Blog Assignment #11

What can we learn about teaching and learning from these teachers?

Back to the Future
In Brian Crosby's video, Back to the Future, he shows what goes on in his fourth grade classroom. Most of his students are students of poverty, and did not know the answer to questions most fourth graders should know. However, what these students were capable of is incredible. I wish that I had, had Mr.Crosby as a teacher growing up. He took one topic, and covered every subject using project based learning. He used entry events to spark interest in his students. He then had the students wondering "Why did that happen?". His students went into learning the history of balloons, and researched different types. They then used language arts to write a story as the balloon. They also launched an actual balloon into the atmosphere with a camera. This camera filmed the balloons entire journey. The students used Google maps and were able to locate the balloon and know how fast it was going. These students used blogs to reflect on what they had learned as well. These blogs caught attention of other students around the world. Mr.Crosby even used Skype to involve a student with Leukemia in the class.

Blended Learning Cycle
In Paul Anderson's video, Blended Learning Cycle, he explains blended learning. Blended learning starts with a really good question. This would be an entry event or a hook that gets the students attention. This makes the students want to do the next step, investigate. The teacher can then play a video for the class. The students will then read and research about the topic causing them to go more in dept. Lastly, they review and take a summary quiz.

Building Comics
In Sam Pane's fifth grade class, he used comics to inspire his students. In his video he opened his lesson with a quote from Spiderman. "With great power, comes great responsibility.". He then had his students brain storm what it meant to be responsible on the internet and how to be an online citizen. The students then created their own superheroes and made a comic strip. The comic strip was for them to demonstrate what it means to be a responsible online citizen. I really liked Mr.Pane's teaching methods. I think that because he used superheroes he really caught the attention of his class. The lesson was fun and meaningful.

This video of Roosevelt Elementary is a great example of the benefits of PBL.

What did I learn from these teachers?
Teachers should make the lessons fun and relevant to the students. Entry events help with this, because it sparks an interest in the student. Entry events get the students asking questions, and making them want to learn the answer. Project based learning causes children to become curious about the world around them and to want to know more about it. I feel that students who learn through PBL from a young age will become more confident then students who use just pen and paper. Teachers should collaborate with each other, so the students are utilizing all of their time wisely. Not only is PBL a more effective way to learn, but it is also a more enjoyable way.