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.