Blog Post #11

The question for this week's blog post is "What can we learn about teaching and learning from these teachers?"

The first video was a TEDxTalk from Denver presented by Brian Crosby, which can be viewed here. During this video, I learned that learning is messy sometimes. We all make mistakes and that is how we learn. Without mistakes, I don't think that we wouldn't be able to learn as effectively. A great way to learn from other students from around the world is through blogs. Without this system, being able to communicate with children around the world wouldn't be as possible. Another way that technology is extremely beneficial is being able to accommodate for children who cannot attend class. One of Mr. Crosby's students had leukemia. Because of her inability to attend class, she had to be enrolled into a school, but she would be doing home studies. Mr. Crosby did not like that idea at all. He used Skype (or another tool like that) so she was able to participate in class without being presently there. I really liked that. Mr. Crosby is giving those children opportunities that they are new to. This class for them can help them achieve goals in their lives that they couldn't dream of achieving beforehand.

The second video was an introduction to blended learning by Paul Andersen, which can be viewed here. I really liked what he said about engaging students with the 5 E's. The teacher starts with an engaging question. Students can then explore the topic. Then, the teacher explains the phenomenon. After that comes the expanding of learning. Finally, there is the evaluation. When a teacher pairs this with the "compelling parts of online, mobile, and classroom learning and blending them together", the teacher has a great structure for a blended learning lesson plan. This will make learning more enjoyable and engaging for the students. Another way to structure the blended learning cycle is through QUIVERS: Question, Investigation/inquiry, Video, Elaboration, Review, and Summary Quiz. I really liked what Mr, Andersen did with the data from his experiments. His students put their data in a Google Spreadsheet to compile all of the data. I thought that was a really great idea. This way, someone can view all of the results at the same time easily. I will definitely be using QUIVERS in my classroom of elementary students, whereas he will continue on with his AP science class.

The third video was a look into Mark Church's classroom on a lesson about making headlines, which can be viewed above the comments section here. This was an interesting project. The students worked collaboratively to summarize the main idea into a simple "headline". This assignment required specific thinking to work together and bounce ideas off of each other. This project requires creativity of a specific nature. It's more intellectually creative than artistic creative. This would be a fun little project to do.

In the fourth video, Sam Pane was teaching a lesson on internet safety to his 5th graders, which can be viewed here. The way he taught the lesson was very interactive. The students created comic books with heroes that made sure that people were being safe and respectful on the internet. This lesson really showed that the students understood what it meant to be safe when they were on the internet. This lesson translates to real world situations really well when students are on the internet.

The fifth video was about project based learning in a high school, which can be viewed here. Three teachers -- a history teacher, an english teacher, and an information processing teacher -- came together to incorporate the three subjects together to create a project based learning class. They had to get special permission to do so from the administration from their school. With this structure, students could learn more, dive deeper into their knowledge and learn more fully to apply that knowledge. These students are going beyond what is required in their curriculum and they are loving it. They are proud of their work. I want my students to feel that way and I will incorporate PBL into my classroom.

The final video was about project based learning in the elementary classroom, which can be viewed here. This way of learning is more in depth and students really get to understand what is being taught. Also, because of all of the presenting in front of the class, it takes away any fear of public speaking. On top of that, the students make a lot of their own choices on how to do things. This creates a sense of ownership when they are doing a project. I think this is great. By doing this, it will help me learn to lay back a little bit and urging the students and asking them questions more to dive deeper in their knowledge. If they do not know it, then they will learn to look it up themselves. I think learning 21st century skills is a fantastic idea because it teaches them to be prepared for the real world.