The first video we were asked to watch was Back to the Future by Brian Crosby. Mr. Crosby feels like some curricula can be too narrow which can cause students to be distant and disable their creativity and passion to learn and create. Because of this, Crosby has come up with a project that incorporated technology in many different ways while also meeting the class's standards. Leading up to the project, the class had been learning about the layers of the atmosphere. To go with this topic, Crosby came up with the idea to have the class send up a balloon in to the atmosphere. Throughout the project, the class did numerous activities and lessons that really got the students engaged and excited to succeed. The students were also able to incorporate many different types of media in to the project such as wiki pages, blogs, Flikr, and many other computer programs. From this project, with all their resources, they were ultimately able to create their own learning networks and to reach out to a wide audience. I think this project that Crosby came up with was great overall because he got away from that narrow curriculum so well.
The next video we were told to watch for this blogpost was Paul Anderson's Blended Learning Cycle. According to Paul, blended learning is combining the compelling parts of learning (online, mobile, and classroom) in the classroom. He did this by basically turning the class in to a video game with different levels based on blended learning. He also stayed true to his fiveE's of the cycle in the process: engage, explore, expand, explain, and evaluate. The only obstacle throughout this project was getting the students to learn independently. This can be abad or good thing because you want your students to learn how to work as a team to collaborate and communicate but you want the students to be able to work and learn things for themselves, as well. One of Paul's theories that I partially agree with is that you haven't learned something until you can explain it to someone else. I agree with this because being able to explain something new to someone and have them understand it also shows your own understanding of the topic. The only reason I say partially agree is because when I was in school learning any kind of science or math, I was very good at learning and understanding something but I couldn't always explain how I figured it out or explain it to someone else. Even though I didn't always have the ability to explain it, I still knew for myself that I understood the topic and did well in the class.
The third video we were asked to watch was Making Thinking Visible by Mark Church. His goal was for his students to see their thinking process in action and how it can change throughout the class. He had his students watch a video on human origins and then break in to small groups to discuss the topic. The groups had to think of a headline describing what they thought their unit was about and thence able to explain their headline choice. After their last project, he will ask them what their final headline is just to show them how thinking can change.
Another video we were asked to watch this week was Sam Pane's Building Comics. Mr. Pane's biggest question for his students was "What kind of power does the internet give us?". He requested that his students become like digital citizens which means that they act safely, respectfully, and responsibility whenever they are online. Following this discussion, he asked them to create a comic built around their digital superhero and provided them with a website for the project. In order to meet state standards, the students had to write a narrative between their superhero and themselves. He also wanted his students to have the ability to show their peers their work so he had them do a gallery walk. the students loved showing off their accomplishments and having it appreciated.
Project Based Learning by Dean Shareski was the fifth video given to us to watch for the is post. Three teachers worked together to create a unique learning experience by combining different topics and subjects. We have been discussing PBL all semester and we have seen all the positives and the struggles of changing over to it. The teachers had to pitch this to their administrators and convince them of all the benefits of PBL. It turned out very beneficial for the students because they were able to use technology to really broaden their learning and ideas.
The last video we were told to watch was Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program. PBL is described here as an in-depth learning experience that emerges thematic instruction based on real-world issues using research based projects. By doing this, students learn accountability, responsibility, public speaking skills, and other 21st century skills at a young age.
Hello Faith,
ReplyDeleteNice job on explaining what you learned from the videos. My favorite video was the video by Mark Church. Mr. Church was a very fun and energetic teacher that kept his class active with an open discussion about a video the entire class watched the previous day.