My blog is now complete. I hope you have enjoyed reading and I have really enjoyed posting to my blog. I am sad but I am officially closing my blog now. Bye!

This class was a very good class for me. I didn't think that it was necessary. I thought that I was going to waste a whole semester learning excel and word. Even though I needed to learn some things in word and excel, I did not think I needed a whole semester to learn it. I must say that I have learned more than what I thought I would. Dr. Strange made the class very interesting and fun and I learned so much. I learned how to make a website and how to do shortcuts for spreadsheets. I learned so much for microsoft word that I never knew. I learned how to blog and what blogging is. Also I learned to do a brochure in microsoft word without buying other software. I learned how to put pictures and links in a blog. I also learned how to do powerpoint. This was major for me because I never how to do it and then when I learned it is so simple.

This class was a lot of fun. We did a lot of interesting projects. I am so glad I took this class. Thank you Dr. Strange for making the class so interesting.

iGoogle

iGoogle is a very interesting website. I will admit I actually did not think this would be very beneficial. When I sat down and did more research on this site, I really enjoyed all the benefits of this site. I am glad it was introduced to the class. I found several useful things on the iGoogle site. First of all I think the docs and spreadsheet feature will be very useful. Also the word of the day, the number cruncher game (because I love math), the to do list, and google news. I know we are only suppose to do five but I also thought the dictionary feature would be very useful.

Blogging

This experience with blogs have been very useful to me. I also learned a lot. I came into this class not knowing a lot about blogging. When I graduated high school and college we did not do this kind of stuff. My experience with computers were very basic although we used computers on the job.

I did not think this was something that was important at the beginning of the semester but the more research and blogging we did I see I was wrong. Blogging can be a good tool to use in the classroom. There are a lot of important papers that do not get home to parents. Blogging can be used to get information to parents. Blogging can also be used for the parents to find information from teachers and other staff in the school. Blogging can be useful to everyone from teachers, students, parents and administrators.

There can be some disadvantages to using blogging. If not monitored, students can do other things that are not required and can take their mind off their work. But all in all with the correct supervision blogging can be a useful tool in the class and outside the class. I do not think I will have a lot of use for blogging because I will be in Special Education with elementary students.

My Website

My website is about some of my favorite theme parks. Some I have already visited and some that I would like to visit. I plan to take vacations and visit these theme parks with my daughter and other family. This will be so interesting and so much fun. I did not know there were so many theme parks in different states. It was really nice to see that there is a theme park in Las Vegas. This is a future vacation spot for me and I will get to take my daughter and visit the theme park. The whole family can have a great vacation.

Anyway, back to my website. My website is now complete. If I had more time I would put some audio on my website and a lot more pictures. I would also have more links to other theme parks. There are just so many theme parks. I guess that is the kid in me that is making me so excited about theme parks. I hope you enjoy my website as I enjoyed doing it. There is a link to my website on this page but you can also click here: CHANTAYE'S WEBSITE. I would love to hear your comments.

iPhone

The apple iPhone is a very useful tool/phone. It can be used for so many things. It is also very expensive. It has an easy setup. I guess this is good since it cost so much.
The biggest thing about the iPhone is you must buy it from an AT&T store, an apple store or online. Therefore, you must have wireless service with AT&T and qualify with good credit to get this phone. The iPhone can be used to watch movies, send email, and also listen to your favorite tunes. You can download movies also using the iPhone.

I don't think the iPhone will be used in the classroom anytime soon because of the price. I think it may be useful in the classroom but I don't believe it will be classroom friendly any time soon. It has been turned into more than a phone. It is a smaller version of the laptop computer with the ability to talk on it. With all the features I don't think people will do much talking on this iphone.

Spreadsheets in the Classrooms

Looking for this information was so easy. I have seen several ways that spreadsheets can be used in the classroom. There were so many websites that gave information about using spreadsheets in the classroom. There are so many teachers that have incorporated spreadsheets in their classroom. Teachers are not the only people that can use spreadsheets. Students can also use spreadsheets in the classroom. Spreadsheets have been very useful in the area of math. You can view data in various ways by using spreadsheets. Some of the ways are pie charts, line graphs, and bar graphs.

One website I viewed gave an example of how teachers can use spreadsheets to keep track of grades. It also stated how teachers can use spreadsheets to create charts to use in the classroom for teaching purpose and to analyze various types of data they collect in the classroom. Spreadsheets are not limited for use by certain teachers. All teachers can benefit from using spreadsheets. Please click here to go to a web site that gives a lot of useful information about using spreadsheets in the classroom.

iPods in the Classroom

I found an interesting article about a Middle School in Athens, Georgia that uses iPods to teach. They are using the iPods to teach English to students that do not speak English. The school is called Coile Middle School. Some of their students speak English as a second language. The administration figured the iPod would be a good way to teach because of the amount of interest students have in the iPods.

The teacher would record a story on the iPods and let the children that needed the assistance listen to it. They have to follow along with the text book while listening to the story on the iPod. The teacher figured that this would reinforce the learning. The children found this to be a good way of learning because it also took away some of the boredom from just reading. It also helped a lot because the children liked using iPods. This also gives children a chance to learn new technology.

Read more about iPods being used in the classroom by CLICKING HERE.

Seymour Papert

Seymour Papert is a mathematician that was born in South Africa. He also received his education in South Africa. Seymour Papert founded ways that computers can change the way a person learns. He uses math to understand how children learn and think. Seymour Papert also founded the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He wrote some books and articles about children learning through computers.

Seymour Papert was a professor at MIT and performed researches on how computers can help children to learn. He created a programming language called Logo which helped children to learn. He has been involved in MaMaMedia Inc and LEGO Mindstorms. MaMaMedia is a website for children that helps them to learn while they are having fun at the same time. They can learn more about technology using this website. LEGO Mindstorms is a website that children can use to build their thinking process. Both of the website seem to be very educational and useful for children as well as parents.

To learn more about Seymour Papert click on the following link: PAPERT

Classroom Blogs-International-2

Another website I found for international schools was for ISY school in Yangon, Myanmar. This is a high school. A teacher, Ms. K Lehman, uses blogging for her high school classroom. She teaches English and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This was a very interesting website. Ms. Lehman gives handouts, notes, and links to other things such as poetry, digital resources, and books about writing and grammar on this website. The links are very helpful for use in her classroom. The students can post their comments about the different links and about other things that are discussed in the classroom. They can also view comments made by their teacher. The website also has pictures and other interesting facts about things that were discussed in class. The students can use this website to go more in depth about questions they need to ask or things they didn't understand in class. The students can post their thoughts about class or anything else they want to discuss. The teacher, Ms. Lehman, responds to the students with an in depth answer/response and gives detail on how to solve a problem. This is an very good website that all teachers and future teachers need to look at. Click on the link below to view this wonderful website and follow all the different links on the homepage.
International Blogging

Classroom Blogs-International-1

An international school that I was able to find that does blogging is the International School Dhaka. It is located in Bangladesh. Julie Lindsay who is the educational technology specialist at the school started the blogging. She started the blogging to give ideas about learning on the computer through distance learning and digital learning in the field of education. Students at the school had always used blogging and weblogs for their journals, for discussions and creating digital portfolios along with a few other things. With the help of Julie Lindsay and a few other English teachers the students were introduced to a new way of classroom learning by using blogs. Julie Lindsay started what is referred to as the flat classroom project. It is online learning between International and United States students. These students can interact together online. They can also discuss life from the different sides of the world. This sounds like an excellent project. You can view this website by clicking here

Classroom Blogs-US-2

Eaton Elementary School is another school in the United States that does blogs. The website was pretty much like the school in Oregon. Eaton Elementary is located in Lenoir City, Tennessee. The website gives information about the school. It is like a school newspaper. It gives great information on the faculty and staff of the school. The blogs are used to give specific information to parents and students about what is going on at the school. The blog is basically used as a means of communication. Some of the blogs are password protected. I would assume this is information that is just for students that attend the school and their parents. The teachers post blogs to tell what is going on in the classroom. They also use the blogs to let parents know if a child or children has done something good. Parents and students can also ask questions and give their comments by using the blogs. To access this website click on the following link: Eaton Elementary

Classroom Blogs-US-1

The first blog I located in the United States was for Meriwether Lewis Elementary School located in Portland, Oregon. They have a web page that gives information about the school. It is basically like the web site for Mobile County schools. It gives information on upcoming events at the school. They also provide other information such as when report cards will be mailed home and the last day of school. They have links to other information such as their curriculum, lunch menus, notes from the principal, and information about the PTA. This organization is referred to as the PTO by the MCPSS. The blogs are listed under a link for classroom notes. They have a list of teachers and you can click the teacher's name and look at the blogs. The interesting thing about this blogging is you can not post or comment on the blogs. The website states that the school's goal is to give information about the activities and the work that the students and teachers are doing during the school day. If you would like to visit the school's website just click on the following link: http://lewiselementary.org/about.

ACCESS

The Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide (ACCESS) is a distance learning program that is offered to all Aabama public high school students. It is a program that offer courses for advanced diplomas, advanced placement courses for students, remediation resources, and gives teachers technology they can use to help them teach or instruct students. It is beneficial because it can prepare students to graduate high school, go to college, and it can also help students to go into the workforce. ACCESS provides distance learning through the web, videoconferencing, online face to face and going on virtual field trips.
The website (http://accessdl.state.al.us/) is beneficial to everyone (students, teachers, and parents). You can get information about the ACCESS program from this website. You can download the courses that are offered and get a description of the courses. The website gives information on how to become an instructor through ACCESS. Teachers can download resources they can use to teach students. Parents can also use this website to download information about the ACCESS. They can find out if ACCESS would be beneficial to their child.
Parents can also get objectives of what ACCESS is and what it will provide for students. All in all I believe this is an excellent website for everyone.

Use of ALEX in the classroom

When I begin to teach, I can use ALEX in so many ways. One way I would use ALEX is to do lesson plans. I can look up examples of other lesson plans that maybe very helpful. I can also use ALEX to create my own lesson plans. I can look at different subjects and get ideas on how to do lesson plans and how to implement other thing in my own lesson plan. I can look at projects online to get ideas and information for my classroom projects.

Alex will also be useful to the students that I will teaching. Since there is a link for students I can encourage the students to use this website. We can use the website in the classroom or they can use it own their own. It has a link for other websites that can be tutorials for different subjects. The websites may be able to explain information to the student on a different level from how it was explained in the classroom.

ALEX is a great website and I will be using this information in my classroom. I will also encourage my students to use this information. There are so many uses for this website. The distance learning can be very helpful. A student may be able to take advanced placement course. They will also be able to take other courses that are not accessible at their school. With the improvement of technology, the online courses will be very useful for students to enhance their skills.

ALEX (The Alabama Learning Exchange)

The Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) is a website that can be used by teachers, administrators and students. It is very useful for teachers. There are many different tasks that can be done using the ALEX website. ALEX allows teachers to do their lesson plans. You can also look up a course of study for whatever grade you are teaching. The course of study gives you information on the different subjects for each grade level.

ALEX also allows teachers to get information for online projects. It has a link for special education. This link has not yet been completed. This will be very useful to teachers because of the inclusive settings in schools. The website also has a link for foreign languages. It goes even further to give teachers a link to other links that maybe helpful to teacher such as tutorials. ALEX has a personal workspace for teachers which allows them to store and share their lesson plans and useful web pages.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. Thank you for viewing.