This week we'll stray from the usual format and work completely from this blog entry.
- We'll start with getting our feet wet by reading an article I was asked to write on wikitextbooks. It was published in the May '08 edition of Multi-Media & the Internet@Schools magazine. You can find it here.
- When you are done I'd like you to begin exploring the link below. It introduces you to "The Open Educational Resources Movement." Dozens, if not hundreds, of colleges and universities are now offering many of their courses for free. Through podcasts, videocasts, and free downloads of supplemental material a motivated person could acquire the equivalent of a degree, completely on their own and for FREE! Spend some time visiting the schools from this link and check out some of the free material available for your discipline. If you visit the MIT link you'll see that they have over 1800 courses freely accessible. It's mind-blowing and exciting, but be careful not to spend too much time there. Every time I visit this site, 2-3 hours disappear in the blink of an eye.
- Then I would like you to watch this video taken at Google's Headquarters in '08. It focuses on a non-profit company called, CK-12.org I flew out to Silicon Valley in November '08 to meet with the President and Founder about their work. I was so enthralled that I decided to add their resources to this course to help share their work, and also to help contribute to the movement myself.
It's rather long, but if you have the patience you'll begin to see the potential.
Imagine if our school districts began to 'collectively' write our own textbooks and curriculum material, and then began sharing them with each other. Sounds beyond reach doesn't it? But some systems and State Dept.'s of Education are trying just that. Read about Virginia for example. There's more about their plan here as well.
Now CK-12 just really began taking off around August of '08, so they don't have every discipline yet. They've really been focusing more upon the STEM subject areas first (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), for the Middle and High School levels, but they plan to broaden to other areas soon. Here's a brief demonstration to watch. And here is a demostration by the President, Murragan Pal.
Now if this all scares you a little or you feel a little intimidated---that's justified. I'm sure that you have a lot of questions. The biggest concern I hear is about the quality of the information. We'll go into more detail about that in the next few sessions, but for now think about how many teachers stray from the textbooks in their class and instead use quality, credible information that they have screened using their professional judgment.
Now think about how much information teachers have in their heads. If they took the time to write it out, and share it freely with the world, we would have a tremendously powerful tool.
Well, that's probably more than enough information for this week. I'd like you to spend the rest of your time trying to play with CK-12's Flexbooks. See if you can find one to use in your educational setting.
Good luck and as always please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Dave Fontaine
DaveFontaine1@gmail.com
24 comments:
The potential for Flexbooks is amazing. Teachers create so many materials for their students already. The example flexbooks are for higher level courses but you could create differentiated examples and chapters within your flexbook so that all of your students could access the information using the same resource. It’s hard to believe more states aren’t on board. It would be a great prep tool for our state testing too. Teachers could create chapters that would be available to everyone. If they're willing to share so much information at MIT, I think it's good idea for us to share it amongst ourselves for k12 students. I made a pretty bare bones outline for my chapter. I chose my own area of study (Information Lit. Skills) because I don’t know what I could add to a chapter on biology or physics at this time! Maybe this would go in a flexbook with other information technology chapters. I did a research paper outline. The items are definitely up for debate. I would only create it within a collaborative group! There would be more extensive information/examples in an actually chapter. I thought I’d give it a shot!
Review the assignment:
-What kind of writing is required?
-What is the thesis?
-What are the assignment requirements? (length, content, etc)
-Choose a topic
Determine resources needed:
-Resource evaluation
-Keyword Searches
-Researching with Databases
-Determining relevance of resources to thesis
Record information
-Notetaking Methods
-Determine if additional information is needed.
Prepare to write
-Analyze and organize notes
-Create an outline for the paper
Write the paper
-Following guidelines for organization
-Check for grammar/Spelling errors
-Cite information correctly
Evaluation
-Does the research support original thesis statement?
-Product (paper, presentation etc.) self evaluation.
The Flexbooks are an incredible tool. I think this may be something that is so groundbreaking in education that it may be one of the few new ways of thinking that could really alter how we view the future of education.
I did realize a few items, although I haven't watched the whole video, so this may come up later in it. The Flexbooks are basically geared towards the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) areas. This is great for me since that is my area of instruction. What I noticed was that there is not much in the area of literature, not even on Shakespeare, Emerson, Walden and some more recent literature.
I know after reading more about the site that it was created by engineers and is basically made up by individuals in STEM fields. If the site is to really achieve the goals laid out for it, it will need to branch out into different areas. This will allow a greater number of subject areas to be exposed, therefore creating a larger field of teachers and a snowball effect for the growth / use of the site. Either way you look at it the site is extremely impressive.
I am in agreement with Abbe and Greg with the potential for flexbooks in education. I like the fact that as the instructor I can pick and choose information that is relevant to the subject area I’m teaching and develop my own chapters. I find myself jumping all over the place with the resource book I use in my classroom and with flexbooks I will be able to organize the information more efficiently which benefits me and my students.
Doing research online has become common for me but it does take some time to sift through usable information. With flexbooks, it appears that the majority of the information is quality and if I need to add information I can do that also.
I have outlined a chapter on physical activity and fitness. This is similar to how I approach my fitness unit in health education. The information is then applied when the students begin physical education.
Topic: Physical Activity and Fitness
I. Introduction
• Vocabulary
II. Health Related Physical Fitness
A. Cardio respiratory Endurance
B. Muscular Strength
C. Muscular Endurance
D. Flexibility
E. Body Composition
III. Benefits of Physical Activity
• Fitness Benefits
• Physiological Benefits
• Health Benefits
IV. Assessment of Health Related Physical Fitness
• Evaluation of health related physical fitness
V. Basic Principles of Physical Fitness
• Overload
• Progression
• Specificity
VI. The F.I.T.T. Principle
• Frequency
• Intensity
• Time
• Type
VII. Application of F.I.T.T. principle to health related physical fitness
• Cardio-Respiratory Endurance
• Muscular Strength and Endurance
• Flexibility
• Body Composition
VIII. Developing a Physical Fitness Program
• Identify Goals
• Warm Up
• Workout
• Cool Down
This is exactly the type of thing that I originally got into this class for. I really like the idea of creating these texts so that I can make course specific content. To be honest until the videos I never even considered the idea of making texts individual based, although I might be able to make books for individual groups instead of individual students. Another idea that I had was making books for individual groups, having them learn the information, and then making them responsible for teaching the information to the rest of the class.
It looks like I might need to add a space for technology education. There are some great sections on engineering and I do teach some of that, however it seems to be all geared towards the high school students. While I want my students to aim high, I feel that at the middle school level I am trying to introduce them to a variety of information and teach the students that there is more than one answer to all of the problems that are presented in my class.
I decided to start my first outline, by making an outline of a variety of things that are taught are our school. Here is that outline.
Ideas for Chapters
Innovations and Inventions
Structures
Terms
What is a structure
Activities
Websites
Simple Machines
What are the simple machines
Compound Machines
Movement
Rube Goldberg
Chain Reaction Machines
Websites
Activities
Drafting
Graphic Arts
Materials
Introduction to Technology
Transportation
Land
Sea
Air
Space
Energy
Construction
Measurement, Blueprints
Manufacturing
Assembly lines, job shop
Communications
Video, sound, commercial, photography
Biotechnology
I agree, this format is a benefit to instruction. The ability to change books by adding chapters and other professionals can contribute giving additional information. The Biology section would relate to my field and I have typed in a few areas for the human body and there are many chapters covering the body systems and nutrition to name a few. I tried searching alcohol abuse, suicide, physical activity and teen dating violence where no books were found but it had many sites to link to the web. My outline will be on Teen Dating Violence. Since this is being mandated in RI Schools grades 7-12 with the Lindsay Burke Act, I put this outline together for ninth grade. Each section I have found many web links, teen dating foundations with curriculum ideas, various news media and public service announcements to enhance each topic.
New Category: Health
Teen Dating Violence Ninth Grade
I. Introduction
a. Teen Dating Violence
b. Vocabulary
c. Types of violence
i. Physical
ii. Financial
iii. Emotional
iv. Verbal
v. Technology (Cell phones and abuse) email
d. Rhode Island General Law Lindsay Ann Burke Act
e. Gender stereo types and roles, roles of the media
II. Relationships
a. Vocabulary
b. Building healthy relationships
c. Relationship Wheels: Power & Control, Equality
d. Dating Rights and Responsibilities
e. Self quiz: Is your relationship healthy?
f. What is teen dating violence?
g. Teen dating violence statistics
h. The Cycle of Abuse
i. Warning signs of abusive relationships.
III. How to get Help
a. report abuse -How to get help
b. How to help a friend
c. Keeping safe -Safety Plan
IV. Community resources
a. Local resources
b. National resources
V. Related topics
a. Communication Skills
b. Anger management
c. Stress Management
d. Conflict resolution
Melissa Berenberg
EDC 922
Deliverable #1
Flex Book Topic: Differentiated Instruction
Chapters:
A. Classroom Management
1. Centers
2. Roles
3. Guidelines
4. Organization
5. Contracts
B. Learner Profiles
1. Product styles
2. Learning styles
3. Determining strengths and
interests
C. Assessment
1. Pre-assessment
2. Performance tasks
3. Rubrics
4. Exit cards
D. Instructional Strategies
1. Tiered assignments
2. Curriculum compacting
3. Choice boards
4. Rafts
5. Cubing
Web:
A. www.gifted.uconn.edu
B. www.renzullilearning.com
C. www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org
The open source text correlates with today’s “Go Green” movement. By creating online texts we can eliminate wasting paper on photocopying and printable outdated text. From the CK-12 clip, it appears that Textbooks 1.0 and 2.0 are formats to keep information constantly updated with little financial cost. School districts are not going to finance textbooks one year and then re-order the updated version the following year. As a teacher, I feel that I am constantly looking for supplementary materials to support the old outdated textbooks. It is so important to keep children engaged in the learning process and we need to change our educational materials to keep up with these advancements.
Also, open source texts can be altered to meet the needs of different learners and ability levels while supporting local, state, and national standards and curriculums. Teachers can design curriculum compacting for advanced students and be able to support the struggling learner through this median. However, the ck-12 presenters had stated that supplementary materials would need to be created and implemented in order to meet the needs of various assessments and standardized tests. The open source text is organized like a wiki where teachers or creators of curriculum can alter the material. This could pose a problem regarding validity, reliability and monitoring of the material. There are a lot of different teaching philosophies and instructional strategies that compose our educational outlook and I wonder how this will impact the children. Will the children be able to cite something off an open text one day and then the next day the material will be altered?
Using the CK-12 program would be a good way for local districts to create a FlexBook for the RI GSE’s for Civics, Government and RI History. These GSE’s were passed in 2008 with the idea being that local school districts would use them and incorporate local history into them. K-12 Social Studies teachers within each school district would meet and decide what material would be used at each grade level for each standard. The CK-12 FlexBook looks like a practicable way for teachers to work on this without having to all meet at the same time and place. A rough outline could start at the state level and include videos, photos and documents for historical events and biographical content on state leaders from the past and present. There could be links and access to the archives at Channel 6, 10, 12 and 36, as well as the Providence Journal, other local papers, libraries and historical societies. Each school could then move down to include their own local history, town leaders, historic sites and landmarks, as well as links to Google Earth maps. Finally each school could then link their local FlexBook material with other school districts to complete an overall RI Civics, Government and History FlexBook. What I would try to do for my chapter outline is to start at the local level and then have some of the other social studies teachers offer input, and if time permits work up to include some of the wider state level material. I wonder how cooperative the local TV stations and newspapers would be to allow access and links into their collections?
This is my 1st online class and I am still getting use to the concept of not specifically being shown things...it is definitely harder to have to explore on my own!
The idea of flexbooks and all of this online info is definitely overwhelming! I think that it is greatly enhances our (teachers) ability to gather appropriate info and pick and choose exactly what items we need to meet curriculum requirements...on the other hand I am wondering if we can assume if info is on one of these sites it is "legit". How do we know the sources from all of this info?
For my outline I am always looking for new ways to introduce kids to various types of writing and research so here it goes:
*Writing process
-elements of a persuasive essay
-elements of a response to lit
-elements of a reflective essay
-elements of informational writing
-elements of procedural writing
-elements of narrative writing
*Writing skills(include samples of all the following)
-what is a thesis statement
-How to write a good thesis
-how to use evidence from a text
-how to make an assertion
-how to write descriptively
-how to use dialogue
-how to develop a story line
-how to create characters
*research skills
-how to develop a thesis
-how to determine good sources
-how to properly cite sources
-plagiarism: what is it and how to avoid it
-how to incorporate your own ideas into the research
I feel like i could go on forever. but for a section or chapter that is more than enough!
Topic: Sectional View in CADD
Class: CADD II
I. Introduction –
a. What does a Section View Accomplish?
b. How does the CADD system help?
c. Cutting Planes.
d. Cross Sections
e. Visualizing a Sectional Drawing.
II. Full Sectionals / Sectioning Techniques.
a. Lines in sectioning
i. Visible Edges
ii. Hidden lines - omitted
b. Section Lines.
c. The Cutting Plane
d. Full Sectional Problems
III. Half Sectionals
a. Half Sectional Problems
IV. Broken – Out Sections
a. Broken – Out Sectional Problems
V. Revolved Sections
a. Revolved Sectional Problems
VI. Removed Sections
a. Phantom sections
b. Removed Sectional Problems
VII. Offset Sections
a. Ribs in a section.
b. Offset Sectional Problems
VIII. Aligned Sections
a. Aligned Sectional Problems
IX. Follow Up / Peer Editing Review
These flex books are definitely something that is needed. I remember my own children carrying a backpack full of books home for a few pages of homework. This was while you would see a story on the news about a chiropractor saying kids carry backpacks to school that are too heavy. These too heavy backpacks were filled with outdated textbooks without any local references.
I thought we found a solution to some of these problems when my daughter came home and said her teacher told them one of their textbooks came with an online version. This online version was partially paid by the district and 10 or 20 dollars was to be paid by us. I thought, what a great idea! No such luck, the district wouldn't come up with their share. Having a way to read the text online without my daughter carrying the book back and forth sounded great.
Back to CK-12. I agree with Greg that CK-12 concentrates mostly on STEM areas. History is almost impossible to find. I searched history and the result was the history of engineering.
I would add a chapter about Lewis and Clark's expedition.
Lewis and Clark's Expedition
1) Pre-expedition
-Why did they go
-Who went
-What did they bring with them
-What was going on in the US at this time
2) Expedition
-Native Americans
-Journals
-Route
-Maps
-Animals discovered
-Plants discovered
3) Post-expedition
-Significance of expedition
-Time-Line
-What happened to members of the expedition
With town and city budget cuts being what they are, it seems to be an unbelievable time to find new alternatives to the "old" textbooks. As we know, textbooks in many areas become outdated very quickly, especially in areas of science and health. You are just wasting money buying new textbooks nowadays. Incorporating these flexbooks into the curriculum would obviously be something that all school districts going forward should look into.
My outline is Health related having to do with First Aid. As a coach and PE?Health teacher this would be taught to a 6th or 7th grade class.
Subject: First Aid
I. What to do in case of a medical emergency.
1) check the scene
2) call 911
3) care for the victim
II. Good Samaritan Law
III.Important information to tell a 911 operator
IV. How to treat minor and serious
wounds
1) Treating Nosebleeds
2) Swelling
3) Teeth
4) Animal bites
5) Impaled objects
V. Burns
1st degree
2nd degree
3rd degree
VI. Cold Related Illness
1) Frostbite
2) Hypothermia
VII. Heat Related Illness
1) Heat cramps
2) Dehydration
3) Heat stroke
4) Heat exhaustion
VIII. Body injuries
1) Fractures
2) Dislocations and Separations
3) Sprains and Strains
IX. Others
1) Allergic Reactions
2) Seizures
3) Choking
I found this activity difficult to begin and frustrating due to the lack of elementary resources on the site. Once I figured out how to import my own information, pictures, links etc.. it became a fun and interactive tool. My students would benefit from this type of online-text as I can make it specific in length and topic. (And any work/reading/research done on the computer is interesting to my kids!)I began a flexbook on addition strategies intending to focus on the difference between the traditional algorithm and various addition strategies. It is only a beginning as I was more interested in the mechanics behind creating a flexbook than I was in the content of the book.
My Grade 4 Addition strategies flexbook outline:
-Overview of addition from wikipedia
-Definition of traditional algorithm with examples
- Introduction of various addition strategies with examples
-Student persuasive writing supporting their choice for the most efficient addition strategy
I wonder... what other sites are reputable as far as an online encyclopedia/resource that I could use to add pages to my flexbook?
Do I need to cite the author of each page that I add to my flexbook?
How can I prevent others from changing my flexbook?
Mr. Fontaine could not have been more accurate when he gave a warning about two or three hours slipping by while virtually visiting college classrooms and listening to lectures and discussions. I ended up listening to a California Berkely professor greet his semesters students and begin his first lecture on "Global Geography". Personally, I love the lecture style format. To know that I can access these resources at my convenience was an eye opening experience.
The Flexbook site was something I guess I knew would eventually be created in my lifetime. Once I was on the site I found it very easy to intereact with the educational resources. the video demo by Murugan Pal was a huge help.
Given the fact that there are very little Elementary resources I am going to attempt to provide an outline of a Literary Book Review.
Topic: Book Review
I. Book Information
-Book Title
-Book Author
-genre
-# of pages
II. Introduction
-lead or hook to develop reader's interest
-one or two topic sentences to briefly describe the
story
-select one Literary Element (characters, setting,
style, theme, mood, plot, illustrations)
-describe why you chose that Literary Element and
find evidence in the text that is an example of
these literary elements.
III. Recommendation/Evaluation
-state whether or not you liked the book
-state whether or not you would recommend it to
others
-support your opinion with an additional Literary
Element and give specific examples and
references from the text to support your thinking.
NMarcone
I have the same questions that are at the end of Kimberly's post and am wondering if they have been addressed at this point?
Flexbooks are definitely a powerful and useful resource. As a technology coach within my district, anything that i can do to push the use of these resources is a bonus for me. I have to say, my previous job i taught Social studies, i must agree jfayer, that with most tech stuff, SS takes a back seat :-)
However, since i am now teaching teachers how to use technology, specifically Web 2.0 tools, I can foresee potential with sites like this. I like to spread the word about sites like this...passing on the information to a science or technology teacher is always a bonus when you see them using what you've showed them in their daily lessons.
Here's what I've come up with outline wise on Web 2.0 tools.
A. Chapters
1. Wikispaces
2. Google Earth
3. Google Docs
4. Delicious.com
B. Wikispaces
1. Creating account
2. Simple uses
3. Editing
4. Embedding
5. Linking
C. Google Earth
1. Downloading
2. Searching
3. Placemarking
4. Creating tours
5. Information and content in placemarks
D. Google Docs
1. Signing up
2. Navigation
3. Creating new types of documents
4. Editing
5. Sharing, collaborating and editing
6. Advanced uses
E. Delicious.com
1. Creating an account
2. Managing your page
3. Tagging
4. Saving a bookmark
5. Exploring others bookmarks
jfayne,
I just finished Stephen Ambrose: Undaunted Courage about the L&C Expedition....Have you ever read it?
I loved it! A must read....
The Flexbook option could be a huge with my courses...all being electives, with constantly changing content. The main course I can see application of Flexbook is Personal Finance....there are soooooooooooo many resources, none of which are "bounded" together for instruction. I have been to countless seminars on everything from "Credit Card Management" to "Reverse Mortgages; are they for you?" So I can put together a pretty apt Flexbook that would cover a single unit...such as "Mortgages: The Good, Bad, and the Ugly"
Perhaps the pages/outline could look like the following:
Mortgages
1. Fixed Rate
2. ARM (Adjustable Rate)
3. Reverse
Fixed Rate
a. Definition
b. 15, 20, 30 Year Options
c. Ammortization tables
ARM's
a. Definition
b. 1,3,5 and 10 Year
c. Ammortization tables
Reverse
a. Definition
b. Application
c. Short term, Long term Options
I will post my outline tomorrow (I’m frustrated by the amount of time it is taking me to go through Flexbook only to find nothing about ELA), but here are my thought about this week’s reading and viewing:
I wasn’t crazy about the web site that provided information about free courses online. Any time I wanted to try to get any information of substance I was asked for personally information. I am turned off by that. I spent about 30 minutes on the site and didn’t get any real valuable or useful information. It would also have been that I am a very visual person and the site was very cluttered.
The CK-12 presentation was very interesting and informative. I loved the graphics and type in their PowerPoint; it had great design. It was interesting how one of the arguments against modern traditional texts is that they are so heavy and kids have to lug them around. I find it interesting because they argued that Flexbooks can be published easily. Well, wouldn’t that mean that students would be carrying them around?
There was also a piece about Architectural Principles and open authoring while the book is being compiled (like a wiki). I would want control over that. I would see it as my project though I know that the whole idea is to share information.
What is a USB image?
The last question I have, and I think it is my most important is this. How do Flexbooks address instructional reading levels of all students? If educators are collecting information from a variety of sources whose target audience may not be 7th grade English students who live in New England, how is their teacher assured that his/her students are going to be “literate” enough to understand what they are reading and thus learn the content area? I have students who are reading as much as four grade levels below where they need to be. So I would need 7th grade content written at a third grade level. Does that make sense? I would think that despite all of the negatives associated with traditional textbook publishers they do take into consideration the reading level of the students. I would be very interested to hear what you all think of this.
Karen Izzo
EGHS
English
Montourk:
With respect to your question about reading levels, I had thought Flexbooks could be a wonderful tool for easy access to material at different levels. For instance, I just finished a unit on The Odyssey with my college prep freshmen, whose reading ability ranges from several grades below grade level to several grades above. We used a text that is AT grade level, and it frustrated the low level students and bored the high ability students. Next year, I'm planning to work with our reading teacher to have several on-line versions available so that I can have students read at the appropriately challenging level. I also think that there is software available that will evaluate a text for reading levels, if you don't have a reading specialist available to you.
Coach: I read Undaunted Courage when it first came out (ten years ago?). It's still one of my favorite non-fiction books.
To all the non-STEM people: Yes, it's frustrating that the flexbooks don't have any ELA material. I'm planning to create a resource for my AP English course that will aid students in studying the Bible as literature, so that's what I would add.
Deliverable #1:
I. History and Translations
A. KJV
B. NSV
C. Other
II. Origin Stories
A. Lilith
B. Creation I
C. Creation II
D. Giants
III. Patriarchy
A. Abraham
B. Isaac
C. Moses
IV. Monarchy
A. David
B. Solomon
V. Women
A. Eve
B. Sarah
C. Delilah
D. Jezebel
E. Mary
F. Mary Magdalene
VI. Birth Stories.
VII. Parables
A. Fall of a Sparrow
B. Good Samaritan
C. Soils
D. To be continued
VII. The Gospels
VIII. Apocolypse
A. Daniel
B. Revelation
I took this class because I am intrigued with the notion of using online textbooks. I am always looking for resources to help my special education students. I really like the idea of Flexbooks and all they have to offer. I just want to make sure I understand them. The teacher downloads the Flexbooks and then prints them for the students. The students do not need a computer to access the Flexbooks, right? I know they are a work in progress with a concentration in STEM at the Middle and High School, so I am hopeful in the future they will be adding more at the elementary level.
I noticed there was an abundance of information for regular education content teachers. My concern is how will Flexbook address the students’ diverse needs? Kimberly brought up a great point regarding the reading levels of the students. All of the students I send off to middle school are reading 3-4 years below level. My biggest concern every year is how will they be able to survive in the content classes? I guess it would be up to us, as teachers, to collaborate and create Flexbooks with the appropriate modifications/accommodations for these students.
As an elementary special education teacher, it was difficult to find something in my discipline. A big part of my job is teaching the students how to read. Most of my students are dyslexic and I use the Orton Gillingham approach with them. Not surprisingly I couldn’t find anything on that topic. A rough outline for Level 1 of the program would look like this:
Introduction to Orton Gillingham
1. What is dyslexia
2. Presentation of the Phonograms
a. definition of a consonant
b. definition of a vowel
c. definition of a short sound
d. definition of a digraph
3. FLOSS rule
4. Consonant blends
a. definition of a consonant blend
5. k/ck generalization
6. Concept of a syllable
a. closed syllable
b. syllable division (VCCV)
7. Vowel Consonant E
a. Vowel Consonant E syllable
b. Two syllable words with vcE
c. definition of a long sound
Thank you for responding to my concerns regarding reading level. I know that I could create three different Flexbooks for three different ranges of reading levels within the same class, but I feel like that would suck even more of my nonexistent time away from working on planning lessons and assessments, grading, working on classroom management. I don’t know. I am conflicted. I LOVE technology – don’t get me wrong. It just doesn’t sound very practical to me. Is this really better or just different???
I need to start off next year with Myths, Folk Tales, and Fables so this is how I would like to organize it.
Deliverable #1
Myths, Folk Tales, & Fables
I. Mythology
a. Characteristics of Myths
1. Archetype Hero’s Journey
2. Modern Day Heroic Journeys
b. Introduction of Storytelling and Oral History
c. Gods and Goddesses
d. Review of a Selection of Various Myths
e. Student Created Myths
II. Fables
a. Characteristics of Fables
b. Review of a Selection of Fables
c. Student Created Fable
III. Folktales
a. Characteristics of Folktales
b. Types of Folktales
c. Review of a Selection of Folktales
d. Student Created Folktales
It's great reading all the comments from class and the previous class as well. I've been out of touch and have just stared trying to catch up, so all your comments are very helpful.
I agree with the feelings on the education portal and free courses on line. Although I did look at a number of universities/colleges/classes it will be a time intensive task for me to find information that I can use for my classes. So that will have to wait for more free time.
The ck12 site and video were very inspiring. I jumped right in and figured I would try to adapt chapters from the available books that would fit into a nutrition unit. Again this will be a time intensive task. I did start..I chose a few chapters and started rewriting paragraphs and importing pictures. So my outline has been influenced by that decision.
The idea of having leveled texts for varying abilities of readers is what I would really like to do. I also want to focus on the skills of main idea, notetaking, summarizing and questioning with Bloom's taxonomy, so it would be great to incorporate all of that into my flex book so I want to be reasonable with my outline so I have a chance of completeing it!
Another classmate mentioned that it became easier when she started importing information from other places, so I will spend some time trying that.
A successful note from Session #2, I used a google document with my new teaching partner to edit the Summer Work packet. That was nice, and we've come up with a few ieas where we will use it during the school year. And I signed up for Skype to keep in touch with my departing teaching partner.That was very exciting!
I wonder if...
Will we be making our chapters as a flex-book in ck12? Or will we be composing them somewhere else? I'll email Dave.
I'll post my outline later tonight. DC
This post is a continuation of the one before it with the outline for the flex book.
Nutrition
I. Definitions
II. Importance
1. Health
2. Disease
III. Essential Nutrients
1. Carbohydrates
2. Fats
3. Protein
4. Minerals
5. Vitamins
6. Water
IV. Healthy diet
1. The food pyramid
2. Portions
3. Food labels
IV. Planning a menu
1. Menu planning
2. Cost
V. Recipes
This is a great answer to the frustration of dealing with textbooks. In my 9th and 10th grade classes, I hardly use the texts relying instead on novels and copies. It is a tremendous waste of money as these texts run around $80 a piece and xeroxing isn't cheap either. The CK12 Q and A makes this point in minute 51.
Time is, however, a huge restriction. The district squeezes every possible second of our time during the school year and the advent of online greats and parent emailing has greatly increased the work load...to the point where I am forced to assign less work then I otherwise would. Administration refuses to recognize that our work load is maxed out already so we can't effectively implement new technologies and instructional methods. Differentiation is a case in point. I already have 4 preps, 5 classes and around 120 students. As I attempt to differentiate the prep load expands to an unmanageable level...can anyone really manage 8-10 preps a day or a week? So long as administration refuses to leave the old administrative paradigm that frequently obstructs teacher planning and grading, our ability to manage the increased workload that accompanies Web 2.0 will impede its implementation.
Anyway...here's an outline of my chapter on the elements of a poetry explication, geared towards my honors 9.
I. Poetic Devices
A. Figures of Speech
1. Comparisons: Metaphor
and Simile
2. Parts of a whole:
Synecdoche and
Metonomy
3. Human qualities:
Personification and
apostrophe
B. Symbols
1. Definitions
2. Cultural variations
C. Word Sounds
1. Assonance
2. Alliteration
3. Onomatopoiea
D. How imagery creates meaning
II. Meter and Rhyme
A. Metrical Feet
B. Rhyme and Free Verse
C. Scansion
D. How meter reinforces meaning
III. Deciphering Meaning
A. Diction
B. Syntax
C. Allusion/Ancillary Text
D. The meaning of a poem is the
experience it creates.
IV. Writing an explication
A. Deconstructing a poem
B. Annotating and identifying
patterns
C. Paraphrasing
D. Analyzing poetic devices
E. Analyzing sound and meter
F. Analyzing syntax and diction
G. Meaning and theme
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