Blog Post 11

In the video, Back to the Future, Brian Crosby discusses how he uses technology in his 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classrooms. Every student has access to a laptop and they write blogs frequently. He also talks about a project he did with his students with a balloon. On the balloon, the hooked up audio, video, and a tracking device so they could track it wherever it went for a while. There was something he said that really stuck with me. Crosby said, "If you don't have imagination or creativity,  where do you build passion from?" This is so true. If children are going through the same motions day by day, how will they come across something new that they might be passionate about?

In the video, Blended Learning Cycle, Paul Anderson discusses the blended learning cycle and what exactly it is. He says it is a combination of online, mobile, and classroom experiences. Anderson says he learning cycle consists go the 5 E's: engage, explore, expand, explain, and evaluate. He also uses the acronym "QUVIERS" which stands for: Question, Investigate/Inquire, Video, Elaboration, Review, Summary Quiz. Anderson does a great job making sure his students really grasp the subject before he tests them on the subject at hand.

In this video, Making Things Visible, he focuses on tracking how students think. This makes me think of the word "metacognition" that we just learned in one of my other classes. It refers to the students ability to explain how and what they're thinking. Making Things Visible focuses more on tracking the progress of their thinking. This is a great way to get students thinking and opinionated.

In the video, Super Digital Citizen, teaching students internet safety is stressed. Personally, I know a lot of people who have been affected by malicious people on the internet. Whether it be money fraud or people saying they they're someone who they are not, there are bad people on the internet. In this video, the students create a superhero and talk about internet safety. This is a great way to get the students informed about such a serious topic in a fun way. It is important to make sure the students in your classroom have good digital citizenship. Most of the population who are active on the internet today weren't taught anything about it in school because it wasn't around. We must intervene with these students now to make a better future for everyone around us.

Project Based Learning discusses a school in Canada in which three classrooms decide to combine for a day. The classes were History, English, and Computer Processing. This was done to see if they could implement Project Based Learning. Doing this, they could create one project that meets the standards for all three subjects. Combining all these allows for ample time and study to be done on just a single project instead of three separate ones for three separate subjects. I think this is great and should be considered by schools everywhere. You could lighten the load on students while also giving them the quality education they need.

In the video, Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program, project based learning at this school is discussed. They gather opinions from both parents and teachers on the subject. They say things like it is very hands on and engaging for the students. It also provides self motivation. Parents said they liked how early the students were getting practice as far as public speaking goes. I know for me, my first public speaking class wasn't until college and it was nerve-wracking. We need to build up their confidence with speaking in front of people at a very young age.