International

One international blogging site I found was epals SchoolBlog. The administrators are Candace Pauchnick & Yaodong Chen. They are having their students interact through this program. By interacting they are learning about each others cultures and areas of studies. They have connected students between the Czech Republic, Italy, China, France and many other countries. Their blog shares summaries and examples of the communications between the different students.

http://sites.epals.com/cpauchnick/blog/32

The second one I found was called B2 A Classroom of 6-7 Yr Olds. The teacher was a man named Mr. Lietze and the school was in New Zealand. He updated the blog weekly to keep it current. It is still open so the students can look back on their past year at any time they want to. One post I found was a letter from a girl named Memphis. She had recently moved away and was using the blogs as a way to keep in touch with her former classmates and teachers. She could also see the work her former classmates were completing.

http://b2rocks.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-12-12T11%3A42%3A00%2B13%3A00&max-results=7


Teachers are using technology internationally to bring students together. They are teaching them how to communicate with others. They are also using technology to keep others informed and up to date on what they are doing in the classroom.

I think technology had played an increasing role in education and will continue to do so. By seeing what others are learning, it encourages the students to want to actively learn more in their own classrooms. I also think it is good because it encourages students to learn about other cultures through first hand communication.

K12

One site I found about blogging in the classroom was Mr. Langhorst’s Web Classroom. This site is an interactive site on his daily teachings. He posts daily blogs and podcasts. By doing this parents can see what is going on in the classroom. Also, by doing this, student’s have a better way of keeping up with class when absent. He also posts studycasts to help the students review for tests.

http://www.liberty.k12.mo.us/~elanghorst/blog

Another site I found was called edublogs. This is a site where teachers and students can post blogs. Through this site I found Ms. Mueller’s Science Class. This is a page set up for her students so she can keep them informed on what is happening in the classroom. It has links to the syllabus and different PowerPoint presentations.

http://muellere.edublogs.org/7th-grade-science/

Technology is being used more in more in the classroom today. I think both examples above show this. Technology is helping students stay on top of their assignments. If they miss a day of class or did not understand something in class they can log onto the computer and find the help they need.

Over this past semester I was observing a fifth grade class at a local public school. After students were done eating, several always wanted to go to the media room to work on projects for the media club. Another thing I noticed was the writers that were being used in the classroom. Each student was assigned a particular number and would use that writer. The writer was a key board with a small screen so they could see what they were typing. When they finished with their assignment they would link it to the computer to be printed out to be graded. The teacher I was observing said the only time the class was 100% quiet and attentive was when they were using the writer’s. I think technology has come a long way since I was in school, and I am eager to try and stay on top of things so I can help my students receive a good education.

ACCESS

The Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide (ACCESS) program is a great new tool. ACCESS offers “high quality classroom courses and teachers via technology.” Part of the problem in Alabama is the limited course offerings in many of the rural and low income areas. The goal of ACCESS is to provide additional education for high school students.

There are two different ways to use ACCESS. One is through web based instruction. This includes “website portal, multimedia content and electronic office hours.” The other way is through Videoconferencing. This includes “real-time, streaming, electronic office hours and H.323 standard.” There is also a thing called blended which combines these two methods.

I would use ACCESS in my classroom to try and help further my student’s education. ACCESS would also provide my student’s with classes not currently offered at our school. I think it is a great tool for further enhancing student education.

ALEX

ALEX offers many valuable resources for teachers. The areas include Courses of Study, Web Links, Lesson Plans, Personal Workspace, and Professional Learning just to name a few. You can click on the different areas and find valuable information for teachers.

The Courses of Study link takes you to a page where you can choose from different courses, such as Math, Science, Social Studies, etc. After clicking on one of these links you can choose which grade level you are looking for. It then gives you links to web sites and lesson plans.

ALEX would be useful to a teacher who is stuck working on a lesson plan. They can go to this site and get helpful information to help with planning. You can also find other teacher’s lesson plans to help you with yours.

I would use ALEX for lesson planning purposes. I think it is a great site and would be helpful to many teachers. I would also use ALEX to find websites that would coincide with my lesson plans. That way I could either bring them up in class, or give the sites to the students so they could look them up on their own.

First Post

My name is AllisonO'Brien. I received my first degree in Communications from the University of South Alabama in December 2005. I am currently working on my second degree at the University of Alabama. This time I am going for Elementary Education.

I recently joined a coed softball league. This has been fun except for the many injuries my team has already received. Before our first game in pre-season two of our players, one guy and one girl, were warming up together. Another player was practicing batting. Well the batter said head's up and the guy warming up looked up. Well the girl he was warming up with did not hear the head's up and she threw the ball at him. It hit him directly in the nose. He ended up having to get 3 stitches where his nose busted open. He also had to have surgery two fix where it was broke in two places.

The second injury happened in week 1 of the regular season. A girl was up to bat and hit the ball off the small end of her bat and it popped up and hit her in the face. She had to go to the hospital and get five stitches.

Last week we played game 3. Well no one on our team got hurt, but we did accidentally hurt the other team. A girl hit the ball between 2nd and 3rd base. While she was running to first our player through the ball to first and it ended up hitting her in the side of her face. She ended up being ok and able to finish the game.

We are 3-0 and have our next game tonight. Go AJM Softball!!!!