Week 2 Assignment. ALEX

The Alabama Learning Exchange or ALEX is a website designed to share materials and information for educational purposes. ALEX offers links to Courses of Study, Web Links, Lessons Plans, Personal Workspace, Professional Learning, and Distance Learning. They also have a search and help section if you have a specific matter you want to look up or if you have a question you need answered.

Courses of Study are offered in the subjects you will be teaching in an elementary classroom like Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. Once you decide what subject you want to find a course of study on you can access what grade you want to look at. For example, if you click on Language Arts, 2nd Grade, it gives you a list of possible lesson plans. This is very helpful when you are writing your lesson plans because you can put the lesson number from the ALEX website on your lesson plans. The Web Links gives you a list of Teacher Web Links, Administrator Web Links, and Student Web Links. In the Lesson Plans category it has a search specified in helping you find a lesson plan. There is the option to create your own lesson plan if you have an ALEX account, find a lesson plan by Author, Title or School, or search for a lesson plan by subject. The Personal Webspace link is a place where you login if you have an ALEX account. If you create an ALEX account you have the option of storing and submitting lesson plans and web pages for teachers. The Professional Learning Link gives you more links to visit websites to find professional development growth and opportunities, learning tools, and the latest news concerning the Alabama Department of Education. Another link available is the Distance Learning. This is for schools with limited course offerings. It allows students to take part in Advanced Placement, electives, and other types of courses that they might not have access too.

All of these links can be found on the main page, which makes this website very user friendly. Once you click on courses of study it brings you to a page where you can choose what grade you want to search for. This website is very simple to figure out and if you still have problems they have a Help link. Even with all of the links I mentioned above, this website also offers links to the Alabama Department of Education, Alabama Virtual Library, and much more.

I think the ALEX website is a very useful resource for teachers in Alabama. It offers you all kinds of resources to use in your lesson plans. I know when I begin teaching I will use the courses of study to help in planning my lessons. It also gives me the option in looking up other lesson plans for different subjects. I know I'll use the different websites they list for you in the Web Links and also in the Professional Learning. ALEX also offers a Personal Workspace, which I may consider using once I begin teaching to store my lesson plans. This website offers many important resources that any teacher can benefit from and I know I will use it once I begin teaching.

First Post

My Name is Amber Calvert. I'm a 20 (soon to be 21) year old junior at South Alabama. I am majoring in Elementary Education. As a senior in high school I had decided that I wanted to go to the University of Alabama. I was all ready to go, when in April of 2006 I was diagnosed with Melanoma. Therefore that put a damper on my plans. Due to all the doctor appointments I decided to stay here in Mobile. I don't regret it at all. I love Mobile and I'm glad I stayed close to home. Anyways, I started off here at South as a Business major.. only to shortly realize how much I disliked all my classes. By November of my first semester I decided I wanted to become a teacher. I love kids! I lost that feeling of "now what to do with my life" once I entered the College of Education. I should be graduating in the Spring of 2010, which I am very excited about! I cant wait to get into my own classroom!

My life revolves around my school and work schedule. Most of the time I feel like I have no time for myself, but when I do get a spare moment my time is spent with my boyfriend of 3 years (Josh), my 2 very best friends, or reading. Right now my obsession is the Twilight Series. I've read the whole series twice now and I'm working on a third time. The movie comes out November 21st and I can not wait. That would be my nerdy side. :] My best friends Lauren and Ashlea are both mothers. Grayson and Madison are my little worlds. They both have my heart in their hands. I was able to watch Grayson Lee's birth this past April and it was the most special thing in the world. I have two dogs, Jackson and Sam, who I love to death! I love going out on the boat..fishing..swimming..tubing.. everything that goes a long with it. I also love going up to my boyfriends huntin camp in Gainestown, Alabama. Riding horses is one of my biggest passions. I use to compete when I was younger, but due to my crazy schedule I only get to ride occasionally now. I can't wait for football season to start... Roll Tide! :]

Right now, the class I am most excited about is Classroom Management. I'll be starting my candidacy in the spring. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Annndd I'm ready for the semester to be over already. ;]