Blog Post #5

After watching the seven videos between Anthony Capps and Dr. Strange, I feel much more confident in my understanding of project-based learning and the use of technology in the classroom. The first two videos I watched were called Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher and Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher. In these two videos Anthony and Dr. Strange discussed project-based learning in the classroom and how the students, teachers, parents, and faculty feel about the use of PBL in the classroom. PBL is where the students put what they have learned to use in some kind of project instead of the students just memorizing the information and taking a test on the material. According to Anthony, the students love using PBL in the classroom because they are so much more engaged than the would be in a classroom with out PBL. They are given the opportunity to be creative in their learning process and it makes learning so much more memorable and fun.

iCurio is a great tool to use in the classroom for all ages. It is a safe search engine for the students to do their research on while in the process of completing a project. The internet is a great thing but so many people use it in a negative way. If we want our students to be able to use the internet and excel in their learning process, iCurio is the best way to allow them to do exactly that. I know I will use iCurio in my classroom one day because it is a safe search engine but it still gives your students so many options and resources. I had never heard of Discovery Education until seeing this video and it seems like a great tool to use in the classroom. Similar to iCurio, it allows the students to have other resources and videos explaining topics or learning about certain topics more in depth that they may not have had time to do in the classroom. Anthony gave the great example of the students using Discovery Education to look up different kinds of plants and it gives them not only pictures of the plants and facts but it also gives them videos of other teachers talking about the plants.

The Anthony-Strange list of Tips for Teachers Part 1 was a great video giving us tips on how to be a successful teacher. So many teachers think of what they do as just a job that pays the bills but to be a successful teacher "you have to love to learn", according to Anthony and Dr. Strange. I agree because if you do not love to learn than why did you go to school to become a teacher to begin with? Being a teacher is a constant learning process. You never stop learning because you are teaching the students but they are also teaching you things even if you do not realize it at the time.

The last one I found to be very informational was called Don't Teach Tech- Use It. I have always thought using technology in the classroom was a great way to engage the students and help them excel but I have never really thought about the process of being able to use the technology in my classroom. Anthony says that he does not spend much time, if any at all, actually teaching his students how to use certain parts of technology used in their classroom. He gives them the basic explanation of how it works and then he makes them figure it and use their brains and knowledge to learn how to use those technology tools. After watching this video, I will most definitely use this concept in my classroom because I want my students to learn to be independent and well rounded.