Blog Assignment #6

I learned a lot about Project Based Learning from Mr. Anthony Capps videos. One of the first things that he discussed is what Project Based Learning should consist of. In order to be effective it should have a authentic audience, it should interest the students, and it should cover the content area. When you hear the word project you probably think fun and good times but Project Based Learning blends fun with learning. An example in the videos that Mr. Capps used was he had his students write a letter to the congressman on if the they agree or disagree with women fighting in combat. This project met the standards for ACCRS (Alabama College and Career Ready Standards) in writing, reading, and social studies. Not only did it meet the content requirements for the class but it interest the students which is important. We recently discussed peer review in one of our previous blogs and the importance of it. Mr. Capps had his students peer review their classmates letters and pick which ones were the best. The students were able to learn from each others work and mistakes.

Another thing I learned from Mr. Capps videos was to let the students teach you. Sometimes teachers come off as know it all's. When in fact students can teach us just as much as we can teach them. One example he have in the video was a student in his class corrected him ,then she was able to go back to the text and tell him why that was the correct answer. As educators we shouldn't take offense when students do this. This shows the process of deeper thinking. He also mentioned recording students when they give feedback on projects. This feedback can be used to base your future lessons around.

As a student in EDM 310 I have been learning about many resources to get information from. In the videos I learned about two more useful websites. I thought the search engine iCurio was very interesting. Students are able to find information and save it in an organized way. It is also filtered so that students can not access inappropriate websites. He also talked about Discovery Ed which allows students to search for information in science and social studies. By using websites like these students are able to choose what information they think is important and have more independence when it comes to learning.