itunes U

itunes university with the top ones that were downloaded.

i visited some sites that discussed the itunes university. A group of universities are putting up discussions in Philosophy and notes for professors Literature classes. There are different Universities that use the site for different reasons. One even uses it for all thier lectures. Now if you miss a class, your not begging someone else for notes that they might not have taken well. Its easily available on itunes U. It is a wonderul idea to use the itunes and students can download the notes or other information to thier ipod and listen to it!
All the new ways of getting information out these days is growing by the day.

my presentation

my presentaion

ipods in schools

read this about schools that are using ipods !

Ipods are a wonderful tool to store all sorts of info. Some universities like Duke are using them for things like simple orientation information and even loading in the fight song for students. They used to even give the Ipod away to the students but even though now they are not giving away the ipod anymore, students are required for some classes to have an Ipod.
Some schools are using them to breech language barriers. They load the Ipod with english lessons for students to be able to learn english in schools. They are being used to download all sorts of information to help students learn quicker in a world that technology is becomeing a way of life.

Dr. Christie

Dr. Alice Christie has a wondefull site that is helping educators everywhere. She has many workshops that she does to help educators with a wide variety of issues. I explored her site and my favorite part was her photography part. Her pictures are beautiful.I love how she took one picture and then applied many different attributes to it. She fully explores photography.There is helpful information on buying a camera, and using it at it'd best potential. She really has expanded on the idea of helping educators everywhere through workshops and through the internet.
As an educator this information is wonderful. Many teachers like at my son's school are using all digital camera's in which they are posting the kids pictures on the websites and they are putting them in the weekly newsletter. I plan to do a lot of the same when I begin to teach, minus the newsletter. But maybe for each class I teach using the pictures to put up a bulletin board with their weekly updates on it.

wikipedia reliable? who says?

Since as long as i can remember starting a paper or any other article i had to write, i was always told to never use Wikipedia. The information there is easily changed and therefore it can be unreliable. This site can not be considered accurate if any "average Joe" can come in access a subject then add what they believe is an accurate description/definition to the page.
The only time i use Wikipedia is to sometimes look up something for my own purposes. It sometimes gives a better description of a what I am looking for at the time. It is in general terms.
The program that was built by Virgil Griffith is a wonderful idea though.His program traces the IP address of those people who change the content on Wikipedia. Until it is perfected and able to be constantly used then Wikipedia still can't be consider a true source. People who have big companies are able to go into wikipedia right now and take out certain areas about thier product they might not want the general public to know, but hopefully in the future Mr. Griffith's idea will really be able to help and make Wikipedia a more reliable source.

180 days of instruction

here is the link to familiarize yourself with what I'm commenting on:Fischbowl
The point is brought up of 180 days of instruction in the school and is there really 180 days of instruction or not. Then there in a power point showing the deductions of days from instructional days for things like, exams, regular testing, state testing, pep rally, snow days, average sick days, movie reward day etc. So that you are left with something closer to 120 days of so called instructional days for teaching.
My opinion is that we need those days of pep rallys , reward movie days,exams, and etc. If 60 more days were added to make up for all these lack of days then, first, you loose two months of summer. Second, how many days of those 60 days would then be lost? People get sick so there goes some of those 60 days and its summer so people will take a vacation. Now are we going to add days to make up for those days in order to reach 180 days of instruction in the school? Third, When is enough, enough? Kids in the first grade come home with homework that takes 30 min. to 1 hour each night. Why? Most of this should be covered in class. I thought that was the point of school. A first grader, a child, spends more time doing instruction and school work with just barely enough time to complete home chores and spend time with family, and then squeeze in a few min. of bike riding. (not all children are raised spending the afternoon on video games!) And now please explain to me why we need to add more school time in when our kids now barely have time to be a kid!

The Fisch has a point

Is it okay? After reading this I totally agree with him. Educators should be held accountable for the learning of new technology. How can we expect to teach students what is the most accurate and new technology out there if we don't learn it ourselves. I subbed at a school recently and they are required to make a weekly newsletter for their class and send home and the teacher was having a hard time figuring out how to insert pictures of the class. "My assistant usually does this" is what she told me. I ended up helping her get the picture resized and placed properly. While i was doing this I had pondered why it was that a highly certified teacher did not know the basics of creating a newsletter.
Teachers must know how to work in new technologies in order to keep up. Children have such a curiosity to learn and if we do not teach them what they need to know to thrive in this ever changing world then we have done our society no good whatsoever!

blogs around the world

I ended up in Auckland, New Zealand! Room 12 uses their blogs to post homework and other assingments. They also have pictures and productions that the children have done in class and they are posted too. You can leave comments for the kids. Really I don't see anything here that is different from a blog in an American school. It is a well done site it's just that if I have to look at an International site, i guess i thought it would be differnt from an American site.
Go to Mellons



This is a school out of China. Montford school uses it's blog a lot. It is set up really organized and they have video liks as well as pictures to show! I really liked how even the Alumni came back and left some post.
Go see Montford

schools using blogs

Schools are using blogs to stay in touch!
Heres the first school. A.V. Hedden Elementary.
The home of the HAWKS! This link is to Mr. Wolfe's fourth Grade class in Edgewood Washingon. He uses the blogs to stay on contact with his students and parents. They have introduced them selves on there for the new year. I looked at some of the pictures from the students last year and the activities they compleated and it looks like they really enjoy themselves.

Mr. Miller's english class at Branford High also uses a blog. One can use the site to find information, homework and assignments for the class. It keeps all involved connected to each other. He has opened specific topics for the class to blog about on the site. This gives them and out of class way to have a discussion about a particular topic.

In the Fischbowl

This site has a wonderful video that deals with an issue I myself have wondered about before. How far education has come and how far it is going! When my parents dealt with my brother and I doing homework in middle school they'd say "This is much more difficult than when we were in school. They sure require so much more from these kids." Now I have my own children and my oldest is in first grade. I received last week a "Guide to Mathematics and a Guide to Reading and English" I have scanned through the Math one and it unbelievable the Math concepts that first graders have to learn. But that is what is required to stay caught up with the rest of the world.
The presentation on Fischbowl just shows how fast the world is adbancing and what are you doing to stay caught up with it. The technology is advancing so fast is unbelievable. Its really amazing for me because I was a kid when computers were introduced into classrooms and the when the internet was introduced. My kids will grow up with amazing technology and the school will be able to educate in ways they never dreamed of!

to visit fischbowl

ACCESS

ACCESS, which stands for Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide, is a website devoted to giving a chance to Alabama High School students to take Advanced courses or duel enrollment through a virtual classroom. This site offers courses from Social Studies, English, Sciences, Mathematics and even electives.
This site is giving students a chance to go farther faster! ACCESS is a program that ensures students have the chance to work on their education and receive credits for it. ACCESS is also giving students an opportunity to take advantage of classes that might not be taught in their school. Some schools might not be able to find and hire a highly qualified teacher at that time and through ACCESS students are able to take those classes and accomplish their goals.
It is really and amazing site that is keeping the Alabama schools on track with the best technology.

To visit this site
http://accessdl.state.al.us/

ALEX

Wow! What a jammed packed site. I was amazed at this site and how endless the resources where. Teachers, students and parents can easily access this site and take advantage of everything being on one site. Theres access for every subject.Teachers can view and make lesson plans. The distance learning even amazes me. Students who can't be in classrooms can learn through the internet. The internet and sites like ALEX are making education so much for available for students.Using ALEX is really so simple too, everything is well formatted.

When I begin teaching it will be an invaluable resource to my classroom. Teachers and students will stay connected and be able to use one site for the same web connections. Its really great to see a site so well put together for helping teachers and students in and out of the classroom.

to visit this site
ALEX

This is me

Hi to all,
My name is Alison Hawes. I'm 25 years old. I married my high school sweetheart,Chris, and we have two children, Gavin (6) and Grant(3).I started out as an Elementary Ed and Major and later decided, to swap to Sec. Ed. History Major. I 'm about 1 1/2 - 2 years from being done. I came to South this year after finishing my associates degree at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.
When I'm not in school i enjoy spending time with my boys. I like to substitute teach at our local school when I get the time to do that. I love to cook and am pretty darn good at it. We all love to fish and vacation, we just like to be outside. We have lots of pets around our home, including a Quaker parrot who talks our ears off. I like going out with girls from time to time to catch up on all the latest news (a.k.a gossip). When its all said and done at the end of the day I love to sit down and do nothing. Just to relish the moment that i'm sitting here right now and i'm doing nothing!

test blog

now to add a picture