Kate Nowak is the Director K-12 Curriculum Strategy with Illustrative Mathematics. Illustrative Mathematics was one of the first comprehensive OER math series made available to anyone and everyone. Their 6-8 math curriculum has seen great success in schools across the country, and they are working on expanding into high school math, as well as elementary math. All of this work has taken several years to pull together, so I wanted to talk with Kate about how it came to be and how Illustrative continues to grow their offerings.

If you want to learn more about how to get started with OER, please check out the New America project site called PreK-12 OER in Practice at newamerica.org/prek12oer. Here you’ll find information about how districts are doing this, including a map of districts using OER, as well as resources for getting started in your search, and for professional learning. You’ll also find the  #GoOpen District Launch Packet, which outlines the five most common phases of rolling out this type of work in a district. 

 

Illustrative Mathematics' website: https://www.illustrativemathematics.org/

Illustrative Mathematics’ Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/IllustrateMath

Kate Nowack’s Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/k8nowak

Mark Ray is a Teacher Librarian and Free Range Educator in Vancouver, Washington, just outside of Portland, Oregon. His extensive school library background within schools and at the district level make him the perfect person to talk about the role of school librarians in this OER work. Since the role of librarian is largely one of curation and he has quite a bit of experience with this, I wanted to hear from Mark how he helps content teachers search and discover resources to use, why school librarians are critical to have in curriculum work, and what school librarian work looks like in 2020.

If you want to learn more about how to get started with OER, please check out the New America project site called PreK-12 OER in Practice at newamerica.org/prek12oer. Here you’ll find information about how districts are doing this, including a map of districts using OER, as well as resources for getting started in your search, and for professional learning. You’ll also find the  #GoOpen District Launch Packet, which outlines the five most common phases of rolling out this type of work in a district. 

 

Mark Ray’s Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/_TeacherX

Gina Loveless is the Educational Technology Consultant overseeing the #GoOpenMichigan project at the Michigan Department of Education. #GoOpenMichigan is a joint effort between the Michigan Department of Education, educational service agencies, K-12 school districts, community colleges, and universities in the state of Michigan. This work didn’t happen overnight, so I wanted to talk to Gina about how it came to be, what her work looks like on a daily basis, and how she supports educators across the entire state of Michigan when it comes to OER.

 

If you want to learn more about how to get started with OER, please check out the New America project site called PreK-12 OER in Practice at newamerica.org/prek12oer. Here you’ll find information about how districts are doing this, including a map of districts using OER, as well as resources for getting started in your search, and for professional learning. You’ll also find the  #GoOpen District Launch Packet, which outlines the five most common phases of rolling out this type of work in a district. 

 

#GoOpen Michigan site: https://goopenmichigan.org/

#GoOpen Michigan Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/GoOpenMichigan

Gina Loveless’ Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/glo

Anthony Gabriele is the Director of Learning and Innovation at Centennial School District just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This new position is the perfect fit for Anthony after his success starting and growing the OER work in his former school district Garnet Valley. I wanted to talk to Anthony because he understands the importance of giving students voice and choice in their learning experiences and knows the role that instructional materials like OER can play in their learning.

If you want to learn more about how to get started with OER, please check out the New America project site called PreK-12 OER in Practice at newamerica.org/prek12oer. Here you’ll find information about how districts are doing this, including a map of districts using OER, as well as resources for getting started in your search, and for professional learning. You’ll also find the  #GoOpen District Launch Packet, which outlines the five most common phases of rolling out this type of work in a district. 

Garnet Valley’s Course Development page: https://sites.google.com/garnetvalley.org/gvsd-course-development-hub/home

Anthony Gabriele’s Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/mrgabriele

Caroline Gambell is the Middle School ELA Curriculum Director from Match Fishtank in Boston, Massachusetts. Her background as a teacher and content developer make her role at Match Fishtank a perfect fit. Match Fishtank is a relatively new openly-licensed curriculum that’s available to anyone and everyone, so I wanted to hear how it started, why it was important to openly share it, and how listening to users like the Match Charter teachers, as well as teachers across the country, help shape what is ultimately created.

If you want to learn more about how to get started with OER, please check out the New America project site called PreK-12 OER in Practice at newamerica.org/prek12oer. Here you’ll find information about how districts are doing this, including a map of districts using OER, as well as resources for getting started in your search, and for professional learning. You’ll also find the  #GoOpen District Launch Packet, which outlines the five most common phases of rolling out this type of work in a district. 

 

Match Fishtank: https://www.matchfishtank.org/

Match Fishtank’s Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/MatchFishtank

Dr. Brittan Wilson is the Science Department Chair and science teacher at Liberty North High School in Liberty Public Schools, just outside of Kansas City, Missouri. Brittan has taught almost every science course there is and has a deep level of expertise and experience in the secondary classroom. Several years ago when her team was given the choice of new curriculum, they opted to go with OER and supplement the resources with more tools that got students “being scientists” instead of just reading about it. Her love of science and the work she does is evident in this interview and it’s one of the main reasons I wanted to hear directly from a teacher using OER. 

 

If you want to learn more about how to get started with OER, please check out the New America project site called PreK-12 OER in Practice at newamerica.org/prek12oer. Here you’ll find information about how districts are doing this, including a map of districts using OER, as well as resources for getting started in your search, and for professional learning. You’ll also find the  #GoOpen District Launch Packet, which outlines the five most common phases of rolling out this type of work in a district. 

 

Liberty Public Schools’ OER site: https://sites.google.com/site/libertyoer/home

Brittan Wilson’s Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/WilsonENVS

Rebecca Morales is the Secondary Science Instructional Specialist at Broken Arrow Public Schools in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Her background as a science teacher, content specialist, and doctoral student trying to further understand OER affords her unique perspective in the work that she leads in her district. I wanted to talk with Rebecca to hear about the work that she started several years ago when their district decided to not pursue a traditional textbook in science and how that has created a ripple effect throughout other content areas. 

If you want to learn more about how to get started with OER, please check out the New America project site called PreK-12 OER in Practice at newamerica.org/prek12oer. Here you’ll find information about how districts are doing this, including a map of districts using OER, as well as resources for getting started in your search, and for professional learning. You’ll also find the  #GoOpen District Launch Packet, which outlines the five most common phases of rolling out this type of work in a district. 

 

Broken Arrow Public Schools’ OER content: https://docs.google.com/document/d/126z-B5iHsYoR0STsJRxknVPA8YbdRdLuvlTIlg5hIvs/edit?pref=2&pli=1

Rebecca Morale’s Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/moralesandbee

Lynn Kleinmeyer is a Digital Learning Specialist at an education service agency in eastern Iowa called Grant Wood AEA. Her background as a literacy teacher and teacher librarian afford her a unique perspective when it comes to OER and instructional materials. She has quickly become a go-to for many educators in and out of the state of Iowa for her work on OER, copyright and Creative Commons, and a deep understanding of why school librarians are so important. I wanted to talk to Lynn to hear her perspective on how school librarians can help with curation of OER and why they are so critical to curriculum work and professional learning.

If you want to learn more about how to get started with OER, please check out the New America project site called PreK-12 OER in Practice at newamerica.org/prek12oer. Here you’ll find information about how districts are doing this, including a map of districts using OER, as well as resources for getting started in your search, and for professional learning. You’ll also find the  #GoOpen District Launch Packet, which outlines the five most common phases of rolling out this type of work in a district. 

 

Grant Wood AEA’s Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/GrantWoodAEA

Lynn Kleinmeyer’s Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/THLibrariZen

Andrew Giannakakis is the Director of K-12 at Openstax out of Rice University in Houston, Texas. His background as a classroom teacher and curriculum writer is the perfect combination for his work at Openstax. Like several of our other episodes with content specialists, I wanted to hear Andrew talk about OER, its importance in education, and how Openstax is supporting more content in K-12.

 

If you want to learn more about how to get started with OER, please check out the New America project site called PreK-12 OER in Practice at newamerica.org/prek12oer. Here you’ll find information about how districts are doing this, including a map of districts using OER, as well as resources for getting started in your search, and for professional learning. You’ll also find the  #GoOpen District Launch Packet, which outlines the five most common phases of rolling out this type of work in a district. 

 

OpenStax: https://openstax.org/

Openstax’ Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/OpenStax

Dan McDowell is the Director of Learning & Innovation with Grossmont Union High School District in San Diego, California. Dan has been part of the K-12 OER movement since its beginning stages with the #GoOpen launch at the White House in October 2015. His steady leadership and guidance in Grossmont is unmatched and is why the work has been successful. I wanted to talk with Dan so you could hear about the process that he and his team have intentionally navigated and executed over the past few years, as well as how the work is being received. 

If you want to learn more about how to get started with OER, please check out the New America project site called PreK-12 OER in Practice at newamerica.org/prek12oer. Here you’ll find information about how districts are doing this, including a map of districts using OER, as well as resources for getting started in your search, and for professional learning. You’ll also find the  #GoOpen District Launch Packet, which outlines the five most common phases of rolling out this type of work in a district. 

 

Grossmont Union High School District’s OER page: https://oer.guhsd.net/

Grossmont’s OER Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/guhsd_oer

Dan McDowell’s Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/danmcdowell