Edutopia

This week I watched two podcasts from Edutopia on iTunesU. The first was “The Edible Schoolyard.” This podcast was about students who spend their first period class gardening. They grow the plants, harvest them, and cook them. The teachers use every opportunity as a chance to educate the children. They work the compost and learn the steps of how it works by hand.

The second podcast I watched was “A Night in the Global Village”. This podcast was about students who go on a overnight field trip to experience life for third world country citizens. The students get divided up into different groups all having different living conditions based upon what country they are and each group is given one supply, ( all except the refugee group). They then have to barter to be able to “survive” the night while the refugees have to try to survive by begging without using english. Throughout the event the students learn by walking in the less fortunate’s shoes.

Both of these podcasts use different ways to teach the students and really make them think about things. They open up fun ways that invoke the students curiosity and their want to learn. I think by watching these videos it opens the teachers up to different ways  of teaching the students. Different ways that might aid in grabbing kids attention that otherwise would not be interested in learning.

I’m glad that I watched these podcasts and would love to watch the rest from Edutopia to get more ideas. I think teachers should be exposed to different teaching ways that could help their future students.