Blog Post #11 What Can We Learn About Teaching and Learning From These Teachers?

In the first video, Back To the Future, Brian Cosby gave a presentation about a group of students he's been teaching. He incorporated technology in his classroom by helping his students create a successful blog so they can communicate with other people about their projects and what they've learned. Mr. Cosby seemed very involved in his classroom and making sure his students understood the subject material. The students were very excited about the "High Hopes Project" that they helped create and were all very motivated to learn new things.

Mr. Paul Andersen's Blended Learning Cycle was a very interesting and fresh approach at helping make sure students have learned a certain lesson. In his projects, that he sets up for his students, he makes up his steps into one word QUIVERS.

• QU - Question
• I - Investigation/Inquiry
• V - Video
• E - Elaboration
• R - Review
• S - Summary Quiz

Each step is for the student to complete for the project and at the end, Mr. Andersen would give them a short summary quiz to make sure that the student understood what they just did their project on. This is a GREAT project plan that I would definitely use in my classroom.

Making Thinking Visible is a very helpful book for educators and all learners that helps deepen thinking on the subject that a student studies. They have to ask more meaningful questions so they'll become better learners when they search for the answers. I could not find the short video in the website that I was asked to watch, but this book provides great classroom strategies on how to promote critical thinking in students.

In the fourth video, Sam Pane 4th Grade is about Mr. Pane's fourth grade class learning about internet safety and incorporating it into a lesson. The students create a super hero on a fun and safe website while also learning about safety on the internet. This is extremely important because children have to learn at a young age now that internet is not always a very safe harm-free place. They do need to know what to post and what not to post on websites. Because technology has evolved so much, children are having to learn these rules at a younger age. When students are learning how to use a blog in the third grade, for example, the first thing they are taught is internet safety.

In Project Based Learning, three teachers brought together their skills and knowledge so they could create projects together using two subjects at one time. Students are more motivated by project based learning when they feel like they are really learning and understanding the material. The students in this classroom are so proud of their work because their peers had several opinions and they saw more meaning in their assignment.

Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program is about using project based learning in a first grade classroom and how it is a positive tool in education. When the students have to use critical thinking, they know when to ask questions and soon become better learners. When students are allowed to work together for a common goal, they are learning valuable teamwork and communication skills that will help them in years to come. I would definitely use these strategies in my classroom so that my students could comprehend the subject material.