This was a great interview from Dr. Strange and Mr. Capps. I had never heard of iCurio or Discovery Education before this assignment and I would definitely use it in my classroom. They helped me understand the rewards of project-based learning better than before in Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher. It's tough work, but the students learn more in return and they wanted to keep using the same method because they were genuinely interested in the style. Project based learning is more hands-on than just handing out worksheets and going over textbook material on a daily basis. I really enjoyed listening to the assignment about the students interviewing their relatives or friend of the family's experience in Afghanistan. It's just amazing to me that these 3rd graders were able to do such a complex project at a young age and I find it fascinating.
Another interesting tool that Dr. Strange and Mr. Capps spoke about was iCurio. It's a safe search engine that students can use at school that can pull up all of the research they need for their assignment. It also has storage that they can use so they can save files and come back later to them. I can only imagine what my classmates and I would have been able to learn and the activities we would have able to do if we had had the access to this amount of technology when I was in elementary school. In fifth grade, we were using Windows 98 and we really thought we had it made.
Discovery Education helps students if they didn't understand a lesson or they need extra studying time with the material. It's a video tool that visually helps the student instead of lecturing them. Over the years, I've learned a lot of people process information differently. Some are visual learners, while others can listen to a set of instructions once and they've got it. I'm a visual learner, for example, and Discovery Education would help me because they could teach me by acting out or using hands on activities for the lesson.
Dr. Strange and Mr. Capps gave some really good advice in The Anthony - Strange list of Tips for Teachers Part 1 on preparing lesson plans and how educator's need to be prepared to learn as well and not just the students. Lesson plans are a very vital part of being a teacher. They can become overwhelming if you are not prepared to have them completed. So the tip from Dr. Strange and Mr. Capps is to prepare ahead of time and I think that's great advice for any new teacher.
I learned about iCurio and Discovery Ed from watching these videos as well. I cannot wait to try them in my classroom. You are right about the Windows 98, we thought it couldn't get any better than that but look where we are today. It really is great that we have so many resources available for us to teach now. Great post.
ReplyDelete"... I would definitely use it in my classroom." If your school systems pays for them! Baldwin County does.
ReplyDelete"...more hands-on than just handing out worksheets and going over textbook material on a daily basis.' It is not those two things at all!
"Discovery Education helps students if they didn't understand a lesson or they need extra studying time with the material. It's a video tool that visually helps the student instead of lecturing them. " The main value of Discovery Ed is that students have video material which they can use in projects.
Interesting.
I felt your blog overall thoroughly went over what the videos discussed. I also liked how you described project based learning. It is more hands-on and not just paper work supplied to the students. Good job!
ReplyDelete"Discovery Education helps students if they didn't understand a lesson or they need extra studying time with the material." Discovery Education is a tool for all, I use it in my general whole group instructions; as well as, during intervention.
ReplyDelete