Blogs Used in the Classroom: International Edition

This teacher uses her blog to discuss Guiyang Primary School in China. She gives you a detailed description of the daily activities. She also covers details like what exactly the room looked like and how the students responded to their teachers with respect. It was interesting to see the difference from your average American classroom. The Chinese teacher asked Dr. Kari if the American students studied Chinese as much as the Chinese students studied English. Another important thing she discussed is how the teachers planned for their lessons and how they approached actually teaching them during the school day. It is neat to see Dr. Kari's perspective of the Chinese classroom. Dr. Kari's Blog

This is a picture of students in Hangleton Junior School in Britain. the students in British schools are become "bloggers" at the age of seven. The teachers say that it the use of the blog has set them ahead of other students their age. These children are allowed to blog about things that interest them in their spare time, as a result, their performance as a class has improved. One teacher found that his students loved blogging so much, that they enjoyed blogging for extra credit after school hours. Blogging in British Schools

Blogs Used in the Classroom- U.S. Edition

The author of this website writes about an English teacher from Ontario. In her seventh grade classroom, she uses the blog as an extension of school. She use questions as prompts to get the students discussing book content or a certain subject. The English teachers also discusses the benefits the blogger creates for students that are shy or weaker readers. It creates a lever playing ground for every student. Among many of the benefits, another one that she listed was the fact that she could log in whenever and read the listings. Whereas, in the past, she would not have heard everything the students discussed, nor would she have remembered it as well. Discussion Approach Link


This picture is of two teachers from John Eliot School that began blogging last school year. In reading this article, you find how more interactive the blog makes the teacher-parent relationship. From these teachers experience, they say that the more you can inform the parents of what is going on in the classroom, the more they understand where you are coming from. In addition, the parents are less upset with the decisions the teachers make. They originally began blogging to try and connect with parents who maintain a busy schedule. The teachers also used the blogger to notify parents when their children struggled with certain problems in math that day. Overall, the blog has been effective for these teachers in many ways and they are continuing to use it. John Eliot Teachers Link

Fisch Bowl Video

Informative would be an understatement of an adjective used to describe this video. It is hard to allow the realities of the statistics sink into my brain. It is crazy to think that far outside of my immediate surroundings. I hate to admit it, but it is the truth. Just allowing myself to watch the video and think about the information it contains is not necessarily enough for me. It has created a challenge for me to find my place in the midst of all that is changing in our society. Even more so, it has challenged me to find a helpful, beneficial place in my community, nation, and world.

When one first watches the video, one can become slightly overwhelmed or discouraged. It is hard to know exactly how to respond to such information. Who knows where we will be in the next ten years? I think the most important thing for us to take from this video is the importance of being well informed educators and being willing to find our place in fully educating the students we have the opportunity to teach. It is not enough to simply watch a video such as this one, and not see the importance of training a prepared and intelligent generation to face the twenty-first century. I plan on keeping this video and the information it contains at the forefront of my brain so that I can handle the information accordingly.

ACCESS

Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators, and Students Statewide (ACCESS) seems to be quite the new up and coming renovation to education in Alabama. To be completely honest, the system seems to good to be true. I am interested to see how educating students on such a high level over the internet is going to play out in the future. We, as a nation and world, are moving to a more technology based society. Therefore, it does no seem so far-fetched for something like ACCESS to be effective and productive. Coffeeville, AL is one of the areas that has taken this ACCESS opportunity seriously. It seems to have been a beneficial investment for them.

The overall website was easy to navigate. This website made it extremely easy for a parent to register their student, or even for the student to register themselves into the ACCESS program. It was interesting to see the set-up as far as teacher-student interaction. Even more so, it was interesting to see how the handle things are far as videoconferencing and everything being web-based. I have high hopes for this system. It will be a great tool to have in furthering the education opportunities for students.

Alabama Learning Exhange: Quality for every facet of learning.

The Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) functions as a major resource for administrators, teachers, as well as students. ALEX creates a safe environment where these people groups can gather information on many different levels. Whether it researching information that is appropriate for the different grade levels, or applying the Alabama State Standards to a lesson plan, ALEX has it all. If it was not helpful enough, this website allows you to create your own "personal workspace". This allows you to keep the information you find useful from the website, in one convenient location.

The Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators, and Students Statewide (ACCESS) provides a wider variety of learning for students. ACCESS Distance Learning allows students to take AP, elective courses, and other things of that nature that they would not normally have access too. ACCESS Distant learning is a provided link on the ALEX homepage.

It was encouraging to see a site such as ALEX. From looking over the available information, interaction between teachers and administrators, and the allowance of your own personal workspace, ALEX is more than helpful.

About Me

My name is MariKate. I was born and raised in Mobile, AL. I have a very large and in charge family who all live in Mobile. There are a few relatives who live elsewhere, but not many. Needless to say, we are pretty close.

I honestly wanted to go to any college except South, but I got the most scholarship money here. Moreover, South was the best choice if I wanted to graduate debt free. My major is elementary education and I am a full time student. I work as a nanny throughout the week. In addition, I coach and assistant coach volleyball and basketball teams. Given that this is my sixth semester at South, I am starting to enjoy and appreciate the university. That pretty much sums it up.

Volleyball Practice Schedule

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 3-5
Tuesday, Thursday: 4-6