Blog Assignment #6: Conversations with Anthony Capps

What did I learn from the conversations with Anthony Capps?

In the video conversation Project Based Learning Part 1, the main subject that stood out to me was Mr. Capps’ discussion of the difference between using Project Based Learning as a means of making sure your students have learned what they should after a lesson, and using it as a means of learning. I had always considered the “project” part of Project Based Learning to mean the students being assigned a project to display that they comprehended a lesson they were recently taught. After listening to this video conversation, I have come to the conclusion that using this style of teaching as a means of learning the lesson will keep my students more engaged in the lesson. When a student has to sit and listen to a teacher, they will often “zone-out” and not comprehend what is being taught. Having them engaged in some sort of hands-on project will prevent some of that problem.

In another video conversation with Anthony Capps,iCurio, he discusses how he uses iCurio in his classroom. The two parts of this video that I found most important and useful that I learned about iCurio are:

• iCurio is used by students as a search engine-like system where they can search websites, images, audio, video, and much more. It filters these internet media to allow students to only search for things that should be used for educational purposes.
• iCurio also has storage capacity for the students. They can store things that they find useful to their education. This would become useful when doing a research paper, in order for the student to save their research in one central location. Also, this allows for students to start becoming organized with their information on this storage center.

I found the video Use Tech Don’t Teach It to be really interesting. I never considered anyone ever teaching technology as a part of their curriculum, but I can certainly see where that would come into play. Mr. Capps discusses how you should use the technology in your classroom but not teach it. In his words, technology should not be “a list of things for you to get done”. He suggests to use the technology that is available to you as part of certain assignments that you give, that way the students have a chance to learn how to use it, but you are not having to spend classtime teaching them how to use it.

I’ve learned a lot from not only these videos, but from the other videos that we were assigned. These were just the few subjects that stood out to me in these video conversations. Here is a list of the other video conversations:

Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher

Discovery Ed

The Anthony - Strange list of Tips for Teachers Part 1

Additional Thought About Lessons

Thank you Anthony for the information and useful advice for my future classroom!