This I believe.. The Reflection..

I believe anyone can learn and everyone should be given a chance.. In class we were asked to put together a visual essay about something we believe in regrades to education, learning or technology. I choose to share a personal story about why I choose my major and how students can always learn. I knew excatly what images I wanted to share with my auidence, and thats were I started. I gathered pictures off of several websites involving my service projects. These are my students and these are real images. The hardest thing about this project was deciding how to put everything together on the Macbook. I wanted to record my self reading certain parts of my essay but I just did not have the time, since I was using a inclass Macbook. I had a hard time transfering photos on to the Mac and putting them into the IMovie. Once I figured that out, I used Garageband to make my MP3 of my voice then placed it over the pictures on IMovie. I wanted to find a background song that would fit the situation and I found I believe I can Fly by the Glee cast. I am happy with my end product and if I were to redo the project I would rerecord my reading and video tape myself in parts. But for my first time using IMovie it was a success.

Open Educational Resources

         Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are usually freely available online for anyone and everyone to use. Whether you are a teacher, student or just a learner.  Examples of OER include but are not limited to full online courses, course modules, syllabi, lectures, homework assignments, quizzes, lab and classroom activities, games, and simulations etc.  contained in a digital media format forming collections from around the world.

Lets be honest everyone likes the idea of free resources especailly as poor college students. I personally liked the idea of being able to access books, resources and course work online and it can be available for free.  It’s nice how OER can be used in a formal or informal situation along with being able to be used in a face to face environment as well.Which is a big deal to me, since Im not a huge fan of all online interactions. OER can make certain material available to a broader audience and spread the cost out so it’s more feasible to use.

When I  googled OER several links came up and I decided to go with what seemed to be a promising link 80 OER Tools, which it was. On this site I found an ATutor link along with 79 other great links, where teachers can quickly assemble, package, and redistribute web-based instructional content, easily retrieve and import prepackaged content, and conduct courses online.  I found a link titled For teachers, Google ineducation, this site gives you three different sections to explore: classroom tools, professional development, student resources.  It provides you with articles and/or videos on how to incorporate tools in your classroom or helps you search for lessons etc..   Another site I found was TeachersFirst and it has a search bar where you can see web resources for the subject and grade level you teach or want to learn about.  It can be broken down to grade levels then subjects or just in subjects in general.  I would use all three of these sources for different reasons. The first one I would use the ATutor link to quickly put together online packages for my students, if I wanted to use online material. The second link I would use a reference as to how to work certain apps, or to find helpful tools. The third site I would use to specifically look up lessons in certain areas for a quick go to tool.  

Overall the idea of integrating the technology of a flipped classroom into our everyday lives by becoming aware of OER’s is a good one.  If everyone was connected and able to share online materials it would save everyone money in the long run and make education and self-directed learning easier for students, teachers or just for learners.

     

This I believe..

          You can’t teach an old dog new tricks…False; I believe ANYONE can learn no matter what their age or disability status is.  When I was in 9^th grade, I had a final project to complete, and the only way to work with a partner was if we went to another school to do a lesson. So my friend and I decided on doing a healthy foods and ways to stay fit lesson twice a week to the local elementary school’s Multi-Handicap classroom. We choose those students because my friend had a fear of public speaking.

          Our first visit there, we feel in love with the students and we learned about their disabilities and what they can and cannot eat or do.  So every week we came up with activities and snacks then we would buy the snacks and whatever the activity was (i.e. tossing a ball, mini frizzbees, or dancing etc.).  Our second to last time there we were playing catch with little balls, when the one girl Myah was taken out of her wheelchair and put on the floor. Now Myah who was ten at the time, cannot walk, crawl, or talk.  So she was just relaxing sitting on the floor while we rolled the ball to her and her aid would help her with the ball.  All of a sudden Myah changed positions and was on all fours and started crawling for the first time ever.  Everyone in the room was silent and stunned.  She only went about two feet before she collapsed but we were so proud of her.

          That was my big Aha moment.  Right then and there I decided I officially wanted to be a Special education teacher.  Those teachers see so many different kinds of miracles and they are a huge part of those students’ lives.  Special education teachers made a huge difference in my brother’s life (he’s handicapped), my brother never crawled but he learned to walk and socialize after years of being in the hospital and four open heart surgeries.  His teachers gave him encouragement and support every step of the way. They never gave up on him, when everyone said he couldn’t do something.  Anyone can learn no matter what the circumstances are.