K-12 News Blog: A Blog About Usings Blogs In Class

Wow! These blogs are coming fast and furious now! Hopefully this one will not sound as hasty as my last post... In fact I might fix that... Okay done! That is one of the nice things about blogs is that you can edit your post so easily. Because of the ease of doing something like this, and the general ease of use and organization when it comes to using computers, many teachers are now using web logs, or blogs, as tools in their classrooms as well. This blog itself is part of its own classroom assignment, making this posting the most "meta" of any posting thus far. But it is no surprise why some teachers are using blogs in the classroom. Even I am thinking about doing it with my students if I am allowed, I'm just not sure how yet. A college teacher could easily use a blog for their classes, and in my own experience I have seen more college teachers use classroom blogs than K-12 teachers (though this might also be due to my age). Still the slight problems some students may have figuring out the technology seems to be out weighed by the benefits of keeping a class blog of some sort. I have included three links in the Link list that I consider testimonials to this fact. One is from TechLearning, and it describes why web logs are here to stay and some of the concerns about using a web log effectively. The another is direct feedback from a teacher who uses web logs themselves. And the final one is a web site that will give a teacher effective steps toward creating a classroom blog. These testimonials along with my own experience using a class blog have made me think of using one for one of my classes at one time; probably the best compliment of all.

K-12 News Interactive Web Sites

What is an interactive website? you might be using them and not even know it! An interactive website is one that is meant to be manipulated towards a goal. Websites that run games such as Pacman or Tetris can be considered interactive. But websites can also be used to create educational material. In the list to the right I have provided a couple of Interactive Web site's that a teacher could use to help students grasp some simple skills. For instance there is an antonym matching game to help students quickly learn what the concept of antonyms are. There are also test you can use to drill students on specific subjects, such as the life of Ben Franklin. The website quia.com seems to have a whole bunch of these types of web pages, though you must pay to use them after a free trail period. Still interactive games such as these are great tools for helping people learn certain skills, especially for those who learn well by "doing". If a teacher can easily integrate using a web page such as this, it could be a great method of helping a student learn. What is nice is the fact that these games are all web based (running on java or sometime just within the browser) it makes it much easier to use and accesses. Interactive web sites could easily be used to go over easy vocabulary terms or run true false quizzes. If a teacher could learn how to create one of these types of web sites they could easily create some fun content for their classes to use.
*Edited from 1st posting*

K-12 News - In Depth: No Child Left Behind

Today I will be focusing one the issue of No Child Left Behind by focusing on a a related series of stories. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has been touring the United States recently trying to promote NCLB and quell any nay sayers or people with problems. She recently visited both West Virginia and Virginia about the subject, and to put it kindly, she did not go over very well. Most of the news coming out of any article about the visit was generally negative, ranging from simple complaints about how to test students who are of Limited English Proficiency, to outright discussion of pulling out of the bill, some commenting that the tour is just "a fly-by" and "...going through the motions". No matter how you look at it, things look dubious for NLCB at the moment. Spellings does not seem to want to budge on much either. She does acknowledge that there are some problems with NCLB, but she also says that they are fixable and we should not worry. Furthermore, she warns VA lawmakers that "it wouldn't be in VA's best interest to walk away from such federal resources." It seems pretty clear that things are getting nasty and pretty serious though if the state is willing to threaten to pull out of the deal. This isn't to say that NCLB still does not have supporters. It should be noted that VA already receives substantial leeway in certain area's including the number of minority or disabled to be cut off at 50 children rather than 30. The four latest links in the K-12 News Links are all about NCLB. It chronicles Spelling's trip to W.VA earlier in March followed by her trip to Richmond VA later that March.