To my classmates

Dear Fellow Classmates of T9!

I loved class and I hope that you did too. I also hope that you learned a thing or two. I'm glad I got to learn about you during our presentations and following you on Twitter. Hopefully we will all keep in touch and continue using our accounts!

If by any chance any of you actually read this, what was your favorite part of the class? I enjoyed learning about all the different ways I can use Google besides as a search engine. Sometimes I believe Google will probably take over the internet world. If that does happen, I'd be totally cool with that. Would you?

Au Revior!

Christina

The Final Post

We covered so much in class! Where do I begin? I guess I will start with the blogs I wrote in every week. I really liked doing that. I don't really know why, I guess I felt it was easier to access and I knew that I had to get it done by midnight Sunday! I loved doing the presentations because I felt like I had a personal relationship with most everyone in the classroom. Usually I only talk to my classmates that sit around me but things like Twitter, the blogs, and presentations allowed us to get to know each other.
Twitter was my favorite project because I got to teach it. For one day I felt extremely important and I was proud of myself that I got chosen to do that. I did try to take more pride in this class because I was so excited of being given the title of "master of all things twitter" but my life only got even more crazy than it already was, but I'm back! Twitter also allowed me to follow teachers all around the world. I think most of us are following Mrs. Anderson who is a teacher in Montana. She is a strong advocate of twitter for her 5th grade class.
I also enjoyed exploring all the things Google offers like Google Docs and Earth. I'm glad I know that Google offers just about everything you could possibly need in one website. Google Earth is like a of the future mapquest and Google Docs gives me a free power point, spreadsheet, and form section. How amazing is that? I say pretty darn! I downloaded Picasa to my computer because I like to play with my pictures. I'm happy about that because now I don't have to pay for that expensive paint!
I have always been an iTunes user, but it was only for music purposes. Now I download podcasts for education, french lessons, and book audios! I never realized how popular Mac and Apple was. I am a PC user so I guess that's all I hear about. This class opened my eyes to a whole new world and it kind of makes me want to go out and by an Apple laptop.
I am supossed to talk about Delicious but I don't think we covered this in class and I was there every single day. Lucky me though I checked it out on my own and signed up for an account to see what was it about. I'm glad I did because now I can see what good books are being read these days. I love to read so this is a website I will probably check into more over the summer when I have time to chill and read a good book!
Access is found all over in Mobile County Public schools. Unfortunely we did not get to visit any of the labs, but my best friend is in still in high school and she says that the labs at her school has improved since she was a freshman. Alex is a program that allows students with exceptional performances in school be subjected to AP and higher level courses. Also at this site there are lesson plans and ideas that teachers can use for their classroom. That will be very helpful to me because if I need an assignment I can go to the website and check it out. Also, if I find something I think is useful, I can share it on the website.
I learned more than I imagined during this course and I enjoyed every day! I made sure I did not miss because one class period miss would mean me missing out on some useful information I know that I needed to know. I thank you Dr. Strange for being an awesome teacher and always wanted to check out things when you didn't know. Because you're right, if you don't know, FIND OUT! :)

Twitter

~I have to thank Dr. Strange for asking me to teach or tell the class about twitter, because I know that if he had not I would have never cared! ~

So what is twitter? In short, its 160 characters of what you are doing at that time. It is just like updating your status on myspace or facebook. At first, I thought this was stupid. I mean, that's all I can do? Even private messages are restricted (but you can use more characters!)! When I made my account, everything just seemed self explanatory. I did watch a few movies to see what they thought about twitter and maybe there was something I was missing. I figured out that twitter is whatever you want to make it.

The first important thing to have when you make an account are followers! Though you can follow anyone, when you update no one will see it unless they are following you. I do not have a lot of followers but I do have enough that they try to communicate with me. I check my twitter about 10 times a day and update when I feel like it which is usually like 5 or 6 times a day. I have been trying to promote twitter with my friends so we can all follow each other. But no one wants to get on this band wagon with me. I'm glad that everyone in my class has one because it allowed me to make friendships and see what was going on in their lives.

I try to respond to people every day too. For a quick minute I had a lot of people I was following that made stupid tweets or ALOT of tweets and I would miss more interesting tweets so I ended up having to delete them. I wish there was some sort of filter where I could organize all my followers into catergories so it would be easier to read!

Honestly, I think that there are only few benefical aspects of twitter I can use for my classroom. I came up with the brilliant idea that I was going to have a twitter account that students and teachers could check out where I would post useful links and helpful facts. You don't have to have an account to see my twitter page, but you do to respond. I would not require students to have an account. This is simply because of the always issue that they may not have internet access out of school. I'm now a forever twitter user and I will continue to try to think of way twitter can be useful to me as a teacher.

EDM 310 Podcasts

Making podcasts in class was one of my favorite projects we have done in class. Even though we had to select from already given topics, the learning experience of how podcasts work was very interesting. First of all, it's really easy. Virtually anyone can figure out how to make one so this can be very beneficial for classrooms as a learning device. Even though we only made sound podcasts, I'm sure video podcasts are just as easy and effective.
The first podcast I listened to was my own group's podcast. We all sounded very nervous and was rushing through our words. We were though very clear but there were a lot of pauses. I'm sure they were due to our nervousness. I then went on to listen to Amber and Melonie's podcast on interviewing Dr. Strange. I loved their introduction they gave of Dr. Strange and then followed in with questions. Though some of the questions were quite lengthy so I kind of got lost on what the point of the question was. I also learned that the internet was invented in 1995.
Next I checked out another group (Nicholas, Gretta, and Sarah) who did the same topic my group did, technology in the classroom. They focused on tools that were used in their classes like clickers. We discussed more on internet and computer uses. I like how they asked each other questions. It seemed impromptu, which is always a good thing. I honestly enjoyed everything about their podcast. Lastly, I checked out Peyton, Kendra , Jessica White and Jessica Courville's podcast on pros and cons of facebook as a learning tool. Honestly, all the podcasts were almost a like. The girls organized their presentation by discussed the pros first then the cons. This would work out if they did not have so many pros and cons. I probably would have discussed a pro, a con, a pro, and so on and so on to engage and keep my listeners attention.

plusses and minuses of blogs

I read all of Carol's blog entries for this blog update. I found it very useful to complete our assignments by posting our thoughts in blogs. I admit, I have not explored everyone is our class' blog, but I have checked out a few of my friends. Carol and my blogs are almost a like because we talk about what we need to say and how we felt about it. Actually, I do not think I came across anyone's blog that did more than that!

A downside of using blogs is that if someone decides to follow you and you are not in the class, the blogs may be a bit confusing because that person would not know what subject you are talking about. Though some blogs you asked for us to include pictures and links, so this may be useful to whoever views the page.

I felt like using the blog kept me a little more organized. Instead of having to worry about turning papers in every week, I can just log on to here to complete my assignment. This will be very useful in the classroom because sometimes students forget, but here they can log on anytime and complete their assignments.

And of course, always the biggest issue on using blog in the classroom is the availability of internet access and a computer to do the assignments. Honestly though, I think that technology is being put in the classroom and being more available to students at school, so they at least have somewhere to go even if they do not have a computer at home.

I felt like having a blog introduced me to some of my classmates. I know that I probably would not have spoke to anyone if I did not have to. The assignments though like the slide show on about us and having an introduction entry for this blog got us to know a little bit about one another. Doing this inside of the classroom would be efficient because at least students would have at least one other student to communicate with if they are too afraid to ask you (or the teacher) they can ask their classmates.

Growth vs. Fixed

Carol Dweck is the author of the book "Mindset: The New Psychology Success" and she believes that students have a fixed mind set which means that they base their knowledge from what they already know and whatever intellegence they have at the time, that is what they are stuck with. They are concerned if they are going to look smart or dumb if they say something or try to complete tasks. But growth mind set students are the ones who are ready to learn and want to work out their brains. There are a set of 8 session workshops that teach students how to a growth mind set. At the workshop, they were taught how to have good study skills and apply tactics used outside of the classroom in the classroom.
Having a growth mind set is not just for grade school students, anyone can benefit from it. Growth mind set helps you grow and seek to be more successful in life. Having a fixed mind set only holds you back because one would believe they cannot grow because they will make mistakes. But mistakes are inetivable and you can learn from them.
I believe that there are a lot of students that have a fixed mind set because they are afraid to be smart because it's not the cool thing to be. Which at the time, we have to take into consideration that they are children and at their age they are concerened about petty things like that and not the education they should be absorbing. Fixed mind students may also be the ones who afraid they are not smart enough to participate or apply themselves. As a future teacher, we must find a way to show that learning is "cool" to change our fixed mind students into growth mind students

Space Things

I was very pleased to discover that the videos for this weeks blog posts had to do with space. I just so happen to be amused by all things that are not in or on this world. I watched Total Solar Eclipse which was an animated description of what happens when the sun and the moon cross paths. I also watched a video on global warming the greenhouse effect. Instead of being animated, it was a real example of what happens when global warming occurs.

Using videos can be a very useful teaching tool in the classroom. You could show short videos (like the podcasts available on itunes) of topics that you may be teaching your class at the time to your students to help the get a better understanding of what's going on. For example, on a normal basis, a teacher would explain how an eclipse happens and you can see the different stages in your text book. This video explained and showed each of the stages of an eclipse as it happened.

I think it is important to choose videos that are interesting and short to the point. Too much information may confuse students and watching too many videos may mix them up. The global warming video was not as interesting as the eclipse one because I felt like there was too much information being given. The video is geared toward 9-12th graders, but I think 11th or 12th graders would get more out of it.

The Edible Schoolyard and A Night in the Global Village

In the Edible Schoolyard, 6th grade students had the opportunity to learn about growing and maintaining a garden. It is a fun and interactive way for students to learn about botany and biology. They spend time outside preparing to grow the food, and in the end they get to eat their accomplishments. The teachers that spoke said that this was an awesome tactic for their students because they were interested in learning how to grow things and forgot that they were actually learning.
I agree, I think tactics that allow students to be hands on with their learning experience is very effective. I know that just going outside during class time instead of sitting in a classroom learning about the same things is way more fun. Students look forward to days like these because it is out of the norm and tend to be more engaged in the lessons.

A Night in the Global Village was my favorite because I would love to have an experience to live in the place of villagers who have close to no resources to survive. The Global Village where the students visited for their assignment is 5 acres of land that has examples of countries like Guatemala, Thailand, and refugee camps. Students were broken up into families and had to survive one night in their camp. Every camp did not have all the resources that they needed so they had to bar gin trade with other camps to get the needed materials. The refugee camp had to be the hardest, because they had no resources at all and had to beg every camp for food and supplies. But the catch is, they did not speak any language of the camp so they had to use non verbal communication. In the end students learned a lot about how it feels to not be as privileged as we are. One student that was part of the refugee camp said that even though he had a hard time getting food, he knew that he would have some tomorrow, but what if his life really was like that? He could not imagine how it felt to live day to day without knowing where his next meal was going to come from.
Now this assignment for students is an amazing one and I wish that I would have done something like this when I was in grade school. This could be helpful to a teacher in her lessons by learning more about different cultures around the world. It can also give students a better appreciation of all the privileges we have for just living in America. Watching the podcasts with my own classroom could be useful because it can give idea on projects we can do on our own and it also allows students to see what other students their age are doing around the world in their learning experiences.

iTunes University

When I first signed on to the official iTunes University website, the first thing read was, "Learning no longer happens only at a desk. Students now expect constant access to information, no matter where they are. Which is exactly why more and more faculty are using iTunes U to distribute digital lessons to their students." I liked how this got straight the point to inform you what iTunes U was all about in synopsis form. It engaged me to browse the site to learn more.

iTunes U allows students to listen or watch podcasts that may be in correspondence to their lessons in the classroom. Instead of reading out of a book or paying attention in class to gather information, students can easily download podcasts to their ipod and go at their own pace to learn the material. Students may find it easier because they can pause, stop, or rewind lessons if they miss something. iTunes U can be helpful for teachers, because now we won't have to worry about our students missing important information in class. They can easily refer back to their podcasts. Also, if making podcasts is not your thing, there are countless podcasts available through iTunes that are free they may be in relation to your class lessons.

This form of learning is quite effective, because students are using tools that they use in their free time to take in knowledge other than music and other mass medias. They no longer have to sit down and study or read out of a book. Anywhere they go they can just listen or watch lectures and other videos for class. Hopefully, if this new technology works and stays effective, there won't be anymore excuses on why homework is not complete!

ipods in intruction

I guess I live under a rock or don't pay close attention on whats going on in the world around me, but evidently I am missing out on some serious stuff in technology. I dig that Dr. Strange is super into technology, especially ipods. Honestly, I thought an ipod was just an fun past time that you use to listen to music, watch videos, movies, and things like that. There is so much more to an ipod than that! I came across the website School CIO. It is perfect for all the questions you may have on how exactly an ipod can benefit students and teachers in the classroom.

There is so much you can do on an ipod, from learning different languages by hearing it through an audio perspective to finding podcasts from lessons you may be teaching in your class to share with your own class. I checked out what happened at Duke University and ipods, and after a year long study, they actually offer ipods to students for courses that their professors plan to use apple tools to instruct their classes.

Apple has its own website that you can check out all the educational benefits it has to offer. On the website, it tells you all of the possibilities you can do with an ipod for your classroom and in education in general. It gives lesson plans and activities as well for you to download. Also, if you are new to Apple or an ipod, there are steps and guides you can refer to help you operate your ipod and the website.

Alice Christie and Library Thing

Alice Christie is a retired teacher who has shown how technology can be so useful in the classroom. Her website has endless amount of links to all kinds of resources to use in the classroom and also how to help parents find something for their child in school. I checked out a few different things the the eportfolio and digital pencil. I decided to share about Library Thing because it has be the most amazing site I have ever come across!

In short, Library Thing is a site you can put in the book you or your class is reading and find other people around the world who is reading the same thing! It is kind of like match making, but on an educational level. You can enter in all the books that you have read in the data base and other people can find you based on that. You can even collaborate with someone else to share all the books that you have read. You can also rate and write reviews to the books. This would be a great tool to use in the classroom because this can encourage kids to read more if they can see what other people are saying about it. And they do not have to use it just for books they read in school. It can also be from books they read in their free time. That data base is endless. They are working with over 470,000 users and 30 million books!

Wikipedia

As we all know, Wikipedia is pretty much our one stop spot to find out information on pretty much anything. Personally, I have heard good and bad things about this websites. Usually the good users explain how everything is on there and you can edit all the entries. Bad reviewers hate the fact you can edit the entries because it makes the information false. Virgil Griffith must have been a bad reviewer because he created a program called Wikipedia Scanner, which is a search tool to search IP addresses and turn all entries back to its orginal edit from the original creator of the entry.

Wikipedia started off as a "cool" thing. A one spot look up source that if you find something that is not true, you can easily just change it so that future users will not read false information. But, all good things go bad eventually. Big time names such as Wal-Mart and Diebold (a voting machine company) were having their entries changed from positive entries to negative ones. So, who is changing the entries? Research shows, that it was coming from users straight for the head quarters or comany computers. Their own was making them look bad!

If Wikipedia wants to keep up its status of allowing anyone to edit entries, it defintely should be monitered. Perhaps, the Wikipedia Scanner can help out a lot with phishing through unwanted entries and removing them with facts. Maybe the sources that are left can be checked out to make sure this is realiable and truthful.

Randy Pausch Last Lecture

Randy Pausch's lecture was very interesting to watch and listen to. I know the main reason for that is because it was not on something boring, but on something I think that everyone can relate on: childhood dreams. Lucky for him, his most amazing dreams came true. He defied gravity and became a Disney Imagineer. How cool can that be? This man is the coolest guy I know!

Dr. Pausch's lecture was very personal. He laughed and told corny jokes to get the audience's attention. It is apparent that he is a loved and admired professor due to the feedback and the turn out to this. He also used power point with pictures from his personal life. Some slides came up more than once. Those, I would assume were to emphasize a point. Like the brick wall. There will always be brick walls preventing you from something, but you just have to figure out a way around it or accept it.

Something I picked up from his lecture is that asking for help and team working is very important in being successful. He and another man named Dean created a program called ETC and a large part of it involved team work. In this group, you are placed with other people who have similar dreams and interests as you. After about two years in working in the program, eventually you can venture out on your own.

The most important tactic though, that is also made apparent of Dr. Pausch's personality and lectures, is the best way to learn is to have fun! One would forget how hard something may be if fun is the main point. Having fun may be the key of making learning and work "easy". And if it's not fun, don't give up, try harder. : )

The Fischbowl

On November 2, 2007 there was a post about why go wireless? In my mind, it makes so much sense to go wireless for the simple fact that it's easier and everybody can use it. Though, in a school setting, having "everybody" using it may not be the greatest idea in the world for safety reasons and the immaturity level that there is in grade school.

There are so many opportunities though that are available by using wireless. Right before I graduated, my school finally got internet access on the computers in the lab. I thought that was amazing, but that was only a little more than 3 years ago and already pretty much every school in America has internet/wireless connections. In the article, he states that the new generation of students primarily use the internet at their homes, so why not use it in class too? It's something majority of kids like to do, so why not incorporate it with classwork too?

Since technology on the rise everyday, it is important to have our students be some kind of literate when it comes to using the web as a source of education. As the world changes, computer is used more and more in everyday life. Students should be able to learn this information in school so they can be prepared for life after grade school. Even though most kids are already literate of computers before they get to the classroom, they still need to know of all the opportunities there are at just a click of a button.

Fall EDM 310 Podcasts

I checked out last semesters EDM 310 podcasts and it really helped me out to know what i have to do when I present mine. The first podcast I watched was Possibilities for Using Facebook in an Educational Setting by Allison and Shundretta. Though very important and useful information was given it sounded like they were reading straight from note cards. Though the information was good things to know, I felt like they were a bit hazy on their topic. The word "um" was used a lot and does not sound as professional. I know these podcasts are just student ones, but they should be the best they could possibly be! Perhaps, practicing out loud with my partner or someone else before actually making the podcast will help out to not make those errors.

I listened to College of Education Classes and Technology Used in Them by Kathryn, Kerrie, and Hanna. I feel like their podcast went along smoothly. It went a little bit better than the first podcast I listened to. The only thing I noticed that may could have been improved was that they talked to each other or asked questions while they were giving the information/presentation. Though, this may not necessarily be a bad thing, because it makes the podcast more relaxed. Plus, I have in mind that these are students just like me, making their first podcast. It won't be perfect.

A Good Life

Is It Okay To Be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

I think what I liked most about the blog is the way it was presented. There was some serious information that was to be given, but it was not boring to read. This makes me believe more that blogs and technology in general is very important for our society today. I think though as new and future teacher, I know a thing or two about technology. Also, I am required to take a class for it, so I'm not illiterate to it, but what about teachers who have been teaching for at least 10 years and did not have the advantage of taking a course? Should they go back to school to gain the knowledge?

In the blog he asked:
"If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write."

In a way, I see how this is true, but learning how to read and working a computer is not on the same level. I really don't understand how a teacher and teach period if he or she does not know how to read or write. Having a computer is optional and not required to get a "good" education, but it sure does help out A LOT. I do believe that teachers should have some common knowledge about it since time is advancing.

I did not agree with him when he said that if a teacher does not know how a lot about technology they should not have their job. I'm sure when they got the job to begin with this was not a requirement to get their degree. I do agree though teachers should know what they are doing when it comes to technology. Not only can it be useful to their students, it can make their lives easier and less stressful.

Pod casts

Podcasts are becoming more and more popular in today's society. I was listening to KidCast and the guy was talking about how podcasts are really helping out students in making learning fun and engaging their interest in school studies. What is also helping out is kids making their own pod casts as a learning tool.
Podcasts is like specific news and/or information. If you want to know about something, you can search for podcasts and most likely something will come up and interest you. Honestly, I thought podcasts were just tv, cartoon, or movies that you can view. I think that it is really cool that there is education podcasts as well. And what also makes podcasts worth checking out is that most of them are free!
The SmartBoard podcast's first 10 minutes gives the vibe of a talk show that is discussing education news and information. In a way, it is actually pretty boring. I have had podcasts before but I could actually view a video. All the podcasts I downloaded, it is just listening to people talk.
I decided to switch up some of the podcasts and downloaded Teachers Teaching Teachers. I found it under education and the K-12 section. It is about keeping it real in the New York public school system. All the teachers are sharing how they engaged their students in the classroom. It also gave a lot of praise and positive testimony's toward using podcasts in the classroom.
The EdTalk was more interesting because there was a video for me to watch. iMovies is pretty cool because you can make your own video and upload it to itunes and share with the world and it is extremely easy to do. It's nice that technology is getting easier to use so that everyone can use it. Now being too young or too old is not a valid excuse on why one cannot use a computer or all the new helpful technology that is available to us!

International Schools Using Blogs

The International Schools Island (isi) has a blog that list important dates and upcoming events for teachers around the world with special emphasis in South East Asia. This blog is a little different from a blog that students and/or teachers write in to share with everyone else. In this blog, it gives information, but also allows others to discuss prior events and the information given. On the right side of the blog there are links available to find out more information about the program and other useful links. Here is a flier for their next up and coming event:



The second blog I found was from the Green School in Bali, Indonesia. Their school has about 100 students and goes from preschool to 8th grade. All students here are considered gifted and talented. Their primary goal for students is to learn using 21st century learning materials. On the blog there is information about what the Green School is how you can enroll your child, how you can help, and any other information you would need to know. Here is a picture of Ronald Stones, one of the founders of The Green School, in front of the school:

Blogs from teachers and students

As I searched the web for student and teacher blogs, I had a little trouble at first because I did not know exactly what I was looking for. I browsed a few blogs and felt that those weren't right because they did not look like my blog. Obviously, that was a naive thought because every blog is different and is used for different reasons.

The first blog I found was a teacher blog called talkingpoints. At this blog, she has questions that appear to come from assignments given in class. I believe that most of the posts are private and only the teacher and class can view them. I viewed this teachers profile and found out that her name is Marci Stern and she is a English teachers. This is what she looks like and the only picture on the blog:


This kind of blog is a good idea and similar to the one Dr. Strange has. It is a list of assignments and other important information that can be useful to the student.

Another blog I came about is called Entrepreneurship . Though there is no picture that I can find located at this blog, I am taking the risk in just not including one because I really wanted to discuss it. At this blog, it too has a list of assignments and instructions every few days for students to check out. On the side of the page there are about 25 links to each of her students in her class. I could not view their profiles, but I believe that their class blog is much similar to the one our class has, except that these are students from Desoto County that are using the blogs.

Adding A Picture

(source ponandzi.com)


Pon and Zi are the best! They are cartoons that are in love! Just adding a picture to my blog. :)

Did You Know?

I very much enjoyed the video that was on statistics and random facts about the world. I never thought about it into any sort of deep depth, but the world has come a VERY long way in such a short period of time. Last class period when I had to write 2 paragraphs on any subject I wrote, I wrote about texting messaging. I found it amusing that the first text message was sent in 1992 now an ungodly amount is sent everyday in the world that its more than the population! Also, tv and radio took way longer for the world to catch on to as a fad than internet. Myspace is the most popular evidentally. It was started in 2003, but so many people have joined, if all memebers lived in one country it would be the 8th largest in the world. I believe it! Everybody has a myspace, sometimes multiple ones. I know I do...

I am in love with the fact that there are 3,000 books published a day. I seek to be a novelest one day so this can be good news and bad news. Good news is, anybody can publish a novel because by 2010 that number doubles. Bad news is, will be book be successful? Nonetheless, it still makes my heart smile that there are an incredible amount of writers (and readers as well!) and you can never get too many of those, because technology is coming more and more popular by the nanosecond. The world is advancing at a faster paste as time gets closer to the future. Technology is becoming more common, easier to use, faster, better, and everything else to improve the lives of a human being. "Kids who have never held a textbook will hold the world." Thanks to technology, this quote is incredibly true.

ACCESS

Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide or ACCESS for short is for all Alabama public schools. It gives high school students the incentive to take AP and advanced courses, seek to get an advanced diploma, it provides remediation and supplement resources, and provides teachers with multimedia and technology tools to enhance instruction. This program has existed since October 2005. A few supporters of the ACCESS program is the governor, Alabama Legislature, Southern Regional Education Board, and a few others. Courses can be held during normal school hours or in the free time of the students since it is available online.

On the website, teachers, students, and parents all can access it. Teachers may be interested in the site because they would like to become an educator through the ACCESS program. Students can access the site to see what all the courses and learning enhancements that are available for them. Parents can review the site if they are interested in placing their child in advanced online learning course or to get information on advanced diplomas. There is also a link for resources that has important dates and deadlines listed.

ALEX

The Alabama Learning Exchange, or ALEX for short, is a collection of lesson plans that is created and posted by teachers. Almost any subject can be searched throughout this database. You can find traditional subjects like math, science, and reading to more up to date subjects like technology and computers. On the website (click here) you can conveniently choose which course of study you would like to review. It is broken down by subject, and then by grade once you have chosen your selection. To access the content on the website, you must become a member and log in. Without logging in, you can still see the subjects that there is available, how many lesson plans there are for that particular subject and do a search as well. The Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide, or ACCESS, is a site that is for high school students that want to be in AP (Advanced Placement) courses, electives, and other programs that may not be available to them at their high school.

I think this website can be very useful to me now and when I become a teacher. If I get stuck on something or need to find the perfect assignment or lesson plan for my class, I can come to this site to get ideas. For instance, I decided to check out what was available for my perspective future class, which is 8th grade Language Arts. There is a short description of possible learning tactics and standards, and then a number of how many lesson plans there are those tactics and standards. I also, like the ACCESS website, because I feel that there students in high school that want more options, but do not know where to get help or where to look. This website is definitely useful to them.

All About Christina!

Hello bloggers and anyone else who reads this! My name is Christina (if you did not know already) and I will be 21 in 6 days. I was born in Michigan, but moved to Alabama when I was 7. Some people say I have a funny accent, but I think they are just crazy. I am probably one of the shortest people you will ever meet. I am on 4'11"! I go to South Alabama because it is close to my home and my parents are my best friends, so I did not want to be too far away from them. Actually, I live with them. Music is the water I drink and the air that I breathe. I love and appreciate all music but my favorite is rap. I also enjoy reading, writing, and playing video games. My ultimate plan in life is to finish college, become an English teacher, get married, write an autobiography, and move far away from Alabama. I love to laugh and make other people laugh. Though I may be almost 21, I pretty much only watch cartoons. My favorites are Spongebob, South Park, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Some random facts that about me that I think you would like to know is I have been to Disney World 8 times and I hate the taste of toothpaste. That's about all I can think of to tell you about myself for right now. Have a nice day!

First Post

Welcome readers! I am Christina and this is my blog.