Friday, May 1, 2009

My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete

I really enjoyed this class and it was great getting to meet everyone! I can tell you are all going to be great educators and I look forward to seeing some of you as coworkers in the future. Who know, we might even see each other next semester! Have a great summer everyone!

What have I learned?

I have learned many things by taking this class. I've learned about podcasts used in the educational field, I had just known about iTunes used to download songs. Blogs being used in education, especially in elementary education was also very new to me. I knew how to do word documents and spreadsheets but had never tried a blog. I also learned about important resource websites that I have used a lot since. All in all I am glad I took this class and I am thankful for the knowledge I have aquired

ACCESS Labs

Throughout Alabama students are now able to access Advanced placement classes that are not offered at their school. How? By going to their ACCESS lab! During school hours instead of going to a normal elective course, students can choose to go to their access lab and take courses that they would otherwise not be able to without the help of their access lab. To learn about ACCESS you can read my other blog post click here. I went to Blount High school in Eight Mile, AL. There they have a lab set up in their library. The library is closed to all other students during this time so the students can concentrate on getting their work done, Students use this lab with "NovaNet" which is like ACCESS in the way that its set up, but instead of advanced placement classes, it offers students to earn back credits for classes they have failed in the past. This is called their "credit recovery" class. I find this to be a very important and beneficial way of using the lab because it is helping students work towards graduation and hopefully college after that. I witnessed students working hard and using this resource effectively. They seemed very eager to accomplish their goals of getting those credits back. There is a teacher present to help the students with any problems they have. I am glad NovaNet and ACCESS are available to our students.