My Presentation

"Dr, Christie"

I think it would be helpful to me as a teacher to use Dr. Christie's Online Researching Resources.(http://www.alicechristie.org/search/orr.html)I think it would be very helpful as a teacher to be able to show my students one website that links them to trusted databases, search engines, and even links to ask an expert all from one website.
Also from this link, you can go to the reference tab(http://www.alicechristie.org/search/reference.html)which breaks it down by subjects, such as math, science and history. It would make me feel better knowing that my students could go to this one site and find trusted information without getting unreliable sources.

Wickipedia

Wow!!! Now I know exactly why I was never allowed to use Wikipedia as a source in any of my English classes. I now know it was for the best. I had no clue that anyone can change the information on Wikipedia. That really shocks me. I know that I will not lets my students use Wikipedia as a source when I become a teacher. This was very interesting to me.

180 Days?

I read The Best(?)of The Fischbowl April post about 180 Days?. This post is very funny to me but really true. It talks about how there are 180 days in the school year which are supposed to be for instruction. When you watch the Powerpoint presentation he posted it shows how many days are used or lost in the school year. It talks about the average number or days missed by students and/or teachers and the number of days used for testing. When it comes down to it, how many days are really used for instruction.
I do think there are a lot of days that are not used strictly for instruction, but I also think these "non-instruction" days are needed in order to keep your students happy. Who would want to go to school at all if there were no "fun days" or whatever may take up some of the educational days. Everyone needs a little break every once in a while.

"The Fischbowl"

I would have to completely agree with Karl Fisch. He couldn't have said it any better, "If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write." This is SO true. Almost everything these days require you to be technologically literate.

I also agreed with the point he made about when he was a math teacher, it was almost as if parents were proud that they were never really good at math, but that was acceptable, but not knowing how to read would be totally unacceptable. This is true all the time. I know my parents were the same way and this is really not acceptable in my opinion.

New Articles

Ms. Averitt has located two very interesting articles about RSS Freeds and Podcasting. I have posted them under Syllabus and Handouts, but I am going to also put the links to them here.
The ABC's of RSS Feeds
Just the Basics

International School Blogs

Upon searching the web for International Schools with blogs, I came across Mrs. Fitzpatrick's Blog (http://www.holytrinityschool.org.uk/tiki-view_blog.php?blogId=29). Mrs. Fitzpatrick is a teacher at the Holy Trinity CE School in the UK. She uses her blog to help keep the students and parents informed on things such as the PTA, News and Bulletins and contact information. It even connects to other teachers blogs, some who do not teach at this school anymore but keep in contact with their former students.

The next classroom blog that I came across was at Cooper Perry Primary School which is also located in the UK (http://www.cooperperry.staffs.sch.uk/gallery0708.asp). Cooper Perry Primary uses their blog as a school blog, not just a classroom blog. They list all of their contact information as well as the latest news and each classroom's blogs. They also showphotos which demonstrate some of their children's achievements.

Upon searching the web, I came across Mrs. Putnam's Classroom Blog (http://web2.burke.k12.nc.us/blogs/jputnam). Mrs. Putnam is a 5th grade teacher at Salem Elementary School in Morganton, NC. They use their classroom blog to help keep the students and parents informed on what they went over in class that day and what they will be going over next. She also has posted on her blog links to other classroom blogs at her school.

The next classroom blog I found was Mrs. Nikolic's Blog (http://todd.sd74.org/home/blog/44). Mrs. Nikolic is a 1st grade teacher at Todd Hall School in Lincolnwood, IL. She uses her classroom blog to post links to other websites for the students and parents as well as to keep the parents of her students updated as to what they have been doing in class. She even has pictures posted of their first week at school.

Did You Know?

This video was very interesting to me. The statistics were unbelievable. I had know clue some four year old children had so much access to computers. It really makes you realize how advanced technology has become. Even here at South, things online are becoming more and more available or even required more every semester.

I am very interested to know what changes there will be in a few years as my two children start school. I'm sure it will be even more advanced by then.