I've explored the Identifying Bias in Sources Tool. It was impressive to read such detailed and deliberate criteria that will be so helpful to me in selecting the best possible anti biased resources for my middle school students.  

After browsing OER I was pleased to discover an excellent student assignment - lesson plan, Power Point over Police Shootings of African Americans

I've posted the following comment on the page, 

"In keeping with the current crisis of racism and the numerous accounts of police brutality on African Americans and People of Color in America,  I find this resource to be excellent. There is no better novel that poignantly describes the current ill treatment of African Americans by the police as in Angie Thomas' novel The Hate U Give.  This unit lesson perfectly illustrates  the importance in offering timely and relevant resources to students and educators." 

I've used  Educators for Social Change as a resource in the past and I think it would be a great complement to this OER lesson plan. 

I commented on the resource that I found last week on Madam C.J. Walker from the New York Historical Society Museum and Library. My criteria is similar to the Identifying Bias tool. In addition I am looking for the following:

• Organization of the website and overall clarity of the layout 
• Use of primary sources (this is to support a social studies topic)
• Key vocabulary with elementary age appropriate definitions
• Discussion questions that cannot be answered without thought and consideration

When looking for new resources I look for a resource with a clear scope and sequence of skills and strategies in a blanaced literacy setting, trade books, interegration of other literacy components (reading, writing, listening & speaking, language). 

I reviewed several grammar resources but found many stand alone lessons without clear explanation of the skill and specific method of instruction. My worry is that this leads to busy work versus clear, explicit instruction.

I evaluated the resource, "Bear of a Poem: Composing and Performing Found Poetry" and found it to be comprehensive and suitable for diverse learners.  I used the #GoOpenNC Curriculum Review Rubric to evaluate it.

Below is the evaluation that I submitted below the resource:
"This lesson plan, "Bear of a Poem: Composing and Performing Found Poetry", is suitable for kindergarten through third grade students, is aligned with the standards tagged and has clear learning objectives.  In addition, this lesson provides assessment tools that will measure student mastery of the specified standards.  This resource also includes supplemental resources and  extension activities.  This poetry lesson will surely engage diverse learners as it incorporates reading, writing, and performance components."

I evaluated the resource provided by the National Park Service, The National Register of Historic Places, which is organized by themes such as Women's History Month, Black History Month, etc.. https://www.oercommons.org/courses/womens-history-month/view

I posted this comment on the page.

"This resource provided by the National Park Service serves as tool for educators to introdcue students to various historical topics and highlight historic sites and primary resources related to these topics. The historic sites featured allow educators to take students on virtual "field trips" to bring history to life. Organized with themes such as Women's History Month, Black History Month, etc., it is a resource that educators can return to throughout the year to integrate into lessons. With an appealing  and easily navigated design,  this resource is made richer through historic images. With appropriate scaffolding at the lower primary level, this resource would be of interest to students of any age."

The Mosiac Multicultural Book Collection is a rich resource of media materials which includes elementary through high school resources along with professional books for the current school year.  There are additional lists for prior years. Each resource is broken down by group and within each media resource lessons and extentions are presented. 

The MOSAIC committee selects, reviews, and promotes books that authentically and realistically portray the diversity of all students, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. 

Viewed throught the lens of the Identifying Bias in Sources Tool and applying the evaluation criteria to the resources presented, educators will find an abundant source of literature, lessons and information to inform their pedagogical practice.

I used the Achieve OER embedded evaluation tool for the lesson plan that I found for our previous discussion: https://www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/78788

In the evaluation tool I found it to be very easy to utilize as it was embedded within the lesson it self and I liked that I could minimize the tool as I went through different pieces of the lesson. This allowed me to a take a closer look at the the different standards that were mentioned within the evalution tool. I was a little confused about the different state standards that were identified in the evalution tool and wondered why these specific state standards were used in addtion to the common core standards. 

Overall, having the evluator tool directly available within the lesson criteria helped me identify different subject matters as well as grade levels in which these lessons could be applied. 

 - relevance of the content/learning outcomes

 - accessibility of the text (esp. visual) for a range of learners. Ease of editing & modification.

 - questions/tasks are strongly aligned to the stated objectives/outcomes and are appropriately engaging/rigorous

 - scaffolds such as word banks, contextual statements, and sourcing information are present. 

 - links easily expand teacher/student understanding.  

There are arts organizations/institutions that do a top notch job of screening and sharing arts resources, so I access them accordingly.
- NAEA does a great job of screening and posting resources so I access them as a staple in general.    https://arteducationresourceguide.com/
- VAPAE which is the UCLA Arts Community: http://vapae.arts.ucla.edu/resources-artsed

Additionally, the Arts and Education Resource Guide lists below a modest number of the national agencies and organizations that specialize in multi-disciplinary arts education and have significant web resources devoted to the seemingly immeasurable aspects of education in and through the arts. There are some overlaps in service and web content, but clearly each of those listed has assets that are unique and valuable. All of the organizations listed have highly skilled staffs with backgrounds in arts and education and much written information about various arts and education topics.
Americans for the Arts
ArtsEdge
Arts Education Partnership
Keep Arts In Schools
Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education
Lincoln Center Institute
National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
National Endowment for the Arts
Project Zero
State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education
U.S. Department of Education and the Office of Innovation and Improvement

In the breakout rooms at last OER PD we discussed criteria checklists shared by OER and the sentiments seemed to be that they would be useful in having as a quick guide when selecting reading materials but a bit too time consuming if one person had to go through the entire sheet per material; perhaps a committee could accomplish more efficiently.   

 I am looking at Goe-Action, an earth science lesson and diagram via NASA.

This lesson..(and most NASA, NGSS, and other govt resources).

• aligned to standards (both content and process of collecting data)

• has clear learning objectives

• questions/tasks are strongly aligned to the stated objectives/outcomes and are appropriately engaging/rigorous

• Discussion questions that cannot be answered without thought and consideration

This lesson is weak in...

• Key vocabulary with elementary age appropriate definitions

• includes media materials which includes elementary through high school resources along with professional books for the current school year

• media resource lessons and extensions are presented

• promotes books that authentically and realistically portray the diversity of all students, from both historical and contemporary perspectives.

• scaffolds such as word banks, contextual statements, and sourcing information are present

• links easily expand teacher/student understanding. 

BIAS

• As with many STEM materials, the focus is facts: measurements, data, terms, etc.  There is no mention of visual of humans of any type in the lesson.  The bias can occur in several ways...

1.  The traditional structure for science which has engaged mostly the white male for generations.
2. It expects background knowledge rather than supplies any place to gain information tl be able to take on the task.
3. The lesson is presented as a solitary student activity rather than small discussion groups that we know are better for diverse learners.
4. There is no connection to the every day impacts of the Ring of Fire on daily life in the region.  There is no accessiblity or way in for students who are traditionally excluded from STEM fields.

I was drawn to 

Assessing Visual Materials for Diversity & Inclusivity

https://www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/69336

and the  

Inclusivity Wheel

The 4 frameworks  ( listed below) are important as we evaluate images for diversity and inclusion in all materials presented to our learners. 

1. Visible Elements: Is there inclusivity in the way the following are depicted?

2. Relationships Among Visual Elements--Questions to Ask

 3. Image Source Considerations--Questions to Ask

4. Additional Prompts for Visual Materials that Include Text Elements (such as Advertisements, Memes, Propaganda)

I reviewed https://www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/25974/overview

Aligned with ACTFL standards for Presentational mode.

• has clear learning objectives

• Ease of editing & modification

I explored a few lessons and resources and landed on this: https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/57038-mona-lisa-fact-or-fiction/view

This lesson provides a thorough introduction to interesting facts about the Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. No evaluation has been done on this lesson. It includeds  Subject:Arts and Humanities, Art History, Visual Arts Level:Upper Primary, Middle School, High School

In the lesson 50 facts about the Mona Lisa are given with a few additional websites. The highlight of the lesson is the abitily to see the Mona Lisa up close and at scale. https://focus.louvre.fr/en/mona-lisa I love the use of the Louvre Museum's website. https://www.louvre.fr/en/explore/the-palace/from-the-mona-lisa-to-the-wedding-feast-at-cana

This lesson could be stand alone or longer more in depth art history/ historical and geographical research project. 

I looked into the Elementary Digital Citizenship Hotlist.  It seemed like a good resource, however, upon looking at each of the sites listed, there were issues.  Several of the sites needed membership to access all the content and a few more had blocked or deleted pages.  What I could access was good for the elementary level and had a lot of “tips and tricks” for teaching Digital Citizenship.  A few of the sites were set up as games for learning so require the student to have access to a one-one device (ie: Google). 

I find Common Sense Media to have a great deal of useful, updated information great for all learning levels and for the teacher and parent.  To access to complete offerings, one must become a member of the site however, albeit for a nominal fee.  This was by far the best resource on the list and the first.  It is representative and open, taking all users into account with the lessons and videos. The site has resources for all grade levels k-12 and is a wonderful go to for parents as well as teachers.

https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/46587-elementary-digital-citizenship-hotlist/view