Personal Learning Networks

Personal learning networks are a vital resource in today’s world. I am trying to grow mine. So far I have connected with a few very wonderful educators and authors on Twitter (my handle is TheMsOBSI). I am hoping to gain a few more here and at some PD I plan to attend this summer.

I am currently reading Personal Learning Networks by Will Richardson (kindle book). It is definitely opening my mind to all the possibilities offered in developing a PLN. It makes perfect sense that I need to build my network first, then help my students build theirs.

I have started analyzing my twitter account in a different way. I like the idea of having at 50% useful content (links, reviews, strategies, etc.) and adding some personal stuff in there as well.

Obviously, I am also trying to keep my blog up to date. I hope to have book reviews and strategies that I have tried in my classroom.

So what suggestions do have…on growing my PLN or on what you want to see here? Please let me know…the point of this is to get feedback.

I am still here…

Time flies when you are having fun. And that is what has happened…time has flown by in a flurry of fun and learning. This year has brought new students and new experiences. I have seen the value of solid lesson planning and learned some new ways of ensuring that those happen. Understanding by Design is a great book that I would recommend to anyone wanting to make sure their students are learning.

I am trying to get back into the swing of blogging. I lost it in the past few months (sorry about that) but I hope to be back at it now.

And we’re off!!

Well, we have survived the first week of school. I have a whole new set of agents and a great new science team. I have two new teachers that are awesome!! They are excited, smart and passionate and that is going to be great for our students. My new group of agents are great!! They are eager and ready to learn.

We are going to take Dan Pink’s advice from his book DRIVE and have “Fedex Days” this year. These are days that my students can choose any science topic they want to study and then deliver the information to the class overnight. I am really excited to see what they are going to come up with during these times.

I hope to get some new websites posted here soon. I am on my phone right now so writing this post is about as far as I can get. But keep an eye out for those, but for now…check out physicscentral.com it is a wonderful thought-provoking site. Go see what you can learn!!

Later days!
Ms. O

Could time go any faster???

Seriously, Father Time, apply the brakes a little here…please!! I am running through my summer like there is no tomorrow, but oh the stuff I have learned! And oh the stuff I am still learning!

I spent the last two weeks in Austin. The first week was mucking around in industrial mineral mines and collecting samples. I hope to have a podcast up and running in the next week or so showing everything I did there…so keep an eye out.

Then, last week I was at the TRC 16th Annual Conference (www.theTRC.org). I presented my Google Earth class there and made some GREAT contacts.

Right now I should be in bed because I have class tomorrow. Building a water purification filter…that should end up as a podcast real soon too!

Wow…is it really over???

Man, this year has flown by! I swear it was JUST Christmas…and now I am prepping for summer and starting to get teary-eyed over losing my kiddos…well, not really losing them, but letting them move on to seventh grade.

I apologize for not keeping this as up-to-date I would have liked, as I said this year has flown by! 🙂 The OBSI has really accomplished amazing things and I really hope my kids follow through on some of the wonderful ideas they have. I think those ideas can and will change the world if my agents keep at them!

Well I am off for now. I promise to post more often…especially now that summer is heading my way. Not that I am going to have a break or anything. 😀 I’ll tell everyone more about that later.

Ms. O

Does it ever slow down?

WOW. I know I have mentioned this before, but WOW…time is flying! Thanksgiving is over, we are in bundle 5 (of 12, each is three weeks long…to give a reference to those not in our district) and we are well on our way to second semester. As I sit here, slightly chilled from the nice crisp cold that has taken over Texas, I am thinking I haven’t written in a while…and my student blog hasn’t been updated…heck my website needs updating…but really where has the time gone!

I have completed the first part of my research (the paper that I had to turn in for my masters…WOOHOO) but I am still waiting to get the Twitter-like program installed where I can use it with my agents (have I told you before that means my students??? I don’t remember). Once I get the program installed I will be able to complete my project. Hopefully I will have it by second semester! [fingers crossed]

At the OBSI we have been filling our time most recently with physics…force and motion- Newton’s Three laws and the Law of Gravitation and such. We have now moved on to Earth Science and the forces that shape our Earth. There is so much interesting material for this bundle and it is going to be a challenge to fit it all in!

There are some awesome free programs that you can “play” with and discover all sorts of information about our Earth’s history. One is Google Earth… all you have to do is download the free program and then get the free add in that shows the continental changes over the history of the Earth. It will show all the super-continents that have formed over the millennia of Earth’s existence. Yes, I realize most people think that Pangaea was the “only” super-continent, but actually it is only the most recent super-continent and we are SLOWLY on our way to another one…one day….many millions of years from now.

There are some other programs out there too, but I am not going to share those just now…I will post them later. I know I have a few students that read this (yes, I know you do!) and I don’t want to spoil the cool surprise I have in using this one program. I am trying to get the links together for all of this and get them posted here so you will have a source…”one-stop shop” shall we say? I am not going to promise though, so if the time keeps slipping away I won’t feel horrible for not getting it posted. I can say I will try!

Well I am off to grade papers…they are of lab reports so I should have the student blog updated soon!

~Ms. O

It’s nice to know…

It is nice to know that there are others out there who think kids are amazing and can learn/do anything they want to do.

Dr. Bernard Harris spoke today at CAST. He, of course, talked about space and being an astronaut; but he also spoke about the importance of having a dream. I know the importance of that myself, and I try to inspire my agents to think and dream. Now I know that I can call in reinforcements! 🙂

I’ll write more later…next class is about to start!

CAST

Hello, everyone! I am in Galveston for the Conference for the Andvancement of Science Teaching. I am enjoying the view of the Gulf and learning lots!

The keynote speaker tonight was Mike Everhart, a paleontologist who served as science advisor to National Geographic for the IMAX movie Sea Monsters. It was very interesting to listen to him describe the careful process that NatGeo went through in creating the movie. Now I am desperate to see the movie…luckily it is showing here at the IMAX theater. So I am thinking I may take in a movie! 🙂

The first class I went to today was about Web 2.0 and WOW! All the great free stuff out there…I am so going to have fun creating stuff for my website!!!! There are so many websites that I can’t even put them all here. You will just have to stop back in and see what I create.

I also went to a TEA update on the new TEKS. It was similar to the Science Cadre overview but it covered a little more. It was great to be able to ask questions of TEA reps and here about the new assessments that will be rolling out with the new TEKS. It was very informative, and I am VERY happy that in the restructure grade 6 is getting physics! Happy, oh so happy!

Well I am off to bed so that I am rested and ready for tomorrow! Be sure to check back to see what new developments!

Time flys…

Wow how time flys! Can you believe it is November already??? Man, time flys when you are havong fun. I haven’t had a chance to update here recently, but we are making great strides here at the OBSI. My agents are really moving in the right direction, learning and expanding their minds. 

I have been putting together podcasts for class on the days that I am absent. (I have quite a few learning opportunities that I am involved in…CAST being the one for this week.) I am working on trying to get these video podcasts posted where my agents can watch them again if they need too, or parents can watch them if they want to catch up with what we are doing in class! Keep an eye out for updates on that…

I am working on getting my Twitter thing up and running! YAY! My district has found a program called Revou and I am waiting for them to get it installed and let me play with it so I can put it to use. This week in class we tried out the possiblity of having more computers in the classroom to work on some research for force and motion. I think it worked really well, but we had a few technical difficulties…but nothing we could not work through.

I am off to Galveston tomorrow for the CAST conference. I plan on keeping this up to date with what I am learning there…so keep an eye out!

 

Ms. O

2nd Six Weeks

Today we began our new expectations for the 2nd six weeks. Now that the kiddos know how to write a full conclusion, we are going to perfect them with outlines, pre-writing and editing.

We also are going to start working on how to write effective summaries of scientific knowledge. We are working up to a full research project for the second semester. I really think we are going to accomplish amazing things this year!