Blog 6

After watching the video Project Based Learning Part 1 of a 3rd Grade Teacher and Project Based Learning Part 2 of a 3rd Grade Teacher  and it opened my eyes to realize how important it is to implement project based learning. Anthony Capps shared great ways to incorporate it in the classroom. One of his projects he shared that was interesting to me was the letter the third graders wrote to the Congress man. I can just imagine the students’ reaction to the letter they received back for the state. In majority of his third grade project based learning Anthony connected them to real life connections. After the two videos I can see his dedications and  his pride in all his work. He valued the students’ opinion if the project was meaningful or not and also allow the students to do a student choice with the projects.

Second, my first time hearing about iCurio  was in this video. Now, I know that it is a tool that allow students to surf the internet in a safe environment.  It is also a way  to help teachers and students stay organized while doing work in the classroom. I found this video to be very informative.

Third, Discovery Education is a great tool to help student visual the materials. This is a great way to help students retain the information using some of their senses. First they are able to hear the information and then they are able to see the material being presented.  I like to think of Discover Education as a visual field trip in the classroom.

Fourth, The Anthony- Strange list of Tips for Teachers Part 1 I found these tips for teaching very useful. I enjoyed the honesty from Anthony Capps about his experiences as a teacher. One thing that I realized he put emphasis on was that teaching requires a lot of work. He also stated that teachers are constant learners and  also shared ways to keep students 100% engaged.

Fifth, Don't Teach Tech- Use It I was surprised to hear that third graders knew how to use technology. I know that using technology is a great way to capture the students’ attention. After watching this I now know that technology plays a tremendous role in the classroom.

Finally, Additional Thought About lesson , a short description of a four layer lesson. This video allowed me to connect this material with my previous course EDU 346 on ways to write an effective descriptive lesson. I look forward to using the four layer lesson plan description.