OER

OER

Open Educational Resources seems to be a pretty interesting resource. It's any resource available at little or no cost at all. It's a way to provide individuals with information. People who generally share information include, universities, the government, publishers, and different organizations. It's a way for people to use information provided by these different people and learn more. The information is generally provided through multi media. The article "7 things you should know about OER" talks about a lot of different things that obviously you should know about Open Educational Resources. One thing that I found interesting was that "Each resource is issued under a license that spells out how it can be used: Some materials may only be used in their original form; in other cases, learning resources can be modified, remixed, and redistributed." This is a pretty cool resource to be able to use. However, if one is going to go in and change information I think that there should be some sort of alert, or message sent out. I think this because if someone has already viewed the information and studied it, then an instructor goes and changes some things or adds more information, the likelihood of catching that are probably pretty slim. Anyways, many people are starting to replicate this model, including quite a few colleges. They are putting course material online for anyone to use.

Of course, however like most things, there are downsides and Open Educational Resources are no exception. First, the quality of Open Educational Resources can be uneven and it depends on its sources. Second, some of the Open Educational Resources are ineffective at presenting content in a valuable manner. and finally, not all Open Educational Resource collections give feedback. This being said, my idea of Open Educational Resources is still the same. It's a great tool to help people learn! Whether or not you want to reteach yourself some information you don't typically use and might have forgotten or you just are interested in learning more, this can be a great way to get on top of your work. This might not be something that everyone will use but, for people who are interested in learning more it's an awesome tool.

Using the Google Commons to explore OER, I found 3 ideas that I can use within my classroom as a future educator. We can all remember how important the 100th day of school was. In elementary school you couldn't walk down the hall without seeing 100 on every wall, door, or even hanging from the ceiling. One idea that I found through research on this site is an activity for the 100th day of school. It includes creating a large poster that students will use to create different ways to display "100" using math. For example, 99+1=100, 50+50=100 and so on. However, we would want these to be a little more complex and have our students using higher level thinking.

Another idea that I found through research on this site was a budgeting lesson. Teaching life skills is something that I really want to do, and i think learning how to budget is a very important life skill. The lesson includes having students list items that they use each day and then they would calculate how much money they need to earn to be able to afford these items if they live on their own. Not only do I think this is a great lesson, it's going to teach the students so much about appreciation for what they have now, and the true value of a dollar.

Finally, the last lesson that I found that I really enjoyed was a lesson about fighting hunger. It was called, "Feeding minds fighting hunger curriculum". I think that this would also be a great lesson to teach my students in the future because we as Americans waste so much food every year, when we could be helping someone who is in need. I would go into detail with statistics and we could create a blog about what we eat and what we could do to help others get the food they need. At the end of this project I would enjoy bringing in canned goods to donate and possibly getting other grades and classes involved and make a game of it. The class who brings in the most food wins a prize! I think this would be a very informative lesson but it would also be really fun and competitive for the students.


The Hewlett Foundation has been perhaps the leading champion of OER projects around the world, supporting institutions and organizations that develop and provide online access to open educational content around the world. They give grants to education, environment, performing arts and other areas as well.
 Another site that I found that you can use to find Open Educational Resources was OPAL. This site allows you to get introduced to OER, you can tell them about OER in your school and you can also be entered to win prizes! COOL! Finally, the last resource that I have is, Open Educational Resources info kit.
This site gives search engines that you can use to find OER's, it talks about what OER is, some myths,  and much more. I found this site most helpful when I was trying to search for different OER's, and this gave the search engines to use which worked out great!

Teacher Channel

The teacher channel is a great resource for teachers. It's a way for teachers to check out different ideas and perspectives on teaching. Different teachers chose different teaching styles to talk about in videos and then they post them here for all to see.
The three videos that I watched were pretty short and to the point although, they are great ways to teach and assess learning.
My three I looked up were about using post it notes during reading so that you don't forget important events from early on in the story.
The next was about different templates to use for students to get a better understanding of the material. The last  was about the "spotlight method" which is really exit slips, which are my personal favorite use of assessment.

Altogether, the site is pretty interesting and I will definitely be checking into it further. Especially when I become a teacher in the future!

Flipped Learning

What is flipped learning? 

Flipped learning is a way for teachers to teach in class, without all the lecture. Class time is used for more hands on activities while after school, students are able to watch (generally pretty short) videos on the topics discussed in class. This allows the students to get a better understanding of the material because they aren't just sitting and listening in class the entire time. The lecture, through video, is a little more enjoyable, and in-class time is way more fun.
 Below is a quote that I found is very helpful to better understand flipped learning is all about.

"Ultimately, flipped learning is not about flipping the "when and where" instruction is delivered; it's about flipping the attention away from the teacher and toward the learner."

 

Some possible outcomes of this new flipped learning, in my opinion, will result in students having a better understanding of what they are being taught. One site that I found gave a few statistics that I hope you find intriguing. "Impact on teachers: 88% reported improved job satisfaction. 46% significantly improved. Impact on students: 67% of teachers reported improved test scores."
Another outcome that I think will come of the flipped learning is that students will be excited to come to school. If they know that everyday when they come in, they won't be bored listening to lectures, their attention and energy will be more positive.
There are many different sites that provide support and important information about flipped learning. One flipped learning site that I found useful was full of blogs, pod-casts, videos, research, twitter and flipped
lessons.

 

Some possible drawbacks from flipped learning could be the time it takes for the teachers to create the videos to post for the students to review. Another thing could be limited access to the technologies required in flipped learning, that is something that goes for both the teacher and students. Another includes parents being unhappy that their child is plopped in front of a computer screen doing homework. Some students don't learn well in front of a screen and after being at school all day, that's not exactly the first thing that they want to do when they get home.

Using the four hyper linked sites above, I have come to the conclusion that I think flipped learning is more positive than negative. However, I do think that it's a good way to teach, but maybe it's something that shouldn't be used all the time. Maybe certain lessons and assignments could be used through flipped learning, while others are taught traditionally in class. This is a happy medium for the students who maybe don't have access to the internet, or for the students who don't learn well in front of a screen.

Some other sites that I researched for more exploration and understanding of flipped learning were extremely interesting. One of the most interesting was one that I found on responses to criticism about flipped learning. It went into detail about common criticism, and then ways to correct those who are criticizing. I think that there is a lot of great information in this article and I hope you get a chance to look it over. Another site that may be helpful for those who want to learn more about the background and the birth of flipped learning. This site goes into a lot of detail about who got involved, where, how and why it's so important. I think that using flipped learning in my future teaching is a great idea. I think that technology is only growing and becoming more advanced and unique, so this is a way for both teachers and students to experience technology rather than boring old chalk and black board. It's a great way to add hands on activities to get students thinking, learning and to enjoy doing both of those things that we all know can be a drab at times.

 Finally, I've chosen a video that I want to share because I think it best illustrates what flipped learning is all about. It's has Aaron Sams, co-creator of flipped learning/teacher who is successfully using flipped learning in his classroom and the video gives direct input from students in that class who all tend to agree and love flipped learning. I hope you enjoy!

Experiencing Group

 

            During the research project, I worked with Jordan Fitzpatrick, Emily Watts, and Dana Meredith. We used the Google Docs, as well as Prezi for our project. We used the Google Docs for the research paper, and Prezi was used as the presentation tool. We decided to use the amazing tool, Google Docs because it allows your entire group all to be in different locations, working and reviewing the same document, all while being able to edit and add your own information. Prezi was used for the presentation, this was a great tool that kept things very organized and looking neat.

             Google Docs has many features to it, which made it surprisingly easy to work with. One of the great features it has includes the instant messaging which allows you to see who is typing and keep it all separate from your work . This feature is on the right hand side of the page so you're able to communicate with your group without having to type on the actual document, which could potentially get confusing as well as messy.
Prezi has many features to it as well, like the great backgrounds you have to chose from. It is a great way to keep your information organized, and present it in a professional way. However, Emily was more familiar with this tool so she did most of that for the group, so it's not something that I'm very comfortable using.

 
             Overall, this project was pretty interesting. Not only from our research, but through everyone else's presentations. I learned a lot from the presentations while taking notes and observing the information being presented, as well as through watching others Prezi's and other visual aids that were used. It was neat to see how everyone organized there findings and images. I think that these two tools that our group used are great tools that we can each use in the future when we become teachers.

My Wordle from all of my blogs

PowerPoint (Ugh)

                                       
                                            
For the PowerPoint assignment, we were supposed to create a narrative. We did this by searching the Pennsylvania state standards. Once you decided what grade and subject you were planning to teach, you searched which topic you wanted to teach, and by doing this that would give you your standard numbers in which you attached to your narrative. After creating your narrative, you were then supposed to create a PowerPoint on your subject giving a lesson plan.
                                            
  In my case, I want to teach middle school- high school life skills. In my lesson, I wanted to teach the students about peer pressure, and all of the different impacts of growth. Seeing as how that would be way too much to cover in one days lesson, I decided to narrow it down to just peer pressure.

In my PowerPoint, I gave the students two different scenarios for two different people (Tina and Tommy). In both cases, each student had two options. They could either do what was responsible, or they could do what the other students wanted them to do. So, in the PowerPoint, you could click on whichever option you wanted them to make and it would take you to a new slide which would give the consequence of that action.

                                        
     
I think that my PowerPoint wasn't overall great, and I definitely did struggle with it. But, I would say it turned out better than expected. (A for effort!) Adding each hyperlink and creating all the different slides for each option was time consuming. But in the end, it looked pretty good and I was happy with it. I was especially happy because this was my first time using PowerPoint other than for giving a normal presentation. I learned quite a few of the different features of PowerPoint, which I can thank the "Beyond PowerPoint" article, and Mr. Smith for. I even added a YouTube video, completely by myself without any help and that was a pretty big accomplishment, I would say.
(If you are still really struggling, you might want to check out this list of 10 tricks for working more effectively with PowerPoint.)
                                         


Finally, I have to say I was extremely impressed with my groups work on their PowerPoint's. You could definitely tell they all put so much time and effort into creating these fun interactive tools. I also think that we were all very laid back when presenting. It was more comfortable presenting to a small group, which was nice. There were no red faces, squeaky voices, or shaking involved here!
                                         

Two More For The Roll

I searched many blogs to find the "perfect" two, at least in my eyes. I hope that not only will these blogs be useful for myself but, also for other students and  fellow future educators.
I chose the following two blogs, one about better parenting and the other about special education.

  I found the blog about better parenting interesting for many reasons. The blog gave advice, tips and stories. Something that I really liked about the blog was that it wasn't for just one certain age group. The blog varied from pregnancy to teens, marriage, finances and much more. I think that this can definitely be a blog that I can see myself referring back to for any help I may need in my personal learning network, and even out of the classroom.

I found this blog about special education particularly interesting and useful. This blog was made by a school teacher, she includes strategies and reflections related to her classroom. It's definitely got a personal touch to it, which i like. She talks about her own classroom, and her own opinions about topics she chooses to talk about. In my own personal learning network, I can see looking back to this blog for ideas and references that i will find useful in my future classroom.