Project # 13 - Project Based Learning Plans (Collaborative)

Project Based Learning Collaborative Lesson Plan - Group 8

Lesson Plan
PBL Rubric
PBL Checklist
PBL Calendar

Project #9 - Video Book Commentary

Group 8 - Topic 4

"...students in our classrooms are changing – largely as a result of their outside-of-school experiences with technology – and are no longer satisfied with an education that doesn't immediately address the real world in which they live" (p. xv, Teaching Digital Natives) Do you agree or disagree with this assessment of students? What evidence do you have to support your conclusion? What evidence does Prensky give in Teaching Digital Natives to support his conclusion? What can be done about it?

Project #7 Part B

To Parents:

To Students:

Blog Post #7 - How Do We All Become Learners?

Becoming a teacher nowadays takes much more than a love for children, and a passion for learning. Children are growing up surrounded by technology, and they expect no less from their classrooms. I don't know about every elementary school in Mobile County, but I do know that in the elementary school that I attended and the one my son currently attends, there is a SMART board in every classroom. Baldwin County public schools now provide iPads for most of their students, and they certainly use them in all of their classrooms as we see in the following videos from Gulf Shores Elementary School kindergarten and first grade classrooms.

 iPad Reading Center
Poplet Center
Alabama Virtual Library Center
Discovery Ed Board Builder Project

The resource I am most excited about in this series of videos is the Alabama Virtual Library. I had no idea that you could use this site to do simple research at a kindergarten level. Mrs. Tucks' AVL center is such a creative way to introduce research to her kindergarteners. It also prepares them for future Board Builder projects because they are already using pictures and sentences to show what they have learned.

It is important that teachers know about the resources available to them through technology. For example, if Mrs. Tassin didn't know about the opportunities within Discovery Ed, she would not have created such a multi-faceted project as the one presented by her second grade students. In this video, it is clear that the assignment required research, collaboration, use of technology to create the presentation, oral skills for presenting, and innovation in their choice to collect money and how to go about it. I can see all of this in a two minute video, but I'm sure her students learned even more than that.

I think in my preparation for becoming an elementary school teacher, I will need to find all of these resources and begin using them myself. I don't think I will have a hard time figuring out how to use them. However, in order to think up creative project ideas, I will need to have a good understanding of how they work and what they can be used for. I'm excited about the shift to using technology more in the classroom. It is one of the best ways to keep children engaged and excited about what they are learning.

Project #8 - You Are Special

Post #6 Conversations with Anthony Capps

I enjoyed listening to the conversations between Anthony Capps and Dr. Strange in these videos. It is interesting to hear from a teacher who is successfully implementing Project Based Learning (PBL) in his classroom. One of the best things I learned from listening to Anthony was in the video Project Based Learning Part 2, when he said, "With PBL...never limit your students by giving them exactly what you want them to do. Create an opportunity for them to go beyond what you want them to do, and they will." This quote stuck out to me because so often teachers get hung up on children doing each project exactly a certain way. They have a set of criteria that they must follow to a tee or else they risk a failing grade. This gets children focused on spitting out manufactured information and projects. Instead, we should encourage children to think creatively about the information they want to present, and how to present it. Yes, they need guidelines, but specific regulations are not necessary.

I was also interested in Anthony's discussion of iCurio and Discovery Ed. I had never heard of either of these resources before, but I am now intrigued and motivated to learn more. I particularly liked that iCurio has a read-aloud feature. This way, even if I end up teaching in a lower elementary classroom (one in which the students are not yet proficient readers), I can take advantage of this resource.

The last three videos (The Anthony-Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1, Don't Teach Tech - Use it, and Additional Thoughts About Lessons) all made me sit down and think about my personal philosophies of teaching. What do I want to achieve as an educator? How will I achieve it? I hope to be as hands-on and interactive as Anthony. I'm now seeing the amount of work that is involved outside of the classroom in order to be an effective teacher. I'm going to take Anthony's advice and "Let [my] work become a fun experience for [me]." I truly believe that where teachers love teaching (and learning!), students love learning.

C4K Summary for September

For my first C4K, I  read the blog of eleven-year old Wakatere Cecil. He attends Pt England School in Aukland, New Zealand. His most recent post is a video that he made with his friends to the song "Heal the World." He gives a brief description of what the song means to him and then we see him and his friends portraying that meaning through the video. He writes that the biggest challenge of creating this video was managing his time. I commented that I enjoyed watching the video and hearing what that song meant to him. I also noted that he and his friends seemed to have a lot of fun creating the video.

My second C4K was on the blog of Mustafa, a fifth grade student in Ontario, Canada. For this assignment, his class was writing about what makes a great mathematician. He writes that a great mathematician asks himself (or herself) questions about the problems they are working on. Some of his questions included, "Why did I choose the strategy I used?" and "How could I solve the problem differently?" For my comment, I commended him for his great math questions, and I offered another one: "How do I know that my answer is correct?"

My final C4K was on the blog of a fifth grade student in Connecticut. Her name is Rachel. This was a blog post that I enjoyed reading because it felt genuine. It didn't seem like a school assignment. Rachel wrote about her love for swimming. She likes to swim in her pool, and it sounds like she is a good swimmer. She can swim the length of her pool underwater without coming up for air. In my comment, I told Rachel that it gets very hot in Alabama during the summer, so I also enjoy swimming. I even mentioned how close we live to the beach. I think she would love the ocean. She ends her blog posts with "Stay Calm and Smile On," so I felt it was appropriate to end my comment with "Keep smiling!"