More FREE online courses to take, & ways to earn your degree, without leaving your own home!!
Academic Earth and Open Culture offer dozens of courses, text books, ebooks, and ways to earn your full degree, right at your fingertips!
Through Academic Earth, you can take courses in all of the fields below:
- Business
- Computer Science
- Mathematics
- Engineering
- Science
- Humanities
- Social Sciences
- Art & Design
- Test Preparation
Academic Earth offers a variety of Universities, which you can click through below to see which University offers for specific online courses.
- Berklee College of Music
- Caltech
- Cambridge
- Carnegie Mellon
- Case Western Reserve
- Columbia
- Cornell
- Dalarna University
- Dartmouth College
- Examkrackers
- George Washington University
- Gresham College
- Harvard
- IIT Delhi
- IIT Kanpur
- IIT Kharagpur
- IIT Madras
- Lund University
- Michigan
- Mises Institute
- MIT
- New School
- Notre Dame
- NYU
- Oxford
- Princeton
- Rice
- Stanford
- The City University of New York
- UC Berkeley
- UC Irvine
- UCLA
- University of California San Francisco
- University of Chicago
- University of Houston
- University of London
- University of New South Wales
- University of North Carolina
- University of Western Sydney
- Wesleyan University
- Yale
Open Culture offers dozens of FREE [500] online courses, [450] audio books, [500] movies, [40] language lessons, [325] ebooks, and [150] text books for your personal mind expansion!
Online courses from Open Culture include the listed topics below:
- Archaeology
- Architecture
- Art & Art History
- Classics & Classical World
- Economics
- Film
- Geography
- History
- Journalism
- Languages
- Law
- Linguistics
- Literature
- Music
- Philosophy
- Political Science, International Relations, and Law
- Religion
- Sociology
- Urban Studies
- Aeronautics
- Anthropology
- Astronomy
- Biology/Medicine
- Chemistry
- Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence
- Engineering [Mechanical, Civil, and Electrical]
- Environment & Natural Resources
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Psychology & Cognitive Sciences
- Public Health
- Business
Enjoy the over-abundance of free educational resources, and never stop exploring and expanding! And if anyone knows of any other great self-education resources, let me know!
At first glance the standards don’t leap out as a problem. Take, for example, Common Core’s first writing standard for grades six, seven and eight (almost identical across grades): “Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.”
This goal undoubtedly sounds reasonable to adults, who have a much better idea of what “claims” are, what “relevant evidence” is and even what an academic “argument” is. But most children have a limited understanding of this meta-language for the structure of a composition.
So I explored Common Core’s standards for reading informational text in grades three, four and five (and then in grades six, seven and eight) and discovered nothing on what a claim or an argument is, or on distinguishing relevant from irrelevant evidence.
In other words, the grades six, seven and eight writing standards are not coordinated with reading standards in grades three to eight that would require children to read the genre of writing their middle-school teachers are expecting them to compose. Middle-school teachers are being compelled by their grade-level standards to ask their students to do something for which the students will have to use their imaginations.
“
| — |
SANDRA STOTSKY, Ph.D., Which Way for Indiana? | Hoosiers Against Common Core Just click the link and read the whole thing. (via girlwithalessonplan) |
The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you.
“
| — | Neil deGrasse Tyson (via psychotherapy) |
reflections from the first week
- don’t be afraid to play the clown/look goofy: even if it’s something you wouldn’t find funny now, it will probably work for them - i’m amazed at the corny stuff mme does that gets laughs from the kids
- plan more- order and how you’re going to introduce each activity - you really have to explain each thing thoroughly to the kids- remember they don’t know where you’re going with the lesson
- GET TO BED - you need so much energy to move you through the day
- have goals set out in advance for planning periods or they get frittered away
Bearing without possessing,
Nurturing without taming,
Shaping without forcing,
This is harmony.
Nurturing without taming,
Shaping without forcing,
This is harmony.
“
| — | Laozi | Tao Te Ching (via blogut) |
Positively Persistent Teach: polygonal-lasso: washingtonpoststyle: “I fully understand that our... »
“I fully understand that our nation is currently facing an extreme shortage of teachers and that we all have to make do with what we can get. But does that really mean we have to be stuck with some privileged college grad who completed a…“Why is TFA in Ohio if there are literally 6,000 applicants per elementary job posting? Why are they needed? If there are areas of need that there aren’t teachers with certification for, why not make efforts to get the teachers without jobs certified? At least they have the long term commitment to education, and the basic education core courses are the same? Why are districts in Hawaii posting notices to applicants that they are ONLY hiring TFA candidates? How does that make sense?”
Agreed. And I’m not saying that it makes any sense, necessarily. I know for a lot of places, TFA teachers are preferred because they’re cheaper. A school can get multiple TFA and/or alternative residency teachers for the price of one highly qualified, experienced teacher. And for some schools, that makes a lot of difference. Weird and sort of terrible that we’ve come to this? Sure. Let’s fix that.
In addition, I think there is a certain amount of clout that these programs have in our political system such that their use is pushed upon districts and schools. If I remember correctly, one of the items encouraged by Race to the Top involved support for these alternative preparation programs.
So I think there are a lot of really critical systematic issues that cause this. But overall, I never feel like it does too much to attack people for their career choices, rather than addressing these issues. And I felt that the Onion article put the focus of the problem on the career choice.
I fail to see where I attacked anyone for their career choice.
If it were true that there were teacher shortages in the country and literally thousands of positions open and no one certified to fill them, I’d have less of a problem with corps-programs placing non-certified staff members in teaching positions. I’d certainly rather see the funds used to recruit people into education, but I’d understand that classrooms need teachers.
My point was, that isn’t the case where corps-members are being hired at all. They are being hired instead of available and willing certified teachers, who are willing to make longer than 2 year long commitments.
You want to choose education as a career? That’s fine. There’s a way to go about it. Programs that circumvent the way to certification aren’t necessary when there’s a surplus of people with the education background and credentials wanting those jobs. As GWALP often points out, teaching is a trade. So, when TFA or other programs place corps members in schools when there are plenty of certified applicants, you’re forcing teachers to leave education, take a break from teaching, and possibly forcing them into unemployment. I will never, ever be ok with that and if it were ANY other field people would be up in arms.
Oh, we don’t have enough pilots — this guy took a crash course in Flying, let’s give him the NY to London flight today.
Oh, we don’t have enough orthopedic sugeons, this guy took a 5 week anatomy course, hand him the the knife.
Can’t afford an attorney? Oh, this guy is 5 weeks into law school, but don’t worry he plans on passing the bar eventually.
If we can afford to spend massive amounts on wars and prisons, we need to rethink our priorities as a country when we want cheaper teachers.
Skillshare, the learning marketplace where anyone can learn anything from anyone else willing to teach, is teaming up with Social Media Week to launch the School of Emerging Media and Technology. (via Social Media Week Supports Alternative Education)
A week ago someone e-mailed me about finishing college and interviewing for positions in Florida. I thought I’d share my response, but before I do. I have to remind you that the economy is not on the up and up, and college grads with degrees in a variety of subjects are having a really hard time finding positions in their field. It sucks, but I point it out so you’re not too hard on yourselves.
I’m going to be honest with you. Getting a teaching job straight out of college is difficult. It took me 1 1/2 years of subbing before I landed one. If I had been willing to expand the areas I looked, it probably would have happened a lot sooner. Also, I refused to use connections I had to get a job. Well, everyone else used their connections, and in hindsight, I should have too. I was just a bit stubborn. So, my first suggestions are to cast your nets wide and far, and to use any and all connections possible.As far as interviews go, it is likely that most college grads are giving very similar answers. All wonderful, but very similar. Find ways to make yourself stand out, and show your personality. At the end of the interview, if they ask if there is anything else you think they should know about you — make sure to take advantage of that. For example, when I interview I take that opportunity to discuss how I student taught abroad, have worked in special education, and how I use technology as a form of professional development (yes, I talk about Tumblr, they eat it up and is a big part of how I landed the job I have now). I talk about how those things make me a strong teacher and how I am always willing to share with others.Bring a portfolio, and even if they do not directly ask to see it — open it up as you answer questions. Make sure you have questions to ask them. Research the district’s biggest struggles, and figure out what role you can play in helping out in that area. I also suggest bringing up any scholarly journal articles you’ve recently read if they pertain to a question you are asked. It shows you’re a life long learner, and that you always want to improve and stay current on teaching.I’m not sure how familiar you are with Marzano’s framework, but it is a huge issue at my district. Our district uses questions directly from the observation tool in interviews, so you might want to read his book where he discusses different teaching strategies. I don’t always agree with Marzano, but you should know what the districts are working with — it will be how they evaluate you both as a candidate and a teacher if hired.
personal experience —> assessment
just started back to work at Rev and after closing last night i made a connection between my experiences and life in the classroom
when i close i have to count the register while still on the floor, and add up all of the check outs to see how much extra cash is owed. of course if i were in a room by myself i could do this in five minutes. however i am at the front of the restaurant with people talking to me and a manager breathing down my neck. my brain is essentially blinded with panic and i can’t do basic operations and keep forgetting my count.
this experience should be kept in mind for grading students on performance based assessments.
