Danielle Tasker's EDM310 Blog

My EDM310 Blog Assignments Are Now Complete

2008-12-03T01:05:00.000-08:00

Since I am no longer majoring in education, I will probably not be seeing any of you again in my classes here at South. I hope you do well in your studies and continue to learn and develop your teaching skills. To the few that may read this, remember, as a teacher, you are everything in the eyes of your students, whether or not you, your students or your students' parents are willing to recognize. Act as such. You will spend more time with your students than anyone else in their lives. You will guide them, mold them, and teach them skills that a century ago would have been taught at home.
Signing Out,
Danielle Tasker

What Have I Learned?

2008-12-03T00:58:00.001-08:00

Just the other day, I was telling a coworker about working in Google Docs. I explained how you can access it from any computer as long as it is saved in Google Docs under a specific username. I really enjoyed learning all that Google offered. As tedious as the blogs were at times, I did learn there is a wide world out there of bloggers willing to share lots of information under so many categories. I enjoyed learning about all that iTunes had to offer, as well. I had a subscription already to some language podcasts but I never realized the new direction that many colleges and universities are taking by posting so many podcasts on very specific topics and classes.

I cannot think of anything I would have liked to learn that I did not.

Blog Reflection and Social Networks vs. Blogs

2008-11-24T11:58:00.000-08:00

For this blog assignment, I read over my classmate, Stephanie Ellis' blog. I chose Stephanie's blog because we sat next to each other in the majority of EDM310. We also worked together in our group podcast. It's funny to work next to someone and not know very much at all about them. Her posts are very well thought-out, as I expected, since she always completes her work thoroughly. There were some similarity of thought with our blog postings, often we agreed or disagreed for the same reasons. I enjoyed reading her blog posts because of her eloquent writing style.

In my podcast, Facebook as an Educational Tool, I discussed the problems with allowing students to access a teacher's personal information on a social networking platform. Facebook does not allow the user to control who sees and posts what on their personal page. This being said, blogs are a much more professional alternative to Facebook as a teacher with regard to keeping the teacher's personal life separate from the classroom.

Blogs are also much more accessible to students of all ages, whereas Facebook and Myspace require the user to be at least 13 years old to access the site. Many times, as Facebook and Myspace are discovering, children under 13 are still gaining access to the site and its' inappropriate material by simply entering a false birth date when signing up on the site.

One drawback of blogs that social networks have is that you cannot add networks or groups of friends to interact with on blogs as clearly and easily as with social networks, such as Facebook and Myspace. The networking of these sights has a double edged sword. As a teacher, using blogs prevents you from networking, but using common social networks opens up a door for privacy issues and inappropriate teacher-student relationships and access to inappropriate material all for what, exactly?

Blogs were a great idea in their inception, but their purpose for teaching tools are not so logical. As I understand it, the goal of blogs and social networking pages is to keep the student informed, potentially communicate with other teachers, faculty, and parents both in the local school and beyond. In the ideal world, the student would be able to access the teacher's blog outside of class for classroom assignments, online quizzes or polls, and new online postings or discussions, for example. In the real world, not every student has access to a computer. Even fewer students (middle school aged students and younger especially) have access to the internet, even if they're parents have internet access at their home. So the idea of having a place where your students can go if they need to reread the syllabus or were sick and need to see what happened in class that day to catch up just is not sufficient enough for the needs of the student.

Duke University: Center for Documentary Studies: "Looking Back: 9/11 Across America"

2008-11-21T11:31:00.000-08:00

I was drawn to Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies podcast, 'Looking Back: 9/11 Across America' because it is the most relevant historical event (besides the recent 2008 election) for my generation. The first half of the podcast is comprised of people across the U.S. telling their story of how they came to understand the events of September 11, 2001.

This is my story: I was in the ninth grade at Gulfport High School. I was in Mr. Hart's Drama I class that September morning. Our class was taking a test and Mr. Hart left his office behind the stage and turned on the TV, mounted on the wall, at the front of the classroom. We looked up in shock. As the video feeds of the New York skyline were playing on the news, our class witnessed, together, the second plane crashing into the second WTC tower. The test was over. A new test would begin that day, that moment, when we, as Americans, realized that our view of the world would forever be changed and challenged. After about fifteen minutes or so of watching the videos replay in slow motion, Mr. Hart turned off the TV and asked us not to share with other classmates in other classes what we had seen. I felt sick. My brother was a freshman at American University in DC. His bedroom window had a majestic view of the Capital Building. A building which was in danger of being destroyed.

I really connected with people's shock in the podcast. As much as I disagreed with what was said by people in the latter half of the podcast, I know it is important to record people's thoughts and emotions on such a dreadful day in U.S. history. The worst quote, in terms of closed-mindedness was a man "I want them to bomb the hell out of Afghanistan. ... because this is the kind of war where there is no clear enemy and we need the support of all these different nations and if anyone is willing to get into the way because of their principles than they should be punished as well, just as they will be." I recall the 'go get 'em' attitude in the weeks following September 11th and it's interesting to note the massive shift in support of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. I have lots of reasons as to why this happened, but that's another blog.

Overall, I really liked this blog, it helped me reevaluate September 11th, from a distance, now. I appreciate the opportunity to listen to the thoughts of others.

Educaitonal Tools Podcast Improvement

2008-11-14T10:38:00.000-08:00

The first podcast I listened to was my own group's podcast, the first podcast of the series of Technology Talk on iTunes, Facebook as an Educational Tool. My group members were myself, Stephanie Ellis and Jalisa Mobley. My first improvement was for myself: I say "you know" a little too often. For my own credit, I was having to speak off the top of my head about the short history and introduction of Facebook. I wish that we would have been able to keep up more of a conversational tone with our podcast. All in all, I would have to say that it was done well considering it was the first podcast we (our group) had ever done! Also, I like how our group discussed the professionalism of Facebook, and the problems that could arise with blogging.

The second podcast I listened to was another group's podcast by podcast hosts Theola Hines and Larrica Smith on Facebook as an Educational Tool. I like how one of the hosts was asking questions and the other student was responding. It was a little more conversational and lax than ours podcast. It seemed like talking over coffee and I enjoyed it more that way.

The last Facebook as an Educational Tool podcast I listened to was Allison Midgett and Shaundretta Bethel's. I could hear their nervousness in their voices but I did like how they had several applications that we didn't have. It provided some variety.

The last podcast I listened to was Adrienne Lynch, Joylyn Reese and Brian Stevens' You Tube as an Educational Tool. The group seemed a little nervous and each host did not speak very smoothly. They seemed like they either hadn't practiced or were nervous during the podcast. The podcast was informative, though. I feel they kept approaching the topic from the same angle.

Mathematics with Technology

2008-11-07T20:25:00.000-08:00

I listened to both Mathematics with Technology podcasts by Judy Chandler of Maine Learning Technology Initiative. As I mentioned before, I am a visual learner and teamed with a rather (I'm being brutally honest, here) boring host of a math and technology talk, it was difficult to trudge through the nearly nine minutes (total) of podcasting.

Judy Chandler, however, did make some good points! Using computer generated visual aids for math students is a great idea for those non-auditory learners. (Maybe it would have helped if her podcast was a videocast... just saying!) Her strong points of integrating math and technology were: (and yes, I did have to write this down, luckily, she spoke at snail speed and I only had to 'go back and listen' once.) Some students "are unable to connect with the content" others simply succeed by memorization. Technology engages the student in a "multi-sensory, authentic, and collaborative learning environment."

As a teacher, I could use math programs to help re-teach to students who would like extra help or who appear to be struggling during 'down time' (if there really ever is such a thing.) I thought it was helpful that Judy Chandler offered access to her site in Maine that provided more ideas for teachers to implement technology specifically in math in their classrooms! I don't know of anyone who just never had to study math, never had to work the problems in the homework to do well.

I would also like to play devil's advocate here for a minute. I had a WONDERFUL math teacher in high school, Coach Campbell (yes, a baseball coach actually taught MATH.) He was such a great math teacher I took him for every math class he taught at Gulfport High School. He was able to relate the material (Algebra I, Algebra II, and College Algebra) in real terms that students could understand, and ENGAGED us in discussion about a problem. Almost everyone made A's in his class, and not because they memorized equations but because they KNEW the equations and executed math problems successfully. He just had this simple approach to algebraic problems and our class was successful without the help of technology. It is also important to note that sometimes technology can be used as a crutch for not teaching. Sitting a student down at a computer and telling them to learn is not teaching. But you already knew that ;)

The Stanford Challenge: Growth vs. Fixed Minds

2008-10-31T14:41:00.000-07:00

The Stanford Challenge videocast was an 'experiment' about the capacity to learn. Two different groups of Stanford students were formed. One group was told that they had 'fixed minds,' meaning, they were not able to increase their capacity to learn. The second group was told that the brain is like a muscle and that the capacity to learn can be increased. The experiment took place over eight workshops (the groups were separated.) Information about study skills was reinforced to the two groups in the eight workshops.

The "fixed minds" group thought before a presentation were concerned about whether or not they would come off as smart or stupid. Their example was that intelligence is fixed, and therefore cannot be adjusted. The "growth" group came to understand that learning must take place to increase learning capacities. Their example was how no one laughs at a baby that is learning. Most interesting of all the information in the videocast, was that at the end of the workshops, the teachers could tell a difference in the students' performance who were in the "growth" group, even though they were never told about the 'experiment.'

From a teacher's viewpoint, I have practiced this every day I have been in a classroom. Thanks to Montessori training, I learned early on that if a teacher/parent/guardian/role model tells a child they are a bad student or incapable of learning anything than that child will do their best to achieve and earn that title. Children do not want to disappoint, remember. On the same hand, if a teacher/parent/guardian/role model tells a child they are wonderful and intelligent than that child will also try to achieve that title. It works in the best interest of everyone around if we have HIGH expectations for children and explain to them that the expectations are high because I/you/we know they are SMART! They can ACHIEVE!

Some teachers understand the repercussions of such damaging words, perhaps because they either overcame similar damaging words themselves as young children or because they were always told that they can do it, that they have great value. Those children, who were told that they CAN achieve, probably never learned the habit of telling children they CAN'T in the first place.

At the Montessori school I worked at August 2007 - May 2008, I corrected a toddler teacher when she called a small child, aged two years old, "Horrible Hannah." I stopped her and explained to her how children desperately want to seek approval from an established leader. She tried to argue with me, saying that she turned out just fine and her parents called her "bad" when she was behaving badly. (I will not get into her personal attributes that would clearly disprove her last ridiculous point.) I then looked blankly at her after hearing this and said, "Maybe I'm wasting my time on you. Maybe you're not worth my breath. Maybe you're just " 'Krappy Kristen.' " I believe I proved my point.

WGBH Video Podcasting

2008-10-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

'I listened to two videocasts, K-5: 'Solar Eclipses' and 6-8 'Homo Sapiens Versus Neanderthals.' In 'Solar Eclipses,' the videocast presented computer animated images of how a solar eclipse happened. There was an astronomer who spoke about how the sun is 400 times larger than the moon and the moon is 400 times closer to earth than the sun, so the sun and the moon appear (from earth) to be the same size, thus making a solar eclipse possible.

In 'Homo Sapiens Versus Neanderthals' (grades 6-8) there were several people who spoke on the subject, one of them being a professor from Harvard. They simply discussed the differences between Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals, such as bone structure, habitat, and the slight edge that Homo Sapiens probably had over Neanderthals.

Coming from a teacher's view point, I would use these videocasts occasionally to help reinforce a subject. For example, if my second graders were learning about the solar system, the 'Solar Eclipse' videocast would be very helpful because of the interesting computer graphics that helped better explain the process of a solar eclipse.

I would not, however, show the video cast for 'Homo Sapiens Versus Neanderthals' because it didn't seem to teach much you couldn't find in a text book. There were no demonstrations and the explanations were very broad and pointless. I like walking away from a learning experience with at least one 'fun fact,' and with this videocast, I didn't find anything interesting enough or useful enough to hold onto.

Teaching Big Ideas

2008-10-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

The Edible Schoolyard:
At Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, CA a program called 'The Edible Schoolyard' was founded by Alice Waters in 1994. I've got to say, that this program is a resounding Montessori teaching style. The students are planting, harvesting and eating the fruits of their labor in their (very large) garden. The teacher incorporates science, social studies, math, and life skills into the garden classes. Teachers walk students through the process of where our food comes from. From the planting of the seed to the cooking of their harvesting. I am happy for these students because I know what a joy it was for my preschool students at Weinacker's Montessori School to have their own herb garden.

A Night in the Global Village:
At Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas students from Denver are experiencing what it is like to be from a totally different country with different lifestyles from their own. Like students at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, the students are immersed in learning. The students at Heifer Ranch make their own fire and cook their own food. These students are given specific living environments on this National Geographic-esque ranch. The students discuss problems they encountered there. I love this simulation-style learning.

Podcasts... Tricky Learning for Non-Auditory Learners!

2008-10-10T17:51:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be honest. I'm not a big fan of podcasts. I would much rather read unbiased information from reliable paper sources than listen to people speak. My learning style definitely conflicts with this type of information. I am a visual learner. I like to read, and when I cannot read, I like to physically take notes because unless I am in an actual conversation with the person/people speaking I will remember very little. At the end of many of the podcasts, I nearly forgot what I was listening for anyway.

The problem I ran into with the podcasts I listened to is they were either very organized and had their notes together or they spoke out of turn and the blogs became more about their personal stories than the informational topic(s) that the podcast was titled after. As a visual learner, I would have difficulty taking notes when the hosts of the podcast would speak out of turn.

In general, podcasts are just not helpful for students like me. Even videocasts won't be much improvement because unless you are an auditory learner, you won't get nearly as much out of it. The one pro to having a videocast to listen to as opposed to a podcast is that you can see the people that are speaking instead of just hearing a barrage of random voices interjecting here and there in the conversation.

I could see some students benefitting from the use of podcasting in the classroom. For auditory learners, they could easily listen to information and perhaps the podcasts could reinforce what is being taught in the classroom. For visual and kinesthetic learners, maybe they could work better with demonstrating their knowledge on a subject through podcasting themselves. I know I learned more about "Facebook as an Educational Tool" through not only researching the topic but also practice-discussing it ahead of time with Stephanie Ellis (one of my group members) and discussing it again in front of the mic.

Photo Editing Time!

2008-10-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

2008-10-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Randy Pausch's Last Lecture via YouTube. I can't even imagine being in his shoes during his last months. I am in awe of the great optimism and strength he had. I felt happy, sad, and inspired over the duration of the entire lecture. Dare I say that everyone could find a wealth of wisdom in his lecture that could transcend into their everyday lives. I know I certainly have.

First, he discussed achieving his childhood dreams, which from the beginning of the lecture, I thought that was what the entire hour and sixteen minutes or so would be about. Oh, little did I know. As inspiring enough as a lecture on achieving your childhood dreams may seem to be, it was so much more. His life eventually became more than just his dreams. He discussed wanting to be at zero gravity, meeting Captain Kirk, and being a Disney Imagineer (among other dreams.) Later, he began to describe perhaps the greatest achievement of all, becoming a professor and realizing the need to help so many others achieve their dreams. Randy Pausch went on to discuss at length his work at Carnegie Mellon with Computer Science students and their virtual reality projects.

Pausch gave a lot of advice for everyone. He discussed the importance of feedback. And not just the importance of feedback, but the importance of listening to feedback and responding to it. He said (and I can't quote him exactly) 'that when you know you're doing a bad job and no one is telling you that you are, you're in a very bad place. The critics are the people that love you and want to see you do well.'

For teaching, he discussed the 'head fake,' which is letting a student do something fun while you're teaching them something difficult to learn. There is a project, Alice, that has been in the works for quite sometime now. Alice is a 'head fake' aimed at young students that has a story telling aspect to it that 'tricks' kids into learning how to write code. He knows he will never get to see the finished project but he knows where Alice is headed.

Duke University iPod Initiative

2008-09-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

In August 2004, Duke University distributed over 20GB iPods to over 1600 entering freshman. The purpose of the iPods were to promote creative uses of technology. In Duke University's iPod First Year Experience Final Evaluation Report the faculty reported five academic uses for iPod: course content dissemination tool, classroom recording tool, filed recording tool, study support tool, file storage and transfer. Students were more engaged, the digitalized course content was very convenient, and digital recording was very useful. The expectation with the student's iPods is that the students should keep the same iPod throughout their college career. A main concern of mine was that iPods do not last forever, and neither does technology. After several years, the battery life of the iPod would prove detrimental to the education process. What if the iPod lost battery power after only 30 minutes (which is quite common after just a couple years of use?) The student would not be able to sit through an entire lecture using the recording device on the iPod. The student would have to do work in half our increments if depending solely on the digital information in the iPod.

Some improvements need to be made to Duke University's iPod initiative. First off, all students and faculty need to be educated on how to use the iPod and really benefit from all that Apple's iPods offer. In Duke's evaluation, they discovered some problems in document uploading. Sound quality and PC to Mac connectivity became a problem.

Another helpful site I found about the educational uses of iPods is 100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study. The site is pretty self-explanatory. It divides the uses into specific categories and provides helpful links!

Dr. Christie's WebQuests

2008-09-22T14:12:00.000-07:00

After searching through Dr. Alice Christie's website, I found this site about WebQuests. I learned that WebQuests are a way for the teacher to create a structured environment to engage a student in learning about a specific topic. Dr. Christie explains that "different forms of WebQuests include searchable databases, microworlds that can be navigated, interactive story or case study, forum-type documents that elicit analysis of a situation, and on-line interview simulation. Non-electronic resources that could be used are print materials from libraries and personal interviews to conduct an opinion survey."

I am always interested in engaging students and I have used something similar to WebQuest before in my Art Education class, where powerpoint is used to create a structured learning environment on the computer. Students click on interactive images created by the teacher. Replace powerpoint with specific instructions for searching the web and you have a very similar effect.

Reliability of Wikipedia

2008-09-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

Before reading NPR's article and Wired's article about the questionable reliability of Wikipedia, I was well-aware of the problem. I find it interesting that there is a way to trace what companies/groups/political parties are editing the pages on Wikipedia and it is a good thing, too! As for whether or not Wikipedia can be a trusted site for information, I say yes. Wikipedia can be a reliable starting point for getting basic information and more research should be conducted from there. It's just important for people using Wikipedia to understand that it can be edited freely by anyone and everyone.

Internet Censorship Device

2008-09-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

In Fischbowl's Two Steps Forward (and 1.8 Steps Back) article, Fischbowl described how his school switched to a new internet filter over the summer. In his post, Fischbowl describes the problems with the new and old filter, which he so lovingly refers to as the "information censor."

I applaud Fischbowl on this post, believe it or not. Fischbowl wrote of more readily explainable ideas, like censorship, and what leaving education to third-party entities could mean for our students. I will not discuss the political feelings associated with censorship, but I will say that secondary students should be held accountable for the misuse of internet at school but that the schools should not censor students from potentially educational material on the web. I agree with the comment "Our philosophy is to have high expectations for our students, to educate them to behave ethically, responsibly and safely and then expect that they will do the right thing. When they don’t, they know we’ll have a conversation and try to learn from the mistake, but we don’t assume they are going to screw up. In other words, our philosophy has been to educate, not ban." - Two Steps Forward (and 1.8 Steps Back)

Technologically Illiterate... WHAT?!

2008-09-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

I will be very honest, again, with Fischbowl's post on being technologically illiterate. What does technologically illiterate mean? Again, it is very difficult to argue with someone who's ideas about technology are as intangible as his. Sure, a high school English teacher who cannot read or write should not be in the classroom at all. But wait, don't we have testing and oh, that far-fetched idea of a diploma in their area of teaching for being counted as 'highly qualified' to teach? Take it to the next level! Is Fischbowl saying that there should be an certification test for being 'technologically literate?' I think he's getting a little ahead of himself. What being technologically literate mean, exactly? It is far too broad! Does that mean that if a teacher cannot use powerpoint they shouldn't teach? (By the way, lecturing in class has shown statistically to be just as effective as powerpoint in teaching...) If a teacher does not have a class blog does that make them inefficient? If a teacher does not have access to a computer at their school or at their home, does that make them unqualified to teach? NO. Sure, the integration of computers in our daily lives is great, but how necessary is it to learn about social studies. I feel technology can be used as a tool just as much as a crutch if it is not used correctly. For example: if that same teacher that uses powerpoint to be 'technologically literate' is only READING OFF OF THE SLIDES then they are not being any more effective or efficient in teaching their students than simply reading out of the book! The question of whther or not teachers should be 'technologically illiterate or not teach' must be much more narrowed down and to the point for me to even argue with this guy.

New Handouts

2008-09-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

Text
Podcasting: Just The Basics
The ABCs of RSS

International Teacher Blogs

2008-09-08T18:06:00.000-07:00

WOW! Okay, I did not find these international blogs very easy to find via Google! I went from blog to blog to blog and finally found two interesting enough to write about!

The first international teacher's blog I came across was waikiki2yanai.blogspot.com The picture above is of Chris's (teacher) students receiving a treat for a job well done! Chris is originally from Hawaii and is an English conversation teacher for Japanese elementary students. His teaching blog is dedicated mostly to praising his students and updates on what the students have been doing both in class and in extra curricular activities. There were no teaching strategies or anything I found very educational except that he occasionally posted pictures of his student's journal entries on the page and posted the "top ten" students who are doing the best in the class. 'Unusual' is the best description of his blog site.

The second blog I came across was a recent Canadian graduate teaching in London. She only began teaching a few weeks ago in GB, so her blog has been mostly about her initial experiences of first becoming accustomed to a different country and second teaching in a different country. The description of her first days of teaching are nothing short of hilarious. I recommend you read the post "The First Days of Teaching" and learn about speaking 'Canadian!' :D I found this a good blog to follow because I am interested in teaching abroad after I graduate so I hope to learn some helpful tips from her in the future! Check Arlene out at: The Next Adventure

Above is a picture of Arlene, apparently a Harry Potter fan, at Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross rail station.

Teacher Blogs

2008-09-04T16:12:00.000-07:00

I know this blog Fascinate Educate is not your traditional K-12 "school" blog, but I felt it was important for me, as a future home schooler (boo... I know) to research at least one home school blog. For the traditional teacher, I also feel it is important to branch out and research homeschooling blogs because you will find MANY online resources and tons of creative ideas not so readily found in traditional teacher blogs. It was not mentioned in the blog why this parent decided that homeschooling was best for her child nor was it mentioned where the parent is from. Fascinate Educate did, however, provide lots of lesson plans, useful tips, teaching ideas, and many websites that support learning across all subjects. The site provided resources for year-round learning and included holiday/special days and seasons in addition to the separate pages and links on the site for cross-curriculum education.

I could spend DAYS going through this blog, The Teaching Palette . I am an art-fanatic and have been for as long as I can remember. I love the integration of the arts, learning about the arts, and practicing the arts in classrooms! This website is everything both art educators and all educators, for that matter, would need as a resource for teaching art (and some music, too) in the classroom. Main blog topics (which are regularly updated) include: 'Resources,' 'Classroom Management,' 'Cool + Creative' (tons of interesting links and YouTube videos,) 'Music + Art Integration,' 'Reviews' (comprised mostly of new gadget and art tool reviews,) and 'Techniques' (for educators.) All I can say, is CHECK THIS BLOG OUT! I love it!

Did You Know?

2008-09-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

I have mixed feelings about the presentation. I felt it had a lot of numbers and a lot of statistics but it was too pollyanna, too sugar-coated. The presentation brought up international population growths but failed to connect it to how we can bridge the gap between nations via the internet. 100% of India's college graduates speak English (by the way, English is their 'National Language'!) yet they fail to elaborate on percentage of NON-college grads in India (95.7%.) If Myspace was a country it would be the 8th largest in the world. But how many people currently using Myspace are not from the US?

Towards the end of the presentation, it asked some important questions regarding our children's education (and our own) for the 21st century. Are our children being tought computer literacy in schools? What is being done? However, the most important question that the video left out was "HOW can we achieve this?" I would have liked to seen a list of resources that could help anser this question.

ACCESS

2008-08-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators and Students Statewide) was established by the Alabama Department of Education. ACCESS provides a medium for high school students in Alabama's public schools to take classes not offered at their own high schools. Students can take AP courses (which follow the AP curriculum,) electives, foreign language, or upper-level core courses. ACCESS has two 'modes of delivery:' web-based instruction and IVC (videoconferencing.) Web-based instruction is usually asynchronous so the student typically works at their own pace, and IVC is usually synchronous with two-way video and audio for the students and teacher to have class at the same time.

To register for these classes, the students have to go through their counselor first. The counselor then registers the students. ACCESS typically takes place in an ACCESS lab which is set up for both web-based and videoconferencing instruction.

I found ACCESS to be a very innovative way to level the playing field for students in Alabama. Before ACCESS was developed, Alabama rated 14th out of 16 Southern states offering AP courses. I went to a very populous school for the South (Gulfport High School) which had almost 1800 students (9-12) the year I graduated, and so almost every course offered through ACCESS was offered. I could not imagine not being offered classes like AP Calculus, AP U.S. Government, or Psychology. ACCESS is very helpful for students who are interested in courses not offered at their school.

Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX)

2008-08-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

ALEX is a way for teachers to share and use (hence Exchange) information via the web. The website is divided into several easy to navigate menus: Courses of Study, Web Links, Lesson Plans, Search, Personal Workspace, Professional Learning, Distance Learning, and Help.

Courses of Study and Lesson Plans include a wide array of lesson plans uploaded by teachers from Alabama. Lesson plans can be located in each course of study ranging from Language Arts to Arts Education to Physical Education. Lesson plans are then divided into grades K through 12. In each lesson plan, the name of the author (teacher) is included as well as what district and school the teacher's lesson plan comes from. Each lesson plan includes an overview, content standards which are met, local/national standards, learning objectives, approximate duration of the lesson, materials and equipment, technology resources needed, background/preparation, procedures/activities, attachments, assessment strategies, extension, remediation, and accommodations.

Professional Learning, Weblinks, and Distance Learning provide teachers with a number of resources at their fingertips. Professional Learning is exactly that, a helpful tool that provides teachers with helpful resources for their profession. Weblinks provides many web resources in every subject area not only teachers, but students and administrators, too. Distance Learning is a way for teachers to continue learning and growing as educators.

I do not plan on teaching in a public school setting. I will be using my knowledge I gain in my Elementary Education classes primarily to home-school my own children. This website will be useful for lesson planning in the future for me as a home-educator. I also found the Weblinks to be an integral part of ALEX because it connects not only the teacher to other Alabama teachers but it introduces technology into perhaps a part of the lesson not otherwise explored. I found the Art Education sites to be extremely entertaining and engaging.

A Snapshot from My Summer!

2008-08-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

This is a picture from an international peace organization I'm involved in, CISV. The guy on the left, Victor (Brazil,) the two boys next to me: Jack and Mason (USA.) I took the two boys to Chattanooga, TN for a month to experience different cultures from around the world!