Personal Learning Network

I have a wide range of things that I use in my Personal Learning Network (PLN). I use several websites to get ideas about classroom activitis and creative crafts for children.
I teach Sunday School, so several of these listed I use currently in my Sunday School Class.
ebibleteacher.com has a blog. They post helpful websites for Sunday School teachers to make teaching the bible easier.
I am friends with Pam Halbrook on facebook. She is a retired teacher from the Pascagoula School District, but is also a wonderful resource when writing papers and doing research. Sometimes I'll ask her just to proof a paper for me, and other times I'll ask her opinion about how a certain project I'm working on is going. She gives me feedback quickly and I value her opinion and trust her editing skills.
Another friend of mine on facebook is Elizabeth McCullough. She graduated from USA several years ago, but is tons of help when it comes to picking classes, writing papers, or just plain stressing out. She also helps me a lot with my Sunday School lessons. She is able to word things better than I can to help my Sunday School Class better understand the topic we are discussing.
I also consult another website about blogging in general. It gives you ideas to use for a classroom blog and I'm sure I'll use it often when I have my own class. It shows different tools available for blogs and tells teachers how to utilize one in their own classroom.
The last part of my PLN is a group on facebook called "Elementary Teacher Resources". The group is composed of teachers and aspiring teachers from all over the nation. These teachers are supportive of one another, they offer up classroom management strategies, unit ideas, decorating tips for the classroom, etc. These people post photos of activities they do with their classes, the post photos of their rooms. This group is hugely beneficial to all who are members.

Comments 4 Kids

This week I was assigned Danwag's blog. He spoke of his love for Chevy trucks, especially ones that were lifted and you could take "muddin"! Interestingly enough I used to have a jeep that I'd take mudding all the time. So we've been writing back and forth for a few days. I love this assignment. I think that Comments 4 Kids is one of my favorite assignments I've done. It allows kids to realize that once they type something online, ANYONE in the world can see it. Therefore, they should be careful what they publish, but also be proud of their work. They should spell check, grammar check, and make sure their writing is clear enough for others to understand the point they are trying to make.

Alabama Connecting Classrooms

ACCESS is a tool used for Alabama Educators in high school settings. It is a resource for schools that aren't able to provide their students with the courses that they'd like to offer. This is a way for high school students to learn on-line, the way many college courses are set up. There are classes that are totally online and include face-to-face lecture over the internet, virtual field trips, online tests, etc. This is a way for rural school districts with low enrollment to offer classes that higher funded schools are able to offer without having to increase their own payroll accounts.
I feel that this tool will open doors for students that may not otherwise be opened. This will allow a student that attends a school in a district that can't afford AP classes, or something similar, to still participate in those types of classes. It will allow schools to participate in learning in a way that they have never been able to participate. I think that the course offerings of most schools in the state will increase. Just because a school doesn't have the money or staff to teach classes like astronomy, or Russian, does not mean that they can't still offer the courses through a situation like this. This will revolutionize the way learning in high school has been done for so many years. I think that more states will move in this direction soon as well.

Alex

I think that this website is incredible. This website was created for teachers to use as a resource in their teaching. Each state has specific objectives that must be met for each subject area and grade. This website creates links for teachers to use in their teaching. Not only are the objectives listed, but there are lesson plans that go along with each. I was curious to see how these translated across state lines. For any given state, you can find a corresponding objective listed in the Alabama objectives. As a future teacher, I will make a note of this website and refer back to it often. I glanced over several of the lesson plans. Some are easy to understand, others aren't written as concisely but the point is gotten across.

Another thing that I loved was that the website was broken down into not only subject areas, but grade levels. There is no sorting through garbage that you don't need or that doesn't apply. It is all clearly labeled as K, 1, 2, 3, etc. You can click on your course of study, click on the grade you will be teaching, and viola, answers to all your questions.

Comments 4 Kids

I visited Mr. Goerend's class blog. I was able to read different days that children had imagined. The first student I commented on was Owen. He had told a story about "Walk Like a Monkey Day" after his friend woke up with a hunched back. His story was creative and imaginitive. I enjoyed reading about his day. The next student I commented on was Macy. She told a cute story about Dressing up like a farmer day. The next student I commented on did not leave a name, but his holiday was called "Sprint like a Cheetah day." I thought his story about running late was something that I could totally relate to which is why I chose to comment on it. The next student was Jenna. She created "Dress up like a clown day" where you can wear silly clothes and wigs and too-big shoes and dress like a clown! I also like that she changed her font and text color. Ian wrote a story about walk like a sloth day! This idea was wonderful. I am always running late for things and I think we should all walk like sloths!
I think this is a good idea for our class. I think it will not only help students with understanding that writing is for your readers not for yourself, and also build confidence about their writing. Knowing that someone other than my teacher is going to read/grade things always makes me put more effort into my own writing and I'm sure it does the same thing for students.

Kaia

I was amazed at the interaction that took place between Kaia and the school in rural Missouri. The amount of learning that transpired first between father and daughter, and then between parent and classroom from opposite sides of the globe was amazing. I hope that education is moving in this direction. I think that children learn more when they see the things they are taught put into application. I feel that the students that took place in the skype were probably unaware of how "life-changing" that type of communication can be. I'm sure they didn't realize how incredible it was to be video chatting with a father on the other side of the world in real time. To not only have their questions answered but to actually see the person that was answering them. It puts a new spin on google. I wonder if skype has thought of creating networks to allow people to chat others that are (self-proclaimed) experts in their field, or that live in cultures that are foreign to themselves. This would be an amazing thing to look into. Perhaps companies like skype could create learning networks specifically for K-12 schools with "experts" for students to converse with. Anyway, this was a fun blog for me. Thanks for allowing me to see it!

Wendy

This video emphasized the importance of a Personal Learning Network. It showed how it had real world application. The student was able to form his own curriculum for the class based on networking he'd done online, instead of actually going to class and listening to lectures. The video wasn't so bad, visually. I don't think I'm ready to be a networking student. I enjoy going to class and learning with friends. I enjoy the student/teacher relationship as well. I think that there are parts of networking that could enhance my learning experience, but I wouldn't like to make it my only way of learning.