Blogs Used in International Classrooms

In Needham, Australia, teachers are turning blogs into bulletin boards. Teachers are making information available to parents. Teachers reveal glimpses into their own lives as well as the lives of the students. It gives parents a glimpse into the classroom through the good times and the not so good times. Parents can view blogs at any time and post comments for the teachers. This is also a great way for the teachers to keep in touch with parents. A teacher can sit at their own home or their classroom and within five minutes type and post a blog. The more parents know the more they understand.

Blog-Quests


Blog-Quests are being used around the world in school classrooms. This is where a students can work on projects and have other students from around the world colloborate on them. This helps students learn about other cultures by getting the information first hand from the experts. Students can access their region from the Blog Link. They can also post comments and post resources for other students to view.

Blogs in the Elementary School

In St. Augustine, Florida, Shannon Montgomery is using blogs for reading in her 5th grade classroom. Mrs. Montgomery feels Reading + Computers = Fun! Mrs. Montgomery believes that reading blogs will help get students hooked on reading. The students are allowed to choose any book that they want to read. Then they all have a blast posting blogs about that book. They blog other students and the teacher online. Mrs. Montgomery uses blogs as part of the students' homework assignments. Every student is to log on everyday and post a blog as part of their homework.
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Marisa L. Dudiak's 2nd grade class uses blogs as journals. After visitng a Native American farm as a field trip, the class came back and posted blogs about their experiences. The students signed on and blogged about the field trip. Mrs. Dudiak feels it is more fruitful than a group discussion or a handwritten journal. Or if a classroom discussion gets cut short, the conversation can continue through blogs. One plus about blogs is that they are easy to maintain and that a teacher doesn't have a pile of journals to look at every week.

How I Might Make Use of ALEX

As a teacher I could make use of ALEX by looking at the Course of Study. Every teacher should have this available to them. It helps in knowing what is required to be taught to every student. The Course of Study is an important tool and lays out all of the state requirements. I would use this site to review it so that I could make sure I was teaching my class the required materials in each subject.

The lesson planning links would be great to help plan out the lessons for my classroom. It really seems cool because it breaks it down to subject and even grade level. I think any teacher could benefit from using this wonderful tool.

ALEX

I think that ALEX is a great teacher resource. It would come in very handy to any teacher. It has a box you can click on to find lesson plans. It even breaks it down to subject or grade level. It has a box you can click on to find web links for teachers, administrators, and students. It also had the Course of Study for each of the subjects taught. This would be real helpful to a person pursuing a degree in education.

You Tube Movie About the Future

WOW! After watching this video it really made me stop and think. It is crazy to think of all the technological advances being discovered everyday. To think that a computer could be smarter than the human race would have been unthinkable several years ago. I can believe, however, about all of the text messages being sent everyday. This is how so many young people communicate with their friends. I was also shocked to see the huge amounts of money that Nintendo spent compared to the amount that was spent on educational purposes.

The Importance of Art Education

I have recently learned in my Art for Elementary Teachers class that Art Education is a language. Art is important because it allows children to express themselves. Just giving a coloring page to a child and asking them to color it is not exactly art. A child needs to be given the opportunity to do free style art. I know that in my son's kindergarten class, they are given time on the first day of the week to color a picture of something they did over the weekend. Children need to know that they are artists. If they do not get enough instructional time for art, then they begin to lose their confidence as an artist. By the time many children reach upper elementary school, they have little confidence left in their art abilities. Teachers need to remember that art is a subject and it needs to be taught quite often. Art is fun and it can be a valuable learning tool. Children can learn just as much from an art project as they can from reading out of a text book. I just wish every Elementary teacher would remember this when they get into the classroom.

Why I should stay in School

I have been debating whether or not to continue going to college. Some days I feel like I want to quit and just go find a job. After much consideration, I have decided to stay in college. I know that I will not likely find a good job that I will want to work at for years. I do know that I love kids and college is a sacrifice now with a big payoff later. Teachers have wonderful benefits such as health insurance and dental insurance. Plus, teachers get all of the good holidays off and they get summers off. This will be great for me because I have a five year old son and when I get a teaching job we will both be off at the same time. I am glad I have decided to stick with it. I only have 2 1/2 years, which seems like a long time now but I know it will go by fast.

Why Reading to Children is Important.

Reading to a child early on in their life is very important because it helps them develop skill needed later in life. Reading expands their minds and gets them thinking, which is very important for a childs comprehension skills. A parent should read to their child every night. This may also help a child to calm down and relax after a stressful day of school or daycare. Reading with or to your child is also a wonderful way to spend quality time with each other. Their are so many reasons why reading with a child is so important. I hope that every parent reads at to their child every day.

Education

Hi! I am attending the University of South Alabama. I am seeking a degree in Elementary Education. I hope to graduate in December 2009. I would love to teach kindergarten, but any grade level would be a valuable experience.