Using School ACCESS Labs as a Teacher Tool

The State of Alabama has recently developed a new program in many public high schools called ACCESS. The goal of this program is "to provide additional educational offerings for all Alabama public high school students." I recently visited the Robertsdale High School ACCESS lab to learn more about how ACCESS labs operate and more about the uses of ACCESS labs. The RHS ACCESS lab had a system called the Tanberg system. This system included twenty-five laptops, a projector, a student cam, an instructor cam, a document cam (ELMO), and a television and white board for images to be projected on. Some basic uses of the ACCESS program in public high schools include Internet based courses, interactive video courses, and blended courses which include both videoconferencing and Internet based instruction. The Internet based courses that ACCESS provides are courses that are delivered completely online and are taken during the regular school day. The interactive video courses are courses that use audio/visual links to link the students and the teacher. I really believe that having this kind of technology available now in schools is great. This program definitely opens up many opportunities for students at low-income schools, and it also allows students from different schools to interact with each other.

Because I plan to become an Elementary school teacher, this program does not really benefit me as a teacher right now. I hope that one day the ACCESS program will expand its goals and mission to include students of all grade levels. If I were to have this new technology available to me in the Elementary School, I would definitely love to use the videoconferencing feature in my classroom. I think that it would be great for Elementary or Middle school students to be able to connect with students across the state or even across the world. I would use this technology as a teaching tool by allowing my students maybe once a week or once a month to interact with another school to complete class projects. An example of a project may include asking the students to talk to each other about their cultural backgrounds.

Using Educational Websites to Enhance Learning in the Classroom

I believe educational websites for children are just as beneficial to students as the ALEX website is for teachers. There are many educational websites out there for children to explore, and each website has many different resources to help the students learn while also having fun. Examples of educational websites for children include http://www.starfall.com/, http://www.funbrain.com/, and http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/index.jsp. To find more, parents or students can do a Google search and type in keyword phrases such as “educational games for elementary students” or “educational websites for kindergarten.” Resources parents and students can find on educational websites include reading tutorials or games, fun learning activities, learning links, math games, etc. One of the websites that I decided to explore was www.starfall.com. This website provides teachers with supplemental learning tools to help students to learn their alphabet and to learn how to read. It also provides teachers with activities that relate to common holidays in the classroom, and it allows children to create their own calendars. One learning link on this website is the ABC’s learning link. This link helps children to distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters and learn phonics by incorporating words that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Another section of the website is called “It’s Fund to Read.” This section has fun games for the students in which the instructions are to be read by the students. When having difficulties reading a word, the student can click on the word and the program will recite the word aloud. All of these activities are fun activities that students and parents can sit down and enjoy at home.

Using ALEX (Alabama Learning Exchange) as a Teacher Tool

The ALEX website, in my opinion, is a great resource available FREE to teachers online. Tools available on the website included courses of study, lesson plans, and other teacher web links. All of these tools are available to make the everyday work teachers are faced with easier. The lesson plans tool is a great resource that allows teachers to create their own lesson plans or find lesson plans already posted to the ALEX website. Teachers can search for lesson plans by grade level, by subject areas, or by using a keyword search. The lesson plans available on this website include information about local, state, and national standards as well as learning objectives. The lesson plans also provide teachers with the all the necessary information that they need to carry out their lesson. For example, all resources, materials, and equipment needed such as scratch paper, computer, projectors, etc. are listed. The course of study tool is also a great resource that allows teachers to search by using subject names, grade levels, or class names. After selecting a grade level and class name, teachers are provided with all of the course objectives that they must meet when covering the material. Last, the teacher web links on the ALEX website are very helpful to teachers. Examples of teacher web links include the Professional Learning link and the Distance Learning link. The Professional Learning link provides teacher with the latest research and teaching methods available. It also helps teachers to keep their certificates up to date by providing them with new professional development opportunities. The Distance Learning link provides teachers with access to the Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide (ACCESS) website. This program uses tools such as videoconferencing and Internet based instruction to help provide every student in Alabama with an equal opportunity to all courses.

Using iGoogle Homepages in the Classroom

Just like blogs, I feel like an iGoogle homepage is another great tool teachers can use to help the students in their classroom. I currently have my own iGoogle homepage that I plan to use in my classroom when I become a teacher. Having an iGoogle page allows teachers to post resources for students and parents to view and use at home. Currently I have five different tabs on my iGoogle page. The tabs are titled Home, Personal, Educational Games, Math, and Reading. I use the Home tab on this page to display weather information, a class to-do list, birthday reminders, and date and time information. The Personal Tab has different gadgets that link to the class email account, a Google reader, an online dictionary, and it also has a section for the teacher to type notes to the parents and or students. On the Educational Games tab, I have fun activities for the students to work on at home. For example, the students can find word searches, memory games, coloring pages, etc. if they view this tab. The Math tab on my iGoogle page has four different math gadgets which include math puzzles, drills, and games for the students to look at when having trouble with a certain area of math. Last, the Reading tab has different activities for students to complete that relate to the reading subject area. A few of the gadgets under this tab include the “Spanish Word of the Day,” “Best Selling Children’s Books,” and a “Learn to Read” game.

All of these tabs can be used as tools to help or entertain students while away from the classroom. IGoogle pages are very easy to create, and they can be accessed from any location. The only thing that parents and students need to access these iGoogle homepages are the class email address for the account and a class password. I have really enjoyed creating my iGoogle homepage, and I cannot wait to see how well the resource works in the classroom.

Using Blogs as a Teaching Tool

I feel like blogs are becoming more and more popular all across the world, and I believe that using blogs as a teaching tool in my classroom will be a great idea. Through my research of other teacher blogs, I have found that there are many ways blogs can help students, teachers, parents, schools, and other interested parties interact. Blogs are free tools that can be viewed by anyone with an internet connection. Some of the basic features I really like about classroom blogs are the blog posts and the ability to connect with other classrooms world wide. Classroom blog posts can include all types of school information. For example, teachers can use blog posts to relay information about school notices and newsletters, school or classroom awards, class assignments, and online tasks. Teachers can also use blog posts to upload photos and videos from the classroom. As a teacher, I believe this will be a great tool because parents will always know exactly what is going on in the school and classroom by just looking at the classroom blog.