So I am fairly new to blogging but not new to voicing my opinion. I think it is important to be able to know what we are buying and the value it has stacked against the competitors. It is always a good idea to budget and spend our money wisely, after all we worked hard for that money didn't we? It is even harder now that moms are finding themselves more and more in the workplace to contribute to their family. One thing we don't need is to be clueless about the items that we buy for our families. What we can do is help each other out. Tell each other your experiences, share your thoughts, help make our otherwise hectic lives as mothers and wives a little less stressful.

So I invite you to join in my weekly blogs on Sunday's so that we can share any experiences that we may think would be beneficial with each other. I plan on having a more detailed post next Sunday with maybe a few product reviews as well. Until then have a great week and try to stay warm and safe. Until then goodnight.

P.S. I realize that there are single dads, stay at home dads, and dads who want to be just as informed so please feel free to join this group, subscribe to my feeds and contribute as well.


--Tina

Khan/Koller Review

I have been familiar with Khan Academy for several years now. I have used this myself while in college as well as my children.  I love how the videos are made they are easy to follow and give students a different forum to use other than a standard text to learn new information. I could definitely use this website in my classroom because all children learn differently and some are more visual learners which makes the video platform easier to use.  I believe Khan had many things that made sense in his interview.  I think it is very important to see that even with all of the changes that have been made to the public school systems that there are many more areas that may need to be restructured.

It has been a few years since I have browsed through Coursera.  In fact when I first browsed it was when the site was first posted.  I was happy to see when I browsed this time that there are so many more courses offered and the education courses really spiked interest in me.  I didn't see anywhere that CSCC accepts the certificates from Coursera but I would be interested in seeing what local universities might.

I think that MOOC's will be getting larger in the future because it is so easily assessable as well as being affordable.  I see that once this system gets more attention and a larger course offering that more and more universities will accept the certificates for credit.  Even without the ability for credit the certificate itself is beneficial if your employer accepts these for promotion purposes.  I am very eager to see where this will lead to seeing that I am slated for graduation in August and I don't have the finances to go to grad school right now.

ORC Lesson Plan

Eyewitness Reports Lesson Plan

http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/evaluating-eyewitness-reports#sect-extending

I have chosen to pick a lesson plan that involves social studies with high school students.  While searching through the Ohio Resource center I came across a lesson plan that I believe can make social studies actually more fun as well as interesting for older students.  The lesson plan that I have chosen allows the children to get hands on and involved which I believe will make participation fun.  With this plan the students will be looking at how the affects of eye witness accounts can have on history.

Common Core Standards Covered in This Lesson

Critical analysis

Critical thinking

Discussion

Gathering, classifying and interpreting written, oral and visual information

Historical analysis

Internet skills

Making inferences and drawing conclusions

Summarizing

Textual analysis

Using primary source

With this lesson plan I think it would be best if I have the students break into small groups between 3-5 students.  This will allow the group size to not hinder the ability for all students to be engaged with the readings as well as getting the evidentiary notes that need for the discussion and written portion of the assignment.  One problem I could potentially seeing is that with me making this a group effort some of the work will need to be completed outside of the classroom which means that all the participants will need to work together whether they can do it face to face or through a program like Google Docs.  In all I think this will be an exciting way to get students to think about how we know history and what we may not really know about history and how this actually pertains to our lives today.

Ohio DL Schools

I looked through a selected list of five Ohio distant learning schools and of the five the one I liked the most was Ohio Connections Academy. I was looking for my children, who are high school age, and determined that this DL school would be the best fit in my eyes.  At this school they offer the basic core classes as well as numerous electives that are designed to appease a vast difference in type of student.  I also liked the inclusion of AP/honors courses as well as the ability to pursue college courses if that is what the child is interested in.  They also have outings where the children can interact and enjoy each others company.  Another big factor was that the children do get one on one interactions with their teachers and the lessons are built around the child so if a child is thriving in a certain area they can advance them further so that they stay engaged.  My least favorite of the five was the Virtual School House.  First it was not as inviting as the other sites, but also the information given on the site was fairly limited not allowing me to make an informed decision for what I believe to be best for my children.  Also I could not find how they allowed interactions among other classmates unless they were in the blended program.  

My Prezi Introduction

Ms. Kilburns Introduction

This was my first time creating a Prezi but not my first time utilizing the software.  I found it to be very easy to navigate and was very user friendly.  It is amazing how I am more likely to scare myself away from new technology and convince myself that it would be too difficult to figure out.  I am so glad I was given the opportunity to use this technology because I think that it will make class presentations so much more fun with the students.

I think the most valuable lesson that I learned with this project is do not let things overpower and intimidate you.  Sometimes it is very easy to forget how you approached things when you learned them for the first time as a child. I am now more than ever eager to learn about how to incorporate even more pieces of modern technology into my classroom.

Three Great Teacher Blogs

1. Teaching High School Psychology

I absolutely love this blog.  First and foremost I am a psychology major and psychology has always been a passion of mine.  There is a plethora of resources as well as very informative articles on this blog.  Definitely a must have for teachers even if they are not psychology affiliated.


2.  Coffee Cups and Lesson Plans

Resource center! This is a very colorful and interactive blog.  She has amazing classroom ideas along with pictures of students completing the activities as well as demonstrative pictures of ideas that she has implemented.  There are lists of other popular blogs as well as free usable resources for your classroom!

3.  Clutter Free Classroom

Ok I am going to be a little biased here and say that this is the most valuable blog I have found.  There are so many cheap ideas on organizing your classroom.  And lets face it this is not an easy task on a teachers salary.  This blog is very well organized and the information is relatively easy to locate.  Trust me this is a must to check out!!!

Welcome To My Blog

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog!

My name is Tina Kilburn and I have been married to my high school best friend for fifteen wonderful years.  I am a proud mother of four wonderful children 18, 17, 15, and 13 (although she loves to remind me that she is almost 14).  My oldest is graduating from high school soon and then is leaving for the Marine Corps.  My youngest son, the 17 year old, is a master at wrestling and has won several awards; my oldest daughter is an honor student and plays two different saxophones for her school; my baby girl is becoming an amazing fiddle player and is super smart in science.  I am currently studying at The Ohio State University and take courses at Columbus State Community College on the side.
Aside from activities with my children I love to read and write (primarily creative writing), I do needle work for fun.  I also absolutely love outdoors activities. So fishing, camping, boating, etc.  I am also a huge football fan (although I am a solo fan in my house). My goals for the future are to teach history to high school age children.  My decision to teach at the high school level was to get the chance to help young adults become prepared for the next adventure in their lives.  I want to inspire and help drive their interest in learning.