Comments4Kids

This week in Comments4Kids, I left a comment for Culrit. He and his two friends had worked together on a project. They were building a lego robot. Culrit answered the questions while the other two did the programming and building. Once finished, they began to try out their new experiment. At first, they did not succeed at what they wanted to accomplish. However, after a few attempts and some added corrections, they where finally able to achieve success. I thought this was great that they worked together and continued to try and try again until success was indeed reached. They did not give up on themselves or each other.

The ACCESS Program

The ACCESS program stands for Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators, and Students Statewide.

This is a program designed to meet educational needs of all high school students in Alabama through distant learning. The program was first designed in November of 2004. The goal of the program is to create equity through educational offerings for all high school students. It's mission is to provide equal opportunity for all students to have learning programs. The vision of the program is to share equal access to high quality instruction that will improve student achievement.

This program provides students with courses and teachers via technology. In September of 2006, a plan was developed and presented to Governor Bob Riley. It was a 4 year plan of development with 12 objectives in mind. They are listed below.

• Objective 1: To provide access to advanced diplomas and courses which target foreign languages. To provide access to advanced courses and placement. (or double credit courses) To provide remedial and supplement resources. To use distant learning and existing resources offered. To provide teachers with multimedia and technology tools to enhance instruction. To utilize outside evaluation for accessing weaknesses and strengths of the program and make appropriate adjustments.
• Objective 2: Expanding number of students served and give equal opportunities to all High School students in Alabama.
• Objective 3: Establishing 21st century classrooms in every Alabama High School by 2010.
• Objective 4: Providing oversight to administers and management support through the State Board of Education and support centers.
• Objective 5: Providing students with additional courses and electives needed to meet individual educational goals and to provide them with a computer curriculum including 21st century skills.
• Objective 6: Developing appropriate professional development for teachers involved in ACCESS.
• Objective 7: Developing a blended model that focuses on students needs so each student had success in the classroom.
• Objective 8: Assessing technology skills at appropriate levels of students
• Objective 9: Including a program for developing a model of courses
• Objective 10: Developing a comprehensive plan for growth among students.
• Objective 11: Developing oversight and management for activities and budgets.
• Objective 12: Mobilizing stake holders to advocate and strengthen all high schools in Alabama.

In closing, this program offers so many things that can strengthen and grow our schools today. If it can reach all of these goals, our students will definitely be stronger and wiser 21st century students. For more information on this program, visit http://accessdl.state.al.us.

Alabama Learning Exchange

In this assignment, we were to research ALEX. ALEX is an organization that stands for Alabama Learning Exchange. It is a web program that is designed for teachers. Here, teachers have a huge amount of resources at their fingertips. It contains several courses of studies. You choose the subject area and grade, and several web links and lesson plans are provided for you to use within your classroom. Pod casting is also available. Here again, you simply choose your content area. Several subjects, professional development plans and technology resources are available. Power point presentations are also available for use.

ALEX also provides teachers with a personal workplace in which you can go in a create new lesson plans. It offers a professional learning center. Here, you can download media. Special education training is available. You can chose leadership development training seminars to enhance your teaching skills. Grants are offered for your classroom. Ideas for your PDP (professional development plan) are offered along with helpful teaching tips. A helpline is also available in case you should have further questions. I personally had not heard of ALEX until this assignment, but think that it is a very useful resource for both new and experienced teachers. It is a convenient way of pulling resources for your classroom, as well as choosing training seminars to enhance your teaching skills. For more information about ALEX, visit http://alex.state.al.us/. I think you will be happy with your findings and get lots of good information!! I plan on using it myself!

Wow! What an amazing thing! This was a wonderful assignment for me and I really was touched by Kaia and her dad. I thought it was wonderful to see that they were taking everyday, ordinary experiences and turning them into unique and extraordinary ones. The pictures allowed them to openly and personally communicate with Mr. Chamberlain's class. It was a wonderful way for them to interact and engage with the students. The voice thread that Mr. Chamberlain created was so sweet and added such a personal touch for Kaia and her dad. I thought the pictures Kaia took were beautiful and I admire her dad for the quick learning of technology at such an early age. The "life lesson" he was teaching her was emphasized through looking at all things and turning them into something beautiful. It only takes a special way at looking at things. If you look at them right, then all things CAN be beautiful!! What a sweet story between a young girl and her father. I think we can all learn a life lesson from them.

This story also encouraged me to do more things like this with my own children and my classroom students. However, I do get concerned in this day and time about posting pictures on the web sites. I think it is great to implement learning beyond the walls of the classroom and follow our curiosity. I think it is great to turn those experiences into stories and then use technology to weave those stories together. However, it is a huge risk that we are taking in exploding our kid's pictures. While I think this story of Kaia and her dad was a wonderful one. I am not sure if I as a parent/teacher am that brave yet. I do commend him on a sweet and touching learning experience with his daughter. It is great to see the love he has for her and the involvement in her educational opportunities. To see this touching story for yourself, please visit http://is.gd/3WS1N.

Richard Miller: "This is How We Dream"

This assignment was based on watching the videos from Richard Miller titled "This is How We Dream." His goal in this was to help people produce multimedia and not just consume it. The videos showed how we communicate globally. It showed how the reading and writing culture has changed to a listening/watching culture. He described writing with researching without using a library. By doing this, knowledge is shared in an infident way throughout our world. The documents are free and easy to use. The documents consisted of information collected in a collaborate way and composed by using images and films. They contained visuals and sound using material taken straight from the web. In this dream, you are basically collecting experiences and weaving them into documents.

Part two of the video described how we are now in a culture that works in a digital environment The network material is forever changing all of the time. Mr. Miller states that the web ideas belong to us a culture and not as individuals. He believes that we should look at network material, use it, produce it, and distribute it globally and freely. He states that there are no limits and restrictions to doing this except for those we place on ourselves. He has a goal of teaching students to compose digitally not by using word processors. He aim is to teach them to present global issues and ideas creatively by using the web. While I think all of this wonderful ideas, I feel that we cannot loose sight of teaching our students to read and write; not just research and piece together information out there to create a publication. If you would like to see his videos, please visit http://is.gd/2cfNk.

The Networked Student: by Wendy Drexler

This assignment was about the networked student. It described networking in the 21st century. It told of various ways a student builds his network learning from scratch. It is done with no text or lecture. It is about connecting through networking using tools of technology. It places emphasis on students connecting with others through learning processes. First, the student has to build a network. He does this through using google scholar and a library database. These two are created into a bookmark for future use. Sites are shared among other students and placed into his database. Second, he checks out blogs created by other educators on the subject matter being studied. Comments are read and posted. Third, he creates a blog with his own knowledge. Last, he can log into ITunesU and hear lectures from professors from all over the globe speaking about his subject matter. He inputs his new knowledge into his newly created "virtual textbook." He can incorporate sound and video and then he is ready to share his new knowledge through wide range communication connections.

The question is asked: "Why does the network student even need a teacher?" I have asked this same question myself and wondered the answer. Through this video, I discovered the networked student needs a teacher for many reasons. He needs someone who can be a model for him in building a network and taking advantage of learning opportunities. He needs someone who can be there to answer questions, offer guidance, and distinguish between good and bad information that is received. This teacher can also instruct him and help him to organize information. They can instruct him on how to ask questions from other experts in a respectful and professional way. The main important reason is to navigate the student into a future for technology. I found this video insightful and would recommend anyone out there questioning the resourceful use of technology to watch it at http://is.gd/2cgBb.

The New Media Literacies by the NML Staff

In this assignment, we watched a video on skills needed for the new media. The skills covered were:
* judgement
* negotiation
* appropriation
* play
* transmedia navigation
* simulation
* collective intelligence
* performance
* distributed cognition
* visualization
* multitasking
These skills enable others to function both in the classroom and workplace. They are skills needed for workers and artists of the future. They are skills that are beneficial for both consumers and producers. They enable involvement in the creative expression and citizenship areas. They connect people together in a unique way as opposed to individual levels. Some of the skills were described in detail. For example, judgement was defined as finding information and determining if it is reliable. Negotiation was knowing how to entertain groups under the norm. Appropriation was defined as knowing how to sample content in a meaningful way. Play was described as having experiences with your surroundings and using these experiences as a form of problem solving.

I think these skills are necessary and can be very effective in both the classroom and workplace. They are skills we should model and instill into our students to mature them into the adults for our future generation. In this video, I found that I did assume some of these skills. It showed me where I was strong and where I was weak. I think my strengths would be visualization, judgement, negotiation and play. I think the ones I might need to work on the most are multitasking and transmedia navigation. I think that through continuous learning and practice, I can effectively acquire those skills as well. For more information on these skills,visit http://www.youtube.com/user/NMLstaff08. I think it is definitely worth your time.