Blog Post #11: What can we learn about teaching and learning from these teachers?

We can learn so much about teaching and learning from just watching or listening to other teachers/people talk about or do things. We just need to sit back and listen and ask questions whenever we need to. These teachers in the following videos are very talented teachers and I really learned a lot by watching these videos.

The video Back to the Future by Mr. Brian Crosby, is about his fourth grade class in Sparks, Nevada and their balloon project. He states in the video that, "it's hard to know what could be when you don't know what is." I think this is so true! How can you expect children to know about what they are capable of unless you show them what they already are capable of? He goes on to tell us that in his classroom every student has their own computer, which ultimately allows them to think outside of the box. They can achieve so much more by using technology and other tools besides just pen, paper, and textbooks. He has created a hot air balloon project that touches on not only science, but social studies and language arts as well. His class got to send a hot air balloon up along with their "high hopes" cards and then monitor its travel and eventually its descent. I think this is so cool! Not only did they get to learn about the balloons, but they got to actually launch one and monitor it! Then, instead of a test on the information that they learned, they got to create a blog post on their own blogs about it and watch as hundreds of people read what they had to say. This is such a fun project idea and they stayed so engaged in it the whole time.

Mr. Paul Andersen is a high school AP Biology teacher in Bozeman, Montana. His video Blended Learning Cycle discusses how this cycle blends together online, mobile, and classroom learning with the learning cycle. He has a very clever acronym that he uses, "QUIVERS". The "Qu" stands for question, and this is like the hook that gets the student's interested in what they are about to learn about. "I" is for investigation/inquiry, this is when the students experiment or start asking questions about what they are learning. "V" stands for videos, which he finds through podcasts and lets his students watch when they reach this point in the learning cycle. "E" is for elaboration, and this is the point when students will get out their texts and read about what they are learning or look at diagrams. "R" is review, and this is when Mr. Andersen pulls either one student or a small group of students to the side to review with them and see if they understand enough to move on to the "S". The "S" is summary quiz, which is when the students will take a quiz on the information that they have learned thus far. Mr. Andersen says something towards the end of his video that I strongly agree with, "You haven't really learned something until you can explain it to someone."

The video Making Thinking Visible by Mark Church is discussing how small groups are useful for the students. He focuses on how to make your students better thinkers. He says that one way of doing this is to let them see things from different points of view. They cannot always be led to only look at things from their own personal views or only hear their own opinions on things. It is very important for them to broaden their minds and learn not only from their mistakes or successes, but also those of others.

Sam Pane teaches his students how to be Super Digital Citizen's. His video is all about being safe on the internet, which is incredibly important. The students get to create a character ,or they can use their own picture, in a comic book app and then they have to make a comment that shows safety, responsibility, and that is respectful. This is such a great project that really shows the students what is appropriate, but in a way that is fun and engaging at the same time.

Project Based Learning by Dean Shareski teaches us how to use project based learning (PBL) in lesson plans. Students are more engaged when PBL is used. They also have a deeper understanding of the subject they are learning.

Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program is a video about how project based learning really is a great way to teach children. The teachers and parents in this video tell how much they really love using PBL and how wonderful it has been for their students or children. The children in the video look excited and like they are enjoying learning and are not afraid to get up and be a leader. I loved this video, it really helped my views of PBL to grow in a positive way.