowledge to producers and users of knowledge.

3. Don't Teach Tech - Use It, The Anthony - Strange list of Tips for Teachers Pt. 1, and Additional Thought About Lessons

Technology is important, but as a teacher, an educator, teaching technology is not utilizing it correctly. Instead of teaching technology, integrate it into a lesson. Anthony Capps has his students use iCurio or Discovery Education to find and research a topic. He then has his students transfer what they learned into a video using iMovie. He does not teach them how to use iMovie however. He encourages them to learn how to use it themselves. The final product is a combination of learning how to research and mastering iMovie. He did not waste time on going over the basics of iMovie.

Some of the tips Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps shared include: be a constant learner, hard work is necessary but is rewarding, be flexible, start with an end goal, get 100% engagement from students, reflection and revision. I think these are important tips to remember as I embark on my journey to become an educator. Learning does not stop after I leave the building. It is important to continue improving and expanding my knowledge. Being flexible inside the classroom is a must. Things are not going to go as planned, but as an educator you have to able to turn things around.

In the last video, Anthony Capps mentions how lessons are four layers thick. This is important to think about as I create my own lesson plans. You have to think of the bigger picture. You can't base a lesson on a day, you have to base it on the year. How will this lesson fit into the rest of the year? Will it fit into the week? How do I connect Monday's lesson to Thursday's lesson? Lessons have to make a connection to make an impact.

3 comments:

  1. "Any teacher can be a project based learner, however, it takes a good teacher to be an effective project based learner." Do you mean project based teacher instead of learner? I think so.

    "He then or not asked them…" What?

    "Reflection and revision is important." are, not is Yes. Did you reflect on what you wrote and then revise it? You should have done that for the first section of your post. The rest of your post was much better.


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    1. Thanks for taking time to comment on my post. I did not double check, but thank you for pointing out the things I need to change. I will fix those right away.

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  2. Emily I liked your post, especially about lessons being 4 layers thick. You definitely have to plan ahead for your lesson plans for the year. I also think that Discovery Education is a great research tool.

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