Blog Post #13

Back to the Future

I highly enjoyed watching Mr. Crosby's video, Back To The Future, which showed several projects that his students have completed and how he incorporates technology into his classroom to bridge the language and communication gap. The reason that I enjoyed Mr. Crosby's video was because I have developed such an appreciation for the wonders of technology in the classroom over this course. Mr. Crosby's teaching second language learners through technology has shown me that technology can be used to allow students to reach the their potential.

Mr. Crosby obviously cares about his students and their success. Mr. Crosby makes sure that all of his students, (including second language learners) learn reading, writing, and communication skills, and he does so with the use of technology! By writing wikis, posting to blogs, and recording videos, Mr. Crosby's students learn not only the subject material but also communication skills that would, typically, be difficult for ESL learners.Mr. Crosby's class is a perfect example of how technology, along with a dedicated teacher, can greatly affect the outcome of a students' success rate.

The Blended Learning Cycle

Mr. Paul Anderson is a high school AP Biology teacher in Bozeman, Montana. He explains how he is using the blended learning cycle in his classroom. Blended learning is taking classroom, online, and mobile learning and blending them all together. He explains the learning cycle. The 5 E's: Engage, Explore, Explain, Expand, and Evaluate. I think that it a great way to present material and a great way for material to be learned. You take the blended model of the classroom, mobile, and online learning, stick them with the 5 E's and you have the Blended Learning Cycle.

There are 6 parts to Mr. Anderson's learning cycle. He reviews them using the word QUIVERS.
Question (the hook in learning)
Investigation
Video
Elaboration
Review
Summary Quiz

I think that his QIVERS method is really good. It is something I would definitely consider using in my future classroom and teaching methods.