Treasures & clickable pics
Today I'm experimenting with 'clickable pictures' as a way to incorporate links to tools, interesting blogs and other web pages here, so oblige me by 'clicking the pics' to explore the links.
NASA is providing this wonderful website for classrooms from K-12. What I like about it is that the class, or individual students, can sign up and get their own myNASA page with playlists, bookmarks, and feeds.
Their 5E Instructional Model -- Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend (or Elaborate), & Evaluate -- offers teachers a way to renew our vision of what's possible when we don't let the demands of covering content and getting kids ready for provincial exams become the driving force behind what we do. Especially in high school, kids often wonder where the fun went. We (I) can fall into thinking that it's time to put aside childish things like excitement and having fun, and get on with the 'business' of learning. I have to keep reminding myself that students aren't stuff bags; they are ours to teach (inspire, enlighten & & & . . . .) .
I first saw this model years ago in an old issue of the Kappan that focused on improving the teaching of science, but have to admit that it had gotten tucked away in some long-closed drawer my brain's filing cabinet. Last summer I thought I had come up with a new teaching paradigm in a moment of excitement after a session at the Canadian e-Learning Conference in Calgary. Now I realize I must have unknowingly reconnected with the 5E's, and what I thought then was inspiration was little more than resurrection. What's the old expression . . ." I've forgotten more than you'll ever know"? Well, I think I should rewrite that to say "I've forgotten more than I'll ever know."
Be that as it may -- this is particularly powerful for me now that I have my school districts' permission to download a program called Freepath (& yes -- true to it's name it is free).
Freepath lends itself so well to allowing my students (who work individually) to engage in the joy of self-directed discovery within the parameters of a structured learning package because they will be able to maneuver around my collection of multimedia materials, worksheets, readings, and links non-sequentially -- following their interests and going where their curiosity takes them, but will still have to come back to the framework and fulfill the expectations of the unit.
More on Freepath and my work on ESC 11 this weekend . . .
My final recommendation for the day is for Earth Science buffs. Try Mark Francek's Earth Science Site of the Week . You can subscribe by email or pick up the RSS feed.
A note about my web page in Squidoo: when you click any of the ads that come up, 50% of the proceeds go to the charity I've designated which is Kiva. If the only reason you take a look is to click all the advertisements and send Kiva a little bundle, that would be most appreciated. If you like what you see there, please post a comment. It will boost my ranking among the other Squidoo lenses, although why on earth I give energy to caring about that I cannot say. It just seems to activate all my competitive urges. Last week I was # 8542 in the "How to's and Education" group. Now I'm up to #2345!!!!!!!!
QUESTION: Why do I care so much about that ranking?
