ALEX and ACCESS

ALEX

The acronym ALEX stands for Alabama Learning Exchange, and is basically a resource site for educators based in Alabama. The site offers a variety of useful tools like educational links on the web, podcasts, and even lesson plans. The site covers every course of study and typically goes through the grade levels of K-12.
Since I am a music major, I explored in depth what was under Arts Education. I found what was expected of musicians by certain grade levels as well as lesson plans that went along with the expectations. The expectations were very detailed and included 4 different levels of mastery.
I think this site will be very useful for me in the future, especially with the lesson plans. It will help ensure that my students are at the same level as other developing musicians.

ACCESS

ACCESS is Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide. It is a site packed full of useful links and resources for educators and students. One thing the site offers is online courses which may not be offered at a particular school. Students are able to enroll in these and receive credit.
ACCESS also offers many test prep resources. Some of these include AP tests and the Alabama High School Graduation Exam. The site also has resources for the Alabama Virtual Library, ChemLab, and MathType which can all be useful for students enrolled in those subjects.
This site will be useful to me if I need to make a suggestion to a student to take a course that isn't available at the school, or to provide tutorials to help with a particular class. There is also a professional development site to help teachers continue their own education.