Blog Post #6

Conversations with Anthony Capps

      I was very interested and pleased that we were assigned to listen to Anthony Capps because he has already achieved what we're working towards. He has a lot of really good teaching ethics and teaching tools that I hope to apply in the future in my own career.
      In the videos, Project Based Learning Part 1, and in Part 2, Anthony opened my eyes to what projects should really do for students in the classroom. When we think of projects, like Anthony said, we think of an assignment that comes at the end of a lesson and helps to summarize what you have learned. This is how it was all through my Elementary, Middle, and High School career. But PBL helps you realize that we have been utilizing projects the completely wrong way. They shouldn't summarize; they should teach. Anthony talks about how his students get enthralled in their projects and that's also in regards to how well he plans them. I was especially impressed with his project based on Haiti. This gave the students the opportunity to not only be creative but to learn about what was going on in the world at the time. This relates topics from the classroom to reality which is what should always be done. Otherwise, what is the point of learning something that cannot be applied in the future?
      Discovery Ed and iCurio are particularly useful tools for the classroom. In these, you can trust that whatever the students are researching it is academically based and nothing inappropriate. This is beneficial to every grade level but particularly for the younger students who are now using technology for research and assignments. Anthony explained how the students can create projects and save their work on iCurio which is extremely important. Overall, these sounded like great tools that I can use in my classroom in the future.
      Anthony's Tips for Teaching wasn't exactly something I have never thought about before when considering my future as a teacher. I know that by becoming a teacher I will never stop learning. I will never be "finished" with the job and I think that's why I love the idea of becoming one. It's an ever fulfilling job that is never done. You are always finding ways to help students achieve their goals and to push them to their highest potential. It's not a cut and dry job that starts at 8 and ends at 3. You have to take work home with you and find new things you want to share with your class. It was very encouraging to hear Anthony discuss how you have to learn to enjoy learning while not getting paid. By constantly learning and bettering yourself, you are teaching and bettering your students. That's why becoming a teacher is such a fulfilling career that I am so excited to pursue.
      It was very hard to listen to Use Tech Don't Teach It . This is a controversial subject for me, because my generation was exposed to technology but it was never enforced or taught per say. I think technology can be extremely beneficial to the learning process and obviously is enforced in the real world today. On the other hand, I believe that technology can also be a burden. It can be used for negative things and it can be a crutch. But nonetheless, technology is here and it will forever will be. I am not one who will fight this to the death. Anthony has the right ideas about how technology can be useful in the classroom. It can help excite your students to learn and to further develop ideas. As for me, yes, I will constantly be learning how to use technology because I know my students will be as well. I hope to one day use technology in my day to day activities so as to be able to better educate my students and to be able to enjoy it myself. I may not always be in agreement with technology but I will however learn how to apply it in my classroom.
      In Additional Thoughts, I realized that I am very worried about my lesson planning. I know it will come in time but I hope I can one day master the "scaffolding" , as Anthony puts it. Lesson planning is very tedious and if done wrong the students cannot learn the topic properly and may have a hard time learning it later. It has to be strategically placed in order to guide the students through the lesson so they come out in the end confident in their work and abilities.

I hope one day I can say I have achieved this!