Katelyn Post #3

ALEX stands for Alabama Learning Exchange. This website lets gives you information on the requirements of education for each grade level, lets teachers view lesson plans for different subjects, and lets you create a “workspace” for your information. There are eight different icons when you go to the ALEX website. There is a lesson plan icon that allows you to choose the grade level, and subject that you need a lesson plan for. This is a great way to find lesson plans that you know will be appropriate for your students. There is another icon for Professional Learning. This icon allows you to navigate to different websites that have information about Alabama school information. I was personally interested in this section because they had information on Special Education which is my major.
This website is particularly useful for students as well. Now that I know about this website I can use it to access information that I will need for my classes. There is also a search and a help icon which can come in handy when looking for information. I think that is website can be useful for parents as well. They can look up requirements for their child before they start school to gain knowledge on what their child will learn in the future. As a student and future teacher and parent I am looking forward to using this site.
Technology in the classroom is one of the great things about teaching and being a student in today’s society. It makes learning more convenient. Instead of having to go to the library to find books for a research paper/project, students can go online and find information. Another useful website is ACCESS. The Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide is an actual distance learning program for students. Students that are in high school can take classes online. I think that in today’s society with the amount of technology there is, why not have distance learning available? This site was created to improve students’ abilities. Some of the courses that are offered on the site are Geometry, Physics, Biology, and Algebra I. These classes may be difficult for students and they may want to take classes online with written explanations. I think that distance learning is a great thing.
These two sites were particularly helpful to me because I plan to be a teacher. I need to gain more knowledge as a student and ALEX had a good amount of information on Special Education and IEPs. I enjoyed reviewing the lesson plans and I know I will find then very useful as I continue in my education and when I start teaching. The ACCESS website was new to me. I had no idea that there was distance learning for high school age people. I think that it is wonderful that students can come online and take classes just like college students can. The technology that we have today is amazing and I look forward to using it in the future.