Best+Practice+Resources+at+Your+Fingertips+with+Thinkfinity+and+Ohio+Resource+Center

= Tuesday, August 24 = = 2:00-3:15 =

=**Session**= Start the school year off with best practice resources to add to your lesson plans! This session will provide hands on experience with navigating the Ohio Resource Center and Thinkfinity websites. Learn how to find a variety of peer-reviewed instructional resources correlated with Ohio's academic content standards.

=Trainers:= Claudia Baich, Instructional Resource Leader, ORC Certified Ambassador Tricia Kluener, Technology Integration Specialist, ORC Certified Ambassador

=Course Objectives=

**After participating in this professional development you will be able to:**

 * search the Ohio Resource Center and Thinkfinity websites to find valuable resources to use in daily instruction
 * understand the types of resources on each site and how to utilize them for instruction
 * create and use 'My Content' folders through the ORC to save and organize resources to quickly access from any computer
 * log in and use a Ross Moodle course to learn about the available resources being covered

=**Materials**= Moodle Course: @http://216.48.129.36/moodle19/ Handouts will be provided during the session = = =**Notes**=

ORC
ORC enhances teaching and learning by promoting standards-based best practices in mathematics, science, and reading for Ohio schools and universities. The ORC website includes several types of resources, all designed to support standards-based education and best practices. Content specialists and review boards strive to find web-based lessons and units that meet the rigorous standards established by ORC as evidenced by the 15 categories of the [|ORC Resource Review Rubric].

ORC Resource Types:

I[|nstructional resources]include lesson plans and units that have been peer-reviewed using the ORC rubric. Only instructional resources with ratings of best or promising practice are selected for the ORC database.
 * //Resources Designated [|Best Practice]// instructional resources must receive favorable peer reviews, scoring high ratings based on alignment to Ohio's academic content standards, research evidence, quality, and usability.
 * //Resources Designated [|Promising Practice]// instructional resources reflect widely known and generally accepted research bases, or are emerging strategies that indicate potential for becoming a best practice. These resources are aligned to Ohio's academic content standards.

[|Content resources] provide content support for implementation of best practices and effective classroom instruction. Content resources include data sets, digital images, reference materials, tutorials, and applets.

[|Professional resources] support professional knowledge and development of best practices and effective classroom instruction. Professional resources may include national standards, research articles, policy documents, and books published online.

[|Assessment resources] are assessment items or tasks correlated to Ohio and national standards, often from large-scale projects such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) or the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Data about student performance are provided when available. Assessment resources also include released items from Ohio's achievement and graduation tests.

[|General education resources] are resources that are not specific to the content areas of mathematics, science, or reading, but have been deemed appropriate for inclusion in an educational database designed to support effective educational practice.

Thinkfinity
Thinkfinity-"The easy-to-navigate K-12 resources are grade-specific and are aligned with [|state standards]." For a video introduction, click on the following link, then the red 'Take a Tour' button under 'New to Thinkfinity?'. @http://www.thinkfinity.org/

Ohio Social Studies Resource Center
@http://www.ossrc.org/

Smithsonian's History Explorer
@http://historyexplorer.americanhistory.si.edu/

Resources: @http://www.ohiorc.org/, @http://www.thinkfinity.org/