C4T by ME

Post #1 

This week Mindshift is looking at Apps that Build Math and English Skills. This was very exciting for me. I am an English teacher so I was looking forward to some great resources. The first app that applied to English was a reading app called The Sports Network 2. You should really check it out! So cool and interesting! Students are the "show's producers" and they have to go over the scripts and make sure everything is done well! Really awesome! The other game that applied to me is Word Raider. It is really a vocabulary builder and isn't truly innovative; yet it was really great. I would encourage all of you to check  out this post on Mindshift. You will enjoy it!

Post #2

I ran across the post How to Reinvent Project Based Learning to be more Meaningful. I thought this post was a great overview of PBL and how it should be comprehensive. Although I am not sure that PBL need to be "reinvented". I think if PBL is done correctly there is no need to reinvent it! I did like that the author included the idea that PBL is not meant to be done alone. It is not just a single subject project. A good PBL will be collaborative across multiple disciplines. I was really pleased to see the information in a short but concise manner. If you need a refresher on PBL  - go check out this blog post! 

Post #3

This week I read a post called To Advance Education, We Must First Re-imagine Society. I felt like this was something that we all should be reading. Especially those of us in any EDM class! This is what Dr. Strange has been telling us for years! We can't keep allowing students to regurgitate information that we - as teachers - have feed them. Students today deserve more. They deserve to be guided through the learning process not just lectured to! That is why so many students "zone out" in class. They just don't care. Some of that not caring is the fault of the parents - but the remainder in the educators fault. We must learn how to lead students to the knowledge. They must be allowed to think for themselves. As teachers we must find what interests them and then turn it into something that pertains to our curriculum. 

Post #4

I think there must be something going on! This time I am posting on Teacher's Most Powerful Role? Adding Context. This post looks at teachers as the director of an orchestra! Whoa! I had never looked at it in that way before. If you look at teaching as directing they you get the picture. As a teacher we have to show the why of the content. We have to provide context. If the students aren't able to connect what they are learning to real world experiences they are likely to forget anything you have just taught. If a teacher makes something meaningful to the student, the student will most likely retain the knowledge for a lifetime. Amazing post!