Blog Assignment #11

What can we learn about teaching and learning from these teachers?

  

Back to the Future is a video of a lecture by Brian Crosby. Brian Crosby is a 4th, 5th, and 6th grade teacher. He discuses the many ways that he uses technology and project based learning to inspire his students. Crosby mentions how much more the students are learning when it is project based because they are having fun. He also mentions some of the projects that he did with his class. He did a balloon project in which they had professors from a university help them to release a balloon into the atmosphere. Because the balloon was equipped with audio, video, and a tracking device, students were able to see what happened to the balloon and where it all went. I personally think that this is a really neat project to engage students. From this video, I learned that it is important to actually work with students and inspire them to learn, instead of just making sure they make the teacher and the school look good through their test scores.

Paul Andersen's video Blended Learning Cycle discusses what exactly the blended learning cycle is and how Andersen uses it in his classroom. Andersen uses the acronym "Quivers" to explain how he teaches his class. "Quivers" stands for:

                                                                Question

                                                                 Investigation / Inquiry

                                                                 Video

                                                                 Elaboration

                                                                 Review

                                                                 Summary quiz

During the review part, Andersen goes around to his students, whether it be individually or in small groups, and makes sure that the students have really learned what the lesson was about. Andersen does not allow his students to continue on to the summary quiz, until they have demonstrated to him that they have learned and understand the material. From this video, I learned what a blended learning cycle is, and a way to possibly incorporate it into my future classroom.

In the video Making Things Visible, Mark Church shows how he has students make headlines for driving questions. Having groups of students make a headline about the subject that they have been talking about is a great idea. This allows students to really think about how to sum up what they have learned about that subject so far. This also allows students a chance to explain why they chose the headline they did. Explaining their answers may give new ideas or a better understanding to another student in the classroom. Mark Church also said that he was going to display all of the headlines somewhere in his room, and as they delve farther into the topic, make a new headline for that topic.

Super Digital Citizen is a video where Sam Pane, a 5th grade teacher, explains how important it is for students to be a good digital citizen. A good digital citizen is one who acts safely, respectfully, and responsibly. Sam Pane is teaching his students how to be safe on the internet and why it is important to be safe. It is very important for educators to teach children how to use the internet safely and how to protect themselves. After receiving a short lesson, the students get to make their own superheroes (how awesome!). Not only do the students get to create their own superhero, but they also get to create a story around their character. After everyone was finished, the students went around and read each others comics. I think this is a great idea on how to teach students to be a good digital citizen. It wasn't just a boring lecture that the students had to sit around and listen to; it was a fun, engaging way to learn. Because the students were able to make it their own project, they will be better able to remember what this lesson was about.

Project Based Learning is definitely an interesting video. This video is about how three teachers decided to combine their classes into one so that they could better incorporate project based learning. Combining the three classes also allows for a collaboration of projects to be done while meeting the standards for all three subjects. Having the three classes combined into one also allows the teachers more time to teach and give guidance and instruction to the students. I love how these teachers stepped up and found a solution that could better accommodate all of their needs.

Throughout the video Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program, parents and teachers are saying how beneficial project based learning is for their students. The students at Roosevelt Elementary are truly learning how to be independent learners and how to think and speak for themselves. At this elementary school, the teachers also incorporate public speaking into their lessons. I think that this is a wonderful idea not only because students are learning at a young age how to speak in public, but because it also reduces the amount of fear students have when taking public speaking courses later in higher grades and even in college. I would love to incorporate PBL into my classroom as much as possible.