Week 6 - Google Reader

I really enjoyed reading all of these blogs during the course, but my favorite would have to be Larry Ferlazzo's website of the day.  He blogs a lot about ELL students.  I recently started teaching at a high school that has a great number of hispanic students that are continuing to learn English.  In his post Additions To “Best Sites For ELL’s” List," Larry discusses websites, such as ABC Phonics that helps these struggling students.  I have found many of his observations useful, but I plan to use these suggested websites to hopefully help these students get over the hump in their language difficulties.

The two additional blogs that I subscribed to were CogDogBlog and Stephen's Web.  I liked both of these blogs.  They were not always interesting or relevant to me, but I found some of the posts useful.

CogDogBlog: www.cogdogblog.com
Stephen's Web: www.downes.ca/

Week 5 - Digital Citizenship

It is important to practice good "digital citizenship" because, first of all, it helps protect the user.  There are a lot of scary things on the internet, and educating students about proper practice will help keep them out of harm's way.  Also, it keeps people from being misunderstood and makes the overall digital experience much more pleasant.  Protecting yourself from viruses, worms, digital hackers, cyberbullies, etc. should be a major priority.

Week 3 - p. 105 #1 in Roblyer book

I found the reviews offered by these websites very helpful in deciding which websites I might want to visit.    Educationworld.com probably has the most reviews and is the most recently updated.  Superkids.com seems easy to use, and I would probably use it when trying to learn about software for my classroom.  Like I said, all of the websites discussed in question number one of page 105 of the textbook are useful in learning more about educational websites.

Web 2.0 Assignment

I really enjoyed this assignment.  I have never used many of these tools, and I believe that they will prove to be useful in my classroom.  My students will enjoy learning to use these websites.  Glogster was really cool.  It would be a useful tool for students to access away from the classroom.  I could see myself posting on this site for a review for the students to look over at home.  I also enjoyed the animoto website.  I could see myself using it to introduce a new idea or writing prompt to students.  For my free choice, I chose to make a book on tikatok.com.  I probably wouldn't use this with high school students, but younger kids would definitely like the books made on this website.  The following links are what I created for my assignment:

https://bubbl.us/?h=9f13c/13038c/65OL.lWh6BOuo

http://headj.glogster.com/noun-clog/

http://animoto.com/play/doeXVkIBH2qQGG4Cwv5Djg

http://www.tikatok.com/book/embedShared/code/f34e030fa9831803d194e1126ffe7cf5

Week Two

I'm planning on using this "Schoolhouse Rock, Conjunction Junction" video for my class of eighth graders.  I'm a little concerned that it may be too elementary for them.  Have any of you used this with your students?  If so, how did they respond and how did you use it in the class?  

Introduction -- Week 1

My name is Jeremy Head.  I live in Pleasant Grove, Alabama with my wife of almost three years Amanda.  We are expecting our first child, a boy, in January.  His name will be Levi Daniel.  I teach English and coach basketball at Fultondale High School in Birmingham.  I attended Corner High School and played basketball at Huntingdon College before transferring to the University of Alabama to finish my degree.  I am currently in graduate school at the University of West Alabama.