Blog Post #6

For this post we watched a series of videos of teacher Anthony Capps and professor Dr. John Strange speaking on different topics. The first thing I learned from this assignment is about screen recording. I learned that when you are recording a conference like the ones in the videos you should make sure each person has similar microphone input devices. Dr. Strange had a head set that was close to his mouth and allowed for clear, high volume recording while Capps was speaking farther away into his computers recording device. This caused problems for me as the viewer. I was more focused on turning my volume up to the maximum volume as Capps spoke(and still barely hearing him) and down to half or less volume as Dr. Strange spoke than actually focusing on the content of the videos. So, my first lesson I learned in this is to prepare and prevent volume distractions when videoing a conference.

As for the video lessons I learned from the first two, Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher  and Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher , the following information:

To paraphrase Anthony Capps project based learning should focus on the method by which your students learn versus showing achievement or what they learned. I think this is an important concept. Examples I can think of from when I was in school are a book report which simply states what I learned and a cell structure made from food in science. The book reports were always boring and I don't remember anything about any book report I wrote. However, the science project required us to learn as we created the project. Because we used peanuts, which have high protein, for the amino acids in our cell project, to this day I can remember that amino acids have to do with the proteins in our bodies. Project based learning should be a way to learn and not to show what you have learned.

The videos also talked about topics such as student interest, community involvement, and meeting content standards. I love the example Capps gave that his students used in his classroom when they wrote to Representative Bonner about a current popular topic about women serving in the military. They used iCurrio, a curated search site, to find women in history who served and were able to use real life examples in their letters. This use of iCurrio allowed the students to use technology as well as meet social studies standards as they studied the specific historical figures. By the end the students critiqued each others letters and chose the best ones to send to Representative Bonner. This allowed them to revise and reflect on their work. Capps says "Don't limit what they do. They will go above and beyond if you let them". By allowing the students to choose their historical figure it gave the students a choice and allowed confidence. This encourages students to want to know what they're learning.

Another good site to use in the classroom is Discovery Education where books can become animated and you can bring experts into the classroom.

To summarize the video The Anthony - Strange list of Tips for Teachers Part 1  some of the tips suggested by Anthony Capps and Dr. John Strange are to be a learner yourself, make your work fun, be flexible and creative, strive for 100% student engagement, and share your work such as to an audience.

In Don't Teach Tech - Use It  the discussion takes place of technology in the classroom. It is suggest in this video that your lessons are not actually to teach technology but to use it in the process of learning. Capps says to scaffold your technology into learning. For example, have the students use iCurrio to look up a topic. Then, the next week have them use iMovie while in the third week have them combine the two technologies to create a project.

In Additional Thought About Lessons  Capps explains the importance of lesson planning. He talks about creating the lesson plan for the year and then breaking that up into units. After, you break down units into projects and create a weekly plan as to how you will cover those. Just as important you then plan the weeks into daily activities which is where you are actually delivering the content to your students.