POST #1: Introductions and Sharing Your Past Experience

I am a Reading Interventionist in Sioux City, Iowa.  My primary responsibility is to work with the other reading interventionist in the building to make sure the Whole to Part program is running smoothly.  This involves assessing and placing all students within the middle school into the proper intervention or enrichment group with the proper materials.  As the year progresses, it also means reassessing and regrouping students as their reading needs change and continually providing the necessary reading materials.  In addition to these responsibilities, I co-teach 2 classes of American History and try to help with small groups/resource needs in the building whenever possible.

I have used the Iowa AEA Online resources occasionally in the past.  I attended a brief PD session a few years ago to obtain basic information about using the website.  The main way I have incorporated the website into my lessons is using video available on the aea digital library.

I decided to take this course so that I could learn more about the additional resources available in the AEA Online Resources.  I want to find ways to use the resources to help with differentiation with the classroom while also incorporating additional technology usage within the classroom.  The class I teach often changes year after year, so the more familiar I am with the resources available on the AEA Online Resources, the easier it will be to incorporate their usage with a new curriculum.

1) Hello....my name is Tony Brack and I teach Biology and Anatomy at Clear Creek Amana High School.  Students that are in my classes range from 10th-12th grade.  We use SEPUP Biology Curriculum for our 10th grade biology students.  This curriculum is problem-based and allows the student to learn more about the world around them along with how will we will solve the biology based problems of the world.  This is my 17th year in education and I continue to learn new things about the teaching profession.  

2)My experience with the Iowa AEA Online Resource has been very limited.  I remember our librarian put on a mini-PD for us about 10 years ago.  I transferred this information to my students at the time, however that was 10 years ago.  Things have certainly improved since then.  As a teacher, I appreciate being able to provide secure and appropriate sites for my students to go to in order to research information.  

3)I became interested in this course in order to help my students find credible sites when they do research projects.  It is very easy to go to wikipedia and look up information, but is the information credible?  The AEA online resource website provides a secure and honest resource for students to feel confident with the received information.  This safe way of doing research will not only help them during high school but will also be a great skill to help them exceed in college.

Hi, my name is Lori Warkentin,  I currently teach third grade at Storm Lake Elementary in Storm Lake, Iowa,  Within our elementary, we have eight sections of third grade averaging 24 students per a room.  I teach all subject areas including reading and math skill level interventions.  I have taught for the Storm Lake Community School District for seventeen years and have used AEA numerous ways.  For the past several years and currently, I have been using Learn360, iclipArt, Bookflix and Trueflix.  I would say a majority of my AEA online as been Learn360 with the use of videos for Science and Social Studies units to either introduce a new unit or to reinforce a lesson previously taught.  

I am a veteran teacher that has been teaching for 27 years; I have been at the same school for all but one and a half years.  I started out as a long term substitute and landed a job in an eighth grade classroom where there had already been SEVERAL substitutes come and go!  Needless to say, I found a way to make it work with the help of a very helpful man that taught in the room next door.  There were a lot of challenges along the way, but I am proud to be a teacher and a wife of the man I met next door!  We've been married 24 years now.  I started out in eighth grade, but I found to enjoy teaching sixth grade math to be my true passion.  I went back to school and got an MA in Middle School Mathematics and continue to learn daily in this crazy profession!

I am currently teaching 2nd grade in the Iowa City Community School District.  I've been there for 5 years and worked at the Solon Elementary before that.  I have some experience with AEA Online, but it's very limited.  My students use BookFlix regularly and use the Britannica Online for our animal research paper.  I also use Learn360 for videos when I can find something relevant.  I took this PD because I wanted to learn more about all the other resources available on the website.  Technology is such a huge part of my student's lives and they seem to respond positively when able to use tech in the classroom.

Good evening! I am currently teaching English Language Learners in West Liberty middle school and having a great time. I switched from teaching Special Education in the high school for six years to ELL for a change. The ELL classroom is different everyday and as a teacher I need new resources to assist my students in their learning journey. I have also taken the position as model teacher in the district with twelve other model teachers. We use the SIOP model in our district and that has been our cornerstone, but again I need new resources to share with my co-workers.
Prior to taking this online course I knew their was an option that was free to the district, but I did not realize it was as outstanding as it is.  My experience has been in the English classroom for essay writing; in this class I helped students use the AEA Digital Library and Britannica Online. I was a co-teacher at the time with minimal time for co-planning; therefore when the students were learning how to use the Digital Library, I was learning, too.
What interested me about the course are the AP Images, iClipArt, and SIRS Issue Research.  I have been working with new ELL's that have had many Power Point presentations to do; they enjoy working on Power Points, but I would like to make sure that they are using their information correctly and legally.  

I am currently a teacher in Huntsville, Alabama who is working to reinstate my Iowa License.  I have worked with many of the AEA resources but have not been in Iowa schools for the past 9 years.  The availability of the AEA ONline resources will make teaching in Iowa easier so that You have access to so many different resources.  These opportunities are good for both the teacher and the students.  I think that they are awesome.

I am a Physical Education teacher in Southwest Iowa.  I have been teaching for 19 years altogether, but this is my 15th year at my current location.  I work in a 2-5 building, but work with the 4th and 5th grades.  Prior to this year I have not used the AEA online system, except to set up my login, and taking the Mandatory Reporter Training.  This year however I was tasked with supervising a group of 4th graders for 35 minutes at the end of the day for a literacy intervention.  This was quite a shock as I have had no formal literacy training.  While most of the intervention focuses on having the students use the Lexia Core 5 program, I was told about some of the programs that are available through the AEA. After letting the students use some of the programs one day I decided that I needed to inform and educate myself on what was available and what would best serve the needs of the students that I am working with.  I was surprised by what is available to students and am looking for ways to incorporate it into my Physical Education program as well.

I am an EL teacher in Marshalltown. I work with 5th and 6th grade students of all levels. We have mostly students whose families are from Mexico. However, Marshalltown does have more than 30 languages represented in our school district. We are getting increasing numbers from Burma as well as other countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas.  I have used some of the online resources (e.g. clip art and britannica) but I wanted to learn about more offerings. As an EL teacher having videos and images to demonstrate content is particularly important.  I have enjoyed having one central location for various resources. It’s also useful that they all have the same password and username.  I think that digital research is the way of the future and I want to be able to send my students to reliable sources of information. We often use Britannica but I wanted to learn about the other options and work to add more technology into my curriculum.

I am from the Clarinda.  I am a third grade teacher, and have been for 21 years.  I have used some of the AEA online resources.  TruFlix is used during our daily 5 rotations to tie in to what we are studying in Science and Social Studies.   Also, I use BookFlix for listening to reading during Daily 5.  I have used CultureGrams during our culture unit in Social Studies.  I will also be using it during our Making Meaning story "Morning Meals".  We can learn about even more countries and the meals that they prepare.  I felt like I knew a lot about the different resources, but I had no idea of the amount of info and resources on the Learn360.  I'm always searching for videos and such.  This is a great resource, I can't wait to dive in and get my students engaged!

I teach geometry at Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, so most of my students are freshmen or sophomores.  Although I consider myself an expert on geometric topics, I am definitely sophomoric at best in the realm of online resources.  I have known for some time that we, as teachers, have resources available on-line for many aspects of teaching but have maintained some sort of mental block that has prevented me from utilizing those resources.  I decided that it is time to overcome such silly fears.

I have many creative ideas for teaching the concepts covered in the classes I teach, and I have manifested some of those for the classroom.  For instance, I am a musician and occasionally write songs about geometry topics and write them in WORD and make copies for the students to follow while I perform/explain.  With that task alone, I have always wanted to record and post those songs and have the students create videos for their own interpretations to share with others that could be viewed currently and to classes in the future.  My internet illiteracy has prevented me from doing so.  I hope to cross the bridge.

I have been teaching language arts, speech, and broadcasting for almost 30 years. I currently work as the teacher leader of the language arts department at Waukee High School where I teach predominately high school juniors. I also lead the student council and assist with the high school competitive speech program. I am also involved in advocating for curriculum changes.

I enjoy taking AEA Online courses, and I have also taken classes at the Heartland location. Our school librarian has been a major advocate of AEA's online resources, and I have been aware of many of the resources for several years, but I--like many other teachers and students--have found myself more likely to use Google than any of the other resources the AEA provides. That has been a silly choice! This course has opened my eyes to the wide variety of options available for teachers and students. The sources are focused, reliable, and right at our fingertips. So I have not used the resources as much as I should have, and I know my PLC will be made aware of the possibilities for student-focused projects and how we can better-prepare lessons using these resources.

My ultimate interest is to be aware. That is what I ask of my students, so I must find ways to be more aware of what is available. In turn, I can better help my students with their learning and understanding.

1.  This is my 5th year at Springville Elementary as the Early Childhood Special Education Preschool Teacher.  I have worked in the preschool setting for the past 14 years.  With 9 years being in Southwest Iowa.  

2.  I have not had very much experience with the AEA online resources because I was not familiar enough or knew enough to know if it was useful in the preschool setting.  I have used Book Flicks through the library in Southwest Iowa and have become familiar with that tool.  

3.  I have always been curious in finding out what is out there and valuable to use with in the classroom.  With the changing and implementing of technology I wanted to get more familiar with the options that I have to use with preschool students.  I continue to try to branch out of comfort zone and see what is out there.  With the use of technology I found that my students are more engaged and curious to find out more information.  I continue to explore and see what is out there.  I really enjoyed the bookflix and also the Brittanica online was very interesting and useful.  We did a unit on dinosaurs and it allowed me to get some much needed information for preschool.  They enjoyed looking up information on their own time as well, with some teacher guidance.  

I am currently in my seventh year in the Technology Department at Howard-Winneshiek CSD. My favorite resources for the elementary level are Book Flix, Culture Grams, True Flix, and Britannica. I also recommend Book Flix to my Spanish teachers at my high school as they offer many works in bilingual editions.  Culture Grams is also a great resource for our World Language department with the authentic recipes and videos.  In the High School I showcase the HippoCampus for teachers to utilize this resource as an online textbook.

My name is Shannon Bohannon, I am a level 2/3 self-contained teacher in Central City.  Currently I a have two students in my classroom.  On is a 9th graders and one is an 11th grader.  My role in this type of classroom is different than a role of a teacher in a general education classroom.  The student I teach are on Alt. Assessments so they don't follow Common Core.  Instead my students follow the Essential Elements set by the state.  I have been teaching for nine years and have had very little experience with Iowa AEA Online.  In fact I really have had no experience with it.  I thought the resources on Iowa AEA Online would be far above the  understanding of my students.   After finishing the on-line class I am seeing many benefits for my students.  I wish I would have come by this class before.  If we are to be honest about taking the class, it was just for a renewal credit.  I don't think I would have taken it if otherwise. After the class and knowing I will have a whole different set of students next year, I am very excited to be able to expose myself more to Iowa AEA Online as well as my students.

I currently do not work and am officially retired. I wish to keep my teaching license, however, so I am completing this course and others so I can do that. I taught high school English for 18 years and then worked as an Instructional Materials Consultant for Heartland AEA for 14 years. Instructional Materials Consultant is a rather vague term--what my job entailed was finding resources for teachers as well as doing professional development training on Heartland's online catalog and online resources. Consequently, I am  familiar with most of the online databases. I enrolled in this course because I wanted to see how the databases had changed because they changed often with upgrades while I was training with them. I also wanted to see what new online databases might be available. In addition, I currently tutor a 9th grade student, and I know these online databases will be very useful in that capacity.

I currently teach at IKM-Manning and have been teaching there for 17 years.  I teach Elementary PE K-4 and then teach High School Health and Weight Training.  I have not had a lot of experience using the AEA Online resources.  I was interested in finding useful resources that I could use in all areas of my teaching.  I was hoping to find different activities that I could use with my Elementary PE classes and helpful information for my high school Health class that I teach.

My name is Carla Witt. I currently work with 5th and 6th grade students with special needs as a para educator at Hudson Elementary School, Hudson, IA. I have been doing this job for 12 years.

My experience with the AEA Online Learning System is limited; I have taken the online Mandatory Reporting class and Roles and Responsibilities of a Para Educator.

This course interested me because I am in the process of obtaining my para certification, and I am always looking for new resources for to assist students in their studies/research. In addition, the course was self-paced, which allowed me to complete modules at my own pace while continuing with my normal daily routines. I come from a Photography background and know a little about copyright. So, I saw this class covered
copyright information and thought that would be interesting. I thought the more I learned the more I could help our district abide by these rules. I have gained further knowledge to help me in our classroom.

I currently teach fourth grade in Glenwood, Iowa.  I have taught in Glenwood for 17 years.  I have been a co-teacher for the last 6 years, working closely with our grade level special education instructor.  I am also the PLC facilitator for my grade level, our building's Teacher Assistance Team Coordinator, and I serve on our Math Subject Area Committee.

In the past I had used the AEA's Online resources very little.  Through this course I have began using it much more!  My students love reading on BookFLIX, and that is a great resource to enhance to not only enhance our science and social studies curriculum, but to reinforce nonfiction reading in the classroom.  Next year I plan to use the AEA Digital Library, AP Images, , Britannica Online, CultureGrams for our nonfiction writing unit.  In this unit students research and write a nonfiction report on a country.  These resources will provide a safer resource for student research.  I also plan to use TeachingBooks.net to help in my lesson planning with the books that we use in our classroom.  I have shared this amazing resource with the staff in our building, many were excited to check it out!

I took this class because I wanted to learn more about the free resources that are available to me and my students.  I knew the AEA had great online resources for teachers, but never really took the time to look at them in depth.  I am excited to implement them in my classroom next year, and share them with my coworkers as well!