Blog Post #15

Grace Hofer
What can you learn from these conversations with Anthony Capps?
1. iCurio
Anthony Capps teaches over in Baldwin County where iCurio is used. He describes one of the aspects of it in that students can safely search websites that have been filtered for educational purposes. iCurio also lets students create folders inside their iCurio accounts to help organization. These folders, students can add things that they chose to help them stay organized. One thing I liked mentioned in this video was that things are saved in iCurio. When this was said, I thought of Google drive. In Google drive, everything done in it will save automatically. I love this because of past experiences working on assignments for school, something has been closed out unsaved or the internet cuts out loosing my work. It is great that iCurio works the same as Google drive in saving work automatically. Anthony also mentions about a timeline. The timeline is a great tool where students can enter keywords that helps find historical figures. I think this tool would be great for students because it is a search engine but is filtered so students will not accidently pull up something they did not mean to while searching. iCurio also has a read out loud accessibility which is great for students with disabilities to be able to use. I like this because it is user friendly to every student. I think many times, students with disabilities are limited unlike people without disabilities because people do not know the best way to meet their needs. iCurio has made it easier to meet the needs of every student. I liked watching this video because it allowed the viewers an insight of what iCurio contains. I know for EDM 310 we were going to try to get an access code to learn about it but were unable to. After watching the video I now have a better understanding of what iCurio is and how it works.
2. Discovery Education.
Discovery Ed is a great research tool for both students and teachers. It contains almost everything social studies and science related. Besides just general information and a picture, Discovery Ed includes videos to help learning. Anthony describes it as “It brings experts into the classroom via video.” I like that Discovery Ed includes videos along with pictures and text because it is offering different ways of learning. Some may learn by just reading a text while others may learn by watching a video with information. I think Discovery Ed is making it easier to meet the needs of students with different learning abilities.
4. Don't Teach Tech - Use It!
Anthony Capps says that technology is natural for kids now days. I agree with this simple statement. Capps includes “They’re [students] are really going to enjoy the opportunity to use technology to improve their learning or to learn.” I am a middle child, so when I heard this I was reminded of the time I was finally able to use a calculator in math like my older brother. I agree with what Anthony said that it makes the learning opportunity more enjoyable with technology because I was like that myself. One thing that really stood out was when Anthony said that teachers should not teach technology. But instead, technology should be a tool to teach. Using tools one at a time for assignments will allow the students to use it, but also overtime they will build up knowledge about many different technological tools. I liked that Anthony included that if you, as a teacher, are worried about a technological tool your students are going to learn about, to try it out before. By trying it out before, you could be asked questions by the students about the tool that you may of had but were able to figure it out.

Brittany Allemand
1. ICurio- Anthony Capps explains how iCurio is used and its benefits really well in this video. I thought it was great that it has folders to organize all of the students work and things they have on the website. I think that is a good way to teach them how to be technology organized and even a good way to show them organization in other parts of school and life.Another thing that i really like about iCurio is how Anthony describes that it has a timeline and a directory. The students can just type in something as simple as a woman who went to space in 1970 and it will show up every woman that meets that criteria. It can take you to anything that will be useful with just a little bit of detail provided. I think this is great too because it is safe and can pull up appropriate things for students. I think iCurio would make web searching a little more safe for students, especially younger children. I think iCurio is great for students. Anthony says it is used a lot in high schools, but it can be used with any age group allowed to get on the web.
2.Discovery Ed- Discovery Ed is another program besides iCurio that is offered in Baldwin County where Anthony Capps works. I like how Anthony introduces it by saying “A picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is worth a million words”. Discovery Ed combines both pictures and videos so it’s great. I like how he said he is not a plant expert so discovery ed shows the students videos about all kinds of plants and pictures. I think this is a great tool to use for students. It is useful for the teacher too because they can view videos and get a better understanding for teaching their students about a subject. I would definitely be interested in using this in my future classroom.
3. Additional Thoughts about Lessons- This video is very helpful for our EDM 310 class to view. When projects 13,14, and 15 came up, we were all a little confused. Many of us did not do the first lessons plans correctly. We need to get a lot better on how to set up lesson plans and how to create them. This video gave me a good insight into how to do lesson plans. Anthony says there are 4 layers to a lesson plan. The first thing to think about is the year, meaning how the lesson plans cover the yearly standards and content to be taught.Do all the lesson plans cover the standards expected from the grade for the whole year? It needs to. Next is unit, which refers to the unit of teaching and the length and the time allotted. The unit will be like a 6-8 week thing, but within that will be a daily and weekly plan. The weekly plan will be about setting a goal and achieving it by the end of the week. Then within that is the daily plan, what you want to have accomplished within a days time. Anthony said he believes these make up the four layers of a lesson plan and are completely necessary for a well written one.

Chasity Heubach
1. ICurio-
In EDM 310, one of our assignments was to research ICurio. I was able to access limited information about ICurio due to not having a sign in. This limited access provided me with a limited understanding of what exactly ICurio is. However, after watching the ICurio video made by Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps I gained a better understanding. ICurio is a curated search engine specifically designed to provide safe research for students. There are so many things on the internet these days that are inappropriate for children so having a site that is screened by professionals is very important. ICurio is also designed to help students begin developing their online organization skills. As Anthony points out this skill is important because people seem to be naturally unorganized. Another interesting thing about ICurio is that it has a read aloud option for accessibility. This allows children with special needs to get the same information as other students. I thought it was cool how Anthony says his students all wanted to try this option the first few times but then realized that they could read the material faster. After viewing this video I now have a better understanding, enough of one that I look forward to having my students use it in the future.
2. Discovery ED-
I enjoyed learning about Discovery Ed from Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps. Discovery Ed is a tool that allows students to get a better understanding of a subject by allowing them to view images and videos that are associated with what they are learning. Anthony says this is important because children obtain more information when there is a visual associated with text. Another important aspect of Discovery Ed is that is allows teachers to bring professionals into the classroom through video. Anthony said that this is important because students can see that the information they are being taught is not just the teachers opinion but is fact. Dr. Stange points out in the video that students are now what he calls “listener watchers”, meaning that because of our technology advanced world students watch and listen far more than than read and write. I think Discovery Ed is a good tool to use especially in the elementary classroom because a teacher can describe a subject all day long to their students, but until the student can place a visual to the subject they will never fully understand what they are being taught.
3. The Anthony-Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1
As an education major I find myself wondering if I will know what to do on my first day in the classroom. I am beginning to realize that I will not, nobody does. However thanks the Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps I understand why. In their video The Anthony-Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1, Anthony and Dr. Strange give tips to future educators. They start by saying that the most important thing to remember as a teacher, is that in order to be a good teacher you must also be a good learner. Along with that Anthony adds that being a teacher is hard work but if you make it a part of your life, instead of keeping work and play separate, it is very rewarding. Another tip mentioned is that teachers need to be flexible because the unexpected happens, and it is the teacher’s job to keep the classroom running smoothly. Teachers should also think of ways to keep their students engaged. Anthony says that this is a goal of 100 percent student engagement and good ways to accomplish this are to make the content something they care about, make it a process they want to use, and to make it shareable. He also says to always start an assignment with the end in mind. Lastly, he says to allow for reflection and self evaluation because it is key to improvement. I really look forward to the day when I can apply these tips in my future classroom.