International School Blogs

Sriwittayapaknam School in Thailand ulitilizies their blogs for all communication within the school, preschool through 12th grade. They use it for academic requirements, posting school assignments, personal introduction videos of students, broadcasting school activities, ect. This blog is very in depth. I think everyone should check it out. I did.

Central Butte School located in Saskatchewan, Canada, created a blogging to provide Central Bulter School's community an opportunity to stay in touch with school activities and develops in education in their community. The school offers a core academic program enhanced by a progressive, technology-driven distance education program. The Bulldogs have a proud tradition of community involvement, athletics and fine arts.

U.S. School Blogs

In 2005 at Pinellas Park Elementary School in St. Petersburg, Florida, a fifth grade teacher came up with a solution to assist in communicating with his student's parents about the students' daily assignments and announcements. Fred Roemer is his name. Roemer noticed that his students were not constructively discussing anything with their parents involving school. He decided to create a class Website.
Roemer's students would write about what they learned each day in an online Web journal. "Blogs have long been popular among teenagers and young adults, who often use them at home as virtual diaries and write about their personal lives." Roemer figured the students would probably enjoy blogging about academic subjects as well and to his surprise, he was right. All the students created individual blog which they could check and receive assignments. They could all comment and question their teacher about any homework assignment. Parents reap the benefits from this project too. Parents are able to login and check announcements, their child's grades, and even take a virtual peek inside their child's classroom.
Blogs can help parents stay involved, teachers be more responsive and students develop a sense of community, all while enhancing classroom lessons, Roemer said. However, teacher-run blogs can also be instructive about the use of technology.

In 2003, some of the teachers in Goochland County Schools began publishing their blog systems. In 2005, Goochland's schools launched a division-wide intiative for teacher blogging. That same year, they introduced student blogging behind their network. For the 2008-09 school year, they will take another leap ahead with "Teacher Blogs 2.0." You can find links to each teacher's blog by grade level and subject area listed on each school's website. The school in this distinct I chose to view was Goochland High School. They utilize their blogging program in the same manner as Pinellas Park Elementary School.

About ACCESS

The Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators, and Students Statewide (ACCESS) plan is an excellent idea. In a few years if you don't know how to access a computer you will be behind, not only in school, but in society. The world is evolving around Computer Technology. In order to be prepare, ACCESS is going to be very helpful learning tool. As I mentioned before, I am computer illiterate. Any help to assist me in blending computers into my cirriculum is a good thing. This will provide a high quality teaching style to my students and actually enhance their computer skills.

From my understanding of ACCESS, it provides remediation and supplemental supplies to assist Alabama certified teachers. Certifying these teachers in dual and advanced courses will in deed help the students. Access also provides additional online computer courses for teachers to complete in their spare time. Engaging this computer courses will introduce multimedia and technology tools to enhance instruction. It would be much better to teach a lesson from a power point instead of the "old fashion" way, writing on the chalk board.

Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX)

Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) is a very good resource for Alabama teachers. ALEX provides all the nessecities you would need to become an effective teacher. ALEX allows teachers to view various courses of studies and professional learning styles to enhance classroom cirriculums. Teachers can gain useful information for excellent classroom management. This website provides educational activities and helpful lesson plans. This is a great idea for prospective teachers.

I will definely utilize ALEX for many projects and lesson plans in my classroom. My daughter is currently in the first grade. We can use various activities shown under ALEX for her to practice at home or even get ahead in her studies. Before entering into Elementary Education, I did not know there were so many tools and resources to implement. I am learning so much just by surfing the web. Surfing the web is something new to me. I don't have a computer at home so my computer priviledges are pretty limited.