Resources are good. Too many resources...well that can be the difference between "it's going to snow" and "we're going to have a blizzard". Since Louisiana doesn't really have winter maybe it is closer to the difference between "rain" and "hurricane".
I already have a folder on my computer where I save examples, presentations, link lists, and even whole project ideas I find online, from other teachers, as part of professional development, from courses, or anywhere else I run into them. For the most part, things just get dumped there. Every now and again I search through it, usually when something comes up and I think "You know, I remember seeing something like that..." Happens a few times a year, less than monthly but more than once every three months, best guess.
That folder was a way to deal with the sheer number of things I ran into as a new teacher. The number of times someone would say "I can send you a copy if you want..." was getting overwhelming. So, my answer always became "Yes, I will totally take a copy of that." and I just dump it in that folder.
This unit has totally become one of those moments. There's so much obviously good stuff on the presented resources that trying to even skim it all would be a full time job for a few weeks. Since I already have a full time job teaching and a daughter that gets a bit...insistent...if she doesn't have enough time with Dad, that just isn't going to happen. But I do have the best of intentions as to the following three resources related to the unit material:
http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html
Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship looks like a good organization for all those things to keep in mind when students use technology. The variation among students of their comfort and knowledge of technology is huge. However, I often find that they don't really know what they are using, just how to use it. For example, the number of times I have to explain that Google is not a source, it searches sources, that the answer to "where did you find that?" is not "Google", is frankly astounding. I've considered doing a one to two class period introduction set on pretty much exactly what the Digital Citizenship covers, but never had a good framework for it. Now I do. I'll likely set up some way to make this a class exercise with online quiz that has to be completed before students can use online research in my classes. The challenge will be setting that up and making sure to take the class time to cover this topic. With the pressure to use instructional time for instruction and the number of things we're supposed to be teaching, that can be quite the challenge.
http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning
http://www.edutopia.org/discussion/project-based-learning-where-start
Way, way too many interesting topics on edutopia.org. However, since I primarily teach science, project based learning is something I want to do more of. My social studies students (and math last year) were subjected to my attempts to bring labs into other subjects (some worked out better than others...Math Labs last year were definitely experimental). I think any science teacher can see how students enjoy and engage in lab activities, so it's natural to want to do more with them. However, it's also easy to see students wander off topic and not get as much from the lab as they could. Keeping in the range of letting students explore and experiment but also keeping them on track is tricky at best. Just taking a look over some of the topics, I think the second link especially will help me be more organized with my activities and make them more useful. Of course, I'll have to find the time to actually read them and implement the information I find. There's always more to do than there is time to do it. Always.
https://udlhcpss.wordpress.com/brain-networks/
How we learn is, obviously, of interest to me. I was a student for a lot of years. Graduated High School, undergraduate, two graduate degrees (and would have been three but they told me to go away), I am quite familiar with how I learn. Which, as time goes on, I'm finding is not the same as other people learn. Often, not even close. Yet, I've been told I'm a good teacher, both by formal students and just people I've tried to help understand a concept (from what to do if you computer at home had an internet connection and now says it doesn't to how the baking soda and vinegar volcano works). So, if I don't learn like other people do, how am I somehow able to translate that into things that people do learn from? The modes of learning, types of thinking sort of frameworks don't seem to answer that. I'm hoping that the framework presented in the brain networks information will. This may well lead me to a good conceptual framework to make consistent themes in how I present class material. As is, each topic gets done a bit differently than the last, depending on the topic and where the emphasis lies. Some topics are all about vocabulary, getting down the basic concepts. Some are all about the application (Newton's Laws of Motion) and being able to see how they apply to a range of potential situations. This runs into the same time problem: How do I find the time to go through all that? This also has the additional complication of requiring a good bit of reflection time to figure out how to make that part of my instruction.
Oh well, I didn't get into teaching because I thought it would be easy.
