Blog Post 5- Anthony Capps

Dr. John Strange, a professor at the University of South Alabama, interviews a former student, Anthony Caps, who is currently teaching third grade in Gulf Shores, Alabama. In part one, Anthony describes how projects aren't a means to show that you have learned the material, but it's a way to actually learn the material, and students become excited to learn. The project needs to interest students and teach the students the material in which is needed to know. Many projects can cover many topics that the Alabama College and Career Ready standards. During the second part of the interview, Anthony explains that not every parent will agree with the projects that you are assigning his or her child, which teachers need to respect. The parents are giving their children to teachers for the school year, but, ultimately, the children and parents need to be respected.


In another interview between Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps, iCurio, which a tool to assist children with searching the internet by narrowing down related and appropriate websites, is discussed. Along with searching the internet, iCurio allows students to go learn how to be virtually organized, simply by saving important documents and delete the files if necessary. When searching for sources, iCurio allows the student to search by specific criteria, which is very useful when searching for specific information. iCurio, as Anthony and Dr. Strange discuss, is a very safe tool for children to work on projects at individual paces.

Discovery Ed is a resource that allows students to learn information through the use of visual examples. This resource is fabulous for students and teachers to use, because most children, and even adults, learn by doing an activity or watching an activity take place. Discovery Ed provides students with visual examples in order for them to remember information.

Anthony provides those who are considering entering the teaching field with some helpful advice with strange tips for teachers.  I agree with Anthony when he says that teachers have to want to teach and have a desire to learn, because if the teacher has no passion, the students won't have any passion neither. Although teaching is a very rewarding career, Anthony does not ignore the fact that teaching is very hard work, but the teacher has the opportunity to make this hard work enjoyable. Students learn whatever the teacher teaches them, so it is our job, as new teachers, to learn how to efficiently instruct our students.

Technology consumes our everyday life, whether we are checking the weather on the internet, or reconnecting with old friends through social media. Anthony emphasizes in his video "don't teach tech-use it" that teachers need to use technology in the classroom instead of simply teaching students how to use it. In Anthony's classroom, he allows his students to use one new technology at a time, so the students will slowly become more proficient when using different technologies.  Teachers need to understand that children will make mistakes when learning new skills, but that students will learn from the mistakes.

In order to become an exceptional teacher, Anthony describes additional thoughts for lessons, where he explains that teachers need to be able to plan lessons ahead of time and learn how to efficiently teach. The key to doing this is first, planning lessons for weeks at a time, then entertaining and incorporating the students throughout the day in order to complete every lesson. Anthony emphasizes the many factors that one must possess in order to be an efficient teacher, which I will certainly use once in the classroom.