Blog Post 7

Project-Based Learning Part 1

Summarized By: Kenesha Brown

Anthony Capps is a former student in EDM 310 and a former lab professional at the University of South Alabama. He now teaches third grade at Baldwin County Elementary School in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Capps is a person who truly practice Project-Based Learning with his students.

During Dr. Strange's interview with Capps, he asked questions pertaining to Project-Based Learning. One of the questions that Dr. Strange asked was "how do you approach being a Project-Based Learning teacher?" Capps responded that "Project-Based Learning is constantly evolving." He explained that often time Project-Based Learning is confused with projects that are done after a lesson rather than a method that can encourage students to learn. Capps gave a couple of goals teachers should encounter when they are planning projects for their class. One of the most important thoughts Capps mentioned was when teachers are planning projects for Project-Based Learning, they must take a different approach on the aspect of what they want their students to know. Teachers need to create good projects that will have an authentic audiences. Kids like receiving rewards for what they have done well on. It motivates their work ethics. In addition, teachers should always think of the interest of the students. Kids love collaborating with their classmates on fun projects. Another things Capps mentioned was getting the community involved somehow. Getting the community involved shows students how a subject is related to the real world. Finally, teachers need to understand that their lesson should be driven by the state content. Because the standards are given by the state, they should be the main focus on what that grade level should learn. Therefore, teachers must think about what type of project to create that give the students the opportunity to know the content they need them to know. That is why teachers should explain the state standards to their students. The example Capps gave was when his students sent letters to Congressman Jo Bonner about their opinions on letting women serve in combat. The topic he and and his students were discussing in class was Equity and Culture. They all gave their thoughts and opinion on why they think women should or shouldn't serve in combat. Then, they were assigned to use iCurio to find women who did something in history. They also asked their family members and close friends, who served in the military, questions on their thoughts of women in combat. With all the information each student collected, they used it to support their opinion in their letters. After the drafts were done, Capps allowed his students to peer review and choose eight of the best letters to represent the class. "The democracy, grading process, and reflection is key to Project-Based Learning. However, the most important companions to Project-Based Learning are revising and reflecting.

Project-Based Learning Part 2

Capps explained another project done by his students on culture. The project was one of Capps' favorite projects he love doing with his students. As a class they started out exploring Haiti. They practice researching and using other tools that would be helpful with their projects. The following week the class began researching Afhganistan. The goal of the project was to write a narrative as if they were a child in that particular country. They were going to record their narrative on iMovie on their iPads and use iCurio or Discovery Education for pictures for their movies. Capps as well as his students, loved the outcome of their projects. Some of the students covered the topics on food, fashion, and warfare. Others covered all of the topics on Afganistan. However, one of the students' parents were uncomfortable with their child being exposed to Afghanistan's culture due to serving in Afghanistan. Capps respected the parent's wish and assigned his child another project. Capps stated that "with Project-Based Learning you never know what you are going to get so don't limit your students." In addition, students' choice plays a big part in Project-Based Learning. From the kids aspect, they love knowing what they are talking about, why they are doing it, and proud of what they are doing. Capps explained that when strangers enter their room they are happy to share what project they are working on. Dr. Strange made the statement that we are learners and we should engage in learning.

iCurio

In this video, Capps explains what is iCurio. iCurio is a website used by Baldwin County Schools. It serves for many purposes. iCurio is an online tool that allows students to safely search websites and pull web media for educational purposes. iCurio has a tool for storage. This is an advantage to the students because if they have any distractions were they can't finish their search, they can store it in a file on iCurio. This means that each student needs their own iCurio account. Capps explains that iCurio can be useful for all grade levels. iCurio is a safe learning environment for students. The material that students have access to is the material that the teacher provides. iCurio is a great tool to experiment and try out with students.

Discovery Education

Capps made the statement that "a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million." He explains that Discovery Education provides students with a lot of visual aids. "Whatever text article you can give a child if you can couple it with a visual they retain a lot more. Discovery Education also provides background knowledge, ways to extend conversation, and general knowledge on a lot of topics. "Everything for science and social studies is available." It teaches kids to research and enrich what they have already learned.

AdditionalThoughts About the Lesson

Anthony Capps explains that “a lesson is four layers thick.” When teachers are preparing their lessons, there are four things to think about. The first layer is think about the lesson in terms of the year. Teachers should think about how are they going to cover the content standards and have the curriculum they prepared covers all of the standards. The next layers is unit. There are layers within unit that create the rest of the four layers to an effective lesson. Teacher should consider unfolding a unit in a way “that is meaningful and that is connected in some type of way.” The unit should be a stairwell of goals that teachers want their students to meet. “Stretch out a unit by saying we going to start the unit off with this and by the end of the unit the student should be able to do this.” The unit then moves down to the week. Teachers should think about their goal on a week scale. They will need to try to figure out how everything is going to get done. Most importantly, the final layer is the daily lesson. The daily lesson is the way teachers get students’ attention. It is the hook to what they can expect to do. It is also the way teachers can evaluate students learning.

The Anthony - Strange list of Tips for Teachers Part 1

Summarized by: Chelsea Calvert

In this video Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps are creating a list of things that consists of things that as teachers we should do. They make a list of four things that teachers should do. Teachers need to be lifelong learners. To prepare ourselves to get into the teaching field we need to be extremely interested in learning. We need to be constantly learning and modeling how to learn. Teaching is hard work and even after you leave your classroom you should still be seeking to learn new information. Learning how to teach should be a teacher’s hobby and part of their everyday lives. It can be very rewarding once you have learned something new that you can incorporate within your classroom. Teacher need to be flexible and creative. As teachers, we need to be prepared for surprises that might arise in the classroom. We need to be prepared to go outside the normal routine if something were to come up. Teachers should also reflect on their work. We need to be able to critic ourselves to master teaching. These four things are all important tasks that teachers need to focus on.

Anthony Capps gave some great pointer on how to have an effective Project-Based Learning experience. I think that all the tools Capps mentioned helps makes an effective lesson. It is so much the state standards requires teachers to cover; therefore, teacher should come up with creative ways to get students engaged in their learning. Project-Based Learning is a method I will use in my future classroom. It allows students to enrich their learning.

Don’t Teach Tech - Use It

Summarized by: Keri Brown

Anthony starts off by explaining that whether we like it or not we use technology every day. He states “we’re immersed in it whether you want to be or not, you can’t buy groceries without it.” Anthony says that technology is natural for kids whether they are in low-income areas or high-income areas, technology is a part of their lives. When creating your lessons, you should scaffold technology into those plans. Anthony says that you should focus on one technology at a time and make sure your students have different opportunities to review and continue practicing and using each technology. Once students have practice with a technology tool you can then add on and incorporate the use of other technology. Anthony uses iMovie with his third graders and he says that by allowing them to use iMovie they can be creative, express themselves, it is free, it is clean, and the students love it. You should use technology in your classroom to allow your students to get excited about what they are doing, use it to let them share what they are doing, and scaffold it to let them use one tool at a time then progressively add in more tools. Do not expect perfection from your students, because it is not going to happen. Students will make mistakes, but as a teacher you should allow time to reflect on those mistakes so they can better themselves the next time they use this technology. Dr. Strange states “you don’t have to worry about spending a great deal of time or energy teaching your kids how to use technology, just give them the opportunity, and don’t expect perfect.” As the teacher, you should “do it first.” Use the technology and do the projects to better understand why students are asking questions and how you can help them.