Article

I agree with the article. Hardly anyone nowadays uses the printed page as much as it used to be used. The internet, videos, etc. are taking over. This is perfectly fine with me. I have always been a much better watcher and listener than reader. I guess everyone is different. Some people would much rather read information than watch or listen to it. As a teacher, I guess I will have to adapt to everyone's individual needs while trying to improve everyone's weaker skills.

Blogs in Classrooms 2

An August 2004 article , from the New York Times discusses the convenience of blogs in the classroom. "With blogs, class doesn't have to end when the bell rings," said a blogger from Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, NJ. A second grade teacher from Frederick County, MD talks about her (second grade) students use blogs instead of journals because blogs allow the students to interact with each other, and they more timid students "come alive online." The article also discusses how blogs are much easier for students and teachers to maintain than web sites. Finally, as in my previous post, the article talks about how convenient it is for parents to get involved through the use of blogs.

Blogs in Classrooms

A September 2006 article , in the Boston Globe discusses how teachers in the Boston, MA area use blogs in their classrooms. A third grade teacher from Needham was interviewed about how and why she uses blogs. She posts on her blog to keep parents informed about what is going on in her class. Parents, in turn, comment on the posts and are able to communicate with the teacher and other parents. A teacher/author estimates that tens of thousands of teachers have started blogging recently. The article goes on to discuss how teachers blog outside of the classroom as well and how it is suck a useful tool for them.

adding links and pictures

First we will review the methods for creating a link. Our link will be to The Fischbowl , a blog for technology training used at Arapahoe High School in Littleton, CO.

Here is a picture from Arapahoe High School.

ACCESS

ACCESS is an acronym for Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide. It is a program that is spreading throughout all Alabama high schools. It is a program that allows students to take classes online and interact with other students from different schools around the state. Right now, only a few schools have the program, but they eventually want all 500+ schools to have it. Teachers can teach classes via video-conference or over the internet from nowhere near their home school. It's Kind of crazy when you think about it.

This is another example of how advanced technology is getting. I can't decide if I like this program or not. It takes away from the traditional appearance and environment of schools, but it does give students and teachers access to the most technologically advanced form of education. So it can't be that bad.

ALEX 2

ALEX will be very useful to me when I become a teacher. I want to teach some level of high school math-- anything from Algebra to Calculus. I can use ALEX to help me form lesson plans and communicate with my students and administrtors. I can also direct my students to the site to help them out. This seems like a very useful site and will probably be even more advanced and helpful by the time I become a teacher in a few years.

ALEX

ALEX is an acronym for Alabama Learning Exchange. This is a wonderful site for teachers, administrators, and students. It has a link to different courses of study with specific grade levels and subjects. This link actually gives teachers ideas on how to teach their specific class. There are also web links for teachers, administrators and students. There is also a guide to making lesson plans for every subject and grade level. There is a search engine and links to professional development opportunities, teaching and learning tools, news, practices, and educator resources to enhance professional growth and communication.Finally, there is a link to ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide) which will be discussed in a later post.

Shift Happens

The youtube video about the future had some very interesting figures in it. I noticed that China and India are way over populated, and that won't change anytime time soon due to the ridiculous birthrates over there. I noticed that the US might not be quite as advanced as we think compared to other countries. And finally, it is pretty dang scary how technology is advancing and taking over everything!