International

Darlene Lewis
EDM310-501
Spring 2008

The first international blog site that I came over was a blog site called Grade 5/6NT Blog, which is for 5th and 6th grade students. The school is located in Ottawa, Canada also known as Stittsville, Ontario, Canada. While looking at the blog site, I saw lots fun activities that the students were posting to their blog site. Most of the posting on their pages are of things that were possibly done on their spare time just to let their classmates know what is going on in their surroundings. I noticed lots of drawings and surveys. Their blog site is used to post classroom assignments, also.

The second international blog site that I discovered was an elementary school class blog called B2 – A Classroom of 6-7 Year olds, located in New Zealand. On this blog site, the teacher has posted the name of each student in her class. When you click on the student’s name, you will then see some of the children’s most outstanding work. You can tell from this blog site that the teacher puts a lot of effort into what she does with her students. Some things that are posted on this site are hand-drawn picture, photos of the students and teacher, and many blog entries on each student.

International teachers are using the blog site technology in many ways and for many reasons. One reason why they allow students to communicate through blog sites is to expand their social skills. Students usually do express themselves quite a bit on international blog sites. International teachers use more pictures than words to express themselves on their blog sites. Not only do the teachers do this, but the students do also.


International teachers use this kind of technology in the classroom and outside of the classroom. They may use blog sites to post daily activities in the classroom. They may also use their site to post what goes on outside the classroom, but pertaining to the class. An example would be a field trip. International teachers also use blog sites for individual subjects, such as math, science, and english.

http://supportblogging.com/Links+to+School+Bloggers

http://grade5nt.edublogs.org/

http://www.b2rocks.blogspot.com/

K12

Darlene Lewis
EDM310-501
Spring 2008


The first blog site I found was an 11th grade teacher/ student blog. The name of the blog site is Free-Range Thinking and it consists of a teacher and students from Northridge, California. The teacher uses this blog site in many ways. He basically uses his site to communicate with his students in his english/ literature class. He uses his site to post homework assignments and allows the students to respond back to anything that he post on the site. He also post study guides to test that he plans on giving to students and a welcome back greeting for the next school year.

The second blog site I found concerns a 1st grade classroom and their teacher, who uses this site to post everyday experiences within her class or classroom. This is a very good way for parents to keep up with what’s going on in their child’s classroom. The teacher uses this website to tell about and post pictures of field trips that the class has taken. Other than field trips, the teacher uses the website to get feedback from others that are outside of the classroom. She also has pictures of her students doing hands-on activities in her classroom.

In other K-12 classrooms, other teachers also use blog sites to post homework assignments. Not only are some blog sites used to post homework assignments, but also in-class assignments. Students use blog sites to communicate with each other about homework or in-class assignments. Some classrooms use blog sites to post essays or pictures on a particular subject. For example, a teacher may post pictures of her students interacting with each other in their science lab on a project.

Blog sites may also be used to share with others all over the world. Some sites are used to tell what you learn outside of the classroom. You then bring what you learned back in the classroom by posting it on a blog site. Blog sites are also used as a reference when needed for educational purposes in the classroom. Using this type of technology in a classroom setting can be both beneficial to the teacher and the students.


http://supportblogging.com/Links+to+School+Bloggers

http://lsculp.edublogs.org/

http://sarahpuglisi.wordpress.com/

ALEX

Darlene Lewis
EDM310-501
Spring 2008


ALEX is a recently planned state educational Web entry for Alabama teachers. ALEX, which stands for Alabama Learning Exchange, has over 1 million educators, school leaders, students, and parents as of January 2007. With the ALEX program, educators will hopefully be able to create their own web page(s) to better communicate with students and parents. This program also has sources available for use for library media specialist. The ALEX program is well known for its fun, interactive, and educational activities.

Teachers who may be looking for support in making available educational services to special needs students may find this program to be rather helpful. ALEX provides educators with simple web page use by way of the Alabama Supercomputer Authority. Continuous studies are conducted throughout the ALEX program to keep up with its progress. One study shows that the ALEX program increases student incentive. This program also bestows online professional development resources to teachers.


When I began to teach, the ALEX program will be useful to me in my classroom in so many ways. I will utilize this program to my advantage by making use of a free web page. I will use my web page to communicate better with my student(s) parents. My web page would not only be beneficial to my parents, but also to my students. I could possibly upload educational programs or educational hyperlinks for my students to use while at home or in the classroom.

Another way that I will use the ALEX program to my advantage is to utilize the programs professional development resources. This will be very valuable to me being that the course of teaching changes on a regular basis. All teachers need to expend and be aware of extra professional development resources. I would also use this program when it comes to help with lesson plans. Lesson plans are not one of a teacher’s easiest tasks; help with lesson plans would be of great assistance to any educator.

ACCESS

Darlene Lewis
EDM310-501
Spring 2008


The ACCESS program is an Alabama web-bases technology program. The ACCESS program offers classroom courses (and teachers) through modern day technology. This program offers an excellent education and valuable experiences. This program was developed for the 21st teachers and students to enjoy. The ACCESS program is sure to supply a high quality education to Alabama’s public school students.

There are many goals and objectives for the ACCESS program. Some of the goals are to gain access to advanced diploma courses, to gain access to remediation courses, and to gain access to advanced placement and dual enrollment courses. The ACCESS program has also achieved major endeavors since the program has come about. The program has granted 70 Alabama high schools with grants and over 100 teachers are qualified in the program’s course delivery. The ACCESS program has an enrollment of over 45,000.

When I begin to teach, the ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide) Distance Learning program will be helpful to me in my classroom in so many ways. With this type of technology for students, this program can be both appealing and inspirational for students so that they can enjoy school and learning. Using this program in my classroom will hopefully motivate students to further their education after their high school years. Students will be able to help their fellow classmates and also their teacher(s) with this and other web/technology based programs. This program will allow my students to receive authentic lessons from a computer based technology program.

This program will not only helpful for my future students with the latest technology effects, but it will also help me, the teacher. This program will help me to become more advanced when it comes to web based technology programs. This program will also allow me to develop my student(s) chance to learn more. I will be able to show other fellow teachers how they may enjoy using the latest technology in their classrooms. This may be especially helpful to fellow teachers who feel that the latest technology is a nuisance and is wasteful.