Book Commentary Video
Friday, October 24, 2014
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Blog Post 9
What Can Teachers and Students Teach Us About Project Based Learning?
This is the question we were told to answer when approaching this week's blog post. What can we learn from our peers about project based learning and how can we apply to that our classroom. Project based learning has been our main focus in EDM310 for the majority of the semester and for good reason. With every blog post assignment or project we are assigned that concentrates on PBL, I learn something new. It might not be a lot of new information every time, but it is always a little something. This week, we were given several resources to watch and read over. Many of them were very helpful and informative in showing different aspects of PBL with in different subjects, like math and english for example. In PBL - High School Math, Sammamish High School is in the process of redesigning the curriculum of 30 courses which will affect about 75 teachers. One of the main things they emphasized in the video was the challenge of incorporating project based learning into the curriculum of math and english. Within these two subjects, they were just worried about losing the most important themes and lessons in the requirement of adding in PBL, although they were wanting to do so. One successful project that one of the math teachers came up with that involved PBL was during their lesson on probability. The teacher had her students create their own game. I think this was very clever in a couple ways. First, what kid does not love playing games of some some kind. Second, involving that love of games in school can only motivate students to create a successful project.
After all of the reading and watching to prepare myself for this blog post, I found that Seven Essentials to Project Based Learning was very informative. John R. Mergendoller and John Larmer did a great job at explaining to us the seven necessary ingredients to having a successful PBL lesson. They explained that the key is meaningful learning, the process of students' learning and the depth of their cognitive engagement- rather than the resulting project- that distinguishes projects from busywork. In order for the project to be meaningful, it needs to fulfill two criteria. First, students must see the work as personally meaningful to them and as a task that matters to them and one that they want to take pride in. Second, the project must have an educational purpose that is well-designed and well-implemented. They also went in-depth to discus the seven essentials to PBL.
1). Need to Know: In order to kick off a successful project, teachers need to activate in the students a need-to-know mentality. A good way to do this is to have an "entry event" of some kind to introduce the project and its driving question. This introduction needs to intrigue your students to engage their interest and stir up some questions. One of the worst things a teacher can do when introducing a new project is to walk into class with a stack full of info packets saying, "Here is your new project. Let's read over it and get started." Students will most instantly shut down and lose motivation if you do this. Teachers need to catch their attention to make them want learn more about the topic and initiate questions of their own. By making the project compelling and intriguing, the students' attitudes turn into, "Okay, I'm going to do this because I have accepted this challenge and I will learn all I need to succeed!"
2). A Driving Question: A good driving question needs to clearly capture the core of the project that gives the students a challenge and sense of purpose. The driving question should be "proactive, open-ended, complex, and linked to the heart" of what they need to learn. Without the driving question, the students may not understand why they are doing this project and what they are supposed to learn from it.
3). Student Voice and Choice: This element is key. "The more, the better" is the motto within this essential factor. Teachers need to design a project that allows the student to choose a style that fits them and and their learning style. Then students should also be able to choose a topic to study within the the general driving question and choose how to design, create, and present products. Another option similar to this is to provide the students with a list of options for creative products to prevent students from becoming too overwhelmed with choices. A good example of doing this I thought would be to simply let the students create their own project either individually or in a group. The students will come up with their own driving question within the topic we are studying. From here, the students will present to the teacher a proposal of their project within all of the guidelines given to them. Once they have done this, the teacher will tell them the plus and minuses of the project and adjust what is needed. By doing this, I think that students will be even motivated than we could anticipate and drive them to take pride in what they are doing and prove their success.
4). 21st Century Skills: Every project should give the students the chance to build on and improve their 21st century skills. These skills include collaboration, communication, critical thinking, problem solving, and the use of technology. Collaboration and communication are key to group projects. Critical thinking is also very important because you use that in using rubrics to guide and evaluate their work and progress throughout the project. These 21st century skills meets the second criteria which is to have an important and meaningful purpose for the project.
5). Inquiry and Innovation: Real inquiry is important. In that they follow their own trails that they have developed from their own questions, which lead them to test their ideas and draw their own conclusions. Closely following real inquiry is innovation. Innovation is simply a "new answer to a driving question, a new product, or an individually generated solution to a problem". One of the biggest things that a classroom should do is encourage and appreciate questioning, hypothesizing, and openness to new ideas and perspectives.
6). Feedback and Revision: Students need to learn that revision is a reoccurrence in the real world because it is often that people's first attempt isn't of the best quality. The teacher should teach the students how to use rubrics and give proper feedback to their peers.
7). A Publicly Presented Product: Students should be able to have the opportunity to present their project to an audience outside of the classroom. Having their project seen and appreciate by people other than just their peers gives the students a sense of pride for what they have accomplished. Students see their work as more meaningful when it is done for more than just a test or the teacher.
This is the question we were told to answer when approaching this week's blog post. What can we learn from our peers about project based learning and how can we apply to that our classroom. Project based learning has been our main focus in EDM310 for the majority of the semester and for good reason. With every blog post assignment or project we are assigned that concentrates on PBL, I learn something new. It might not be a lot of new information every time, but it is always a little something. This week, we were given several resources to watch and read over. Many of them were very helpful and informative in showing different aspects of PBL with in different subjects, like math and english for example. In PBL - High School Math, Sammamish High School is in the process of redesigning the curriculum of 30 courses which will affect about 75 teachers. One of the main things they emphasized in the video was the challenge of incorporating project based learning into the curriculum of math and english. Within these two subjects, they were just worried about losing the most important themes and lessons in the requirement of adding in PBL, although they were wanting to do so. One successful project that one of the math teachers came up with that involved PBL was during their lesson on probability. The teacher had her students create their own game. I think this was very clever in a couple ways. First, what kid does not love playing games of some some kind. Second, involving that love of games in school can only motivate students to create a successful project.
After all of the reading and watching to prepare myself for this blog post, I found that Seven Essentials to Project Based Learning was very informative. John R. Mergendoller and John Larmer did a great job at explaining to us the seven necessary ingredients to having a successful PBL lesson. They explained that the key is meaningful learning, the process of students' learning and the depth of their cognitive engagement- rather than the resulting project- that distinguishes projects from busywork. In order for the project to be meaningful, it needs to fulfill two criteria. First, students must see the work as personally meaningful to them and as a task that matters to them and one that they want to take pride in. Second, the project must have an educational purpose that is well-designed and well-implemented. They also went in-depth to discus the seven essentials to PBL.
1). Need to Know: In order to kick off a successful project, teachers need to activate in the students a need-to-know mentality. A good way to do this is to have an "entry event" of some kind to introduce the project and its driving question. This introduction needs to intrigue your students to engage their interest and stir up some questions. One of the worst things a teacher can do when introducing a new project is to walk into class with a stack full of info packets saying, "Here is your new project. Let's read over it and get started." Students will most instantly shut down and lose motivation if you do this. Teachers need to catch their attention to make them want learn more about the topic and initiate questions of their own. By making the project compelling and intriguing, the students' attitudes turn into, "Okay, I'm going to do this because I have accepted this challenge and I will learn all I need to succeed!"
2). A Driving Question: A good driving question needs to clearly capture the core of the project that gives the students a challenge and sense of purpose. The driving question should be "proactive, open-ended, complex, and linked to the heart" of what they need to learn. Without the driving question, the students may not understand why they are doing this project and what they are supposed to learn from it.
3). Student Voice and Choice: This element is key. "The more, the better" is the motto within this essential factor. Teachers need to design a project that allows the student to choose a style that fits them and and their learning style. Then students should also be able to choose a topic to study within the the general driving question and choose how to design, create, and present products. Another option similar to this is to provide the students with a list of options for creative products to prevent students from becoming too overwhelmed with choices. A good example of doing this I thought would be to simply let the students create their own project either individually or in a group. The students will come up with their own driving question within the topic we are studying. From here, the students will present to the teacher a proposal of their project within all of the guidelines given to them. Once they have done this, the teacher will tell them the plus and minuses of the project and adjust what is needed. By doing this, I think that students will be even motivated than we could anticipate and drive them to take pride in what they are doing and prove their success.
4). 21st Century Skills: Every project should give the students the chance to build on and improve their 21st century skills. These skills include collaboration, communication, critical thinking, problem solving, and the use of technology. Collaboration and communication are key to group projects. Critical thinking is also very important because you use that in using rubrics to guide and evaluate their work and progress throughout the project. These 21st century skills meets the second criteria which is to have an important and meaningful purpose for the project.
5). Inquiry and Innovation: Real inquiry is important. In that they follow their own trails that they have developed from their own questions, which lead them to test their ideas and draw their own conclusions. Closely following real inquiry is innovation. Innovation is simply a "new answer to a driving question, a new product, or an individually generated solution to a problem". One of the biggest things that a classroom should do is encourage and appreciate questioning, hypothesizing, and openness to new ideas and perspectives.
6). Feedback and Revision: Students need to learn that revision is a reoccurrence in the real world because it is often that people's first attempt isn't of the best quality. The teacher should teach the students how to use rubrics and give proper feedback to their peers.
7). A Publicly Presented Product: Students should be able to have the opportunity to present their project to an audience outside of the classroom. Having their project seen and appreciate by people other than just their peers gives the students a sense of pride for what they have accomplished. Students see their work as more meaningful when it is done for more than just a test or the teacher.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Blog Post 8
What Can We Learn About Teaching and Learning From Randy Pausch?
All I can say about Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture can be summarized into single word right now... WOW! When I first saw that the video was an hour and 16 minutes long, I thought to myself, "Are you serious? There is no way I'm going to be able to watch a lecture video this long without getting bored." I admit now that I could not have been more wrong about my initial assumptions. After a few minutes into watching the lecture, I was intrigued. I knew I wasn't going to be able to stop watching until the end. While Randy's lecture was fun and entertaining, it was very powerful and inspiring. Honestly, I needed to hear something like this.
"Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things... they tell us what we are capable of."- Dr. Randy Pausch
Randy Pausch was a brilliant man and an amazing educator who had a very positive outlook on life. Because of this, something that was very important to him was to live out your childhood dreams and make them happen for you. As teachers, this is something we should all hold dear to us and never forget. One of the biggest things that kids believe is their dreams no matter how impractical they are. Their dreams are what makes them enthusiastic and inspired. It is our job to enable the childhood dreams of others and make our students believe that any dream is possible. There are many ways to do this but one is to never set a bar for your students to reach. Your students can surprise you and being the teacher does not mean that you know what your students are capable of. If your student blows you away on their first attempt, surpassing all of your expectations, do not let them be satisfied with just stopping there. Tell them, "That is great, but you can do better." One of the best things you can do for your students is not set a bar and to keep pushing them because that is how they learn what they are capable of and that they can even surprise themselves. Also, give your students chances and opportunities to show off that same great work that gets better and better. Like Randy said, "One of the best things you can give your student is the gift of appreciation and excitement from their peers." In all of this though, you need to make sure they know that you are not going to give up on them. When you mess up and no one says anything to you about to discipline or correct you, it means they have given up on you. It is a good thing to be criticized and corrected, so do not be afraid to do that to your students because one of the worst mistakes teachers can make is enable the kids to believe that you do not believe in them. If they think that to be true, then they will not believe in themselves and no longer have any excitement and pride in their work.
Another thing that Dr. Pausch seemed to stress was that everything is a learning process. Like his quote stated earlier, that brick wall is there for a reason, it is there to teach you. When you hit that wall and you do not achieve what you were trying to do, remember to appreciate the experiences and lessons you get from that because most of what we learn we learn indirectly. In that, you learn what you can do to get past that wall and stay there. If there is a math problem you can't seem to understand or a research paper that you just keep getting stuck on, don't give up on it. Do some research, keep trying practice problems and you will see that are capable of understanding what you though you couldn't. As teachers, helping our students get past that brick wall to get one step closer to their dreams is our responsibility.
Randy's whole lecture was just great and filled with many tips and life lessons about how to be the best teacher and even person you could be. There were a few things he called "Lessons Learned" at the end of the lecture that really stood out to me that I'd like to share real quick:
- The role of parents and mentors is more influential than you realize
- Respect authority, but also question it
- "Are you a Tigger or an Eeyore?" Always tell them to just have fun!
- Never lose your child-like wonder, it is what drives us
- Loyalty and Respect is two-way street that has to be earned
- Listen to the feedback you receive
- Find the best in everyone
All I can say about Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture can be summarized into single word right now... WOW! When I first saw that the video was an hour and 16 minutes long, I thought to myself, "Are you serious? There is no way I'm going to be able to watch a lecture video this long without getting bored." I admit now that I could not have been more wrong about my initial assumptions. After a few minutes into watching the lecture, I was intrigued. I knew I wasn't going to be able to stop watching until the end. While Randy's lecture was fun and entertaining, it was very powerful and inspiring. Honestly, I needed to hear something like this.
"Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things... they tell us what we are capable of."- Dr. Randy Pausch
Randy Pausch was a brilliant man and an amazing educator who had a very positive outlook on life. Because of this, something that was very important to him was to live out your childhood dreams and make them happen for you. As teachers, this is something we should all hold dear to us and never forget. One of the biggest things that kids believe is their dreams no matter how impractical they are. Their dreams are what makes them enthusiastic and inspired. It is our job to enable the childhood dreams of others and make our students believe that any dream is possible. There are many ways to do this but one is to never set a bar for your students to reach. Your students can surprise you and being the teacher does not mean that you know what your students are capable of. If your student blows you away on their first attempt, surpassing all of your expectations, do not let them be satisfied with just stopping there. Tell them, "That is great, but you can do better." One of the best things you can do for your students is not set a bar and to keep pushing them because that is how they learn what they are capable of and that they can even surprise themselves. Also, give your students chances and opportunities to show off that same great work that gets better and better. Like Randy said, "One of the best things you can give your student is the gift of appreciation and excitement from their peers." In all of this though, you need to make sure they know that you are not going to give up on them. When you mess up and no one says anything to you about to discipline or correct you, it means they have given up on you. It is a good thing to be criticized and corrected, so do not be afraid to do that to your students because one of the worst mistakes teachers can make is enable the kids to believe that you do not believe in them. If they think that to be true, then they will not believe in themselves and no longer have any excitement and pride in their work.
Another thing that Dr. Pausch seemed to stress was that everything is a learning process. Like his quote stated earlier, that brick wall is there for a reason, it is there to teach you. When you hit that wall and you do not achieve what you were trying to do, remember to appreciate the experiences and lessons you get from that because most of what we learn we learn indirectly. In that, you learn what you can do to get past that wall and stay there. If there is a math problem you can't seem to understand or a research paper that you just keep getting stuck on, don't give up on it. Do some research, keep trying practice problems and you will see that are capable of understanding what you though you couldn't. As teachers, helping our students get past that brick wall to get one step closer to their dreams is our responsibility.
Randy's whole lecture was just great and filled with many tips and life lessons about how to be the best teacher and even person you could be. There were a few things he called "Lessons Learned" at the end of the lecture that really stood out to me that I'd like to share real quick:
- The role of parents and mentors is more influential than you realize
- Respect authority, but also question it
- "Are you a Tigger or an Eeyore?" Always tell them to just have fun!
- Never lose your child-like wonder, it is what drives us
- Loyalty and Respect is two-way street that has to be earned
- Listen to the feedback you receive
- Find the best in everyone
Monday, October 6, 2014
Friday, October 3, 2014
Blog Post 7
How do we all become learners?
A major part in Project Based Learning is being able to use the best tools possible when it comes to technology. College students today who are studying and preparing to be teachers grew up learning very differently than today's younger students. Kids today have many more resources and opportunities to learn that I could not have dreamed of when I was their age.
Strengths:
- Familiar with iPads, computers, and some Apple programs
- Received a small taste of new technology and educational programs my last year or two of high school
- Motivated and dedicated to learning new technology
Weaknesses:
- Unfamiliar with the programs students are using today like Discovery Education, Poplet, and Alabama Virtual Library
- Have heard of and seen QR codes, but have not used them or know much about them
- Did not have these numerous online resources and technologies when I was younger like kids today
For this project we were given several videos to watch and think about. In doing this, I realized how many amazing opportunities students now have to research and access to programs that I did not even know existed. But, of course, this means that I have a lot of catching up to do. I want my students to be able to learn as much as they can, which means I need to learn as much as I can about this new stuff. With these videos, I have come even one step closer to doing that and being ready to teach once I graduate.
QR Codes:
I have never known much about what QR codes are, I have only ever just seen them on products in grocery stores. How to Make an Audio QR Code showed me a whole new side of QR codes that I did not existed. If I'm being honest, when I used to see a QR code on a product in a store, I thought that it was the security stamp that would set the alarms off if you walked out the door with it without paying. Mrs. Bennet at Gulf Shores Middle School was very helpful in showing me the usefulness of QR codes and the ways to use them in a classroom. A helpful website that she used to teach us about QR codes was recordmp3.org. This website allows you to simply record your voice and convert it into a URL. Once you get the URL, you can then take it to qrcode-monkey.com where you can insert the URL and get a QR code in return that you can then copy and paste to a document of your choice. QR codes are basically an I.D. badge for a product, voice recording, movie, or really anything. By scanning the code, you get an abundant amount of information. One way Ms. Bennett discussed in her video was for parent-teacher meetings. The parents can scan the code and get voice recordings and information about the class.
iPad Reading Center of Ginger Tuck's Kindergarten Classes:
One thing that the iPad reading center allowed the students to do was video themselves reading various things. By doing this, the kids were able to go back and listen to themselves as they follow along with what they were reading. This allowed them to see if they were pronouncing words correctly and teach them to learn from their mistakes and correct themselves. This can be very useful in the learning process for students because it gives them a clearer idea of how words are supposed to sound in their own voices. Another program, or app, that the students can use in the iPad Reading Center is Poplet. Poplet teaches students to create webs for the topic or subject they are studying. You simply put your topic in the center box and from there you have several boxes that expand out from the center that you can put various text, information, pictures, and videos about your center topic. An interesting feature that Poplet has is that you can search within the app to find information and save media about your topic that you can later insert into your web. Another part of Poplet that is useful to kids is that you can read books off of Poplet that has a voice option that lets the book be read to the student. Overall, this Poplet app can improve their reading, researching, and typing skills.
Alabama Virtual Library as a Kindergarten Center:
AVL is an app that you can learn about from lessons in the library and later download to the an iPad to help them research in class. This allows the students to search their subjects or keywords and get information they can use to help them, for example, complete worksheets and projects. In Ginger Tuck's center, she hands out worksheets to her students and each week they have a different category of words they can choose from to search. The first week, they draw pictures of the words they have chosen by searching their words and finding examples on Alabama Virtual Library. The next week, Ms. Tuck's students add a sentence to their picture they redraw that contains information about their word. By this time the kids have learned how to and are able to research, watch, and listen by themselves. It shows they actually know what they are doing within the AVL application.
Mrs. Shirley's 1st Grade Class- How to use and build a board in Discovery Education for a Project Based Lesson:
At Gulf Shores Elementary School, Tammy Shirley is introducing her students to a website known as Discovery Education. This website allows students, parents, and teachers numerous free opportunities to do research, save links and media, and many other features. One of these features that she has emphasized to her students is making boards. Once you create a board, you have the option to choose a background, title, pictures, text, and videos within a limitless amount of boxes. In order for you to safely search for information and media for you board, all you have to do is search a keyword about a topic. If you'd like to save or bookmark any specific links, pictures, or videos, you just need to click the plus sign next to the media and it is saved to your quick list. This website also saves all of your boards for you. Discovery Education has become very useful; and, from the look of Mrs. Shirley's videos, her students have become experts at this program to the point where they have taught me something new. This is, also, just another lesson of how important it is for the teacher to be open to letting the students teach us something for a change.
A major part in Project Based Learning is being able to use the best tools possible when it comes to technology. College students today who are studying and preparing to be teachers grew up learning very differently than today's younger students. Kids today have many more resources and opportunities to learn that I could not have dreamed of when I was their age.
Strengths:
- Familiar with iPads, computers, and some Apple programs
- Received a small taste of new technology and educational programs my last year or two of high school
- Motivated and dedicated to learning new technology
Weaknesses:
- Unfamiliar with the programs students are using today like Discovery Education, Poplet, and Alabama Virtual Library
- Have heard of and seen QR codes, but have not used them or know much about them
- Did not have these numerous online resources and technologies when I was younger like kids today
For this project we were given several videos to watch and think about. In doing this, I realized how many amazing opportunities students now have to research and access to programs that I did not even know existed. But, of course, this means that I have a lot of catching up to do. I want my students to be able to learn as much as they can, which means I need to learn as much as I can about this new stuff. With these videos, I have come even one step closer to doing that and being ready to teach once I graduate.
QR Codes:
I have never known much about what QR codes are, I have only ever just seen them on products in grocery stores. How to Make an Audio QR Code showed me a whole new side of QR codes that I did not existed. If I'm being honest, when I used to see a QR code on a product in a store, I thought that it was the security stamp that would set the alarms off if you walked out the door with it without paying. Mrs. Bennet at Gulf Shores Middle School was very helpful in showing me the usefulness of QR codes and the ways to use them in a classroom. A helpful website that she used to teach us about QR codes was recordmp3.org. This website allows you to simply record your voice and convert it into a URL. Once you get the URL, you can then take it to qrcode-monkey.com where you can insert the URL and get a QR code in return that you can then copy and paste to a document of your choice. QR codes are basically an I.D. badge for a product, voice recording, movie, or really anything. By scanning the code, you get an abundant amount of information. One way Ms. Bennett discussed in her video was for parent-teacher meetings. The parents can scan the code and get voice recordings and information about the class.
iPad Reading Center of Ginger Tuck's Kindergarten Classes:
One thing that the iPad reading center allowed the students to do was video themselves reading various things. By doing this, the kids were able to go back and listen to themselves as they follow along with what they were reading. This allowed them to see if they were pronouncing words correctly and teach them to learn from their mistakes and correct themselves. This can be very useful in the learning process for students because it gives them a clearer idea of how words are supposed to sound in their own voices. Another program, or app, that the students can use in the iPad Reading Center is Poplet. Poplet teaches students to create webs for the topic or subject they are studying. You simply put your topic in the center box and from there you have several boxes that expand out from the center that you can put various text, information, pictures, and videos about your center topic. An interesting feature that Poplet has is that you can search within the app to find information and save media about your topic that you can later insert into your web. Another part of Poplet that is useful to kids is that you can read books off of Poplet that has a voice option that lets the book be read to the student. Overall, this Poplet app can improve their reading, researching, and typing skills.
Alabama Virtual Library as a Kindergarten Center:
AVL is an app that you can learn about from lessons in the library and later download to the an iPad to help them research in class. This allows the students to search their subjects or keywords and get information they can use to help them, for example, complete worksheets and projects. In Ginger Tuck's center, she hands out worksheets to her students and each week they have a different category of words they can choose from to search. The first week, they draw pictures of the words they have chosen by searching their words and finding examples on Alabama Virtual Library. The next week, Ms. Tuck's students add a sentence to their picture they redraw that contains information about their word. By this time the kids have learned how to and are able to research, watch, and listen by themselves. It shows they actually know what they are doing within the AVL application.
Mrs. Shirley's 1st Grade Class- How to use and build a board in Discovery Education for a Project Based Lesson:
At Gulf Shores Elementary School, Tammy Shirley is introducing her students to a website known as Discovery Education. This website allows students, parents, and teachers numerous free opportunities to do research, save links and media, and many other features. One of these features that she has emphasized to her students is making boards. Once you create a board, you have the option to choose a background, title, pictures, text, and videos within a limitless amount of boxes. In order for you to safely search for information and media for you board, all you have to do is search a keyword about a topic. If you'd like to save or bookmark any specific links, pictures, or videos, you just need to click the plus sign next to the media and it is saved to your quick list. This website also saves all of your boards for you. Discovery Education has become very useful; and, from the look of Mrs. Shirley's videos, her students have become experts at this program to the point where they have taught me something new. This is, also, just another lesson of how important it is for the teacher to be open to letting the students teach us something for a change.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Blog Post 6
What can you learn from a conversation with Anthony Capps?
Watching the videos and conversations that Dr. Strange had with Anthony Capps was both very informative and a great reminder of things I learned in some other education classes I took back at Southern Miss. Project based learning has been the main topic in our EDM310 class for some time now and every time we have assignment about it, I learn something new.
In Project Based Learning Part 1, Mr. Capps started off about by discussing what we have been learning and the basics of project based learning. One thing I think I have known throughout this learning process without even realizing it is that it is very important for the project to include enough aspects and requirements to make sure that the students learn all of the content and material they have to know and not just parts of it. Mr. Capps did a great job at reminding e of this and bringing it to my attention. From my experience from doing group projects, I found that it is very easy for us to gain the minimal amount of knowledge just so we can finish our part, not all the material that is outside of our role in the project. Sometimes we allow this to happen without even knowing its happening. Like Anthony pointed out, once again, we see that it is very necessary for the students to be involved in all facets of the project, enabling them to learn all of the content they can. Another thing that Mr. Capps reminded me of was the method of t-charts and how useful they can be. T-charts are something you use to prove your answer to be correct or incorrect. You simply put your answer and question on top and underneath you list your reasons for why you think your answer is correct on one side and incorrect on the other, whether those reasons are fact or opinion. Using the charts can really help the students by helping them learn to reason their thoughts and answers for themselves.
Like Part 1, Project Based Learning Part 2 Anthony brought to light some great thoughts and projects he did with his third grade students. One of his projects that he discussed was and exploration project. His class had been studying cultures before approaching this project, which allowed the students to apply all that they had learned throughout the whole process. Mr. Capps specific region and had them write a script portraying a student or child in that specified region. Once the students finished their script, they turned to iMovie to make a presentation and bring their script to life by including pictures and videos of their regions. Because they just studied the aspects of culture and all that implied, the students were able to cover everything from food, language, clothing, geography, and etc. From Mr. Capps enthusiasm while discussing the project, you can take that it was a huge success and that the students truly enjoyed it and were proud of their work. His statement, "With project based learning, you're going to get more than you expect. Never limit your students and create opportunities for them to go above and beyond," is something that I will definitely remember when teaching my future students because kids will seriously surprise you. Another topic that Mr. Capps and Dr. Strange briefly discussed was incorporating art into the classroom. I personally think the idea Anthony had about allowing his students to paint their final scene as their reward was a fantastic idea. Art has been seen by most students as the "fun" part of school, which can result in a great increase in motivation in the classroom when incorporate art in some way. Like I mentioned earlier these videos reminded me of some things I learned back at Southern Miss, especially my art education class. This art education focused on incorporating art into subject field possible to help motivate and encourage students to learn in their own way, while also learning the important techniques and methods of art to allow us to incorporate art properly. For example, when we studied the beginnings of art, we discussed the Lascaux Caves in France and their ancient drawings and meanings. In doing this, we were given our first project, which was to do a cave drawing of our own using various materials available to us and proper sketching techniques. In addition, we later studied Vincent van Gogh, his love of portraits, and the many letters he wrote to peers of his time, including his brother Theo van Gogh. Our project for this study was to create a portrait of ourselves invoking van Gogh and to write a letter to van Gogh about our portrait. One last example comes from a book we were asked to make about Walter Inglis Anderson, an artist from the early 1900s. The book included our own interpretations of his art, some of his poetry, and his home. Below are some pictures of these projects:
Cave Painting Project
Vincent van Gogh Portrait Project
(made only from paint chips)
Walter Inglis Anderson Project
Of course, I see now that my professor was actually using project based learning to teach us how to be successful teachers, even though we weren't working in groups. I also must admit, it definitely worked because I still remember all of those lessons from that class today, two and a half years later.
Watching the videos and conversations that Dr. Strange had with Anthony Capps was both very informative and a great reminder of things I learned in some other education classes I took back at Southern Miss. Project based learning has been the main topic in our EDM310 class for some time now and every time we have assignment about it, I learn something new.
In Project Based Learning Part 1, Mr. Capps started off about by discussing what we have been learning and the basics of project based learning. One thing I think I have known throughout this learning process without even realizing it is that it is very important for the project to include enough aspects and requirements to make sure that the students learn all of the content and material they have to know and not just parts of it. Mr. Capps did a great job at reminding e of this and bringing it to my attention. From my experience from doing group projects, I found that it is very easy for us to gain the minimal amount of knowledge just so we can finish our part, not all the material that is outside of our role in the project. Sometimes we allow this to happen without even knowing its happening. Like Anthony pointed out, once again, we see that it is very necessary for the students to be involved in all facets of the project, enabling them to learn all of the content they can. Another thing that Mr. Capps reminded me of was the method of t-charts and how useful they can be. T-charts are something you use to prove your answer to be correct or incorrect. You simply put your answer and question on top and underneath you list your reasons for why you think your answer is correct on one side and incorrect on the other, whether those reasons are fact or opinion. Using the charts can really help the students by helping them learn to reason their thoughts and answers for themselves.
Like Part 1, Project Based Learning Part 2 Anthony brought to light some great thoughts and projects he did with his third grade students. One of his projects that he discussed was and exploration project. His class had been studying cultures before approaching this project, which allowed the students to apply all that they had learned throughout the whole process. Mr. Capps specific region and had them write a script portraying a student or child in that specified region. Once the students finished their script, they turned to iMovie to make a presentation and bring their script to life by including pictures and videos of their regions. Because they just studied the aspects of culture and all that implied, the students were able to cover everything from food, language, clothing, geography, and etc. From Mr. Capps enthusiasm while discussing the project, you can take that it was a huge success and that the students truly enjoyed it and were proud of their work. His statement, "With project based learning, you're going to get more than you expect. Never limit your students and create opportunities for them to go above and beyond," is something that I will definitely remember when teaching my future students because kids will seriously surprise you. Another topic that Mr. Capps and Dr. Strange briefly discussed was incorporating art into the classroom. I personally think the idea Anthony had about allowing his students to paint their final scene as their reward was a fantastic idea. Art has been seen by most students as the "fun" part of school, which can result in a great increase in motivation in the classroom when incorporate art in some way. Like I mentioned earlier these videos reminded me of some things I learned back at Southern Miss, especially my art education class. This art education focused on incorporating art into subject field possible to help motivate and encourage students to learn in their own way, while also learning the important techniques and methods of art to allow us to incorporate art properly. For example, when we studied the beginnings of art, we discussed the Lascaux Caves in France and their ancient drawings and meanings. In doing this, we were given our first project, which was to do a cave drawing of our own using various materials available to us and proper sketching techniques. In addition, we later studied Vincent van Gogh, his love of portraits, and the many letters he wrote to peers of his time, including his brother Theo van Gogh. Our project for this study was to create a portrait of ourselves invoking van Gogh and to write a letter to van Gogh about our portrait. One last example comes from a book we were asked to make about Walter Inglis Anderson, an artist from the early 1900s. The book included our own interpretations of his art, some of his poetry, and his home. Below are some pictures of these projects:
Cave Painting Project
Vincent van Gogh Portrait Project
(made only from paint chips)
Walter Inglis Anderson Project
Of course, I see now that my professor was actually using project based learning to teach us how to be successful teachers, even though we weren't working in groups. I also must admit, it definitely worked because I still remember all of those lessons from that class today, two and a half years later.
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