Alabama Virtual Library

The Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) is basically an on-line library with such resources as journal, magazine, and newspaper articles. The AVL is an informative and reliable on-line resource for research readily available to all state of Alabama residents. AVL can be accessed from any computer by simple obtaining an AVL card from a local library. The school system can also issue AVL cards to their students,teachers, and faculty as well.

The AVL has many great resources for research. You can begin your research by selecting an age group(elementary, middle, or high school; college or university; general public), a topic (i.e. science, social science, news, reference, etc), browsing a particular magazine or journal, or by searching for a specific database. There is a variety of databases to search from such as Britannica Elementary and Kids Search for elementary-aged students or the Oxford English dictionary for the general public.

I think the AVL is a terrific and informative website that is user friendly. I found many things interesting on the website as I browsed through the High School category, since that is what level I will be teaching at in the near future. I also found some resources that are of interest to me. I will, personally, use this website for my own future research needs and will pass this information on to others as well.

Podcasts

The first podcast I listened to was the SMARTBoard Lessons podcast, episode number 142. The subject of this particular podcast is teachers connecting in cross-country collaborations, a.k.a teachers getting together and sharing ideas. Host Ben Hazzard and co-host Joan Badger discuss Hazzard's website teachersconnecting.com and pdtogo.com/smart. At the beginning of the podcast, the 'session' was light as Badger and Hazzard discuss their hectic summers. As the podcast progresses, Ben and Joan discuss many great and useful websites for teachers, such as bighugelabs.com/flickr, that has many great tools and ideas to make lecturing and information interesting and easy to learn for the students. Joan and Ben expand on how they, and others, used bighugelabs.com for their own individual teaching needs.

Kidcast.tv is a podcast, hosted by Dan, was put together in a very similar manner as SMARTBoard. A little music was played at the beginning, the host comes in and introduces him/herself, and then they share their experiences relating to their subject. A little conversation may be held at first, such as their day or their exciting weekend, but for the most part the conversation is limited to the subject of the podcast at hand.

One thing that I noticed a lot while listening to the various podcasts is how conversational the tone of the podcasts are. It not so much as a stern, "Hey you! Listen to me teach or lecture!" It was a very calm and normal tone as they gave their insights and useful information. There were funny points that made you laugh in the podcasts as well as points when you pull your paper and pen out and write down the information being dished out.

Listening to these podcasts really, really helped me a lot as I'm thinking of how to piece together my future podcast. The host(s) spoke clearly and intelligently and the information was ready and accurate. But most of all, I learned that I don't have to be so nervous because the tone of the podcasts were more conversational than anything.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Dr. Randy Pausch was an exceptionally inspirational professor at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Pausch, who was married to wife Jai and had three children, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006. Around the time of learning that his pancreatic cancer was terminal, Pausch was given the opportunity to deliver a 'last speech/lecture' at CMU. After learning of his serious state, Pausch decided to deliver his last lecture, basically, for his kids. The lecture was entitled Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.
On September 18, 2007, Pausch delivered a moving and inspirational speech that included his childhood goals, how he achieved them, helping others achieve their childhood dreams, and how to be a better person. Pausch spoke of many of his childhood dreams, but one in particular that stood out to me was his dream to play in the NFL. Although he did not make it to the NFL, Pausch learned from playing football as a child thanks to his former Coach Jim Ghrahm. He spoke about how Ghrahm rode him an entire practice. At first, it made him feel bad until another coach pointed out the it was indeed good that Ghrahm was riding him because if he wasn't, that meant that he'd given up on him. Pausch explains that your critics, the ones who point out your mistakes and faults, are the ones telling you they still love you and care. Pausch also learned fundamentals from football. The fundamentals of anything is the foundation.
Pausch taught his students through a concept he called the "head fake." He believed using the head fake, or indirect learning, was the best way to get one to learn because they think they are doing something else but in actuality they are learning while having fun, such as when you send your child out to play football. They may think that they're out to simply learn to play football but they actually learn and gain so much more. They gain the fundamentals-teamwork, sportsmanship, perserverance, and teamwork.
Pausch best put this idea to work through a project called Alice. Alice is a way to teach students computer programming by allowing them to simply have fun making movies and games. Pausch's goal, and legacy, was to enable millions of kids to have fun while learning something hard. The 3.0 version of Alice, due this year, teaches students Java language by writing movies and scripts with characters themed from the popular computer game 'The Sims.' One of Pausch's former students, Caitlin Keller, helps carry on his legacy by bringing Alice to middle schools.
Dr. Randy Pausch had many valuable points in his last lecture, many of which stuck with me and will shine in my life day by day. Pausch spoke of brick walls in our lives-obstacles. Obstacles, brick walls, are not there to stop us but to show how badly we want something. The walls are there to keep out the ones that don't want it badly enough. Brick walls allows us to show our dedication. Don't let them keep you down, never give up.
Watching this video touched me in many ways. Dr. Pausch was a very smart and dedicated man. He wanted to make sure his children learned while enjoying his last lecture-the head fake. His intent was to touch the lives of his children, but in actuality he touched so many more and I am just glad he lived long enough to realize that. I honestly enjoyed the video.


You can view Pausch's Last Lecture here.

International Blog Use

Teachers, even internationally, are using blogs in their classrooms also. Ms. Tarasevich is a 9th grade teacher, at Abanskaya School, from Russia. The students use this blog (http://welcometoaban.blogspot.com) to post their traditions and pictures and invite people from other cultures to comment and share their traditions and way of life. I think this blog is not only good for the students, but also for the teachers because it takes them into the life of others around the world. This can be very helpful in showing that we all have more in common than we think such as some photos of summer on their blog and how they celebrate Easter.

Ms. Kimberly Brown is a 6th and 7th grade teacher, at Haultain Community School, from Canada. Like many American blogs used in the classroom, Ms. B's class is given assignments and then post them to the blog. Ms. B also interacts the parents, at schoolnotes.com, by posting the assignments, it requirements and due date under the 'classroom and homework information' tab on her blog. You may view this blog here.

Although it seems like we're a world apart from those living in other parts of the world, we are closer than we think by the use of this technology.

Teachers Using Blogs in the Classroom

Will Richardson is a New Jersey school teacher, at Hunterdon Central Regional High School, that teaches journalism and literature. Richardson implements blogs daily in both his journalism and literature classes. Getting students to post their work as blogs allows them to not only edit and critique the fellow classmate's work but to also become aware of their audience and the way other view their work. Blogs allow the students to interact with each other, providing constructive criticisms and compliments. In Richardson's classrooms, students can really help out a fellow student that may not be up to par with their paper and they may even get productive ideas themselves.

Mrs. Thorp is a retired third-grade teacher that really wants to pass on her knowledge to parents and fellow teachers. This blog is truly amazing: http://mrsthorp.com/ . On her blog, Mrs. Thorp provides many links available to parents such as, help your child to be a good speller; helping your child to learn to read new words; what can parents do to help their child's teacher. This blog is a really good one for parents that want to be more involved with their child's learning at this crucial age. They may not know how or where to start, and this blog is a great place to start.

ACCESS

ACCESS, short for Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide, is yet another wonderful program offered to Alabama teachers, faculty, students, and their parents. ACCESS reaches out to students by offering them the opportunity to take elective, Advanced Placement, and other on-line courses not offered in their schools. Students may take a wide variety of classes ranging from chemistry to foreign languages. They are even offered tools such as an interactive on-line chemistry lab. Through ACCES, teachers and faculty are given the opportunity to infiltrate the use of technology and help many students across the state of Alabama by inviting their knowledge, expertise, and desire to help. Again, parents are not left out of the equation. They, too, have the ability to view the courses and course descriptions offered to their child/children along with a helpful guide.

I was, once again, impressed with the websites and tools Alabama has to offer its students, faculty, and parents. ACCESS is great for students, and parents, that want to take their education a step farther, and I, again, definitely plan to incorporate this website into my classroom in the future and into my home as a parent.

ALEX

Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) is an educational website created for the residents of Alabama. ALEX gives teachers and faculty many useful resources such as the Course of Study tab including, but not limited to, web links pertaining to the choice of study, lesson plans designed down to the grade level, study guides, and interesting activities and ways to implement them in the classroom. Teachers and faculty can converse with each other about lessons plans and teaching techniques/strategies. Students can also take full advantage of this website by exploring the web links tab, reviewing lesson plans and helpful ways to study. They can even take an on-line course, such as a foreign language or an art, that is not offered in their school as a course of study. But this website is not only helpful and useful for teachers, faculty, and students, but also for the parents. Parents who want to get more involved with their children's learning hands-on. They, too, can explore web links and review and implement study guides or lesson plans and other resources.

I was completely naive to the abbreviation ALEX before completing this blog. Looking over the ALEX website for this blog, I found myself becoming extremely interested and amazed at this wonderful website. Its user-friendly site is so helpful for students, faculty, teachers, parents, everyone. I will be sure to keep a close eye on this website as I plan to use it when I begin teaching. I am proud that Alabama has such a great program.