Alex?

ALEX is a resource website created by the Alabama State Department of Education. It was designed to index and share different types of educational material and information through one stop resource for educators, parents, and students. Most of the resources are located and connected to the Alabama Courses of Study by National Board Certificated Teachers. For teachers it offers different materials needed for lesson plans, interactive activities, and web links.

Having a website of this nature will help all public education students keep up with each other on the educational basis. I look forward to having free access to ALEX as I know that I will need guidance in additional teaching methods, resources, lesson plans, and the best techniques to be able to instruct my students. The best thing about ALEX is that it is available to students, the public, and parents as well.

Access

The Alabama State funded program is called Alabama Connecting Classroom Educators and Students Statewide or ACCESS program. The purpose of this program is to guide every student to become successful through technology and distance learning. ACCESS gives the teachers the tools that they need by giving them the opportunity to participate in online workshops which connects with staff from ACCESS for support and advice.

This program gives students an opportunity to advance in numerous ways. It allows students access to other areas of learning at no cost to them. Some of the ways in which they are able to advance is by learning independently, become more literate, and more effective at written communication. This program gives them a choice of education in another form rather than a traditional classroom setting.

Dear Kaia

I was amazed that a 3 year old could understand so much about things being discarded and yet later those things could become beautiful. I think its wonderful that her father takes the time to teach her about the earth and ways of turning bad to good. Kaia took some beautiful pictures to go along with her picture essay. It is wonderful that a father wants to spend as much time as possible to educate his daughter not just by books but about the world itself. Kaia's father opened up a whole new world for her by creating a virtual home classroom. This allows her to document her adventures, concepts, and ideas to the world.

Win Chamberlin who teaches 8th grade students in Missouri involved his students with Kaia's blog. They were touched by the father and Kaia's involvement and showing her how to find beauty in her surroundings. I think that if more older students could see this video they would be inspired to try harder in finding beauty in their own surroundings.

If you would like more information you can visit these 3 sites:
Dear Kaia
Mr. Chamberlain on his blog titled Dear Kaia: Voicethread and Video
Intrepid Teacher: Singing Hearts

6th Assignment for Comments4kids

I visited Mr. Goerend's Classroom blog. I was given the chance to comment on Chandler, W.'s blog. This person's blog was titled Dance your heart out! He asked if we liked to dance and that we would get the chance to on February 23rd which is International dance like a dancer day. He was saying that we could dance everywhere and anytime that day. He thought it would be funny to see everyone dance.

5th Assignment for Comments4kids

I was given the assignment to post on Mrs. Hudson's 5th grade class. This was their first post so it was short. I left some encouragement and gave them a link to my class blog if they wanted to see it. I am glad that they are getting into blogging.

The New Media Literacies by the NML Staff

The new media literacies project is a research initiative based within MIT's Comparative Media Studies program. It explores how we can best equip young people with social skills and cultural competencies required to become full participates in an emergent media landscape and raise public understanding about what it means to be literate in a globally interconnected, multicultural world. Anyone can join and summit ideas, videos, or other type of work to a learning library.

Media is now incorporated some way in every persons life whether its by cell phone, mp3 player, or computer. I think these 21st century skills are needed to be effective artists, citizens, and workers. As workers in this time almost every job requires you to have some knowledge on media and how to work it.

These days we have to function differently then we did twenty years ago. The video mentions that the child has become the consumer and producer of media where years ago it was a small percentage of people contributing. We do need some skills in order to survive in this media technology driven world.

Richard Miller: This is How We Dream 1 and 2

I thought this video was both amazing as well as interesting. Mr. Miller made a good point, our teachers are not prepared for this type of teaching or learning. Yet, most of the things he talked about have already taken place. Our world is already in the time where we use electrics more than anything else. I believe that students of today will continue to learn more and more when it comes to technology.

When Mr. Miller talked about negropronte I was shocked! This got me thinking what the results will be for our future going in this direction. To think that there will be bots that can go around and gather information from around the world.

I believe I would be ready to write with multimedia. I also believe if the schools were more technologically centered then students will be ready for the future. This technology will help children learn, collaborate, and invent.

To watch This is How We Dream 1 and 2 click here.

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler

This video was created in the way with the artwork and how it changed during the video. The video also shows how and why students should be technologically literate. A student needs to build their personal learning network. After that, they can create a blog or start to comment on blogs from around the world.

I do agree with Wendy Drexler on why a networked student needs a teacher. The reasons are as follows: to have guidance when your stuck, show how to communicate properly, and ask for help from experts as well as to show how to differentiate between good information and propaganda. Like some, if i didn't have a teacher I wouldn't know where to begin. So it is good to have teachers that can point us in the right direction.

Mrs. Drexler talked about experimenting with a middle school class on social networks and I was amazed to hear of her results. I applaud her for having guts to push students forward. I think it would be good for students to learn this at an early age. As fast as technology is having an impact on schools as well as the world students need to learn as fast as they can.

To watch The Networked Student click here.

Alice Christie's GPS and Geocaching

Dr. Alice Christie's website is very informational and helpful for those who are studying to be educators. The GPS/Geocaching section was very interesting. I have never heard of this concept before. Oddly enough its really popular locally, nationally, and even internationally. Geocaching creates memories the students can cherish and remember. Dr. Christie brings up important points. She explains the importance of getting students involved in their education and focuses the integration of technology in the classrooms. The Geocaching allows students to understand how the global positioning system works while having fun doing so.

Dr. Christie brings up another good point, "Using these tools and activities give classroom teachers opportunities to instill in students a curiosity about geography, science, mathematics in the world in which they live." Geocaching can allow a teacher to put difficult concepts in a simple form for students to understand. Along with several interesting and helpful lessons, she has shown how to effectively incorporate technology into classrooms for all different areas of academics.

Using iPods in Instruction

An iPod is a device that has several unique features for stimulating educational opportunities. An iPod can take you to different sites, social interactivity, exchange data, communicate with other people, can gather data, can connect hand helds with other computers to create a shared environment, and can also provide an individuals path to gathering information. They are not considered a replacement for learning, but they are tools to aid in the learning process.

In 2004 Duke University provides students with iPods. The students were able to listen to lectures and podcast as well as record classroom lectures. It was noted that there was difficulty with file sharing and the students did not have the basic technological skills to work easily within the environment. I think that younger students are more technologically advance today than in previous years. I think this would be a great tool in the classroom.
Here are some sites you can visit to read more about it:
T4-iPods in Education
Duke Sees Growth in Classroom iPod Use

iTunes University

Many students are always searching for information and yet there are many devices and information that it makes it more accessible for anyone to gain a way in to different technologies. iTunes University can be an extremely beneficial teaching tool. Although, I don't think anyone outside of a university would benefit from it.

For those that chose to use it, I think that it is a more positive and useful resource and would benefit elementary and secondary classrooms. I think this tool can be useful if applied at a young age. If it is learned at a younger age it could follow them through to college. By using iTunes University it is easier to pull up more information like lectures, labs, and etc.
Some links to look at for more information:
Apple-Support-iTunes U
CNN Article-Welcome to the University of iTunes
Standford on iTunes
Yale University on iTunes

4th Assignment for Comments4kids

For this one I had the chance to visit Korero Pt England. The one I read was Why Do Dogs Sniff Bottoms? by Aidan and Cruz from room 15. They did there podcast on the book Why Do Dogs Sniff Bottoms? by by Dawn McMillan & Bert Signal. Aidan and Cruz discussed what the book was about but they wouldn't give us the answer. So I guess I need to read the book to find out.

3rd Assignment for Comments4kids

I got the assignment to visit Room 10 @ Morrinsville Intermediate School. The first blog I visited was T.G.F.U-Cricket Term 3/4. In this one they were explaining the new skills they were learning like bowling, revising their throwing and catching skills, batting, and cricket. Sounds like they were having a great time. The second one I visited was Shadow Love. While this person was sitting with friends he/she noticed some cool shadows. Since the person had a camera he/she took a picture of it. I thought that was a fascinating picture.