1. ALEX: Yours, Mine, and Ours! MEGA Conference July 14-18, 2008

2. MEGA Conference 2008 Shannon Parks, ALEX Director sparks@alsde.edu Brooke Elliott, ALEX/GEMS Projects Team Technology Specialist ebe@uab.edu Aimee Smith, Cullman City Schools Laptop Training Coach aimee.smith@cullmancats.net Presentation Team Members

3. Getting to Know You…

4. Teachers…Do we have time?

5. Beach Ball Blast… What types of things would you want organized while using the computer to search for instructional activities in your classroom? Internet Searches (website) Lesson Plans Alabama Standards (Course of Study and Tests) Resources Teacher Web Pages State Department Section Websites

6. It’s a Good Thing!

7. Why ALEX? IN ONE PLACE: Created by experts Created by experts Aligned to Alabama Standards Aligned to Alabama Standards High quality High quality Grade level appropriate Grade level appropriate Commercial free at no cost Commercial free at no cost Available anywhere, anytime Available anywhere, anytime

8. ALEX Free Features Winner of 2007 “Best of the Web” Personal Workspace Webpage for Every Teacher New “Search” Features Over 38,000 Lesson Plans, Activities Aligned to Digitized, Searchable Courses of Study New Listservs, Web Links, more… New, Free ALEX/Thinkfinity Training Program for Each District Lesson Plan/Activity Sources Thinkfinity Thinkfinity Alabama Teachers Alabama Teachers

9. More ALEX… Social Networking..Blogs, Wikis Levels of Mastery --notes--Flagged Courses of Study indicating when standards are introduced, reinforced, and mastered, etc. More Interactives all aligned to Alabama Courses of Study for: Hard to Teach/Learn Standards, & Typical Achievement Gap Areas Specially Designed Website for: ELL, Special Education, Leadership Development, Schools/Districts in School Improvement, Career Technical, Alabama Reading Initiative, Library Media

10. ENGAGING THE 21ST CENTURY LEARNER READING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM – SOCIAL STUDIES ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS READING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM – SCIENCE ILLuminations - MATH EXPOSITORY TEXT READING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM – HISTORICAL FIGURES READINGMath Art- ArtsEdge READING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM – ECONOMICS

11. ENGAGING THE 21 ST CENTURY LEARNER CONTINUED…. GeographyENGLISH/LITERACYARMT - MATH READING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM – SCIENCE READING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM – HISTORY CAREER TECH ARMT - MATHCURRENT EVENTS – ELECTIONS EXPOSITORY TEXT

12. ALEX Features http://alex.state.al.us

13. Now You Try… Elementary Teacher (Rosa Parks - SS) Middle School Teacher (Volume - Math) Middle School Teacher (Mitosis - Science) High School Teacher (Expository - Language Arts)

14. ALEX Personal Workspace

15. Customize Your Workspace

16. Creating a Lesson Plan

17. Web Links

18. Search Engine

19. KWL Model www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/graphic_org/kwl/

21. Adding Bookmarks… Save searches by bookmarking to your Personal Workspace.

22. Course of Study

23. Aligned Standards Test Standards Achievement Gap Standards NBPTS Hard-to-Teach Standards

24. Professional Learning

25. The Six-Step Approach Teacher Website Overview ALEX Teacher Web pages

26. Word Processor Easy Teacher Website Overview

27. Publishing Teacher Website Overview Gatekeeper Reviews, Approves, and Publishes

28. Teacher Web Sites Teacher Website Overview URL: http://alex.state.al.us/twp/schoolname/teachername

29. More Information… To find out more about ALEX/Thinkfinity Training for your individual school, contact your regional Technology In Motion Specialist. www.technologyinmotion.state.al.us For more information on ALEX training for your district, ask your technology coordinator to contact Dr. Shannon Parks, sparks@alsde.edu

30. Questions? Session #425 Thank you for your time!