Open Education

As an article states, open educational resources (OER) are any resources available at little or no cost that can be used for teaching, learning, or research. Here's the article!!! The term OER generally refers only to digital resources and, as such, tends to focus on usage in online or hybrid learning environments, though electronic content can certainly be used in face to face environments as well. 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.

The article talks about how effective OER actually is.  It can help keep up with today's technology and provide's assistance in today's lesson writings.


Creating EBooks for Education
I chose this video because I love the idea of Ebooks.  College books are ridiculous as far as price goes.  They are even worse when the teachers who make you buy the books don't have you use them.  I feel as if an Ebook would end up being cheaper and a lot more efficient.


Creating goals in your classroom
This source is FABULOUS! It really helped show how creating goals is important in the classroom.  This would be something that I would take into consideration when having my own classroom.

Dinosaurs Stomp, Alligators Chomp
This source was enjoyable.  It gave an example of a way to teach ones and tens in math to children.  This is something I would seriously consider for my classroom in the future.  I loved how the whole thing was brought about.

All in all, OER is the way to go.  It is our future and I have no problem with that. It is something that I plan on using in the future when I finally get out into my own classroom. It's a free resource and who doesn't like free? I know I do!!

The teaching channel!!!

In my class yesterday we all got to explore a website.  The website was The Teaching Channel.  I LOVE IT!! This webpage has so many different videos! It is very helpful! After watching some videos, I came up with some ideas for my classroom.  This video was my favorite. Teaching Signals
 CHECK IT OUT!!!!

Flipped Learning

I had never heard of something that is called "flipped learning" until today.  Flipped learning is when a classroom is used for "homework" and the lectures are watched at home on a computer.  This kind of learning is big into learning from activity.This type of learning came around when teachers starting posting their lectures online for their students that were sick at home. A full diagram of flipped learning! This webpage really explained to me what the intentions are and how it is done.  When I was reading this page I was really interested in how it works.

There are many things that are good about flipped learning.  This type of learning is an action based.  I definitely agree with an action based learning environment.   This kind of in a way teaches the children to work on their own.  The teacher in the classroom will assist the children in learning by doing in class activities.  It is a way to promote a higher level of thinking in the classroom.A great way to explain it Flipped learning is a great way to accommodate all types of learners.  Learners that are faster are able to complete as much of their lectures as possible.  The students are also able to stop, rewind or even fast forward through stuff that they do not understand or have already learned.  The learning that is going on is in a sort like a teacher teaching one on one.  It provides the students with a way to get individualized instruction that normally couldn't be given in a regular classroom.  However, all this depends on how good the actual video instruction is.

This video shows just how it works! It was nice to watch a video where they showed flipped learning in the classroom.  I believe it is a great way to assist all children in the classrooms.

With every situation where there is a positive there always seems to be a  negative.  Students who are from lower income families, may not have easy access to computers and internet. This would make these lectures almost point less or a huge hassle to do.  This a kind of learning experience that relies on every student having their own device, which isn't the case in every school district. Another big downside to flipped learning is that students would be spending more time in front of a computer.  This doesn't really help our students get up and move! Advantages and Disadvantages

All in all I believe that flipped learning could be a very beneficial thing.  Flipped learning I believe will help more students than it hurts.  It is a great way to help students understand what is going on in their classrooms.  However, with that being said I would not want a fully flipped classroom.  My perfect classroom would have the lecture given in class as well as have it online.  I believe that having it online is a very beneficial thing.  Since I will be teaching children who are younger, I think that it would be a great way to help students start to understand technology and use it more.


Resources that helped me make my decision:

• Advantages and Disadvantages
• A great way to explain it
• A full diagram of flipped learning!
• A video!

Resources that further explored flipped learning:

• An example lesson
• The flipped learning network
• Background Information

Experiencing Group

First off, I would like to say how much I dislike group projects.  It is not a bad thing, that is if all members of your group are willing to participate.  However, in my group that was not the case.  There were three of us that did the work and one that didn't do much of anything.  Group projects in my opinion, are a terrible way to do a project.  I understand that it helps you get used to working with different varieties of people but I am not a fan of slackers.  You would think that when the grade is not only for you but other people you might put in a little bit of effort. The thing is not everyone is the same.  Apparently some people would prefer to sit back and take the easy way out.  The project that we created about inclusion from the help of three people was fantastic.  I think that we discussed what needed to be discussed.

For this project we were not allowed to use PowerPoint.  I loved that we had to reach out and try something new.  Our group used Prezi for our presentation.  I loved using Prezi.  It was not complicated and very easy to figure out on our own.  The Prezi is definitely something I will suggest to people to use.  Prezi, to me, is a lot easier to use then PowerPoint.  I plan on using Prezi when creating presentations later in life.  There were other devices used while we worked on our project.  We were able to communicate through text messaging, Google docs and email.  Seeing as how there were three different ways to communicate, one would think it would be done with ease.  But that was not the case.  The paper was written in Microsoft Word and then transferred onto Google docs.  Although I thought of Google docs to be a very efficient way of communicating, I would not use it on a regular basis.  I did not like that there was no notification of things being posted and if there was I never received them.

All in all, I enjoyed using new applications to communicate and create.  That was a great experience.  However, the lack of assistance in creating a project made me not like this project.  I would much rather be able to create a project on my own because I KNOW that I can rely on myself to do the work that is needed to be done.  I wish this was the case with all people but sadly it is not.

PowerPoint (ungh)

Recently in my technology class, we were to compose PowerPoint presentations that were made to teach a lesson. Prior to creating the project we read an article called "Beyond PowerPoint".  The article showed many different things that you could do with PowerPoint.  This article was very intriguing for me.  I didn't realize that you could do so many things with PowerPoint. Beyond PowerPoint article 
For the project we had to look up standards for any age group and subject.  When we had picked our standard, we made a presentation based on the standard for our "students".  I created a PowerPoint for Kindergarten students.  The lesson was on writing sentences.  Throughout the PowerPoint I had photos that they got to choose.  At the end of the PowerPoint, I had a slide that had the students create their own sentences.  This lesson would be after their winter break.  I made sure that the lesson was later in the year to ensure that the students would be able to complete the activity. Here is my PowerPoint

 I learned that I will probably never use PowerPoint in my lessons.  It is not a very useful tool for young children.  That is however my own opinion.  When we had finished the project, we were to present to a group of our peers.  I loved presenting to a small group.  Not only did the presentations not take forever to go through, but talking to a few people and getting feedback at the time is wonderful.  The two people in my group did a wonderful job with their presentations! I loved how they really put hard work into the projects.  Although, I somewhat enjoyed this project I would never want to do one again.  The project did make me realize how PowerPoint is not a very good tool for the classroom.  

Two More for The Roll

Digital Photography School
       I chose this Blog because I love Photography.  It is one of my favorite past times.  Incorporating them into my PLN will be easy.  I will try to incorporate photography in my classroom.  One of my plans for when I become a teacher is to bring in disposable cameras and have children take pictures of what is interesting to them.  I believe that this would be a great opportunity for the children in my classroom.  This blog will help me learn what I need to create great photos.

Early Childhood Education
     I chose this Blog because it has to do with my one true love, educating.  I love the thought of becoming a teacher and this blog talks all about it.  As I read through his blog he talks about his experiences as a teacher.     I plan to be a blogger like him.  I will incorporate this blog into my PLN by posting as a teacher with my own experiences in the classroom when I have my own.  

My Beliefs about Technology and Learning

There are many things that are good about technology in the classroom. Although with the good, there always seems to be a bad.  Technology can make the classroom more exciting, along with giving the students something to look forward to.  Technology can also help the teachers stay ahead of the game. The downfall is that technology is changing so fast that it is hard to keep up with.  This would cause many people to worry about how they are going to keep up or if there is something that they are missing, myself included. All in all, technology is like a storm.  The storm gives us the rain we need for our environment but it is also a pain to drive or walk through.  It is just something we need to deal with but there is always a calm in the storm.