Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Flex Time Oct 3

A new use of flex time today...

Some of the students (about 16) will be in class for these two blocks in order to get help with difficult work, make revisions to your short project on geographic issues, or to complete missing assignments.

The rest of the students (about 12) are free to use this Flex where they wish -- it looks like next week, though, we'll start having to keep the Flex in the building.  It would appear that our vision for students owning their learning in their own space and time is a bit ahead of what the board office is comfortable with.  We have "face-to-face" teachers/students/schools, and we have "distributed learning" teachers/students/schools, but putting them both in the same space requires some negotiation.  Fair enough, we'll work on them, but in the mean time let's take a look at what is set up for you for this week's Flex.

Topic: E-Resources
Check out the District Learning Commons site: http://drc.sd57.bc.ca
Look around a bit -- lots of study tools and e-resources (links, videos, lessons, tutorials, etc.) that will be of use in many of your classes. Click the orange E-Resources button (or just go here) and then the LearnNowBC button (or just go here). To log in to LearnNowBC, you must do the following:
  • First Initial Last Name Student Number - Example - MBerra767676 
  • Password - Welcome1 
  • The account setup is easy and requires a password change. 
  • If you already had an account with LearnNowBC your username and password remains unchanged.
Try to find a resource that fits with one of our topics in class right now: geology, plate tectonics, faults and folds, volcanoes, and earthquakes.  Pick one of these topics that you found most difficult in class. You can access your lesson handouts anytime at: http://dpts.sd57.bc.ca/~gthielmann/LL/assets/

The other places to get e-resources is through a targeted web search.  We'll do more with that on another day, but let's not forget ye olde youtube (it's like 8 years old already!).  Here on some videos on class topics, but feel free to find your own (this was just my quick search):

Geology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-cc8fs3xYY
Plate Tectonics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCSJNBMOjJs
Faults & Folds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSsrm33tjN0
Volcanoes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGObQ6mLWhg
Earthquakes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8mj6ISmXX0

Accountability/Assessment
For those of you not in class today, leave a comment below with two things:
  1. an evaluation of the District Learning Commons site -- what are one or two things you found that you think might be useful for you as a study or learning tool (in this class or any other)?
  2. a review of one or two video resources that you found and watched either through LearnNowBC or one of the links I suggested above -- how did the video help you clarify your understanding of the topic(s)
Other: finish up your work on Lessons 2A, 2B, 2C or get started on 2D or 2E -- 2E (Earthquakes) has 2 earthquake simulation games to try.
Note on tomorrow's Seminar
Expect more book talks, more project presentations, and a writing workshop activity -- Image Wheels. First block: those born January to June
Second block: those born July-December

3 comments:

  1. 1. One of the useful things I found on The District of Learning, was the student links. It showed websites that would help with your subject, sadly they didn't have a lot but still, it could help !

    2. I watched the YouTube video about faults and folds. The video talked about what we learned in class and gave some examples of them with famous mountain ranges (the Rocky Mountains) or famous faults (the California Fault.) It was good to see the fold and faults on video instead of on a block diagram, because it allowed a 360 view of them , allowing us to see everything.

    -Austin M

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  2. The DRC site has a lot of resources, but few are about the topic we are on, or grade 11 level. The homework and study tools are a bit obscure but might prove helpful. The practice questions would be very useful before a test.
    I searched up videos in youtube and found some that were by teachers or professors explaining their topic. A 3d model makes plate tectonics easier to visualize and gives examples on a scale that we can understand and relate to. It also explains thing in a different way than in class, giving a fuller understanding.
    Pippa R.

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  3. 1. Looking around on the DCR website I found the student links to be seemingly helpful. They didn't lead to a ton of information, but if you're maybe looking for something specific they could definitely be helpful! As well as just another general resource to turn to. Looking at the practice questions it seemed like they would be very useful for studying and reviewing before a quiz or test.

    2. I liked the videos on youtube because it just provides another visual for understanding the concept at hand. Regardless of whether you understand the content or not, it's always good to have another reference on how those concepts work. I found the plate tectonics to be helpful in, again, just understanding the whole idea and getting another point of view on it!
    -Paige C.

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