OER

We are researching Open Educational Resources in my SEDU 183 class.  The article 7 Things You Should Know About: Open Educational Resources, mentions that OER is a resource available at little to no cost.  These resources are available online for students or educators to use for teaching, learning, and research. OER allows access to textbooks, readings, quizzes, assessment tools, and other learning content. 

While browsing on OER Commons I noticed the section of Game-Based Learning.  I found this very interesting, because I believe that students need to have fun while they are learning.  Also, the Math Practice section looks very helpful for the students. 

I found another article called Open Educational Resources.  It mentions that OER is guaranteed to improve the education all over the world by making high-quality academic materials available on the web.  Another article I found from the website Communication and Information states that OER provides a strategic opportunity to improve the quality of education. 
Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources also has some very useful information for learning about OER.
It seems that OER has a lot of success, and many people find it very useful and helpful.  I hope that one day when I am a teacher I will be able to use this very educational resource. 

Below is a video about Open Educational Resources.

Teaching Channel

Teaching Channel is a website for teachers to share ideas and strategies in the classroom with other teachers.  They can post videos about any technique that they think is working for them and try to help out eachother.

 I believe that this is a great way for teachers to learn new teaching methods.  I would love to use Teaching Channel one day when I become a teacher.

Below is a video that I was interested in.  It shows ways to keep the noise level down in the classroom by usig "Silent Signals".

Flipped Learning

Flipped learning is actually reversing homework with the in class work.  Homework can be very challenging for students.  They may not be able to understand how to do the assignment and will probably have questions.  Instead of giving students a lecture during class time, have that be the homework.  The next day the students are able to ask the teacher questions while they are doing the assignment.  Also, as stated in the video below the teacher can be in the center of the classroom interacting with the students instead of upfront lecturing the whole class period.  Flipped learning will give the students responsibility.  If they did not review the material the night before then they will not be able to understand what the assignment or class lecture is that day in class.

 

Although Flipped Learning may be very successful in Middle and High Schools, it is not so easy in Elementary Schools.  Recommendations have been made for flipping Elementary School classrooms.  It may be more successful if just a lesson is flipped and not the whole class.  Also, make sure the students have access to Internet so they are able to watch the video.  The video should be short enough so that the students are able to pay full attention.  The younger the students are the shorter the video should be.

 

I believe that flipped learning could be very helpful in the classroom.  Instead of having students struggle at home while trying to accomplish their homework, they would be able already have learned about the topic at home and then come to school the next day with questions ready for the teacher while they do their assignment.  This is a very good video explaining flipped learning and how useful and convenient it is.

Personally, I think this is a great idea.  I would love to give flipped learning a try in my future classroom.

Check out this website for more information on flipped learning.





Exploration Resources: 
How the Flipped Classroom Is Radically Transforming Learning
Teaching for Tomorrow: Flipped Learning
 
Research:
flippedlearning
ed.ted
flipped-learning

Experiencing Group

In my Teaching with Technology class we were assigned a 21st Century Research Group Project.  We had to create an interactive presentation without using PowerPoint.  My group decided to examine the changes of classrooms and teaching styles from the 18th Century to the 21st Century.  There was four of us in the group, so we each took one century to research. 

We decided to use Google Docs.  This was a very interesting and convient way for my group to work on our paper from our own homes.  We could each type our own section of the paper while someone else was typing theirs.  I could see when everyone was typing becuase it would have each of their names in a different color.  Also, if we didn't like what someone wrote, we could leave a comment and they would see it next time they logged onto Google Docs.   For our interactive presentation my group decided to use Prezi.  Prezi is a very organized but yet fun way to present.  I had no idea how to use Prezi at first, but after playing around it was pretty easy and fun to create. 

By doing this project, I  learned many things that I will definitely use in my future classroom. 

PowerPoint (Terrific)

In my Sedu 183 class we had to create a PowerPoint presentation for any grade level, and teach whatever we wanted. This had to be an indirect lesson as opposed to a direct lesson.  I chose to teach first grade on telling time.  I decided I wanted my PowerPoint presentation to be a class closure.  In my presentation the student had to chose an analog clock or a digital clock.  Which ever one the student chose, the next slide would be either an analog or digital clock.  It would inform the student if they got the correct answer or not.  If they picked the wrong answer it would take them back to the problem and have them try again.  I really enjoyed this project because it pushed me to be creative and produce something that first grade students would enjoy to do.  I thought I knew a lot about PowerPoint before this project, but I learned even more during the process of the presentation.  I used the idea of making a game from Telling time: Human Clock.  I also used Creative Ideas for Teaching Time.  I started off with just having the students just start with hours, and then half hours.  Below, I embedded my narrative for the project, and my PowerPoint Presentation. 

narrative sedu 183Sedu 183 PowerPoint

Two More for The Roll

These are the two blogs that I chose to follow:
Eagles Football
Cooking Blog




I chose Eagles football because it's that time again and I want to stay updated on my team!  I love Sundays during the fall.  My family and I   always make a lot of food and dips and enjoy the game, even though they are Cleveland Browns fans.

I chose the Cooking blog because I really like to cook.  I love trying new recipes so I thought this would be a good way for me to learn about new recipes.

My Beliefs about Tecnology and Learning

Technology has become a very important part in today's society.  I do believe that we should all learn how to use it, and use it right.  It is helpful in a lot of ways, but also very confusing and overwhelming in other ways.  I think that it is a good idea for us all to be educated in how to use it.  It is convenient for teachers to be able to communicate to each other through blog, or twitter.  Also, parents being able to check up on their children's grades online. I think that children enjoy learning and using different technology in the classroom like white boards and laptops.

Important to me

Easier for students to pay attention in a colorful classroom.

When I was in elementary school I hated that we had white walls.  It was so boring for all of us students.  It was hard for us to pay attention.  When I am a teacher I was to have colorful walls and fun exciting things in the room.  I want my students to pay attention and not get side tracked.