One of the first notes I took from the interview with Anthony Capps was when he discussed what entails a good project. He says, "the goal of a good project is one that has an authentic audience, has student interests, involves the community and most importantly, they are driven by content.." (Project Based Learning Part 1). To often I think that in classrooms throughout all levels of education projects and view more as a chore than anything else. Your students should be genuinely interested in what they are doing, it shouldn't just be busy work. By having work involve the community and allowing your students to be driven creates a connection that strengths the project. I had never thought about the way a project should be done and after listening to Anthony I really enjoyed his take on projects. He has working knowledge and hands on experience that I could really take some notes on.
Prior to this assignment and watching the talks with Anthony I had never heard of iCurio, however after listening to the brief discussion between the two, I imagine that iCurio may be an excellent tool in order to help educate students. The ability to "allow students to safely search websites that have been pulled and filtered for educational uses." (iCurio: Conversation with Anthony) There is so much information out there on the internet that can be view us unreliable. By using this type of technology we are not only able to have our students find information online, but the right information. Anthony also explained how iCurio could be used to organize and maintain helpful information. After the explanation I found that iCurio gives students the ability to use a search engine that will give them genuine information. It is important now is this growing technological world that we can introduce this material as early as possible to allow students to become accustomed with technology. I am interested in finding out more about iCurio.
After viewing The Anthony - Strange Tips for Teachers video I learned a lot about the teaching profession. There are two different points of views in this video. The ideas of the more experienced teacher and the ideas from the much more wet behind the ears teacher provided excellent insight on the profession. I liked Anthony's idea , which Dr. Strange summarized, that "It's hard work but fun at the same time if you let it be fun, it never ends and it is very rewarding." (The Anthony - Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1) Teaching is a profession in which you have to constantly adapt to new things, whether its new teaching standards, a new group of students you have to instruct or dealing with an ever changing technological landscape. I took from his idea that you have to embrace the volatile nature of the profession, you need to constantly learn what will work and what wont. You may have to try a new method, but you make your work your own and embrace it. Teaching in my mind is a wonderful profession because you are able to impact so many people. I think that the ability to help others learn and make it fun for them may be hard work, but it is a great reward.
Great post :)
ReplyDeleteBoston, you did a really good job on this post summarizing the videos between Dr. Strange and Anthony. I also learned a lot from these videos about different ways to teach in the classroom. I like what you said about students and that they, "should be genuinely interested in what they are doing, it shouldn't just be busy work." It's going to be our jobs as instructors to carry out and try sOme of these procedures, so it's good that we are learning about them ourselves.
ReplyDelete