Blog Post #5

There is so much information in the conversations It's Hard Work: A Day in the Life of a 3rd Grade Teacher, The Anthony - Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1, Project Based Learning Part 2, iCurio Anthony 070113, Discovery Ed Anthony070113, UseTech Don'tTeachIt Anthony070113, Additional Thought About Lessons Anthony 070113. In watching these conversations with Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps I have more interest in project based learning. It gives me more excitement in learning more about it. I am one of the students who wanted to teach the way I was taught. When I found out that things were changing I was very hesitant in project based learning, but now I look forward in learning how to use it myself. I like using creativity to create all kinds of things, and I can remember loving doing projects in elementary school. The projects were not like todays projects, but it gave me the opportunity to do something for myself. Listening to Anthony talk about his class and all of the projects they have done makes me look forward to doing it myself.

From watching these conversations I learned that children like to participate in project based learning. I was worried about have to teach kids how to use everything, but Anthony said that we do not need to teach technology. The question then is how do they learn then? Well, children learn technology faster than adults do, because it is the generation they grew up in. Our job is to introduce technology to children slowly. It is like a building block, children learn how to master tasks on the computer one step at a time. In the conversation about iCurio they talk about this search engine that allows children to look up information that is credible and safe for them to look at. I learned that you can save everything you search for as well as use other information that other people have searched for. This tool is good for any grade level and it seems like it would be easier to find good information that is usable. I also learned that teachers have to work hard and be creative in order to create projects that also fulfill the requirements that the students must meet before they go onto the next grade level.