What is a MOOC?

I recently was speaking with a friend of mine, Kathleen, and she mentioned a website she had came across that offered a list of a number of certificate (and the like) courses from Canadian and American Universities...for free. PARDON? But why?...

A massive open online course (MOOC) is an online course aiming at large scale-participation and open access via the web. MOOCs are a recent development in distance education. They are similar to college courses, but typically do not offer academic credit, and instead often offer a statement of accomplishment.

I was in. I love to learn, and being able to self-direct my learning so much in this way really excited me. The website that she referred me to was Coursera, check it our for yourself! There are a number of courses offered in a wide range of topics.

I signed up for the following three in the upcoming weeks:

1. Aboriginal Worldviews and Education (University of Toronto)
2. Know Thyself (University of West Virginia)
3. "Pay Attention" ADHD Through the Lifespan (University of Pennsylvania) 

The Aboriginal Worldviews and Education one has just begun and I can already tell that I am going to really love it. This is a subject area that I am very unfamiliar with, and cannot wait to learn more about.

I look forward to recording my journey as I navigate these new online learning environments!

Happy thoughts,
Miss Scott

New New New - 2013 Update!

Hello everyone :)

This year has already been so busy, I cannot believe two months have already escaped me!

Applying for my Masters of Education has kept me busy the past few weeks, and now that the preparation is finally over...the waiting begins. I only ended up applying to Brock for September 2013, as my tardiness left me little other choice. One of these days I will learn...maybe. Not that I am not happy to have applied to Brock, that couldn't be farther from the truth. I love Brock University and would be honoured to spend another two years here, it just probably would have been a good idea to have more then one option. I applied within both the Teaching, Learning and Development and Social and Cultural Contexts of Education streams, and I am interested in studying within the field of science and environmental education.

Teachers college is coming to an end this week, and this Monday I officially start my second teaching block. I will be spending six weeks at St. Peters Catholic Elementary School in Milton, Ontario, and then spending two final weeks at the Norval Outdoor Education Centre run through Upper Canada College, in Norval, Ontario. Though I thoroughly enjoyed my twenty weeks of teachers college, I am really excited for the weeks ahead!

This weekend I have further training to be an Earth Day Canada EcoMentor! I am excited about using my training as an EcoMentor to facilitate workshops for students at my school in my upcoming block. To find out more about the EcoMentors Program click here. Look under the "events" tab for information on upcoming training!

It is a goal of mine to keep up my blog during my teaching blog, and I look forward to sharing more!

Happy thoughts,

Miss Scott

Media Literacy - Ad Investigation

Hey Class!

Today in Language Arts, please visit all of the following links to various YouTube advertisements:
Old Navy: http://www.youtube.com/user/oldnavy?v=BhC3sViw2xs
Nike "No Excuses": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obdd31Q9PqA
Nike Michael Jordan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCavIpRIZz0
Pepsi Shakira: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UbHIT1nue8
McDonalds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9ajRIgTJNA
Axe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ds_HXfc4VE

While viewing, answer (in jot-notes) the following questions:

1. What can you see in this ad – describe it?

2. What is the ad for?

3. How do you know? Is it easy to tell?

4. Is the ad effective? What advertising techniques that we discussed did the ad use?

5. Does it make you want to buy this product or service? Why or why not?

Blog Reflection

Dear Parents and Students,

I have really enjoyed the experiences I've had in creating this Classroom Blog. I loved how it allowed for an open line of communication between the home and school environments, a factor that I believe has a large impact on student success. I acquired many technological skills myself through the creation of the various posts and other learning objects found on the blog, and I cannot wait to use them in my future classes.

In the future I plan on continuing to use a blog in my class largely for communication purposes, but I also really wish to continue to explore the various types of learning objects that we have been discussing in my technology class, and find ways to incorporate more of them in my posts! I know though that this will take time, and that that is okay! On that note, if any of the parents out there have any other really interesting or unique web applications that could be used to create a learning object PLEASE share your expertise with me :)

After my experiences, I believe that the use of a classroom blog would be great in all divisions, at any grade level, because there is no condition on the type of materials that one needs to include on it, so it can be completely manipulated for each teacher's/class's individual needs! I also believe that it would be useful for teachers teaching any discipline, for the same reasoning that the blogged material has almost limitless possibility.

Please comment on this post about what your thoughts and feelings were through the course of using this classroom blog! I look forward to continuing to use the blog for communication purposes.

Happy thoughts,

Miss Scott

Deforestation

Good afternoon Parents,

I hope all is well in your lives! I wanted to share with you that as part of our global warming and it's associated climate change unit, I will have students visiting the following website as an exploration activity into the topic of deforestation. I believe a great strength of this resource is that it provides the information in a written/textual format, a visual format (photographic evidence) and an auditory/visual format (a video dubbed with personal observations and factual information).  I am hoping that the visual impact of this website will help the students to realize the magnitude of some of the large issues surrounding the Earths’ natural resource before we formally discuss the topic.

The learning activities structured around the visit to the website will help cover the following overall Geography curriculum expectations:

• Describe how humans acquire, manage [lack thereof], and use natural resources;

• Describe positive and negative ways in which human activity can affect resource sustainability and the health of the planet;

As well as the following specific Geography curriculum expectations as students complete the classroom assignments associated with this website exploration:

• Describe ways in which technology has affected our use of natural resources (e.g., with respect to their discovery, management, extraction, processing, and marketing)

Let me know if you have any suggestions about how we could approach this topic!

Happy thoughts,

Miss Scott

A New Unit...

Hello All!

Soon we will be beginning an integrated unit that has a theme based around global warming and it's associated climate change. I recommend this YouTube Video as an introduction to the topic for everyone.

I have asked in class already that everyone visit this URL from the National Geographic website at some point over the weekend before we formally begin the unit on Monday.

Investigating and discussing our experiences using this National Geographic website  will help begin to fulfill the following two overall Geography curriculum expectations:

1. Describe how humans acquire, manage, and use natural resources, and identify factors that affect the importance of those resources ;

3. Describe positive and negative ways in which human activity can affect resource sustainability and the health of the environment;

As well as the following specific Geography curriculum expectations as students complete the classroom assignments associated with this website exploration:

• Identify patterns in the distribution and use of natural resources throughout the world

• Produce a report on the factors that affect the future availability of natural resources
• Present and defend a point of view on how a resource should be used

Let me know if you have any suggestions about anything you think might be important to cover in this upcoming unit!

Happy thoughts,

Miss Scott

Topic of the Week

Hello Parents and Students,

This post is regarding this week's TOPIC OF THE WEEK! This week's topic is...drum rolllllllllllll...EQAO Testing!

 The grade 7's in the class experienced grade 6 testing last year, but for many of you, "grade 6 EQAO testing" might be something you find yourself hearing and thinking a lot about for the first time. So, what is EQAO testing? EQAO testing was introduced in Ontario Legislation  in 1996 to help ensure that there is accountability between school boards and schools in the publicly funded system in Ontario.  Educators use the results of Ontario’s province-wide tests in combination with other important information, such as report cards and demographic information, to help improve student learning and achievement. If you want to learn more about what EQAO testing is, you can find more information here. 

EQAO testing has been subject to some controversy throughout its existence. My students know that I like to look at both sides of an issue, so I think it might be worthwhile to visit this website to read/watch a little bit of the 'other side of the story'.

Throughout some of our math and language arts periods this year you will find that we might take a minute or so to pause as a class at the end of a lesson and try and solidify (or pin-point) the major idea that we talked about in that lesson. I will create a big on-going list of these major topics and keep them posted in the classroom.  This way, everyone will be well aware of all of the big concepts that we have been working on throughout the year at any point. These big  concepts discussed over the year in math and language arts are the same big concepts that the EQUA test questions will focus on.

*Parents: I will be posting a picture of the on-going list at various stages (hopefully about once a month), so you are well aware of some of these major concepts as well.

Want to check out St. John's grade 3 and 6 results from the last school year (2011-2012)? Visit here.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me,

Happy thoughts,

Miss Scott