Blog Assignment #6

Anthony Capps is a 3rd Grade teacher in Baldwin County. He and Dr. Strange discussed a great number of things concerning our profession. Anthony gave great insight as a new teacher as to what we can expect. The links to each video are posted below with a small summary of what I thought and learned from each one. It was a great series. I highly suggest clicking the links!

Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher

The biggest thing I take away from this interview is the emphasis on assuring the project that is chosen is one the kids will enjoy. Now, I'm not masochistic enough to intentionally choose projects I know the students will hate, but I also have the mentality that my reasons are more important than the students' enjoyment. What I mean is that I would try to pick an enjoyable project, but if I found a project that had great learning opportunity I would choose that one. I think that the lessons learned should be prioritized over the enjoyment of learning. I never really thought about the students learning more because of enjoyment of the process, even though another, less fun, project might offer more knowledge. I see now that the benefit of the student enjoying the subject might make them take initiative to learn more on their own.

Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher

"[The students] know what they're doing and they know why they're doing it." When Anthony said this, it struck a HUGE chord within me. I think that this is such an important aspect of teaching. Sometimes all a student needs is a reason to do something and "because I said so" or "because it'll be graded" aren't motivating enough to get quality work. I have actually found myself doing some if this is EDM310. I really didn't like or understand our first few assignments, but now I'm starting to see the method behind the madness. It makes putting in the work much easier.

iCurio

I had never heard of iCurio before watching this video. It really sounds like an amazing tool for students! I think it's great that they can learn these digital organization skills early on in their academic careers. I just learned about Google Drive a few weeks ago in this class. I use it all the time now and wish it had been around (or at least I had known about it) years ago. Anthony made a great point about students having to live life by the bell schedule. Having iCurio to save their work and allow them to pick right back up is a big advantage.

Discovery Education

This is another really cool tool for teachers to have in their belts. I really agree with Dr. Strange's point of us now being "Listener-Watchers." Being able to couple an audio/visual aid to go along with the text subject matter is extremely valuable. Especially if it is one from a subject matter expert. I won't always know about everything that I'm teaching, or that a student chooses to learn about, but having a tool where an expert can be easily found is pretty awesome.

The Anthony-Strange list of Tips for Teachers Part 1

Anthony's first point about letting "your work become a fun experience for you" is so right on the money. Our profession is such an ever evolving craft that we will always be a step behind. If we stop to catch our breath, research and technology will have passed us by. It is essential that we stay current on the most effective and efficient ways to educate our students. We have such a great and demanding responsibility of ensuring our students are educated well that we simply cannot afford to be lazy in the perfection of our craft. Learning how to teach does not end upon graduation from South, it just starts a new chapter.

Don't Teach Tech - Use It

This is the first time I have disagreed with Anthony so far in this series, although I don't totally disagree with him. I think his process of scaffolding and implementing something new each week is great. I WOULD, however, teach the technology first. I think a formal lecture with hands on learning would be beneficial before letting the students dive in and learn from their own mistakes. I think the greatest amount of learning will come from the scaffolding and trial-and-error method of which Anthony was speaking, but I think a good knowledge base of the product would be beneficial, too.

Additional Thoughts About Lessons

I was a little lost because I have not had a class on Lesson Plans yet, but this made my head hurt a little. It seems that lesson plans will not be one of the more fun aspects of the job!