Blog Post #13

Learning Is Messy

By: Brian Crosby

This is an interesting video created through TEDxDenver of Mr. Brian Crosby and his amazing class of 4th graders. Science was one of my favorite subjects as a child. I loved to experiment and see what would explode or collapse. In this video Mr. Crosby focuses on one ballon project that his students conducted. The most exciting part of his presentation was when he showed the video of the balloon going up into the earth's atmosphere. The kids even attached a mini camera to get an arial view of things!! Click play below to view it :)

"QUestion

Investigation/Inquiry

Video

Elaboration

Review

Summary Quiz"

This is what Mr. Paul Anderson is all about when it comes to teaching his students. The Blended Learning Cycle is an awesome idea that not only teaches children, but also makes for certain that he or she is knowledgable of the lesson. 

Mr. Paul Anderson

Step 1: Question

Mr. Anderson starts with a really good question. His example is Oiler's Disk. They placed the disk on a mirror and it continuously spun. He gives his students the opportunity to think about the details behind these ideas and come up with his or her own conclusion. Another good example was the Natural Selection video. Students were asked to analyze a graph and explain it. 

Step 2: Investigation/Inquiry

This is the area where students put their brains to work to apply the physical actions to understand how the experiment is done. In this section he allows the students to contrast spinning the disk on a mirror and the table. He asks, "Will it spin for a longer period of time or will it spin for a shorter amount of time?" This is a great way for the students to get really involved and intrigued. I am teaching Special Education so way of keeping my kids attention is what I need to utilize.

Step 3: Video

Mr. Anderson uses podcasting to give his students direction. In doing so, he has more time for review purposes. This also benefits the students because they can go back in and review the podcast in case of forgetfulness. I know that as a student, I am absent-minded when it comes to remembering lectures and details of what the professor emphasized in class. I had to depend on my notes all the time and sometimes I wasn't able to get everything written down. I then came up with the idea of downloading Evernote which recorded my lectures and I was able to go back. When I was attending Auburn University, I had a professor that used podcasting as a part of his lecture. This really helped me remember and fill in notes that I wasn't able to take down. If you want to download a good podcasting tool and you don't have iTunes, you could use Jpodder. Create an account and go to work. In my classroom, I plan to allow my students to create their own podcast as apart of a graded assignment. 

Step 4: Elaboration

This is where the teacher would use the classroom to go into further detail about the lesson. The teacher could also tie in other lessons. For instance, Oiler's Disk can also explain the laws of Inertia. I think this is a great blended portion because you are thinking outside the box while also staying within the guidelines of your pacing guide. 

Step 5: Review

This is just basically going over what the student has learned. Mr. Anderson meets with his students individually or in small groups and asks questions to see if they have actually learned the lesson being taught. I would have never thought to do it like this and I love the idea because it shows the student that you are interested in his or her future by giving him, her or them one on one time with you (the teacher). I will definitely use this method in my classroom. In my mind, this all ties into the "Flipped Classroom" concept. As a reminder, flipping the classroom would mean sectioning off students in groups according to their learning abilities. This is great for a special education collaborative  teacher like myself because it allows me to group my kids based on who needs my attention the most. 

Step 6: Summary Quiz

Mr. Anderson says that if he feels that the student doesn't do well on the review, then he will not give them the summary quiz. This shows him that they know what they are talking about when it comes to the lesson. I am not sure if that is a good idea. Will that not put some students behind or ahead? I believe in equality among my students. After the summary quiz, it's on to standardized testing.