Blog Post #6

What I love most about this class is that I am continually learning and continually discovering that I truly love the things I'm learning about. This was most prominent to me in this weeks blog assignment. After watching the interview videos with Anthony Capps, a third grade teacher at Gulf Shores Elementary, I have been able to see EDM310 content applied and been successful through Anthony Capps's classroom recollections. The biggest thing I will take away from these videos is that teaching really is about learning. Anthony explains that when you interest your students in project based learning, you are not the expert on the information they are looking for. However, you are the expert on how they FIND this information. Allowing them to make choices in their learning experience, giving them the ability to choose what they learn and how to interpret what they learn is an amazing learning experience for you and your students. This gives your students the ability to go above and beyond what you thought you wanted for them, and also teaches you, as an educator, something completely new or gives you a newly found perspective. I think that in itself is the joy of project based learning: facilitating your students learning experience so that everyone can learn and everyone can improve together. I also learned that it is important to have a project/lesson plan that builds upon itself and covers all that you need to in that given school year. Anthony also explains that this might not always go according to plan and that you must be willing to improvise and be fluid with your students needs and wants. This is why reflection and peer critiquing is essential. This allows you as a teacher to make changes based on what your students are driven to accomplish, where they think they might need improvement, and how they can do better next time. Lastly, this also supports the method of allowing your students to present their projects to a valuable audience. Not only does this technique inspire more creativity and pride in your student's work, but allows for reflection and the ability to see how much your children have learned, what they can improve on, and how it relates to or differs from their classmates work.

Here are the links to these awesome videos featuring Anthony Capps and Dr. Strange:
Project Based Learning Part 1
Project Based Learning Part 2
iCurio with Anthony
Discovery Ed
Tips for Teachers
Use Tech Don't Teach It
Additional Thoughts