Alabama State Initiatives and Programs

This week our assignment is to do research on some of my state's initiatives and programs. I will review the Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) and Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide (ACCESS).

According to the website, "ALEX, a project of the Alabama Department of Education, is designed to index and share many types of educational materials and information through a time-saving, one-stop resource for educators, parents, and students. The majority of these rich resources (lesson plans, Web links, and interactive activities) are located and connected to the Alabama Courses of Study by National Board Certified Teachers. By sharing the wealth of expertise and knowledge now available through ALEX, Alabama‘s best educators, and the youth of Alabama are poised to benefit from the best of the Web!ALEX is a work in progress. It will continually improve and expand based upon your input. Communicate with other professionals through Listservs, find lesson plans and interactive resources connected to Course of Study standards, benefit from best practices in Professional Learning, and follow links to bring quality learning to your students - Alabama‘s finest!" You can view the homepage Here.

This program will help me out a lot as a teacher because I will always have a constant supply of material. I will also be able to compare and contrast lesson plans and other material with the other teachers in Alabama.This also a good site for students to find information. It sort of reminds me of a Wikipedia for teachers in a sense.

According to the web page,"The ACCESS Distance Learning plan provides Alabama students with access to quality instruction and coursework by blending:

• Rigorous Web-based and Interactive Videoconferencing (IVC) courses taught by Alabama certified and highly qualified teachers

• A technical infrastructure to deliver approved Web-based courses and connect IVC labs via a statewide network

• Three regional support centers to hire, train, evaluate, and support e-teachers

• Statewide coordination, scheduling, and support for distance learning."

ACCESS is available to all Alabama public high school students. It is a great way for students to become tech literate. This is exactly what we need here in Alabama. This program has all the ingredients for success.Check it out Here for yourself.

Kaia

This is a wonder achievement for the future of teaching. I would have never thought a father would do a blog with his three year old daughter. This event will make history. This little girl has such a big future that she doesn't even realize she has yet!

You can check out her blog Here. You will be amazed! Her blog was used as a learning tool in our classroom and Dr. Chamberlain's classroom. In Dr. Chamberlain' s classroom, they created a video and a voice thread for her to listen and view. She is the future!!!!

Mrs. Goerend's Classroom:ISLAND

I have just got finished reading the story ISLAND by Emma in Mrs. Goerend's class. ISLAND stood for International Spit Like A Llama Day. She described how everyone would get to spit where they wanted,how janitors would have more work, and how much the teachers would love the day! It sounds like fun right??? Check it out for yourself Here! Emma has a very BIG imagination!!!!


Keep up the good work!!!!

New Media Literacies Project

One interesting source of information came from Here at http://newmedialiteracies.org/. These children "research initiative based within MIT's Comparative Media Studies program, explores how we might best equip young people with the social skills and cultural competencies required to become full participants in an emergent media landscape and raise public understanding about what it means to be literate in a globally interconnected, multicultural world."

I also found this This at The Center for Media Literacy. This is a site of different links about pages with information about the project.

Lastly I found this at Ypulse! This site gave a full length description of what the project was about!

The New Media Literacies by the NML Staff

The litteracy skills discussed in this video are fundemental for anyone working, living, and playing in todays world. Anyone who handles any form of technology in todays world will have to posess at least a few of these skills.Some of these skils we are possibly born with others are learned through disipline.

Due to the constant change and rapid advancements in new technollogy, many employers now require employees to pocess and be able to apply these skill in todays workforce. A employee must be able to gather intelligence and process it quickly.

I pocess a few of these skills such as my abilities to multitask,apply collective intelligence, and negotiate. I plan to master other skills of media literacy through practice and self disipline.I believe that by accquireing these skill i will be able to benifit myself, employer, and other in the future.

Watch the video here.

Watch The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler

Whoa, I defiantly don't think I'm prepared to teach a student like that!!!!!! I didn't know people even learned like that! I knew people took online class, but not stuff like that. That method of study is very futuristic. Chick Here to watch the video!

In the video Mrs. Drexler stated several reasons why her students would need a network teacher.The students would need teachers
*For guidance
*A boost when they need help
*Information on how to filter out propaganda
*Asking respectfully for help from experts
*Practicing how to build a social network
* and more!

I can't believe she is about to try this with a middle school class. That means I might be teaching that student one day. I wonder how many students are taking advantage of this learning strategy? Is this new way of learning growing rapidly?

Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2

You can view part one and part two of This Is How We Dream by Richard Miller Here.

In Part one, Mr. Miller went over fundamental changes and incremental changes. Mr. Miller spoke on how books were important. He stated now you can buy his first print on Amazon for 59 cent. He talked about how him and his colleagues collaborate on the web. He showed us how he used web research to easily write an article on the Virgina Tech murders.

Part one merged into the even more futuristic stuff in part two. Mr. Miller talked about producing multimedia with the web. He associated this with Humanities. He felt like stories should be more compelling, therefore, showing the pictures of a whale hunt in Alaska. He feels educators should share ideas freely. He also thinks this space age technology should be available to students.

I couldn't imagine learning something so far fetched. However, I would be willing. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think things are going to be getting that advance anytime soon. I can't believe that this kind of technology is out there! This class never ceases to amaze me.

Using iPods in Instruction

Duke University is a good example if how iPods are used in instruction. Hey, if South Alabama could give use a free iPod that would be great. Duke's students use them for lecture and assignments. Also when their model gets old they can trade them in for new ones. They rent them out for the year they are the university. Click here to see for yourself!

I also found this video called "IPods in the classroom bring curricula within reach" on how students where using iPods. Houston Community College Southeast professors partner with Austin High School students for mobile learning project on iPod Touch in the classrooms. The teacher talks against drawn out lecture, and the need for technology. She might remind you of you know who. ( Hint: EDM 310) Watch the video here! Video

iTune University

iTune's University can help me as a student and a teacher. It is an educational website on how Apple products are helpful in the classroom. The Nano seems to be a classroom favorite. I will might get one for Christmas. I can do everything. Click the More Info link for more details. More info.

Students with an Apple product can put information on their device instantly. The only thing about Apple products I don't like are the prices. They are so much higher than other companies. But they do seem to be good learning tools.

Dr. Christie's Post

I selected the Educational Technology tab on her site. This page shows all the helpful ways in which a teacher can keep their classroom up to date. Dr. Christie has material for grades K-12. She seems very interested in photography.

She had a site for everything a teacher would want to do. She had Microsoft and Apple sites. Lots of the sites dealt with exchanging ideas with other teachers across the globe. Her page is a great place to go for technological advancements!

"What I've Learned This Year" by Mr. McClung

Mr. McClung's article by far must have been the best one I've read so far about teaching. He touched on every important thing a teacher must must do! He also went about explaining things in a POSITIVE way without being rude . His article was very encouraging. He is the prime example of the kind of teacher I want to be.

I also liked how he always keeps his students best interest in mind. If things don't work a certain way, he takes a different approach. He also communicates and listens to his students. That is very essential to your students preforming well in a class. Classes where I feel connected, I tend to do better and make higher grades. Lastly, he states he is reasonable. Some teachers just set one expectation for all their students. We are each very different with different needs. Mr. McClung indeed ( and Dr. Strange lol) is the prefect example of a good teacher :)

Do you trust Wikipedia?

I can remember from high school my history and science teachers saying " Don't use Wikipedia as a source of information for your research project." Everybody knows Wikipedia is a very incompatible source of information. But, I guess I am contradicting myself because I still use it to look up things. That is probably so because it's the first link you see when you put your topic in a search engine.

As far as the Wikipedia Scanner, it is a good idea to have; however, anyone will still be able to edit things. Now that people know they are being traced, I'm sure they are going to come up with a tool to prevent the tracing. Come now, some computer wise will create something for this soon easily. Why shouldn't Wal- Mart, Diebold, politicians, and etc. edit information for their best interest? It's legal. The only way to prevent this is to hire people to put in the entries. By this, I mean have the entire reviewed before being posted. Wikipedia could pay for that through advertisements maybe. But, until Wikipedia provides better means of security, the site will never be an accurate source of information.

Team Two

I have just listened to and posted on three of the little children reading a sentence. Each child read very clear. They did a great job.

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture

First, it was incredibility hard to watch and pay attention to this whole lecture. He had too many long stories. But, on the positive note, it is good he doesn't want people to feel sorry for him. He is right when he says he's in better shape than most of this audience because he sure has me beat.

It is amazing that in such little time he has fulfilled his childhood dreams. It takes other people years or even never to fulfill such dreams. My childhood dream was and is to become rich! Like Mr. Pausch said the only one holding me back is me.

I agree when he says brick walls are not meant to keep you out; they are there to keep out people who don't really want it. That saying couldn't be more true. For example it was really hard for me to pass calculus. That brick wall didn't keep me out, it made me work harder. I worked hard, and I didn't complain.

Lastly, Mr. Pausch rest in peace. I know you are in a better place. You are right! If I live my live right, the karma will take care of itself.

Tresher's Shoe Fetish

Did You Know 4.0

Wow, technology has went from good to scary!!!! We just saw 3.0 with its shocking statics. I must take it one thing at a time. All of this is so overwhelming. What are the paper producing companies going to do?
I'm just playing!!!! The increase in technology is great. I can't believe it is growing so rapidly. The most shocking thing stated was that Obama raised so much money over the Internet. You go Obama!!!! I wonder what Did You Know 10.0 is going to be like?

Room 16 and Year 5 Class Blogs

I have just finished commenting on both blog pages. Both were very creative in their own way. Room 16 took beautiful pictures on 9/9/09. The little girl Awhina was very descriptive on the procedure of the picture taking. In Year 5, The Fire of the Dragon was posted. It was a well written story, and it kept my attention. The children did a great job!

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

I read a post by Karl Fisch in which he asked whether it is okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher. Well, I know one thing for sure, his staff hates him!!!! I see he likes to start up controversy. But, I agree his theory. People should not be proud of saying they are" Bad with math," or that they " Can't read." Statements like that are not okay to admit. Those people should want to be educated.

But I do disagree with some of his theory. He shouldn't down grade teachers who aren't technologically literate either. I feel he has no room to talk about anyone. He is not the smartest person in the world, and I'm sure it is someone out there smarter than him who can question his job. If he is the smart man at work, he should want to help these people not talk about them. This kind of refers me back to Mrs. Hines article. If a teacher has been in the system for thirty plus years, they are probably older and use to teaching methods they learned in college!!!! He will see that karma is a witch!!!!!!

"It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines

In the post to Mrs. Hines I stated, "I think you are absolutely right. A teacher must be able to teach adequately before he or she can use any type of technology. By me being a student, I have ran across teachers who can't teach, but that teacher wants to use power-points, computer programs, and ect. As a teacher I feel he or she must know every student's need and be able to teach that student with or without technology."

It was so ironic to have started on this assignment today. I felt this way before I actually read the article. One professor I have is a prime example of this. She made an elaborate power-point about the lesson for today. After the lecture, she gave an assignment. I go up to ask a question and she says" It was in the power-point go on my web site a get it." I was in amazement. What kind of educator doesn't like questions. Wow!!!!! We do need a new and better breed of educators, not better power-points.

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today

This movie was right on the target. The statistical facts they showed were similar to my college experiences. The last statement the movie said was that " technology can save us." I feel that is true. I think we as people wouldn't have half the problems we have if we used more technology.

However, there are some things in the movie I would have done differently. Some of the words in the movie I couldn't see, so I would have had a voice reading. Also, once that film directer told the problems, he should have continued the movie with solutions. He should have filmed how a life or school with technology would be like. But, for the most part, it was a good movie with a strong message.