Blog Post #6

In the first video: Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher, Dr. Strange interviews Anthony Capps who describes the way he goes about teaching with PBL. He mentioned the goals that one must meet in order to create a good product. Those are: 1) You must have an authentic audience 2) The PBL has to keep your students interested (keep the PBL modern, up to date) 3) Have the community involved in the PBL 4) Make sure the PBL is driven by content. These 4 things will help you have a successful PBL. One thing I liked in this video was when Capps said that he made his students write Congressman Bohner. He had the students read a current event issue, and they were to write a letter with what the felt. He was able to incorporate multiple learning standards in the lesson as well. I think incorporating current events into your students learning, is very important.

In the second video: Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher, Capps is asked to compare the thinking of his 9 year olds to the thinking of juniors in college. What he said was funny, but it did kind of make you think. He said "The difference is that my products are being made by 9 year olds, where as your products are being made by juniors". This does say something. The fact that 9 year olds are being able to make these products and I'm still not quite sure how to make a PBL, does say how different the younger generation's brains are developing and operating in different ways than our brains operated. Capps mentioned that his students absolutely love doing that projects. In order to have a successful PBL, you must incorporate a lot of planning and a lot of work put into it.

In the third video: iCurio, Capps describes this online tool that allows students to safely search websites for educational uses. They can search for videos, pictures, articles, ect. and nothing inappropriate will come up in the search engine. Also, this website does meet the Alabama State criteria, so I think it is a very credible source. I think this is a website that I would find very beneficial to use in my future classrooms.

In the fourth video: Discovery Education, Capps describes this website as a place to get pictures and videos. It is a great tool for students to use because it "brings experts into the classroom". The website takes you far beyond just getting facts on something. It'll show you videos, pictures and more. I think this is a very good website to use in the class room.

In the fifth video: Strange List of Tips for Teachers Part 1, Capps gives us an interesting list to follow for any teacher:
1) Be a constant learner
2) Teaching never ends
3) Be flexible; you never know what could happen
4) Start with a goal
5) Engage with your students 100% of the time
6) Share the work or end product with an audience.
I think that this list is very beneficial, and any future educator should follow them.

In the sixth video: Don't Teach Tech - Use it!, this stresses the importance of making sure your students are using technology the right way. They need to be using it to learn and not just playing around on the computer. Yes, it will take them a while to understand some concepts, but if you teach them the proper way, they will turn out to be very successful.

I really did enjoy watching all of Anthony Capps' videos. I gained some knowledge and information and I think some of the things Capps said will help me a lot in the future. I liked the websites he talked about and I am eager to use them one day!