Blog Assignment 13

Alabama Learning Exchange, or ALEX, is a great tool for teacher resources. ALEX offers courses of study, which is basically a lesson plan in a subject to help teachers organize what their students may need to be learning according to their grade level. They offer courses ranging from Language Arts to Driver & Traffic Safety Education. ALEX offers web resources. This section is set up in different tabs according to students, teachers, and administrators and offers great website links. ALEX allows you to create lesson plans and access lesson plans by title, author, or even school. ALEX is great for collaborating. If you create a personal workspace, you can submit your lesson plans for others to see and share ideas. Tutorials and Alabama Department of Education Program Websites are available. There is also a page called Podcast Treasury that has downloads, content, and links for resources. ALEXville allows you to access other resources such as their blog. There is even a search tab to look up things faster on the site.

I think that it is great that something like this exists. Some people are not as lucky as we are to be able to collaborate with others and have access to websites and lesson plans and blogs. ALEX makes it easier for future educators to feel like they are not alone in this journey we call education. I think resources like ALEX will help me tremendously as a teacher.

Additional Assignment #5

We were assigned to look at a blog by John T. Spencer. We were told to look at four of his posts. In these posts, Mr. Spencer does a great job telling us how he relates to his students. He also tells us how technology can relate to the classroom. He is the type of teacher who wants to get to know his students. He wants them to learn meaningful things, not necessarily fun things. If technology and language, such as metaphors, can help his students to learn meaningful and beautiful things, then that is awesome!

I think everyone should visit John T. Spencer's blog and read the posts entitled, "Just Teach Them To Solve for X," "Sketchy Portraits: 8th Grade Identity and Pencils," "He Just Likes the Class for the Pencils." and "The Medium Shapes the Learning."

Project 15

Project 6

Television Habits Summary

This project was very interesting. I chose to survey people's television habits because I know that I watch entirely too much television. I wanted to know how television affected other lives. I also wanted to know how much their surroundings and gender played a role in this.

I had 20 people participate in my survey, the majority of which were female. This worked out for me because I, too, am a female. The majority of the people who answered this survey were between the ages of 18 and 25, with a few over the age of 25. Again, I fall into the age range of the majority of the participants. I decided to ask about living arrangements. I live with my parents and we spend time together watching our favorite television shows. Most of my participants live with others and do not have children. I also do not have children.

After asking these personal questions, I began asking about television habits. The majority of my participants said that they only watch television 1-5 hours per week. It was a close call between actually paying attention to the television when it is on and not paying attention to it. I can understand this because a lot of the time, I have it on for background noise and am not even paying attention to what is on. It was also a close call when it came to watching television alone or with others. Like I said earlier, my family and I spend time together and watch our favorite television shows, but I can understand wanting time for yourself. Most people said that they watch television during the evening/night. I am definitely a night owl, and this is also when I do most of my television viewing. I also wanted to know what types of television shows people like to watch. I am a very diverse person, so I will watch just about anything. When given the choices of sitcoms, cartoons, reality television, soap operas, documentaries, and dramas, sitcoms came in first place, with documentaries and dramas not far behind. I also asked my participants what their favorite television show was and the answers were very different, ranging from "General Hospital" to "American Pickers."

I learned that I have a lot in common with the majority of the people who answered my survey. Our personal lives and our television habits are very similar. I started this survey thinking that I watch entirely too much television, and that view has not really changed. However, it makes me feel better that I am not alone.

Progress Report on Final Project

The semester is coming to an end, and this means that our final project is approaching. I do not have much of a report right now because we have just recently started talking about it. Right now, my project is still in the brainstorming stage. I am sharing ideas with a group and cannot wait to put those ideas into play!

Blog Assignment 12

Instructions:
Think about the technology you have learned about this semester. Write about your favorite teaching tool concerning technology and explain why.

I think that my favorite thing we have learned about this semester would have to be blogging. We have had so many opportunities to see how blogging can better a classroom. We have had the opportunity to visit class blogs and individual blogs of teachers and students of every age.

I think that it is important for students to feel like they can express their creativity for the world to see. Through blogging, they can communicate with other people and have people give them insight. Blogging even includes the parents. Parents are able to access their children's school work by visiting the class blog or the student's individual blog. I think this is important because the parent does not feel like they are in the dark when it comes to the classroom. If they have a concern they can check the blogs and make an appointment with the teacher if they have further questions.

I think blogging has the capability of bringing everyone closer. No one feels like it is a waste of time. I can say this due to the individual student blogs I have read this semester. These students really get into these blogging assignments. They show their creativity, and you can really see them strive toward their goals. It is a great thing to see!

Project 14-Teach Someone Something

How To Make Nachos

Blog Assignment 11

Ms. Cassidy is a teacher who is very open to technology. One of her teaching tools that I have found useful is blogging. She has a classroom blog, and her students blog to express their creativity. I, honestly, started this class thinking that blogging was pointless. However, my opinion has changed dramatically. Blogging can do a number of things in the classroom. Ms. Cassidy talked about how her students loved blogging because they knew that people from all over the world could see their work and comment on their work. They like sharing. It makes them feel accomplished. The parents also are able to access what their students are doing at any point. I think blogging makes everyone feel involved in the classroom.

I think it is very helpful that Ms. Cassidy has a technology coordinator to back her up and help her talk to administrators and her superintendent. She had said that some of the administrators that she had been around never discouraged her use of technology, but were not really very interested. Some people in the world of education seem to be turned off by the use of technology. They do not see how useful it can be. I guess some people just do not welcome change. I think we need to try to open people up to technology. Sometimes just a taste of it can change a person's mind.

C4T Summary Teacher #3

I have been following Mr. John T. Spencer. His blog is very interesting.

On October 24, 2010, he posted "What Testing Does to Good Teachers." In this post, he talks about how crazy standardized testing makes teachers. The scores on these tests affect the way people look at teachers. It should not be this way. In my comment, I told him that I have noticed how crazy teachers get during this testing time. I have seen this through substitute teaching. I brought up that sometimes kids freeze up on tests, and this is something we have to recognize.

On October 30, 2010, he posted "Failure Is Part of Science." This post talked about learning that things do not always go as planned. His kids were doing independent science projects and were getting frustrated because the outcomes were not as they had expected. I told him that this was something I think we all experience. This is a great way to learn all about the scientific method.

Mr. Spencer's blog is a great read. Everyone should check it out!

Summary C4K 3-7

For the past month, I have followed some amazing kids.

In week 3, I followed James, a year 5 student from New Zealand. One of his posts told a story of a captain and his journey, but his picture stole the show. He drew a picture depicting the story. It was colorful and really drew the reader's eye. I told him that he has great artistic abilities. You can really tell that he has a very active imagination.

In week 4, I followed Sunita, a year 6 student. One of her posts talked about her best friend, Chole. She talked about the sleepover that the two of them were going to have. I told her that it was important to have someone to turn to.

In week 5, I followed Sam, a 7th grade student from Australia. One of Sam's posts talked about goals. Sam's goals include listening, behaving, and not getting distracted. I told Sam that everyone gets distracted at some point or another.

I also followed a senior in high school who talked about what she had learned in school. I told her that she learned how to do something that can be very hard to do, and that is to respect other people's opinions. People can learn a lot from the opinions of others.

In week 6, I followed Colton, a 6th grade student from Iowa. One of his posts talked about his brother going to Afghanistan. I told him that I could relate because I recently had a friend deploy to Afghanistan. You have to stay strong during times like this.

In week 7, I followed Erica, a 5th grade student. One of Erica's posts talked about her goal of becoming a detective. She talked about how drugs and alcohol would get in the way of that. I told Erica that she had strong goals and that it was great that she was so driven.