POST #1: Introductions and Sharing Your Past Experience

I am so blessed to be teaching kindergarten in a private school. I can't imagine spending my days doing anything other than teaching. Our morning lessons include Math Meeting Board, which is actually calendar time. We also have guided reading and math groups each day before 11. Our afternoon lessons include science, social studies and special classes. Of course, we always make time for recess and a snack.

I have no experience with AEA Online. I was very pleased to find this resource when I was searching for classes for license renewal. I did not want to spend the time or the money on a 3 credit class; however, I wanted to obtain useful information that I could use in the classroom.

My ability is limited when it comes to accessing online materials, but I do enjoy learning new ways of teaching. I think this class fits my needs perfectly.

I am a preschool teacher. I have taught for the past 35 years in various settings from nursery school to in home daycare. My current position is in a 4 year old preschool setting. Our program is collaborative meaning that I have a classroom that includes state funded preschool students, head start students and early childhood special needs students as well.

I do not have any experience with the AEA online resources. I was interested in taking this course because I was hoping to find new resources for obtaining childen's music and stories online. o

Years ago, prior to having children, I taught high school English and Spanish. My teaching and substitute licenses have expired since then. Now that my children are grown, I have gone back to work and am working in a small school kitchen doing food prep.  I am currently renewing my substitute license. Taking a self-paced online course for renewal credit works well for me, fitting around my work schedule and allowing me to do the work at home. When I was teaching, we didn't use computers in the regular classroom and the internet had not been made public. Therefore, I have no teaching experience with the AEA Online resources. I have observed my children using various AEA Online resources such as the Britannica Online School Edition and iClipArt.  I wanted to take this course to become familiar with all of these resources and learn how to use them before going back into the classroom.

I am an instructional technology consultant with PLAEA. I support educators in their quest to integrate technology. Whether leading professional learning, or coaching educators, I support implementation. As an educator, I used a few of the AEA Online resources including SIRS, however, I did not use all that is offered and available. Since I serve educators of all ages, and since I work for the AEA, I wanted to better understand all that is offered and available to educators. Not all of my schools have media center specialists or teacher librarians in the district every day, and I know teacher librarians are crucial in supporting educators in using these resources. I wanted to make sure I understood what was available, and I also wanted to consider the various values of each resource.

For the past 20 years I have been teaching and coaching in eastern Iowa. I've been teaching 6-12 Industrial  Technology. From basic Wood Technology, Web Design, CAD I&II & VREP (Virtual Reality Educational Pathways). I have know about the Iowa AEA Online resources and didn't pay to much attention to them, believing there would be no useful resources for my classes.  Needing to renew my license I decided to learn more about the Iowa AEA Online resources. Boy I am glad I did. Their are a lot of tools and resources I can use. Clip Art, Image, Video and fonts for my Web Design. How to video from Atomic Learning and much more

My name is Kari Johnson-Markla and I have worked at Redeemer Lutheran Preschool and Day Care for nearly 20 years. I am the Director and the head Preschool teacher. I oversee the daily operations of the center and have 23 employees working for me.  I am teaching 3 preschool classes this year. Our center collaborates with GHV schools with the Four Year Old Preschool program. Working with the school system has been rewarding and has been a good fit for our community.
This is my first experience with an on-line professional development class.  I have watched tutorials and completed classes like Mandatory Reporting and Universal Precautions on-line, but they are a little bit different than this was for me. I feel like I learned a great from this class and will be able to utilize different ideas from the on-line resources for our entire program.
This choice of the on-line resources looked very interesting to me as 21st Century ideas with more on-line ideas are a benefit to a preschool classroom. I truly enjoy teaching preschool children and what they are learning at home and with their parents about technology might as well trickle into the classroom.  I think my favorites were the Scholastic, BookFLIX, and Learn 360.  There are so many ideas now at our fingertips!
The other interesting and neat part about the on-line resources is the fact that I could go at my own pace on  my time frame.  The modules were easy to follow and were in chunks of reasonable timeframes. I am not very computer savy and even I was able to figure out most of the on-line class.  

I have been a coach and educator for 20 years in a variety of settings.  Currently, I work in the Woodbine CSD as a baseball coach. I spent many years teaching at Dowling Catholic High School in Des Moines. My past experience with Iowa AEA Online Resources is minimal. I was interested in this particular course due to the constant evolution of technology and was looking to find ways to implement some of these tools if I was to ever be back in the classroom.  

I have been teaching special education for about twelve years now.  Most of my special education experience has taken place in the middle school setting.  Just like you, I've used the AEA resources for checking out books, videos, and cd's.  Then I switched to videos on Learn 360.  I have enjoyed using Learn 360 videos as additional resource.  I took this class to learn more about the other AEA Online resources available to use in my classroom.

I am currently living in Tulsa, Oklahoma where I am a 4th grade Instructional Assistant for Title 1.  I work with the grade level Reading Specialist.  We work with 15 fourth grade classes throughout the day.  The reading specialist and I meet in small groups to help struggling readers read at their specific reading level.  

When my husband and I lived in Iowa I taught 5th grade and I used the AEA Online resources to supplement and add resources in my lessons.  I always used the resources that were discussed in Professional Development or ones that I had used previously.

I was interested in taking this course as I want to continue to be familiar with the resources offered to Iowa teachers in case we move back to Iowa.  I always felt that I was never using these resources to their full potential, so I enjoyed learning about the various ways teachers can use them in their classroom with their students.

This is my fifth year teaching K-5 ELL for the Des Moines School District.  Coming from another state which did not have anything remotely close to the AEA, I was very impressed at the available resources for not just educators, but also for students.

My experience with using resources offered through the AEA has been limited to accessing books, taking some trainings in order to get certified to administer tests to my students, as well as other required district trainings.  I was pleased to learn of the many different resources that are available of which I was not aware of previously.  Taking this course has given me much insight of how I can better use the many valuable tools that can enrich my classroom.

After reviewing the courses offered for license renewal, I found that this course would provide me with a better understanding of what was available for Iowa teachers though the AEA. It is my intention to take advantage and better use of the many resources made available.




 

I am so blessed to be teaching kindergarten in a private school. I can't imagine spending my days doing anything other than teaching. Our morning lessons include Math Meeting Board, which is actually calendar time. We also have guided reading and math groups each day before 11. Our afternoon lessons include science, social studies and special classes. Of course, we always make time for recess and a snack.
I have no experience with AEA Online. I was very pleased to find this resource when I was searching for classes for license renewal. I did not want to spend the time or the money on a 3 credit class; however, I wanted to obtain useful information that I could use in the classroom. This class fits that description perfectly.

My ability is limited when it comes to accessing online materials, but I do enjoy learning new ways of teaching. I think this class fits my needs perfectly. I just need to understand how to navigate with ease and correct the keyboard issues on my computer.

I currently hold a dual position as a library assistant and a papa-professional in the Iowa City Community School District.  I love working in the library and am eager to learn more ways in which technology boosts student learning.  I have an interest in taking this course on the Iowa AEA online resources as I am working towards reinstating my Iowa teaching license.  It’s been several years since I was a Title I reading teacher in Iowa, then a 1st grade teacher and later an elementary school librarian in Texas.  Many of these online resources are familiar to me.  Encyclopedia Britannica, BookFlix, True Books, TeachingBooks.net, and Gale’s Kids InfoBits were all favorite databases of mine to use with my 850+ students.  It is terrific to have a refresher course!  Furthermore, I am learning about other online resources with which I have had little or no experience.  The convenience of taking self-paced courses online is extremely helpful as a working mom.

Hi My name is Elizabeth Lyons. I have taught 6-7th grade Art in Ankeny for 7 years now. Our art program rotates with the quarters at this level as the students are in exploratories. I get a team of kids every day for 9 weeks before they rotate out of art.  Before teaching in ankeny I taught art in the twin cities.
I have not had a lot of experience with the AEA in the past. After having taken this course, I really wish I would have used these resources more! I have used some of the videos to showcase artists for the students, but that is about it.
I was interested in this self paced course because a friend of mine took it and said it was very useful. I also needed credits to renew my license so I thought this would be a good class to take. I had heard that there was some good copyright information in this course as well, and that is something that I needed more information on.

I currently work as a curriculum specialist for the Davenport Community School District.  I used AEA Online resources when I was a second grade classroom teacher.  My students used BookFlix quite often to find books tied to a topic we were studying.  I also used many of the resources in my daily lessons.  I found the AEA resources especially useful when I needed resources to support a current event topic because our regular curriculum resources did not have resources to study current events.  For the last few years I have worked with collaborative data teams and technology is becoming a bigger and bigger part of classroom instruction.  I wanted to take this course to review the resources that are available to teachers and students.  Now I have an understanding of resources available to our teachers.

I have been an educator for 26 almost 27 years.  I have taught mainly at the upper elementary and middle school level.  I currently teach at Chariton Middle School.  I have used the AEA in the past for mainly book check outs, sets of books, and professional books.  I have also used the streaming of movies when teaching a unit in my room.

I was astonished by the amount of materials that are available. I was extremely interested in SIRS because we teach an argumentative writing unit and the students could use this as a resource for information on their topic.  I also liked the Culture Grams.  What a cool way to find info in a social studies class!

I currently teach in an inclusion classroom, so I need a large variety of materials at many different levels.  These resources have opened up a great avenue for me to meet the needs of my students.  I also liked the fact that many of the sights had a student sign in as well as a teacher sign in that included many more resources not available to the students.

I have only been teaching for 7 years, all of them spent working as a Kindergarten and 1st grade ESL teacher. Before that I worked as a middle school/high school ESL aide for a semester. I work with small groups of children (6-10) at a time. I do a little bit of co-teaching and push in to the regular classroom, but mostly I pull the students I work with into my room.
I have used Iowa AEA Online for quite a few trainings related to testing required for ESL. This is my first self-paced course, however. I most recently completed the training for the new ELA standards on Iowa AEA Online.
As an ESL teacher, I am constantly looking for alternative ways to present things. With students responding so well to technology, I find that the more incorporate it into my teaching, the more engaged students are. It gets a bit dicey when I google search something with the children around. Even with filters at the highest level, things can slip through. And when watching youtube videos, I cannot control the ads that show before or pop up during. I was hoping to find alternative resources that would take away some of the risk factor.

I am currently an at-home mom and have been away from teaching since 2007.  I previously taught 1st and 2nd grade.  I have no past experience with Iowa AEA online resources as my teaching experience was out of state.  
I chose to take this course in an effort to renew my teaching license and also to keep up with technology in the classroom and today's world.  I plan to substitute this fall and know this will be helpful as I navigate lesson plans and help kids with their day to day work.  

I currently work for a middle school as a Family Consumer Science teacher.  I teach mostly cooking, sewing and nutrition. I have not had any prior experiences with the Iowa AEA online resources but look forward to using them in the future.  I was surprised by all the resources available to us and what each one offers.  I was interested in the course because I always knew the resources were offered by the AEA and I wanted to get better acquainted with what they offered.  I'm very excited to dive into Khan's Acadany and explore all that it offers. I know my colleagues could benefit from the resources offered.  I believe the resource that will benefit my class the most is Teen Health and Wellness.  It has nutrition information that fits into my lessons and the students will like using the computers to locate that information.  

I currently teach HiSET(previously GED) for DMACC out at Iowa Correctional Institution for Women at Mitchellville, IA.  I work to prepare the women to take qualifying tests in the five subjects areas: math, writing, reading, science, and social studies.

I have not really utilized the AEA online resources in the past, so that was a key fact in me deciding to take this course.  I would like to find more ways to incorporate technology into the classroom.  I feel there are many good resources that are available to create both an enriched and engaging learning experience for my students.

My students all come from unique educational backgrounds.  We are hoping to have them find success when completing k-12 was not a reality.

I have a para educator license, but I am not working as a para educator but would like to keep my license current.  So I choose AEA online training to get my three credits to renew my certificate. The AEA online training classes have been extremely beneficial to me .  I have renewed my certificate in the past at AEA in Johnson.  But have had to travel long distanceses to and from classes.  I really appreciate the self pace courses online.  And being able to go at my own pace.  Right now I am working at home through a Medicaid program for Iowans with disabilities.  And really enjoy what I am doing.  I took the AEA on line resource class because I wanted to find out what they had to offer.  The class has been very beneficial in showing me all that AEA has to offer for resources.