ALEX

The Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) is an online resource that allows teachers to post and share their lesson plans with each other. It can also be used to help teachers to keeps their own lesson plans organized. With this resource, educators can compare their own resources with those of other teachers and glean new ideas which they might not otherwise be aware of.

This looks like an incredibly useful tool, and is in keeping with the new openness provided by blogs and the internet in general. A teacher in rural areas of the state can see how their own lesson plans and curriculums compare to teachers in more urban environments, and can choose to add to their own curriculum a greater diversity of ideas. They can also share their own lesson plans with others and create a new kind of educational community.

I’m looking forward to exploring this site in greater detail. I definitely think ALEX will be in invaluable tool for me when I begin teaching, and as my career progresses, it will allow me to continue to grow and learn on my own. I hope other states implement this kind of resource exchange.

Week 1

I was born and raised in Nashville (that's a uniquely southern way of saying "I grew up in..." after all, you raise livestock as well as children. It's always struck me as odd that the phrase seems natural to say), so it's home to me. I've lived all over enough to know that one place is pretty much the same as the other, it's what you do while you're there that makes it good or bad (in my experience anyway). I wanted to be a rock star when I was a kid, and the irony of dreaming that dream in Nashville didn't hit me until I was 25. All of my closest friends are there, still doing music in one way or another, so it's revitalizing to be there and be part of that.

At 25, I was tired of working in restaurants and trying to do the impossible, so I asked myself what I really wanted to do. For some reason, Secret Agent sounded cool, so I called the CIA. Their requirements? Bachelor's degree with military or police backgrounds preferred. I didn't have a degree, and I didn't want to be a cop, but the military would pay for school and give me a leg up, so in 2000, I joined the Marine Corps. Nobody could believe it, least of all me. I never played sports or had any real interest in politics other than disagreeing with my parents up to that point.

I had a blast in Boot Camp, and thought it was the greatest thing ever at the time, but I got disillusioned pretty quickly afterward. I lived in California, Texas, and Maryland. I got married and divorced. I got to be an agent at the NSA, both as a Marine and afterward as a contractor for Lockheed-Martin. It wasn't quite as exciting as I'd imagined, and I didn't agree with a lot of what we were doing. After I got divorced, I decided there was no real reason for me to stay in the DC area doing a job I wasn't crazy about, so I left. I work for a corporate bookstore now, and I hate the hours, but it has some pretty good fringe benefits for someone who likes to read.

Nashville's still home though, and I feel like I've been trying to get back there ever since I left. I want to be in a band again, record and play shows, and write. I recently got it into my head that I should be using my recent experience to learn how to open my own comic book shop. I'd enjoy having my own place without a corporate boss, and still have time to pursue my other interests.