Best 2007 Blog

My blog to research was Hobo Teacher. It was very interesting. It's by a teacher who is very young. He says that when you start teaching everything changes. You take the children's work to bed with you. You sleep less. You eat less. You bathe less. You become a hobo teacher. He is a pretty funny guy. He has some really neat things on his blog. There is a link to art and also a store. There are calenders, t-shirts, posters, tote bags, etc. There is also a link to the high school store.
To me it's not a real educational blog. He mostly just rages about things that go on at school that he doesn't agree with. Don't get me wrong, it's very funny and interesting to read, but I don't think it would be good or the kids. It might be ok for other teachers to read and be able to talk back and forth about what bothers them.
He talks about getting e-mails at work that have nothing to do with work. I agree with this. If you are at work then you don't need to be sending forward e-mails about Bush or you better send this to 10 people or something bad will happen to you tomorrow. Work is not the place for that. Leave those things for later when your not grading 30 papers and having to deal with a classroom of hormonal teenagers.

iTunes University

ITunes is usually where people go to download music, movies, and TV shows. Well now there is a new section of iTunes devoted to education. There you can search millions of audio and video files from many different schools. It was created to enrish cirriculum with digital content. Colleges and universities build their own iTunes U sites. Faculty can post stuff for their classes. Students can download what they need. More than half of the nations top 500 schools use it to distribute content to students. Any school can oopen all or part of its site to the public.
You can listen to language sessions, watch lab demonstrations, and review lectures. Everyone seems to be loving this new creation. Once the site is up it pretty much runs itself. Therefore, the faculty rarely need help with it. Students get on the computer to email, chat, and surf. With this new invention it helps the teachers get into the digital lifestyle and helps keeps the students engaged in the courses. It is a way to bring your subjects to life that wasn't possible before.

For more information visit Apple Education

The Use of iPods at Duke University

This semester at Duke University the freshman recieved a very nice gift in there welcome goodie bags. They recieved an iPod. The university says it will be used to record lectures, capture data, and play language-training recordings. It is being funded by money the university set aside for a special one time project and they do not know if the project will continue over the years. Some students think that it makes no sense. Some of the freshman already have iPods so they are selling theirs on ebay to make some money. It comes equipped with videos from the president, information about the campus, tips for studying, and the alma mater and fight song.
I don't really know how I feel about this. In one way it's a really good idea but on the other hand the kids might not even use them and then it would be a waste of money. I think there are other things the university could do to help with learning. Even computer programs would help. Some of the kids would end up selling them or losing them and that is a big investment to just to waste. I don't think I would want them in my classroom because even though they might help with learning you never know what the children are doing with them. They could be listening to music or watching videos they have uploaded to it. I think there are other ways to enhance learning than giving everyone an expensive iPod.

Prowlers

The USA Prowlers Dance Team attended camp at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL.
Here is a picture with the dance team, cheerleaders, and coaches after we got done with our evaluations on the last day of camp.

Football game

Me and Tyler were about to go to my sister's homecoming game. She was on the Junior Homecoming Court.

8 years

My best friends of 8 years got together to celebrate a birthday weekend.

Birmingham

Me and Raley took a trip to Birmingham over the summer to visit Laura.

Pictures from Picasa

 
 

A Cultural Revolution

After reading the article "a Cultural Revolution: From Books to Silver Disks" by Dr. Strange my opinion hasn't changed on the subject. Technology changes everyday. In 15 years we have gone from CD's to so many other things to store information on. These days we have more than one way to store and more than one thing to store it on. In the next 15 years there is no telling what will be avaliable for us to use. With that being said there is really no way to say how we will use it in our classrooms. Today we have so many forms of communication that we didn't have when I was in grade school. I think it is wonderful because I think it keeps the children involved. But you can't really say how we will use it because we don't really know what will be avaliable for us.

My Picture Changed to Sepia Tone in Picasa.

My Picture Changed to Black and White in Picasa.

Seymour Papert

Seymour Papert is considered the world's expert on how technology can provide new ways to learn. He has developed many opportunities for children in the digital world. He was a professor at MIT where he had a lab that children first started using the computer. They would write and make graphics. The Logo language was invented there. He is an amazing man. He is a mathematician and cofounder of an Aritificial Intelligence Lab. He also worked with Jean Piaget.

The website that I got my information from is http://www.papert.org/

International schools and teachers using blogs in the classroom

I found webiste called My Journey in ITC and Blogging. This is a website of a woman that teaches in New Zealand. She has a view videos and articles about education on her page. One thing I really liked is that you could change the language of the website to make it easier for you if you don't speak very good english. This is a very god website. It has a lot of really good information for students and parents.

Another website i found was Mrs. Cassidy's Classroom Blog. She is a teacher out of Canada. She has a very cool thing on her page called a yack pack. You can talk into and they can talk back because they are learning to read and write. She has very good ideas for her children. I was very impressed with this website. She has very good articles and is very involved with her class.

United States schools and teachers using blogs in the classroom

The first blog I found was called The Cool Cat Teacher Blog. It has many different things that you can go and look at. They have links to other blogs and many different articles dealing with education today. There are a few videos you can check out also. There is also student inventions which I thought was a very cool idea. It is a really fun webiste and I think it has a lot of information.

The other webiste I found was Beyond School. It was a very interesting website. It has a view from the student's desk. It also has some things about teaching grammer. There is a list of books. There are also links to different blogs. I also thought this blog was very good.

Article about reading

Yes I do agree with the authors topic. I think that the more technology advances the less people will pick up a book and read. Personally I don't read very often. I go to the internet for a lot of what I do. I know that I need to read but I just never have time and I think that is a lot of people's excuses. I think I'm more of a listener. I just like to observe. I think that both are important. I know that I need to read I just never make the time but watching and listening can always help too. I think that with being a teacher you need to do a lot of both, read some and then watch and listen other times. It is good to get the children involved with reading aloud in class and then sometimes just listening to you read and understanding it.

Adding Links and Pictures

Our link will be to The Fischbowl , a blog for technology training used at Arapahoe High School in Littleton, CO.

Here is a picture from Littleton High School

ACCESS

ACCESS is the Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide. I think that it is a wonderful program for any school. They have many different methods of learning including wed based, videos, and blended. Any Alabama school can connect with this program. It provides statewide coordination and support. There are colleges that are support centers and outside evaluators. It provides equipment and maeterials, outside assistance, record grades and maintains communication. All courses are taught in class during the regular day. ACCESS is free to public school students. The supporters are the governor, alabama legislature, state board of education, bellsouth foundation and southern regional education board. This is a wondeful program for Alabama.

video

I watched the video about the shift coming in the next 15 years. It was actually kind of scary to realize all thos things. I think as a teacher I will be ready. I have seen a lot of change already and I think that a little more won't hurt. I think we need to change teachnology. All the the other countries are passing us up. I think the children will learn faster and be more educated than todays children.

Using ALEX in the classroom

Being able to use ALEX is woderful for any teacher. My feild is going to be Physical Education and it has many wonderful tools for that course of study. It goes for any grade level. I will be teaching high school. It gives me all the different objectives and Alabama Content Standards for what I should be teaching. It gives me lesson plans that I can follow to teach my class or an opportunity to make my own. It has many different websites that me or my students can go to and look up many different things about the body and their health. It has web links for the content standards and oher lesson plans also. There is a personal workspace that I can go to and get some work done. There is also a professional learning link you can go to and look up many other opportunities. This website would be wonderful to use in the classroom.

ALEX

ALEX is the Alabama Learning Exchange. It is a great website for teachers. They have every subject and many things to go along with it. Including lesson plans, different web links, a search engine, a help tool, some professional learning and personal workspace. It is a great place for teachers to go to help with them with there course of study. It was many different websites for the Alabama Department of Education and some to enhance growth and communication. You can create lesson plans or find resources to help with you lesson plans. It has access to a distance learning program call ACCESS. The offer every course of study from english to health education and from traffic safety education too art. This website is a wonderful tool for teachers.

school

I have recently changed my major to Physical Education. I have decided that I love kids so much and I want to be a teacher and coach cheerleading. I teach gymnastics to children ages 3-16 and I absolutely love it. I love kids and I can't wait to graduate.

Hello!

Welcome to my blog!!!! My name is Courtney Kirkland and I'm 21 years old. This is my second year at South Alabama. I attended Faulkner State Community College for two years after I graduated from Alma Bryant High School. I am a member of the USA Prowlers.