International Blogs in Classrooms

The first blog that I located was of Amanda Marrinan's year 2 class (6 and 7 year olds) in QLD, Austrailia. She had named her class blog 2M Gems. She has implemented the blog using the blogger program. Her blog is filled to the brim with useful tools and helpful ideas for the students. She includes a routines to remember section that reminds students of homework, important dates to remember, the local weather and the weather of cities around the world, links to helpful websites, her blogs to the class, and a live walkie talkie like device that allows you to chat with her and her class called Yack Pack. Her students have a wonderful resource at their fingertips that will allow them to succeed in their studies. The link to her blog is: http://2mgems.blogspot.com/

The blog that I found was from New Zealand. It was Room 9 Nelson Central's Blog . Rachel Nelson was the teacher and her class was comprised of year 2/3 children (6 and 7 year olds). It had posts called "The Lorax Speaks For". These posts were drawn and narrated by students in the class and they we about a subject that interested them. They were fun to watch and showed how much knowledge the children had on these subjects. A child named Sam did his post on different animals and how we should take care of them and protect them. The blog also included helpful items such as a writing spot where children can post their works, links to the childrens blogs, helpful and educational links, and a photo album of the children in the class. I thought this blog was creative and insightful. I like the fact that she implemeted the children in an integral way. The link to this blog is: room9nelsoncentral.blogspot.com/

Blogs in U.S. Schools

In Santee, CA, at West HillsHigh School, Mr. McDowell is implementing a blog as a resource in his World History class. He has set up various sections that you can click on to access different aspects of his blog. They include: a calendar of events, power point presentations, unit overviews, a syllabus, recent posts that pertain to the subject matter, a list of upcoming assignments with links, and a section where students can view their grades. This is a wonderful tool that he has implemented and I think that it will benefit his students greatly. It will make it easier for his students to keep up with their assignments, explore other areas of history with the available links, and also help them keep on top of their grades. The picture is of students at West Hills High School. This is the link to his blog. http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/bloggingtech/index.htm

In Tennessee, Elizabeth Fullerton is implementing a blog for her students at Central High School. This blog is for her English IV classes. She lists each day a summary of what was covered in class, allows her students to comment on any assignments or class topics, has a class notes section, and links to websites that she finds useful for her students. Her blog is well laid out and is easy to navigate. I feel that I would be able to use this blog to its full potential if I were in her class. I would find it helpful if I missed a day of class to look at the blog and catch up with the notes and with the class summary of events. I also like the fact of the comment section. I think that students will like being able to ask questions to their peers and comment on an assignment. The picture is of a book that the students were assigned to read on August 27, 2008. This is the link to her blog.

ACCESS

ACCESS stands for Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide. It is an online learning tool implemented in schools across Alabama. Its function is to provide high school students with resources that will allow them to succeed in today's technological education environment. It provides both web based and interactive video conference learning styles to students as well as a blended approach. Funding for the 2008 year was $20.8 million and new courses were added to the curriculum as well as 100 new labs across the state. There are 188 ACCESS classrooms in effect now.

In the 21st century classroom, you must have items such as headphones for each computer, tablet PCs, Microsoft word, carts for the PCs,wireless routers, and projectors, just to name a few. Some of the Alabama code changes to make ACCESS better was to make teachers become highly qualified in order to teach online courses, add wording for night and summer classes, and add language to let high schools to include honor and weighted points. There is a variety of subjects available in math, science, the arts, English, foreign language, elective courses, social studies, and health as well as remedial courses.

The goal is by 2010 to have ACCESS in all schools statewide and to have had 45,000 students to have taken at least one online course. Right now, ACCESS can help students with AP courses, basic courses, advanced diploma courses, and technology to enhance instruction. There are 10 AP courses available with 369 students enrolled in 2007. It can help improve the graduation rate by letting students take remedial courses, retake courses they failed, repeating only one semester of a course, and allowing flexible course times. In the future, ACCESS wants to offer more virtual field trips, special education classes, teacher mentoring programs, and more course offerings.

I believe that this is a wonderful tool that teachers can implement into their curriculum that will allow for expansive learning opportunities. This program allows teachers to take students on field trips...without ever leaving the classroom! The remedial courses will help teachers by allowing students who need just a little more help in certain subjects get that help and to stay on track. Teachers across Alabama have an exciting new tool at their finger tips.

To learn more information about ACCESS, click on the link below and view the

ACCESS-Helping Students Succeed (ppt).

http://accessdl.state.al.us/showaccess.php?lnk=aeta2007