K-12 Blogs

The first blog that I found was one from Mr. Clung's sixth grade class at Noel Elementary in Missouri. Mr. Clung uses his blog to post announcements about assignments. He also posts about things that the students covered in class, using what his students did that day to educate the people reading the blog. One way he educates his readers is by using vocabulary words that have hyperlinks to further explain what he means. Here is a link to Mr. Clung's sixth grade blog: http://mcclungsblog.blogspot.com/



The other blog that I found was by a guy named Joel, who is a band director in Texas. He has a blog about teaching. He writes his personal experiences with teaching, so that others can get an up-close look at what being a teacher is really like.He also writes about some of the situations teachers will come in contact with. After each blog post, he gives related articles that pertain to what he wrote about that day. These related articles correspond to other blogs posts he has written. Here is the link to Joel's "So You Want To Teach?" blog: So You Want to Teach?

Shift happens!

Wow. That is what I was thinking throughout the whole movie. I had no idea what the movie was going to be about. When I clicked on the play button, the question, "did you know?" poppped up and it got my attention immediately.This movie showed how our technology has grown at an amazing rate. The number of people who set up myspace accounts just today blew my mind. The facts about the kids who had never had a textbook, but were given computers, was pretty amazing. They now have the whole world in their hands and they can be connected to you and me! That part about the kids who had never had a textbook before really just shows me how lucky I am to be given the opportunity to get an education. I know I complain alot about having to go to school, but at least I can have an education.

The U.S. is, alot of times, seen as the best in the world, but these facts from the movie skewed that idea a little bit. It talked about Great Britain being the richest, etc. at one point. I do not really pay attention to most of that kind of stuff, but I did not know that. I did know that our education system is not that great, compared to those of other countries, but why? One of the really big issues that the political campaigns focus on is education, so why is our system crappy?

The movie also talked about how some people are in school, learning about things that do not even exist yet. Another thing that kind of goes along with that, is that some of the majors that we have now did not exist in the years past! I really did not know that! That part of the movie was the coolest to me!I'm going to spread this movie because I think it is worth watching. It is interesting and gave me a different perspective than I am used to. Remember, shift happens!

ACCESS

ACCESS stands for the Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide program. I mentioned it in the ALEX blog I wrote, but I will expound upon it now. ACCESS "provides opportunities and options for Alabama public high school students to engage in Advanced Placement (AP), elective, and other courses to which they may not otherwise have access."

ACCESS offers video conferencing and web-based courses. ACCESS also offers what is referred to as "blended" courses, which are in-person meetings or virtual field trips, in addition to the video conferencing and web-based courses. The courses are offered in English, social studies, science, mathematics, foreign languages, health, and the arts. There are also electives to choose from.The courses are accessed during normal school hours and the schools must provide computers to the students. The courses are also free of charge to public high school students in Alabama. Besides being able to access courses some people would not normally get to take, students can get exempt from certain exams by following certain procedures and meeting certain criteria.

I heard about Advanced Placement when I was in high school, but I never took advantage of the opportunity. I also did not know that it was part of a bigger program (ACCESS). I was already busy enough and I knew it would be more challenging and I was not willing to put out the effort. I do believe that ACCESS is a great opportunity that students should be encouraged to take advantage of!

I will encourage students to make use of ACCESS where I work. It is a way to take their education into their own hands and excel to a higher degree. It does seem like students have to be more self-motivated to be successful because this program is not required. Students will need all the support they can get! Also, who wouldn't want to get exempt from an exam here or there?

ALEX

No, ALEX is not my boyfriend of 2 years or my best friend. In fact, ALEX is not even a person. Come on now. No one is so important that their name should be written in all caps. What I am talking about is the Alabama Learning Exchange. As easy as I can put it, and seemingly very self-explanatory, ALEX is a resource for information dealing with education. It is a useful website that people from all over the world can access and learn about common ideas underlying education.

ALEX's home page has a series of buttons that you can choose from that include: courses of study, web links, lesson plans, personal workspace, professional learning, and distance learning. Courses of study allows access to different subtitles of education, like math, science,etc. You can then look at specific areas in those subtitles. Web links gives websites for teachers, students, and administrators dealing with the same subtitles that were mentioned earlier, etc. Lesson plans deals with sample lesson plans for certain subjects. The personal workspace button allows a personal account with all the information and resources that pertain to a certain person and their particular field. The professional learning button has more resources to better a person in their field and their life, in general. The distance learning button explains about ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide). ACCESS deals with giving students opportunities they may not get from their schools. Two examples would be electives or Advanced Placement.

While this website has awesome resources already, it allows for people to add things if they feel like it is important enough. This hints to the "exchange" part of it. Since i am a physical education major, i definitely think I can use this as a resource for information that pertains to my job in physical education. I also can get ideas from others who share their ideas on the website. I still think that experience is the best way to really learn things, but it couldn't hurt.

Hi There.

Hello. My name is Lauren Mott. I am 21 years old and I am from Mobile. I am a physical education major. I wanted to stay in Mobile after graduation and I picked South because I liked it better than it's competition of Univeristy of Mobile and Spring Hill. Supposedly getting my teacher certificiation would make me more marketable, so that's why I am a physical education major. I really just want to coach, so physical education is right up my alley anyway. I want to coach basketball, for sure, and maybe cross-country or track. I am currently a volunteer and assisting coaching at St. Luke's Middle School. I am helping with basketball, track, and cross-country. I love coaching! I think it is what I want to do for my career. It is my passion!