First of all, I would like to say I really enjoyed these videos. I learned a lot from them. Project Based Learning, PBL, is what it sounds like it is. It uses projects to help people learn. PBL must have certain things for it to strive: an authentic audience, include a student's interest and choice, involve the community, and should be driven by content. One of the keys to PBL is democracy and reflection. PBL helps teachers in that the teacher can grade as the students review each other's work during the reflection period. Review and reflection are very crucial and we as teachers must realize that things are not going to go as planned. Planned questions are good in the since it is a starting place, but we should never limit our students to just one question, or well anything. We must create opportunity for them to go on. We must be proud of what they are doing. When students see us as teachers proud of them, they will become proud of themselves.
ICurio is something I could see myself and my students using in the classroom. It is an online tool used for safe searches in the classroom. You can search text, audio, and videos. It also has storage for students to place things in folders, so they can go back to it later. Timelines are another feature. The historical feature allows students to enter criteria and search for people who meet it.
Discovery Ed is another tool I would use in my classroom. It is videos that are used to learn. This is used to enhance and bring text to life. If you can see something, you are more apt to learn than if you just hear something. I was am visual learner, and this would have helped me tremendously in grade school.
I found Anthony's Tips for Teaching very helpful. The major factors for you to be a good teacher are as follows, but not limited to: you must be interested in learning yourself; teaching is hard, but you are the one who makes it fun; surprises will always happen so you must be creative and flexible; make sure you aren't leaving a child behind by keeping them motivated; and you must reflect and revise for your audience. These are certainly not all of the factors.
Technology is an important part of education. You can't avoid it, it's EVERYWHERE. It should be involved in your curriculum because of this simple fact. Teachers must introduce how to use technology by scaffolding, or building on concepts. Teachers must introduce technology, not teach it. Technology makes classrooms cleaner and information becomes easier to share.
Anthony also talked about the layers for a lesson. They were how it fits into your year, your unit size, your week, and your day. All of these factors are equally important, and they all have to be considered for a lesson.
I thoroughly enjoyed these videos and I could see myself using these techniques in my own classroom.
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Hey, Sydney, great post. Icurio is something I think every teacher can use too. Technology being introduced and not taught is an unreal thought. I know I thought until I watched the video; we will all have to teach technology. PBL are a great way also to let the students learn by creating something new. Natural learning stays so much longer than memorization. I think the whole post was great. I did not notice any grammar errors. PBL's will be something we all will be using soon in the near future.
ReplyDelete" Review and reflection is very crucial …" are, not is
ReplyDelete"...you must be interesting in learning yourself, …" interested, not interesting
"you must be interesting in learning yourself, teaching is hard, but you are the one who makes it fun, surprises will always happen so you must be creative and flexible, make sure you aren't leaving a child behind by keeping them motivated, and you must reflect and revise for your audience." Separate with semicolons, not commas.
Thoughtful.