Summary
Participants will explore several resources such as strategies, tech tools, lessons, games, and more published on the LEARN site. They will identify resources that can enhance the lessons they are working on in their content area and support their instructional practices.
Essential Question
How can LEARN support authentic teaching and learning practices?
Session Objective
Identify LEARN resources that can enhance and support current lessons and instructional practices.
Snapshot
Engage
Participants attempt to guess what the LEARN acronym stands for and vote for their favorite wrong guesses before learning the actual answer.
Explore
Participants explore the LEARN site and find instructional strategies to share in small groups.
Explain
Participants find a lesson in their content area and discuss at their table.
Extend
Participants explore games and/or educator resources on LEARN and discuss with a partner.
Evaluate
Participants reflect on how to use the resources they have found using the Rose, Bud, and Thorn strategy.
Materials List
Presentation Slides
Window Notes 3-2-1 handout
Rose, Bud, and Thorn handout
Instructional Strategy Note Catcher
handout
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Introduce the title of the PD you will be facilitating today: Lessons LEARNed on slide 2. Then move to slide 3, “Guess the Acronym.” Ask participants to come up with the words that LEARN stands for. Wrong answers only! Allow 3–4 minutes, and then ask participants to share their (wrong answers only) in Menti.com. Have participants use Menti to vote on their favorite fake LEARN acronym.
Display slides 4 and 5 to present the essential question,”How can LEARN support authentic teaching and learning practices?” and then the Session Objective, “Identify LEARN resources that can enhance and support current lessons and instructional practices.”
Then, provide the actual answer for the LEARN acronym, “Lessons and Engaging Activities Repository Network,” on slide 6.
Explore
15 Minute(s)
Move on to slide 7 and share that K20’s LEARN site holds hundreds of lessons, professional learning activities, strategies, and tech tools to support the Authentic Learning Framework. Briefly describe each of the four components.
Then, display slide 8 and ask participants to navigate to the LEARN website. Provide a few minutes to make sure everyone has found the site, and then briefly explain the LEARN home page. As you show each tab, explain that we will practice using these to find resources (a strategy, a lesson, a PD, a game, etc) on this site through a sort of scavenger-hunting activity.
Pass out the Window Notes 3-2-1 Handout and use slide 9 to introduce the LEARN search. Have participants use this handout and explore four different instructional strategies:
One that starts with their middle initial
One published in their birth month
One that’s their favorite color
One they have never heard of before
After about five minutes, check in to see how the exploration process is going. Give more time as needed. Once everyone has found their four, have them share out their favorite one of the four they found at their table group.
As they listen to others share, they can note any other strategies they hear about that they want to try out for themselves later.
Explain
15 Minute(s)
Next, display slide 10 and have teachers turn their Window Notes paper over for their next activity, 3-2-1. Demonstrate how to go to the Lessons tab and find a lesson in their content area. Once they find a lesson, they will read through the narrative and materials and answer the following prompts:
3 things I noticed
2 things I found effective
1 question I have
Set a timer for 15 minutes. After everyone has found their lesson, they can share out at their table again. Remind teachers to use the “Interesting Notes” section of their handouts to jot down the best ideas from the share-outs.
Extend
30 Minute(s)
Display slide 11 and demonstrate how to find the “Games” tab. Have participants search for a game that covers a topic in their content area. Once they have one, have them discuss what they found with an elbow partner.
Then, move to slide 12 and have participants choose any other tab on LEARN (Tech tools, Collections, Student Resources, etc) and find a resource that would be helpful to their students. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Then, invite participants to share their best discoveries at their table.
Evaluate
10 Minute(s)
Intro Rose, Bud, and Thorn strategy on slide 13. Have participants reflect on all the resources they’ve seen on LEARN today so far and respond to the prompts on their handout.
Rose: What new strategies, lessons or games from this session would you like to try in your class?
Bud: What adjustments or additions could you make to integrate the concepts from the session into your curriculum?
Thorn: What barriers are still in the way of implementing new strategies or lessons?
Look back on the strategies that have been used to explore LEARN and reflect on them using slide 14. Invite discussion on what barriers may still be in the way of using these in their classrooms.
Follow-Up Activities
Research Rationale
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). 3-2-1. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/117
K20 Center. (n.d.). Elbow partners. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/116
K20 Center. (n.d.). Mentimeter. Tech Tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/645
K20 Center. (n.d.). Rose, Bud, and Thorn. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/2224
K20 Center. (n.d.). Timer [Webapp]. https://timer.k20center.ou.edu/
K20 Center. (n.d.) Window notes. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/189