Blog Post #13

">

Mr. Brian Crosby

Mr. Brian Crosby is a teacher who had the same 4th graders for three years. He had them for the 4th, 5th and 6th grade years. His students is from a low economic background but who is excited about learning, because of how their teacher is incorporating technology. Mr. Crosby points out in his video, that some of his students were unable to answer even the most simple questions. Many of the student did not know the city, state or country they lived in, and many did not know their address or phone number. I's sure he shared this status to point out how technology has made a difference in their lives. Mr. Crosby points out that even though a narrowed curriculum is not what educators want to teach these students, that a narrowed curriculum is what these students have been living with all their lives. After watching this video, it made me reflect on my own life. To me, some student, who may be very intelligent will begin school at a disadvantage. I can remember in 3rd grade, taking a trip to Ft. Conde and finding out that some of my friends had never even been in a tunnel before, they had never even been to Mobile. I was even at an advantage over students who were much smarter than me in the classwork, because my parents had already taken me to Ft. Conde. I was the student who was able to answer questions about Ft. Conde, even though I was not the smartest student in my class. Same thing with our New Orleans field trip in 5th grade and my Montgomery field trip in the 4th grade. Again, I believe some students are at a disadvantage because of the lack of opportunity. I still find myself at an advantage to even some people older than me. Some adults have never even gone to the Smokey Mountains or on a cruise to different islands, as I have. I have definitely been at an advantage with having these opportunities; which probably improved my intelligence without me even realizing it.

His science experiment reminds me of how I had an advantage of the normal student because of visiting NASA at Cape Canaveral several times. Technology definitely helps students be on a more fair playing ground. It allows students who have not, or will never experience trips like I have, the opportunity to visit these places through technology. Technology also allows his students to visit other people around the world, on topics being discussed, that will be remembered forever.

After watching the section of the video on High Hopes, I know his students learned more from releasing the balloons and watching them in real time, over what they can read in a book. Active learning is what I think he called it, empowers his students to be better learners. This is a learning style I wish was available to me earlier. It is a learning style I definitely intend on incorporating in my future classroom. The High Hopes lesson is one that I would like to do with my future physical education class.



Blended Learning Cycle (Mr. Paul Anderson)

Mr. Paul Anderson discussed in his Blended Learning Cycle podcast, how this strategy is helping his students to learn. He states that he has been and gotten information from experts on how to make this strategy work better. He states that blending is a combination of online and classroom learning. His method is to Engage, Explore, Explain, Expand and Evaluate. I believe this is how a good teacher should teach their lessons, he simply makes it easier to follow and understand. I do have a problem with two things he mentioned in the podcast. He states that students should be in control of peer grading. I do believe they should help in peer grading, but I do not believe they should be in control of it. I think this is a teacher's job. I can remember being in high school, and I would not have wanted some of my classmates having control of my grades. I do believe that with our new technology, it is important to allow students some of this responsibility, but not control it. I also believe, after studying flipping the classroom in previous lessons, that a teacher will have to be on it for this method to be effective for her entire class. I think I have to research this topic more, to feel comfortable using it in my future classroom.br />br />Mr. Anderson used an acronym that he believes are 6 parts to Blended Learning. The acronym is QIVERS (Q=Question, I=Investigate, V=Video, E=Elaborate, R=Review and S=Summary Quiz). His QIVERS acronym reminds me of when I had to do a science project for my school's science fair. This required steps also. I believe acronyms are great for anyone, especially me. Therefore, this will definitely be a strategy used in my teaching. Mr. Anderson's strategies are very good and seems like they can be used in any subject, even physical education.