Project # 16

Blog Post # 13

Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) is an educational web system that provides high-quality resources for Alabama educators, parents and students. ALEX provides courses of study, web resources and lesson plans. ALEX has the contents standards listed for the following courses of study: English Language Arts, Mathematics, Art Education, Career/Technical Education, Health Education, Science, Social Studies, Foreign Languages, Physcial Education and Other Courses of Study. Therefore, Alabama educators have easy access to what they need in order to meet the requirements for each course that they teach. ALEX also has interesting podcasts and web links available for teachers to view. ALEX has been recieved rewards and recognition for being a high-quality resource for Alabama educators.

Based on th given facts, ALEX is a very beneficial site for anyone who plans to teach in the state of Alabama. This site has everything available for teacher to view in order to be a successful teacher. I plan on visiting this site regularly when I become a teacher.

Alabame Connecting Classros,Educators, & Students Statewide(ACCESS) is a program available for students that attend public high schools in Alabama. ACCESS' goal is to create equity through educational offerings for Alabama high school students. ACCESS offers information about regular and advanced placement courses, Alabama High School Graduation Exams and course offerings. ACCESS also provides resourses like test preparation materials and textbooks. ACCESS is also a very beneficial site for future Alabama Educators.

C4K Summary # 3

I was assigned the post entitled Irish Punk Rock on Mr. McClung's blog. In this post, he gives an interesting description of the Murpheys. He describes the Murpheys as an Irish American Celtic punk band that began in the basement of a friend's barbarshop. The Murpheys were formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. The Murpeys are famous for their extensive touring, St. Patricks Day Weekend Shows, and paronage of the Bostn Red Sox, Celtics and Bruns. On March 1, 2011, they will be releasing their seventh album. I have never heard of the Murpheys before. From reading this description of the Murpheys, I would like to hear them one day.

From Mrs.Thompson's 6th and 7th grade class located in Room 13, I was assigned to a girl named Olivia. She has a very COOL BLOG! In the post that I commented on, she talks about her class doing a dance to a song entitled "Rock Me." Their class plans on doing the Jive for their dance. A woman named Marilyn is going assist them with their dance movements. For the dance, they wanted the girls to dance with the boys but they did not have enough boys. However, the girls had to dance with other girls. This dance sounds like a lot of fun! I am taking both Modern and Jazz Dancing this semester! I really enjoy both of them!

Mrs.Yollis'Blog was very enjoyable to read! Her blog is very interesting and well-costructed. I love it that she has the parents so involved in their children's education. I watched a video that Mrs. Yollis created entitled "How to Comment." In this video, she fully explains how to comment on her blog. She also explains how to comment and gives excellent examples of quality comments in the blog post entitled "Quality Commenting During Famiy Blogging Month." Mrs. Yollis has to approve your comment before it is published. Quality commenting is very important. I am going to take the advice that Mrs. Yollis gave about quality commenting into consideration.

From Mrs. Yollis' class, I was assigned to comment on Hannah's Blog. Both Hannah and Leila did a Wonderful Thing! They donated their 10 inch ponytails to Locks of Love. Locks of Love provides is an organization that provides free wigs to children in Canada that have a financial need. It was very genrous of both of them to donate their hair to support this organization. Both of these girls have a very good heart!

Final Project Progress Report

My group consists of me and Krista Edwards.

Here are our possiblities:
1. A video addressing the expectations of EDM 310.
2. "Plan Out Our First Class" video.
3. A movie addressing the importance of technology to parents.

We will be meeting in the next couple of days to finalize our decision.

Blog Post # 12

Assignment: Find an interesting video or link that reinforces what you have learned about technology.

Example:

I urge you to watch this video and think about all of the possibilities that they discuss technology can bring and relate them to how you plan on incorporating technology in your classroom. This video is a must see!

Project # 15

Special Assignment

Mr. McClung's World is such a great blog. By reading this blog, I have found out that Mr. McClung is a fun, interesting and self-motivated guy. I would say that Mr. McClung is the perfect example of a good educator. He adds fun and excitement to the classroom, and he also cares a lot about his students. I like all of the rules that he has listed. I think that all teachers should consider them.

The first item that he has listed under the "Everyone Needs" is a day planner. I believe that he has listed as the first item because he wants his students to stay organized and keep up with important assignment due dates. Dr. Fregeau suggests that all of her students get a planner the first week of her class and write down important due dates for papers and projects. I certainly found this idea very beneficial.

His penalties for being late are identical to Dr. Strange's. For Mr. McClung, being late results in reduction of a letter grade. If an assignment is not turned in after three days of the due date the student would would receive a failing grade. Dr.Strange also penalizes students for late work too. He has stressed to us to submit all of you work in ON TIME. This should push students to do their assignments way before the due date and not procrastinate.

I think that it is a wonderful idea for him consider using his blog as a daily newsletter and provide available resources for parents, students and teachers. This will be a great way for parents to stayed abreast of what is going with their children at school.

The first link that I looked at in depth is Homework Rules for the Whole Family. It gives suggestions on how parents can establish homework rules for their child, and it also has a homework personality quiz that students can complete. The second link that I looked at was Planning and Organizational Skills - Planners Help with Organizational Skills. It explains how planners can help improve a students to be more organized. Both of these links give very helpful advice to help students succeed academically.

All of the rules that he gave about Internet Safety are very good. I would not add or subtract anyone of them. From reading these rule, I learned that it is not safe to reveal my last name, address, phone number, or school name in chat rooms and on websites. I have my last name on my Facebook and My Blog, but I do not think that it is bad that I have my last name on them.

I was assigned to read Irish Punk Rock. In this post, he gave a very interesting description of the Murpheys. I have never heard of the Murpheys before. But, I would like to hear them one day.

Mr. McClung's blog is so interesting and cool. It is not like any blog that I have ever seen this semester. I wish that I could do a whole lot more with my blog. Mr. McClung has everything available on his blog for parents, students, and teachers to keep up with concerning his class. I think that this great to have. When you have a chance, you should definitely check it out! It Is Amazing!

Blog Post #11

There are no other words to describe First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class but simply amazing. It is so cool to see first graders having blogs, doing videos and using Skype. I thought that it was so cute when the little boy said, "Commenty by only saying nice stuff because you may hurt someone's feelings. I do agree! The Skype Interview with Ms. Cassiday was GREAT! She gave some very helpful advice. I think that is so wonderful that she exposing her students to technology at a young age. The advice that she gave about Twitter and Facebook was very good. Before I took EDM 310 I did not think that Twitter was a needy tool to have, but now I see the value of having Twitter. The suggestion that she made about students having a school Facebook is a wonderful idea. As a matter of fact, I am thinking about doing this when I become a teacher. I also like the idea of students having blogs. I also think that it is no more than right for parents to sign a form in order to allow their children to have blogs. Thanks Mrs. Cassidy for sharing such great ideas!

Project # 14

For the "Teach Someone Something" Project, I am teaching Mrs.Pamela Boykin how to change the design of her blog and the font of her blog title.

Blog Post # 10

An Open Letter to Educators was an excellent post! The video that Morgan had embeded into her blog with Dan Brown was Awesome! Dan Brown is a very interesting guy with a very open mind. He dropped out of school because his schooling was interfering with his education. He stated that in order to succeed in the planet of the 21st Century, a strong education for every human being isn't just important it is essential. I Strongly Agree! In this day and time, it is almost impossible to find a job without having an education. He also explained how valuable information is. Information from the internet is very valuable because it is free and convient. He used the internet rather than using texbooks because it is free. I would not do this because some subjects require you to have a textbook. He said, "If institutional education wants to survive in the information age it needs to do more than just adopt a few new tools. This is the truth. When he went to school, there were 40 to 200 kids in one class with just one professor. The professor did not bother to learn their student's names, encourage interaction, and they lectured using powerpoints. They were required to jot down the notes from the powerpoints, memorize what they jotted down, get tested on what they jotted down and receive a grade for what facts they memorized. A lot of this is going on today! In my opinion, this is a very Lazy Teacher! I enjoyed it when he said, "Institutions based solely on providing students with facts is not preparing them for the world." This Is RIGHT! You do not need to just learn things, but you also need to know how to apply them. Just learning facts will not get you anywhere. I learned a very important lesson from this video which is the I do not need to change, but I need to understand that the world is changing. The world is forever changing and it is important that we say abreast of these changes. I really enjoyed this video!!!

C4T # 3

I really enjoyed reading Edna's Blog Both of the post that I read contained some very helpful information for teachers. Anyone who has spare time should definately read her blog.

The first article that I read was entitled "Connecting the dots..." She asked "Does it sometimes feel as if there isn't space in your head for more ideas, programs, strategies and tools?" The answer to this question is simply "yes." There are so many teachers that have trouble making sense of what they are teaching. She met with a group of team members to discuss how they were going to connect the dots. In order to achieve this, they used mind maps. I like using mind maps. They make planning more easier. She also asked "Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the demands of teaching?" Many teacher would answer "yes" to this question. Teachers have to meet so many demands and requirements that it can be very stressful and overwhelming. I know that this may be me one day, but I am still looking forward to being a 21st Century Educator!

The second article was entitled "10 ways for teachers to save time..." This is a Must Read! Edna states that teachers never have enough time. This is so true! Teachers have to meet so many demands both in and out of the classroom. She explained 10 ways that teachers can manage their time wisely which include: not talking about how little time that you have, reducing meeting time, setting a timer, talking less in class, using Google Docs, using twitter, having small group discussions, setting up a class blog, managing your emails and prioritizing. All of these are very useful tips. I cannot suggest any better tips than these. I am going to take everyone of them into consideration when I teach.