Class Session 2
Your Blog prompt will be given in class. You will have one week to complete and submit your blog comment. You can compose your comment in WORD and then copy/paste into the comment box.
There are over 20 websites cited in Chapters 2 and 3 (pages 41-69).
Pick any two of those websites and briefly describe the site.
Then evaluate each of your chosen sites in terms of:
- Quality of the site or resource
- Potential to impact instruction or student achievement
Cohort B post due on/or before Oct 12.
Class Session Resources: Chapter 3 Notes On Notes Pause, Prompt, Praise Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition hold
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Blog # 2 Website Critiques
http://www.dreamyard.com
Quality of website- The subject of the website dreamyard.com was centered on an arts education organization that brings long term arts residencies to schools and community programs. The quality was average in terms of information and had zero lesson plans. The organization is regionally located in the Bronx, New York. Largest arts education provider in the Bronx. Artists partner with classroom teachers to help students learn in new ways and develop literacy and communication skills.
The advocacy group is committed to educational pathways through the arts for K-12 public schools. The programs advertised were school-based, after school and a year round program known as the DreamYard ACTION Project. Non-profit organization that does great work but the website was not user friendly. There were job sites posted for artists who were interested in pursing a residency and a lengthy list of arts collaborating organizations. Contact information, press releases, (large donation by Giorgio Armani and actively supported by Caroline Kennedy), and ways to donate funds.
Potential to impact student achievement or instruction-The website had links to other programs and websites for potential collaborative learning. The site would only help with instruction if you were a teacher in New York looking for an arts residency.
http://www.kids-space.org
Quality-The quality of the website was good. Nice graphics that moved when you scrolled over them. I had a problem with a pop-up. The site wanted me to download and display a language package for Japanese. This is a social website for teachers and students located all over the world, and designed to share art in an online gallery, writing, storytelling and children’s costumes.
Potential to impact student achievement or instruction-This could impact technology instruction but I do not see an impact on student achievement. I shared the site with our Media Specialist and she thought it would be a good link for storytelling. Students can also write stories to go along with artwork that is posted from locations worldwide. This would impact writing and literacy skills and create a world view for students, particularly from a rural location. Classes can share their own artwork and writing. We are conducting a needs survey with our Technology club in our elementary school to see if the students find it interesting. It does feature work from all over the world and it is almost like a pen pal site in that respect. The home page is colorful and consists of interesting movement when you move your cursor over the icons. It does seem geared more for elementary that upper grades. The website has specific guidelines for content. One page features the awards that the website has received. A potential drawback for students entering artwork onto the site for display is that students’ lose all copyright privileges to their work.
The first website that I chose to evaluate was http://mathplayground.com/index.html.
This is a high quality, high interest site that is great for students and teachers. It is a great website for students to play math games that reinforce skills they are learning in class. The graphics are great and the games are fun so that students are interested in playing them. There are also virtual manipulatives that teachers could use on their activboards to teach skills. I really like this site and plan to use it in my classroom.
The second website that I chose to evaluate was http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx. This is a very user-friendly site that offers high quality award templates that teachers can download for use with Microsoft office to print out for student recognition. This would be a great site to use for preparing certificates or awards for an awards day or for students that meet certain goals or improvements.
Math Playground – http://www.mathplayground.com
I visited Math Playground, which is mentioned in Chapter Two of our text. The website offers a variety of resources that teachers and parents can use to reinforce math skills. I went first to the math games and tried out “Making Change” and “Weigh the Wangdoodles”. Players are asked to compare three algebraic equations to help solve the problem of how much each Wangdoodle weighs. It was a really good math problem with cute graphics, but lacked any kind of animation. It would be easy to use with older elementary students and is good visual tools for solving equations without making the students feel like they are doing really challenging math. I also looked at the videos on the website and found them to be lacking in animation that would keep a student’s attention. They do base the videos on student’s questions about math skills like finding the sale price of an item using percents. The other problem I had with the videos was the amount of time they took to load. You would need to load the video well in advance of the lesson to make a smooth transition and keep your class moving through the parts of the lesson. The logic puzzles on the site were great and tough!
Education Oasis – http://www.educationoasis.com/teacher_tools/Awards/awards_certificates.htm
I visited Education Oasis thinking that this would be a jam packed site full of resources since it was recommended in Chapter Three of our text. I was very surprised when such a plain page for the printables part of the site loaded onto my computer screen. I looked over the bookmarks and found most were for upper elementary and higher levels. I did print a calendar from the site that was simple and attractive. The check lists and classroom poster offerings were scant and very plain. I did like the awards and certificates section of the site. The class coupons and homework passes were colorful and useful. I’m not sure how many older students would like the certificates offered, but again they were colorful and seemed to be usable. I took a peek at the graphic organizers on a different part of the site and found those to be wonderful. I also really enjoyed the book reviews written by children on the “Book Central” part of the site. The “Sites for Students” was a really good listing of kid friendly websites by topics. I’m not sure I would use many of the printables from this site. I will probably still use sites like abcteach.com. However, I am sure I will use the book reviews and some of the websites from the “Sites for Students”.
I searched through several of the sites listed in Chapter 2 and 3 of our book. Unfortunately many of the sites were not available. The sites that I was able to locate were all really great and I am sure they will be beneficial to me as I learn more and more about how to use technology in my classroom. After searching and playing through many of the sites, I have chosen two that I feel will be the most beneficial to me at this time.
My first choice for my favorite site is Math Playground. I like this site because it will allow me to choose different math topics for my kids to interact with. The bright, cheerful colors are fun to look at and are easy to see. My kids will love the graphics and the crazy names attached to some of the games. I also think the animation in the games is outstanding. While I was playing through some of the games, I felt as though I was playing a video game. I think my kids will also feel as though they are playing a video game and will forget that they are in fact learning a math skill. One feature that I really loved is the math video section. There are so many videos to choose from and now that I am using my interactive white board, this will be a great way to catch my student’s attention. Finally this site appears to be extremely kid and teacher friendly. On the About page, I liked that they asked for suggestion about the site and that they listed some of the organizations that recommend the site.
The second site that I chose is Education Oasis. This site has a section full of websites recommended for children and there are many useful tools for teachers. There are areas for all subjects with free printables for each. I also like that it gives reviews for books. There is a section for bulletin board ideas and for classroom management. There is section for lesson plans and the graphic organizer section is incredible. I will definitely be putting this website into my favorite folder. I think that by using this site, I will be able to create many lessons for my students. In fact, while searching through the site, I found a great letter about parent conferences that I am going to send home to my parents.
Lori Hutchins
I have used BrainPOP with my classes on many occassions in the past. This site targets all grade levels and subject areas. This site engages students through animated movies and follow-up quizes. I like the fact that it emails the quiz results to the teacher after a student takes a quiz (you need to set this up). Students can easily access http://www.brainpop.com at home as well. This type of site has potential to impact student learners at all levels of ability because it provides instant feedback to the students. It allows them to watch and rewatch movies and retake tests as needed. There is a link on brainpop.com that goes to brain pop jr. and this targets grades K-3. This is the site I have frequently use with my students both as a whole class activity on the active board and with individual students at my computer station.
Educationoasis.com is a site that I have never used before and decided to check it out this past week. It is a site for teachers to collect ideas from a variety of resources. Sometimes I just want a site that I can browse for new ideas to implement in my classroom. It is easy to get “stuck-in-a-rut” in education. This site can help you out of that rut. There are links to children’s book reviews, lesson plans, graphic organizers, classroom management and other sites for students and teachers. This is a great site to use a s a spring board to finding ideas on a variety of topics. I feel that the impact on student learning here would fully depend on the teacher’s willingness to implement new strategies to take their students to another level of learning. There are some great ideas I found on this site!
BrainPOP Jr.
http://www.brainpopjr.com
Oh I’m POPPING with excitement about BrainPOP Jr. Our district just purchased usage to this web resource and so I had to check it out. This is a web resource that has short Flash movies in many content areas such as science, social studies, math, reading, health and technology. I first viewed BrainPOP and was impressed on how child friendly it was. I did think, though, that most of the content was too difficult for my children (first graders). I then checked out the BrainPOP jr. and was very impressed on how well it met many of my state standards. It is very easy to navigate and uses many bright colors that attract the younger viewer. Pictures are used in addition to the words to help the students locate topics easier. My children were very attentive to the movies and loved the robot, Moby. They have enjoyed using the activities that go along with each movie.
This website incorporates many of the nine strategies that affect student achievement. There are quizzes that provide immediate feedback. If the student answers incorrectly, it will immediately let them know and they can try again. It also provides recognition. A score is posted after the quiz and students have the opportunity to print a certificate. This website includes a writing portion that gives the student a chance to summarize what they learned from the movie. There are many nonlinguistic representations that help the student get a visual image of the content being covered. Some of the topics include a graphic organizer as a way to help organize information being learned and some include opportunities to find similarities and differences.
I will be definitely using this web resource this year. For older children, I would use BrainPOP. If you have younger children like I do, I would use BrainPOP Jr. If you have Spanish speaking children, you might want to check out the Spanish version of BrainPOP. Unfortunately, I do not understand Spanish so I am unable to give you feedback on that one.
BBC-Skillwise
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise
This website provides fact sheets, games, and quizzes for both math and language skills. The set up is very simple and the website is very easy to use. It is divided up between language activities and math. When you choose the skill that you want to work on, the screen is divided up into several tabs that include fact sheets, games, quizzes and worksheets.
Overall the quality of this website is good. It is fairly colorful and is easy to navigate. The activities on this web resource can be very useful to help supplement your classroom instruction. It does a very good job of providing different levels to address different needs. The only downfall that I would see to the website is that several words are spelled differently than what we are used to. This web resource is not an American sight. It is an English website based on the spellings used in England. This may cause some confusion for your students. You will need to preview material for variations in spellings.
This web resource should have a positive impact on instruction and student achievement. It provides opportunities for students to summarize their learning. It also provides immediate feedback on quizzes and games. Students are notified if they are correct or incorrect. At the end, the students are given a report on how well they did on what they were working on. There is a worksheet that can provide an opportunity to practice during class or for homework. I feel this website needs more non-linguistic representations. There are not enough visuals to help the student get a mental picture.
I do not feel like I would use this web resource very much. I do not think it is very appropriate for my first graders. There are not enough visuals to help my children and the content is a too hard for them. There may be a few things we could use later in the year.
flickr.com
The text suggests using Flickr, a photo hosting service, to showcase students’ work. Flickr is a photo sharing website. It is free to set up an account and upload 2 videos and 100 mb of bandwidth each month. It is possible to pay for an upgraded account if you want to upload more. I spent some time searching for examples of teachers who have used Flickr to showcase student work. The “Classroom displays” Pool is a large collection of many teachers’ photos showcasing student work. There are some great examples of creative, eye-catching classroom displays and student artwork in this pool. I also found a few examples of art teachers who use Flickr to showcase student work. Since Flickr is considered a social networking site, it may be blocked in many schools. Also, I found it difficult to search Flickr to find examples of teacher galleries. There may not be many teacher galleries in Flickr, or the teacher galleries may not have tags that explain the subject of the gallery. Searching is dependent on the tags that people put on their photos or galleries. However, if you set up a gallery on Flickr, it is easy to send the link to your parents and students. Since it is a photo sharing site, viewers will be able to see other users’ photos if they go outside your gallery to look for them on Flickr. Some photos may be inappropriate.
Flickr can have a positive impact on student achievement, since it is one way that teachers can provide recognition to students for their work.
Dreamyard.com
The Dreamyard Project incorporates the arts into school programs and extra-curricular programs. The program partners professional artists with classroom teachers to provide art integration opportunities. The website was a little difficult to navigate, but there are many examples of student works showcased if you search through the various programs offered. For example, the Dreamyard A.C.T.I.ON. Project is an out-of-school program that strives to help students become social activists and civic participants through art projects. The featured student works include a student-created newsletter to raise awareness of issues such as health care, environmental concerns, and education. Other projects include videos that raise awareness about consumerism or the effects of Hurricane Katrina. This student work showcase is an example of how teachers can use technology to provide recognition for student work. Another out-of-school program is the Bronx Art Collective. This program showcases student work through a blog hosted at blogspot. I would have liked to see featured student works and lesson ideas from Dreamyard’s in-school programs, such as its year-long residencies and the DreamYard Preparatory School.
I really think Dreamyard’s goal to empower students through their artwork can have a huge impact on student achievement. From looking at the student A.C.T.I.O.N. projects, it is apparent that these students are learning to articulate their own ideas about issues that affect them personally. Through technology tools and arts integration, students are given a platform to impact the world around them. I would love it if the site included lesson ideas so that more teachers could learn how to achieve this vision of empowering students through the arts.
There are many excellent websites that can be utilized for enhancing and differentiating instruction. From sites which contain educational games and videos to sites that contain organizational and lesson planning ideas, teachers can find just about anything they need on the web.
Math Playground (www.mathplayground.com) is a fantastic site for students in grades one through eight. There are videos for teaching math skills along with videos that allow the students to observe and practice the math needed for various occupations. Pre-made or custom-made worksheets can be printed directly from the site. Untimed exercises and competitive games allow the students to practice computation along with other concepts such as coordinate plane graphing. Online manipulatives, such as fraction bars, a geo-board, and a circle graph creator, can be used for classroom demonstrations. Word problems on the site range from first grade level to problems which prepare students for the SAT. When students are tired of playing with numbers, they can test their brain with the logic puzzles.
Education Oasis (www.educationoasis.com) is a great site for teachers. A calendar of events for each month of the year provides teachers with information on special events and holidays that can be celebrated throughout the year. There are links to lesson plan banks along with tips for creating effective lesson plans. Teachers can print graphic organizers, awards and certificates, monthly calendars, and bookmarks which contain content directly from the site. It contains reviews of children’s books to assist teachers with choosing books for the classroom. It also has a list of “super sites for students” and “terrific sites for teachers”.
Both of the aforementioned sites have the potential to impact student achievement. Education Oasis can be used as a reference for creating effective lesson plans and providing students with rewards; whereas, Math Playground can be used for direct instruction or practice by projecting the activities and games on the board or having the students to work individually at their own computers. According to McREL, providing students with the opportunity to practice, review, and apply knowledge, and then rewarding them for their efforts has a positive impact on student achievement.
Math Playground
http://www.mathplayground.com/index.html
This website is very kid friendly and interactive. The kids can choose a game and the games are real-life related; such as toy shopping, mall shopping, playing baseball and etc. The activities can be done independently by the student without the teacher help. There are icons they can select to give them a description of how to calculate discounts or whatever the skill is for that game. This website is for K-6 students. Students have lots of options from choosing a player, choosing games, word problems, puzzles, and videos. The activities provide prompt, academic feedback and helps student to work at their own pace and challenge them. This website is an excellent source to help promote student achievement. Once the topic has been introduced in class, this website can help guide classroom instruction by providing independent practice.
Education Oasis
http://www.educationoasis.com/teacher_tools/Awards/awards_certificiates.htm
This website is a great resource for teachers to help promote student achievement and student self-esteem. This site is easy to navigate and find the appropriate certificate, bookmark, homework pass, or calendar for your needs. Having access to quickly print a certificate and let a student know that you are proud of them or you notice that they are improving can only have a positive impact on student achievement. We do not always have time to go and create certificates when we need them most, so this is a great site that has certificates and awards at the click of a button. I always try to write a quick note to the students to let them know they are doing a great job and showing improvement, which is not always as neat as these certificates would be. I plan to save both of these sites in my favorites at work .
I don’t think that the authors our text do justice to first grade teacher Marci McGowan’s award-winning website! (http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/) They mention its excellence as an example of a site that showcases student work, but they neither adequately describe the creative presentation of student work nor the extent of accompanying resources that Mrs. McGowan provides for both her students and their parents.
Clearly, Mrs. McGowan knows her audience. The layout of the site is simply organized with graphics that are colorful and easy to read. She intends the site, first of all, to be the resource where the students and parents can come to find information about their class. Here, they can read about the day’s weather, find out when show and tell is, and what the year’s curriculum entails. There are book lists, spelling lists, and suggestions of which internet sites will prove most helpful for first grade research. Using math and spelling games, Mrs. McGowan even uses technology to provide immediate feedback for students’ work.
What the site excels in doing, though, is showcasing first graders’ work in a number of creative ways. As Mrs. McGowan states, “One of the most important reasons for creating this website was to have an opportunity to “publish” student work. The children love seeing their writings and drawings on the screen!” Whether highlighting the children’s own interpretations of Ehlert’s Leaf Man or creating a “jigzone” gallery of self-portraits or collaborating with other classes in creating galleries, this first grade teacher more than succeeds in using technology to provide recognition to her students. Certainly, these children know that their work is valued and appreciated. Moreover, how much fun this class it must be!
What Marci McGowan has created in a local school, Sachiko Oba Cote, working with Interport Communications, has created on an international level. In 1995, Cote, a Japanese-American, began Kids’ Space (http://kidspace.org/index.html), a site “of kids, by kids, for kids.” On this site, children from all over the world collaborate and share their creative work.
The possibilities of providing recognition for student work are numerous. Designed with younger children in mind, the website is colorful and easy to navigate. Once there, the children who use this site, many as part of class projects, can access the areas in which to upload pictures, stories, and audio clips. Instructions for display are easy to understand, along with the explanations of the different galleries in which to display the work. In simply glancing through the many examples of drawings—from abstracts to animals to science—the user can see how wide-ranging the works are and how varied are the children’s backgrounds. In fact, according to information about the site, children from over 160 countries participate and collaborate with each other, often building an international “beanstalk” by adding stories to other children’s pictures or adding pictures to other children’s stories.
Clearly, this site has great potential in providing a forum in which to display children’s work, giving the children wide—indeed, international—recognition for their creations. However, what is even more encouraging is the extent to which the site’s creator and team go to ensure the safety of those children using this internet site for their galleries. With all postings monitored and vetted and no advertising banners allowed, Kids Places succeeds in being a site where children freely and safely can display their creative skills, learn to use web technology, and begin to understand a bit more about other cultures of the world in the process.
Blog Session 2
Pick any two of those websites and briefly describe the site.
Then evaluate each of your chosen sites in terms of:
• Quality of the site or resource
• Potential to impact instruction or student achievement
After looking at a number of the sites, the ones I am most interested in http://www.brainpop.com I have used again and again for almost every subject at one time or another. http://www.brainpop.com has a plethora of short flash videos featuring Tim and his robotic friend Moby with a quiz to follow. The quiz can be printed out for an individual score or as we often do, the classes can take the quiz as a whole for review of what the video was about. I like to use the site as an activating strategy as they are only a few minutes and it gets the kids interested in the topic. They provide quite a bit of information in a quick entertaining way. To be sure they are tuned in, they can then be quizzed. I have even had many children request the password to view videos at home. They have viewed them at home for topics they may be doing a project on to get some information or just topics they are interested in learning more about. The kids love Moby and don’t mind listening to Tim give them the same information I would be giving in class. Oh my goodness!!!! I have never noticed the activity button until just now and there are even more resources than just the quiz! There was an activity assignment, a graphic organizer and a vocabulary page. I will definitely be using these resources in the near futures. Like in class tomorrow…we are doing the video, quiz and activity for main idea! We are also going to view the one on H1N1 this week, as I have had one confirmed case in my class and I still have a number of students I have to nearly fight with to wash their hands prior to lunch. I think this is a great site that will assist regular classroom instruction; it is not enough information to stand on its own but is a great supplemental tool.
The next site I wanted to investigate was l mainly http://pbworks.com/ because I knew nothing about it and I have contemplated the students presenting their nonfiction elements study through a wiki. After logging onto the site, I don’t know if this is the one. With a name like Peanut Butter, I assumed it would be very child friendly. I didn’t find that to be the case. I would have to do quite a bit of looking around before I could allow the students to attempt this site. As I know for a fact that the students are not going to read through the short registration to get it started, therefore, I would have to set up all my users. Not that that is a major problem, but I would have been nice for it to have been presented more for children to be self starters. Then when I went on to the “free” site to set up…I got down to the one for the classroom teacher and its a hundred dollars. Even when I clicked basic a pop up came back to subtlety suggest the classroom edition. So chances are the basic will be way to basic. I did not go through the registration process but I will to see if it is really worth it. There are so many free resources on the web; I am not to big on buying one to do wikis. I will have to keep hunting as I don’t think this will be the one.
The first website I explored was http://www.mathplayground.com because I am the 2nd grade math teacher at my school. Math playground has a number of positive things going for it. It is broken down into four sections that you can choose from: math games, word problems, logic puzzles and math videos. The math games section was filled with numerous math games that were fun and exciting. You could choose from specific skills. For example, Math at the Mall was one that caught my attention because it used the students as a customer in the mall. There were four stops the student had to make in the mall. At the food court, the student had to order food, total up the bill, figure the tip, how much change they would receive, etc. This incorporated real world situations which is excellent. We want students to know that the things we are doing are relevant to the real world. Under the games tab, one down fall I found was that some of the games were not leveled. For example, Math at the Mall asked you to find the fraction of something…..my second graders don’t know how to do that yet so that would present a challenge. They may lose interest in the game because they can’t do what it is asking for. The word problem tab gives you grade level options which is a nice feature. This will help the students to find something they can be confident about. The logic puzzles are tough. I struggled to correctly answer some of them. The do offer help/solution options that show you the solution and then gives you the option to try again. Once section I particularly like is the video tutorials. The website offers videos with narrations by real people on how to solve particular types of problems. For example, subtraction with regrouping was good. The person spoke slowly and used base ten blocks to explain the steps and process of regrouping. This feature would be particularly helpful if a student missed the initial day of instruction for that concept for if a student just doesn’t get how I am trying to teach it. This would give another perspective and approach. Another feature which I find helpful and will use is the flash cards….a number of flash card practice games for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
http://www.mathplayground.com is a quality source that has the potential to impact student achievement greatly. The math games are not only fun and entertaining, but they provide a lot of practice and reinforcement in key math areas that are critical to math success. I will be recommending this site to our technology director for approval and placement on our safe, website resources list.
http://www.brainpop.com was a resource that I feel has validity. Essentially a student can choose from ELA, math, social studies, science, art/music, or technology and then view a short Flash movie regarding more specific topics. After the movie, students can take a quiz. The option to email the results to your teacher is available. The animation is pretty good. It does a good job of highlighting key vocabulary and concepts. This site would be good but I think the teacher needs to preview and select appropriate items ahead of time. http://www.brainpopjr.com would be more appropriate for my class. It focuses more on K-3 ages. The site does require a subscription for full access. The subscription fees are quite expensive ranging from $95.00 to over $300 for a school subscription.
Students have the potential to gain knowledge from the site and achievement could be positively impacted. It does have a Spanish version that could potentially be an asset for ESL students.
PB Wiki
One of the sites I evaluated was http://pbwiki.com. It is a free wiki service that allows users to create a public or private wiki. Contributors must enter a password in order to edit the page. I have used this site in a graduate course in the past and wanted to go back and look at it from an elementary school standpoint. In general, I can see how a wiki could be beneficial in the educational world. However, I do not see it being the best form of technology to use at the elementary level. The concept of a wiki would be difficult to have students understand, much less contribute to correctly. I think it would be more work for the teacher to facilitate the use of the wiki than it would benefit the students or their learning. PB Wiki is a fairly user-friendly site, but for older students.
Education Oasis
I also evaluated Education Oasis for use in the elementary school classroom. This site is listed in the text as a resource for teachers to find ideas, information, and inspiration. Before visiting the site, I expected a resource where I could find a variety of information and lesson plan ideas. The site actually provides very few actual printables and graphic organizers, and provides more of a list of other resources. While some of the resources were useful, Education Oasis itself is more of a resource made up of lists and other sites. There are some useful student sites listed on Education Oasis that I would use with students or add to my list of bookmarks on the media center website. Overall, I think the site contains good resources, but was not what I expected based on the description.
I chose math playground as one of the websites to explore. I started with this site because I am always on the look out for good math sites for the students. I liked this site for several reasons and I think that the quality is overall pretty good. I do believe this site is user friendly and that students can move around easily. I like the visual learning that can be done on the site. There are timed flashcards for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The fraction balance scale is really a great visual for students who struggle with the understanding of fractions and decimals. The students move fraction or decimal bars onto a scale and can actually see which is greater, less or when they are equal. As a visual math learner, I see that this can be a useful tool. All of the games have a good visual effect. The students receive immediate feedback with the games as well. There is also an area that allows students to do simulations as well as hear about different math career possibilities. the students can build simulations from rollercoaster hills to robot building and bicycle gear building. The videos on math skills aren’t necessarily going to hold the attention of your student, but they are accurate and do give some visuals. Some students don’t really need all the “glitz and glamour”, so these simple and thorough explanations will be helpful. I did notice that the directions for some of the games weren’t always obvious on the page, but they can be found with some looking and clicks. I plan to add this site to my Excel page as well as to the links section of our school web site. I see that many would use this site for help and examples.
The other site that I chose to explore was another math resource. I went to the cut-the-knot.org website (http://www.cut-the-knot.org/games.shtml#). My first thought when I arrived at the page was that there is a good bit of advertisements and that the page is very busy.
Once I started exploring, I chose to play a couple of games. I played the game called “an old puzzle and then found another interactive word problem area. The directions for the games were in some cases slightly difficult to understand for me which means my students would have more difficulty. Getting back to my game choices wasn’t an easy task either, making me think the site isn’t user friendly. There is some useful information on the site. The games are more logic based and are simply constructed. However, the difficulty navigating the site and difficulty understanding directions makes me give the site a below average quality. I also think that there are other sites with more attention grabbing capabilities teaching these skills that will interest the students before this one would. I have thought about adding the sites as a link, but because of the amount of advertising, I may not. I can’t be sure of who the site allows to advertise on their page and where the links attached my take visitors.
One of the two websites that I chose to view and critique was the Math Playground Website, found at http://www.mathplayground.com/index.html. This website really impressed me. When visiting the site, you have a list of 4 main options to choose from: Math Games, Word Problems, Logic Puzzles, and Math Videos. There are also advertisements for various math websites along the right-hand side of the site. From the main homepage, students can practice math skills using thinking blocks, computation, flashcards, math worksheets, and manipulatives. The quality of this website appears to be very good. The site is attractive to both teachers and students alike. It has a variety of resources that can also be used by both teachers and students. One of the first areas that I chose to explore was the “Math Videos” section. This section provides a list of videos on a variety of math skills and operations. I thought that these videos could be viewed either by individual students, or as a whole class. I actually chose to have my class view two of the videos as a whole class. We have been focusing on rounding and subtraction in math during the past week, so we watched a video on each of these topics. The videos provide step-by-step instructions to complete the computation of skill. Now sure, I could do this exact thing myself by standing at the front of the room, using my Promethean Board, or I could show the video and be moving around the room to ensure that the attention of my students is focused where it should be. I chose the latter and found it to be very effective in my class.
Another website that I chose to view from my reading was http://www.iknowthat.com. This website is set-up for Pre-K through 6th grade and covers a variety of subject areas. The website is interactive and could be used by both teachers and students. I think that the quality of this site is really good. It is an attractive site and easy to navigate through. You can search by grade level, or subject area to easily find just what you are looking for. I could see me using this site in my classroom in a variety of ways. This would be great for early finishers or students who need extra help in some area. I especially liked some of the interactive science games that I found. One of the games that I looked at in particular was about animals and their habitats, which is a fourth grade standard that I teach. In this game, students not only had to match the animal to its habitat, but they were able to read additional information about the animal and the habitat. I can definitely see this website being utilized in my classroom in the near future.
The two websites I chose were Math Playground and Brainpop. Math Playground can be found at http://www.mathplayground.com/index.html. I chose this website because I love interactive websites that can grab and keep a child’s attention and allows them to learn something at the same time. I explored some of the different links, such as the videos, games, and word problems. I thought the videos were very simple, but they got the point across and taught the skill. I plan to use some of them in my classroom. I also played some of the games and thought they were great reinforces of basic skills. I am working on these basic facts with my students right now and intend to take them to the lab to play some of the games. I felt that the website was easy to navigate and kid-friendly. I definitely believe that this website can have an impact on student achievement. Great site!
The second website is http://www.brainpop.com. My school pays for access to this website and I use it on a weekly basis! I love this website and so do the students. There are hundreds of videos on all types of topics. You have your usual math, english, science, and social studies, but they also have videos on arts and music, health, and technology. You can also find videos on worldly topics. For example, they have a kid-friendly video on September 11th. I felt that my students should at least know the meaning of this day, so we watched the video on September 11th.They also have biographical videos on famous people in history. I often use the videos to wrap up a lesson to reinforce what we have discussed. The characters in the video, Tim and Moby, hit the key facts while adding humor to the topic. The website is well organized and allows you to easily find what you are looking for. I definitely feel that this video has an impact on student achievement. After each video, students can take quizzes. You can take a quiz as a class that is ungraded, or they can individually take a quiz and the results can be emailed to you. This is a great feature that allows students to be responsible for their own learning. I have been using this website for the past two years and I can tell that the students grasp a better understanding of certain topics after viewing these videos.
http://www.brainpop.com is an engaging website that shows short cartoon video clips for a plethora of subjects. You do have to have a subscription to have access to the videos. However, there is a free trial version. The videos emphasize the vocabulary that goes along with a certain topic and it offers a brief quiz after each video that a teacher can use to check for understanding. I believe this site is good quality as a brief supplemental tool for visual learners especially. The videos might provide that extra angle that will help the students “get it” that wouldn’t through a lecture type situation.
I thought the book offered excellent suggestions on using free greeting card websites such as http://www.americangreetings/ecards.pd and http://www.yahoo.americangreetings.com to send students certificates of recognition. Education is not only about teaching and learning. It is also about encouraging. When students feel encouraged or recognized for their achievements, they tend to want to work harder to achieve higher educational goals. I think the potential to impact instruction is clear. If a students feels as though the teacher believes in them, he/she will be more willing to participate, and grow as a learner. Both of these sites are good quality because they are easy to use and they provide a fast, easy way for teachers to encourage their students.
The first website I tried was BBC Skillswise at http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise. This website has a variety of games, worksheets, fact sheets, and activities for words and numbers. The textbook gave the description that this website would be helpful for teachers to provide differentiated instruction and I agree with that. One thing that did stand out to me is that this website does require quite a bit of reading. Even some of the games I played required more reading than some I have seen. I think the large amount of reading could be discouraging to some students. I was impressed with the overall quality of this website. The activities for language arts and math are clearly marked and the levels for each are obvious. The website is presented very professionally. Students are not overwhelmed with animation or advertisements. I would recommend this website to a teacher who has students who need extra practice on some skills. For this website to have the greatest impact, I think it would need to be used as a follow-up to instruction, for independent practice, or as a review.
The second website that I explored was Greeneville Middle School- Celebrations at http://www.gcschools.net/gms/Recognitions/recognitions.htm. This webpage is part of the website for Greeneville Middle School in Greeneville, Ten. The website recognizes sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students for the Character Counts program. A brief description of why the students were chosen is given. Their names are listed by grade level beside a group picture. I think the website with names and pictures is a great way to recognize students for outstanding work or behavior, but I don’t necessarily think this site is one of the best of its kind. I do believe that acknowledging student success on a website can have a great impact on student confidence and self-esteem. A website like this would not be hard for a teacher to duplicate for his or her own classroom use. This website serves as a great example of how online recognition can be viewed by extended family that may live far away. All the student would have to do is send the link to family members and everyone could celebrate the accomplishment.
BrainPOP
-BrainPOP is an awesome curriculum website that supports teachers in the classroom and actively engages students. In the last 10 years, the BrainPOP franchise has emerged to BrainPOP Jr., BrainPOP Espanol, BrainPOP ESL, and BrainPOP Educators. Last year, our school purchased BrainPOP Jr. and BrainPOP for the teachers to use as a supplement to their instruction. This BrainPOP site offer Flash videos that feature Tim and his robot sidekick Moby. Together Tim and Moby give children an interactive way to view certain important topics that’s covered in the classroom. It is designed to correlate with state standards and is very “teacher” and “kid friendly” when using. I tend to use BrainPOP and ETV Streamline a lot when teaching Social Studies, but I love how I don’t have to go through the hassle of downloading the BrainPOP videos. Also BrainPOP offers free lesson plans, video tutorials, professional development tools, graphic organizers, and best practices for our teacher community. This site also offers tools to use with interactive whiteboards.
-I absolutely love BrainPOP! I would and have recommended this site to anyone. This site has short instructional videos that should not be used alone as a lesson, but can be used to give students a visual of the content that is being presented to them. This site has great potential to heavily impact student achievement within the classroom. My students are always excited when they know that I will be showing a BrainPOP video and enjoy the review quizzes that the site offers. The results of the quizzes can also be mailed to me. In this day and age, schools have to compete with the latest technology gadget. By using BrainPOP, a way was found to merge the animation and creativity of technology with educational content.
SurveyMonkey
-SurveyMonkey is an online survey tool that enables people of all experience levels to create their own surveys quickly and easily. This site offers tutorials and allows you to use their free online service or you can purchase a higher leveled package when launching a major survey campaign. It was started 10 years ago, and every day, SurveyMonkey gives thousands of people the feedback they need to make more informed decisions, including more than 80% of the Fortune 100. Even though at first, this site may seem more “office based,” many professionals (including educators) are starting to use SurveyMonkey in the classroom.
-This year, a teacher at my school decided to use SurveyMonkey as a “get to know you” activity for her students. She set up a survey for them to complete once they got home from school. She gave them a couple of days to complete the survey and students that didn’t have internet access at home were allowed to use the classroom computers to complete their survey. Teachers can also use online surveys to receive information from parents as well. The site is a great surveying tool, but it lacks in appeal when first glancing at it. At first, my students were a little turned off when I’ve used this site in the past (strictly by the appearance of it), but after getting them involved with it, they enjoy taking surveys. Teachers can use this tool to increase student achievement by accessing daily lessons with SurveyMonkey. They can poll their students to determine their comprehension level of that day’s lessons. This will allow students to privately express to their teacher concerns that they may have without feeling embarrassed by their peers. This is a great site and I’d recommend this to my fellow educators as well.
From chapter two I chose to visit http://www.ivisit.com . It was listed as a possible web site available for video conferencing. It seems very well laid out, easy to move through and practical. I am interested in possibly using this site with my students by connecting them with authors for a reduced rate, via video conference, as opposed to spending $4000 for an in-school visit. I will have to research this to see if there are any authors willing to do this. It would be unlike anything that has been done at my school and I think the students would be thrilled.
Another site that interested was the Microsoft Office Template site, http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx?ofcresset=1 . I absolutely loved it! I have never used the site because I have access to Microsoft publisher and a version of Print Shop. This site offers such a great variety of tools for creating new products such as flash cards, lesson plan templates, thank you notes, certificates, quizzes, etc, and that’s just under the back-to school section. While I visited, I created a book club flyer for my upcoming Twilight Book Club. It was a cinch and I did it in five minutes! I am a huge fan of web 2.0 tools, such as this.
BrainPop
http://www.brainpop.com
I chose to evaluate the BrainPop website because it has cute, quick videos and resources that correspond with my science standards. The videos are interesting and the kids really seemed to like them. I watched the video on cellular structures because that is currently what we are studying in class. Parts of the video could be annoying. It had great information presented in a lively manner, but my kids did groan at some of the “corniness.” The program would fit great into my curriculum. Only problem is that we do not have the license or the money to purchase. It could serve as reinforcement to the materials and methods that I currently use to teach about cellular structures. It could have a positive impact on student achievement if appropriately balanced with other methods of instruction.
Microsoft
htt://office.microsoft.com/enus/templates/default.aspx
This website was very easy to use. I found it much better to navigate than Microsoft Publisher. The templates seemed to be of a higher quality than what you can find on other free sites. I could use the certificates in my classroom for recognition in between traditional awards day programs. It would allow me to recognize students in a more timely manner and I could pick the categories in which to give awards.
Kids’Space-Kids’ Gallery
http://www.kids-space.org/index.html
This is a very creative, kid-friendly site where students can display their own artwork no matter what level of expertise. Other students can see the work and write stories to go along with the pictures. There are also parts of the site that are dedicated to storytelling. These original stories written by students are very entertaining.
Our school is becoming an Arts-Infused campus and I definitely can see how publishing work the students do in various curricular areas would be beneficial to both the artists and the readers on the site. The use of this site would also be a good way for teachers to share other student perspectives. I noticed several items from countries in the Middle East. This would be an awesome way for students to observe diversity in the common vehicle of art.
DreamYard
http://www.dreamyard.com/
I really liked this site as it was a perfect example of how my school is aiming to integrate the arts across the curriculum. There were some really nice graphics and even a You Tube video to acquaint visitors with the philosophy of the school. However, the really “good stuff” like lesson plans were not easily accessible. A visitor has to register on the site before accessing the important documents. Not that this isn’t possible, but it is a separate, time-consuming step.
This site was blocked at my school which could prevent usage on a regular basis. I think this website would best be used for arts-integration planning by teachers and administration, rather than by students. It is a good example of how student work can be published and shown on a website. There are good ideas for integrating the arts with good samples. The material featured is focused on high school level work so an elementary school would have to modify the ideas presented on the site.
Mrs. McGowan’s Student Showcase
I love the idea of posting some of my kids’ work on the Internet so that it can be viewed by students, parents or other stakeholders, so I was excited to check out this site. It was exactly what I expected! The teacher has student work “published” from several years. The work is posted in a variety of formats from thumbnails to a slide show.
This site is free and easy to maneuver. It is well organized and brightly colored – obviously geared toward the early childhood and elementary crowd. I absolutely loved this site! Not only did I feel validated as a teacher when I saw work that resembled the first grade work that comes from my classroom, but teachers can also get some great ideas for projects and writing assignments that they can use in their own classrooms.
Education Oasis
The book describes this site as a site “where teachers can acquire ideas, information and inspiration.” I envisioned a site filled with curriculum tools and printables. I thought when I typed in the address, a beautiful homepage would appear and be covered with cute clip art and easy to follow links and buttons. BOY WAS I SURPRISED!
Instead what I found was a very “stiff” site. It is well organized, and not hard to follow at all. There are even some good tools on the site. Most of them are geared more towards a “how to” rather than a “this is what I did, let me share with you” philosophy. I enjoyed searching through and reading some of the professional articles.
This site would be more useful for a teacher who is doing some research and has time to actually sit down and read a few things. It would not be as helpful for someone who is looking for a quick activity or for some printables for a substitute to pass out while she is absent.
http://www.iknowthat.com
The quality of this website looked very good. It was easy to manipulate after you created your login and password. There were several advertisements before I logged in, but few after that. The levels were easy to choose and there were many options for levels and activities. You would have to hunt to find the best games, but then students would likely go back to their favorites over and over. Feedback was given for each answer.
This would be a good site for basic math practice after direct instruction. There were several easy to play games to practice math facts and such. Once the time picked up some of the games were quite challenging. Some of the graphics I would probably not encourage at school. Several of the games had a shooting theme where the correct answer cloud was shot by a helicopter then a little creature parachuted out of the cloud. Some students would take right to this. The language game I tried was very well made. The player had to find a word then it was read to them and used in a sentence.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillwise
This site looked very good also and it did not require a log in. There were many categories in math, language and reading to choose from. Students would be able to catch onto the games quickly, but some of the games were challenging especially for mental math. This strikes me as good for around 3rd grade where they know their facts and just need different ways to practice. Some of the language games required a lot of reading so it would be end of 1st grade or higher level. I tried to play a math money game, but since this site originated in Great Brittan, the money was in pounds, shillings, etc. It would be a good social studies lesson. Feedback was given directly after an answer was chosen.
This site also offered many factsheets and worksheets which could be a good resource for teachers or for students to print out for additional practice. Some of the fact sheets gave methods for mental math giving students more options for working problems.
http://www.explorelearning.com
This website illustrates math and science concepts. It demonstrates the concepts by allowing the students to “play around” with the topic by changing factors. They can see the results of actions in the experiments. The simulations that I looked at were mainly the science topics that I teach. The simulations were excellent. The students can change weights, speed, etc and then be able to see the results of their actions. This website shows many of the concepts that we teach in a very interesting way. Much of the material that is needed to teach physics is too expensive. It is hard to get the concepts of force and motion, etc without demonstrating it. This website allows the teacher to demonstrate the topic without actually owning the materials. The potential of this website to impact instruction is great. More teachers need access to this website.
http://www.brainpop.com
This website is a good website to teach science topics. It illustrates the topic and then gives a test to the students. If they do not do well on the test, they can watch the movie again and then take the quiz again. The quality is great for the age. It explains the topics well. I wish the website would have an upper middle school section that would cover the information deeper. I have used this site as a jumping off place in my notes that I give my students. They enjoy them and I use them to make sure that all of the students have the basic information, before we go much deeper. I think that it impacts instruction because it can bring some students interest into the topic.
The first website I visited was Math Playground. It is located at http://www.mathplayground.com/index.html. It is designed for students in Grades K-6. This website was created by teachers “who are passionate about math and technology”. It is not affiliated with any school, business or organization. The site provides students in elementary and middle school a place to practice a wide variety of simple to complex math skills. It has won several awards.
There are four tabs for students. The first is Math Games. It contains many games to allow students to practice simple skills such as addition and subtraction to more complex skills such as fractions, percentages and ratios. Some games are instructional in nature and other games allow students to practice skills in a “video game” style. I tried almost all of the games and found each one to be entertaining and engaging.
The second tab is Word Problems. This tab provides students with a bank of word problems. There are different games using word problems to practice a specific set of skills or games that will mix the skills the student is required to use. This section would be great for classroom instruction as well because it would allow the teacher to use the motivation of the game to engage the students in the process of solving the problem. I used the word problem game for addition and subtraction this week to aid instruction in my math flex group. One thing I liked about these games is that the student is never gets just the answer. If they answer incorrectly, they get a hint to solve the problem. If they answer incorrectly again, the game demonstrates how to build the equation to solve the problem and the student gets another chance to put in the correct answer. The student will always have to “do the math”!
Logic Games is the name of the third tab. These games, designed for higher order thinking, allows the students to practice critical thinking and problem solving skills.
The last tab for students is Math Videos. The videos teach math concepts systematically using visual aid and teaching narration. This would be a great tool for remediation!
I would give this site an A+! It teaches skills, gives students a fun and entertaining way to practice skills, remediates when needed and provides positive, immediate feedback to the student as they interact with the content. It is user friendly and can used for whole class, small group or individual instruction. This site has the potential if used appropriately to impact instruction, student growth and achievement within the skills addressed on the site in a very positive and possibly profound way.
The second website I tried was Wikispaces at http://www.wikispaces.com. This site provides the ability to build a web page easily, even for someone who might only have basic word processing skills. The statement in the book is true…within a matter of minutes I had created a space and begun contributing material. Here is the address for the wiki I created:
http://inmanguidance.wikispaces.com/
Within thirty minutes, I had inserted text and images about the most recent guidance lesson I taught. I found this site to be easy to use and navigate. With older students, this would be a great place to produce group projects and create a “classroom” body of knowledge. It would be important to remind students the importance of weighing information on a wiki very carefully and to check other sources to determine if the content of a wiki is accurate and bias free.
The online capability gives the option of sharing work readily and easily. I think working on a wiki would certainly provide more motivation to students than a “pencil and paper” report. In that respect, the motivational factor may serve to be enough to impact instruction and student achievement in a positive way, though it may be difficult to accurately measure how much.
One of the websites I chose to evaluate is Explore Learning:
http://www.explorelearning.com/
Explore learning focuses on science and math interactive online simulations. The simulations are referred to as “Gizmos.” The gizmos allow students to comprehend challenging concepts through interactive inquiry, exploration and simulation. The math and science simulations provide 3-d models, entertaining graphics, student-centered exercises, and endless learning opportunities. The site not only provides these interactive exercises to enable students to grasp abstract concepts, it also gives detailed feedback to allow them opportunity to diagnose what he/she may have done wrong if they answer incorrectly – reinforcing the correct steps students will need to successfully answer questions or complete exercises in the future. The site even lists South Carolina state academic standards so teachers can select exercises based on the specific curriculum they are currently teaching. Research indicates simulations can be powerful tools for improving student learning. The site includes several academic studies indicating that using virtual manipulatives and interactive simulations result in an increase in student achievement.
I found the exercises to be very entertaining – as a student and a visual learner, the simulations and gizmos would have helped me alleviate a lot of the frustration I experienced in learning higher level math. Virtual manipulation is much more effective for learners than seeing steps modeled in black and white via a textbook. It’s impossible to not be engaged with this site.
What I found also appealing about this web resource is the fact that this material can be shared with students through whole class instruction. Teachers may not have daily computer access for all students; they can, however, still model the concepts by showing students the simulations via an LCD projector or interactive whiteboard.
This site supports best practice instructional strategies – students are active participants in their own learning, they are engaged and enthusiastic, receiving simultaneous feedback, and interacting with a familiar environment– Explore Learning provides instant gratification with immediate feedback, fun gaming activities, dynamic graphics, etc.
The second site I visited was Kids’ Space-Kids’ Gallery:
http://www.kids-space.org/
The textbook review doesn’t do this site justice. The site offers many learning opportunities for younger children. They are able to interact with other children worldwide through the ePals links, learn technology applications, and also are provided an outlet for creative expression. Students can submit musical compositions, creative writing, and artwork. By viewing and reading submissions from around the world, children may also learn about other cultures and geographic locations.
The site claims to “engage children’s minds and curiosity, stimulating learning through self-discovery.” Not only does this provide authentic learning opportunities, Kids’ Spaces also reinforces two important concepts – the sense of acknowledgement and achievement. Publishing a student’s original work on a site that has global outreach is very empowering for an individual and reinforces that his hard work and efforts have paid off and not gone unnoticed by others.
http://www.mathplayground.com
Math Playground had a lot of neat games and activities that my kids enjoyed exploring. We have recently been working on learning fast facts and instead of practicing with flashcards and some of the regular things we do to practice fast facts, I decided to let them explore mathplayground.com. They liked the arcade games the best, but also spent a good bit of time in the flashcard section. I liked that I could allow my kids to choose how they were going to practice their fast facts rather than everyone doing the same review and that they could choose which facts to work on. I had some doing addition, some subtraction, and some multiplication.
When I was going through the site I found that I really liked the word problems section. My favorite part was the thinking blocks section. I liked how you had to use the blocks to plug the parts of the problem in because it gave a visual of what the problem was asking. My kids have such a hard time with word problems because they can’t see what is being asked of them. I think this part of the website would be great practice for them.
The videos section looked as if it had many videos that I might be able to use with my students also. I watched the video on subtraction with regrouping. I liked the visuals that it gave on what was happening when you regroup as well as the explanation.
http://www.explorelearning.com
I had a lot of fun going through this website. I really liked the activities. I went through one math gizmo and one science gizmo. My students and I began the school year with a patterns unit in math and I wanted to see how well the patterns gizmo would have gone with it. That particular gizmo was incredibly similar. We’ve gone to an inquiry based math program and the patterns gizmo would have been a wonderful activity for the kids to have gone through. I think they would have had a lot of fun with it and it would have reinforced a lot of the skills they were learning in the classroom. I liked the way the lesson materials were laid out for the teacher. There is a vocabulary sheet, student exploration sheet, and teacher lesson guide. They all looked like great materials. The student exploration guide was my favorite. It was very easy to follow. I think my third graders could have followed the directions on the patterns gizmo all by themselves for the first three activities on the student exploration guide. The last activity would have probably been a little over their heads, but I know I have some kids that could have followed those directions and figured out what a least common denominator was. It would have been a great extension activity for them.
In science, my students and I just finished a unit on force and motion, so I decided to check those activities out also. All of the gizmos under that section looked like great activities, but I think they were all a little more difficult than the gizmos I looked at in the math section. If I were to have used this gizmo in the classroom, I would have probably used it as a class activity rather than an individual or group activity like the math one. I know my kids still would have loved to have worked on this activity and I don’t doubt that they would have learned a lot.
“So many sites, too little time…” Math Playground (www.mathplayground.com/index.html ) was the first site I explored. The home page immediately captured my attention with its user friendly layout and graphics. It is well organized for both student and teacher use. This site provides many activities for students to become engaged through playing games. I am currently teaching a math unit on rounding numbers. The Rounding Video provided a simple, kid-friendly explanation. Under the Games tab, “Pumpkin Multiples” was a fun way to practice multiples of numbers that will definitely help my students with Fast Fact timed math tests. There is also another place that children can practice math facts and try to beat the clock. This “Flashcard” game would really appeal to my second graders instead of having to work with traditional flashcards. The Word Problem Practice will definitely be incorporated into my students’ daily math exercises using the eInstruction slate. Of interest to me were two additional venues, Logic Puzzles and a teacher resource center that allows you to create your own math worksheets. This website could easily bring technology into the K-6 classroom and engage students in all areas of math without much effort or time required by the teacher.
Flickr (www.flickr.com) was another site I spent significant time exploring. It is an example of a photo gallery service where one can upload pictures, enter comments, and share with students, parents, and colleagues. I immediately set up a free account and began to upload class pictures. I particularly like the feature of being able to adjust the privacy settings and restrict access to the site. You can organize pictures into sets and collections making it easy to keep track of projects. Other features allow you to edit pictures, make photo books and cards, and leave notes and comments. The interface reminded me of Facebook and was user friendly and fun. I will certainly use this website to post student work to share with their families.
As I looked through chapters 2 and 3, I wanted to choose 2 websites that I thought I might use in my classroom. I chose the sites http://www.mathplayground.com/index.html and http://www.paltalk.com. After exploring these sites, I found one that I would use and one that I really don’t believe I will be using.
The first site that I explored was the site http://www.mathplayground.com/index.html. On this site, there are a variety of games, puzzles, videos and worksheets that are for students 1-7. There are games that are geared toward both boys and girls. There are videos that are available for help with difficult to teach subject areas. There are also worksheets that are available for extra practice for both parents and students.
As I explored this site, my first thought was that this would be great for my “high flyers” who finish everything early. This would give them the challenge that they need to increase their mathematics abilities when I am focusing most of the teaching time to the low to middle students. I think my high students would enjoy this site and would show them that math can be fun. I don’t think that this would work for my low to middle kids however. I feel that most of the material on this site is geared for students who are in 3-7 grades. In most of the games, you don’t get to choose which operation you would like for the students to work. This would make the games frustrating for my strugglers.
The second site I explored was the site http://www.paltalk.com. This site is a video conferencing site where teachers and students could connect with other people outside the school. This site offers free video and voice chatting on the internet.
This site is not a site that I would use in my classroom. Upon opening this site, there is a list of featured rooms at the bottom of the page. Two of these rooms where sexual in nature. If this site were used in a classroom it would have to be strictly teacher operated and supervised highly. It is not a site that I would want to suggest to my students because of the possibility of being able to accidentally access one of these rooms. Also this site crashed my netbook causing it to not reboot properly. This is a site that I am surprised was in our text.
Can a cartoon still grasp a too-cool middle school student’s attention and introduce mathematics, or other content at an appropriate grade level? Ok, sometimes yes, and sometimes no, but the robot is adorable and the humor a dry wit that many preteens and teens can understand. Whenever possible, I introduce or review a mathematics topic by using BrainPOP (www.brainpop.com).
BrainPOP is a subscription website, one that our school has chosen to purchase a site license for. BrainPOP is one of the few sites that cover a good range of content and material within the content area. Nearly every eighth grade math standard can be introduced with a BrainPOP cartoon, although the video clip is not enough to instruct the whole standard. The short movie (2-3 minutes) can also be used in other grade levels so the depth of instruction still remains with the teacher (the technology is only as good as the instruction that goes with it). The teacher has the option of quizzes, both printable and online, and classroom resources such as interactive whiteboard areas. The state standards can also be accessed from this site, listing the available movies that match the standard.
I have never found the website to be out of service but I’ve also not noticed if the site has increased the number of available movies. This is a site which, had my school not purchased a site license, I would have purchased one for my own classroom use.
I have used the United Streaming website (www.unitedstreaming.com) from discovery education for many years. The content can be difficult to sort through, but they have added a feature which lets you search by state standard, which is helpful, but I have found the search engine to not be complete. This could be the result of new videos being added to the library, or is a result of a work in progress for matching the standards to the videos.
You do have to be selective with the videos. The information bit isn’t always enough to tell you everything about the video. If you do not preview the video, you may find your students watching content that is over their heads, not really matching your standard, or teaching beyond what they really need to know. The videos are broken down into full length movies which could be 25 minutes or nearly 2 hours. Using a 2 hour video isn’t really the best use of classroom time, but the videos are broken into clips which make it easier to show only the parts you want the students to see as a lesson introduction or even the meat of the instruction, to be followed up by teacher instruction and student practice. Occasionally the site is slow, so it’s beneficially to download the video prior to watching (an option on the site), so it’s isolated from the site and not affected by the internet inconsistencies.
On a good note, there are usually several videos to choose from related to the topic you are teaching. Some are cartoons, especially those for the younger grades. The site covers all grade levels. My students are always looking for the algebra instruction that has the woman with the orange vest. There’s just enough oddity in the videos to keep their attention. One of my favorite series is the Measure for Measure, which gives the histories of length, weight, and capacity measurement units. When a video can discuss the methods used in unit consistency, such as a researcher weighing his own bodily wastes….you know you’ve got something teenagers will watch and learn from.
The first site that I visited was http://www.brainpop.com. I visited this site because our school recently purchased a school wide subscription to this website. I wanted to play around and see where I could use brain pop in my lesson plans. I immediately liked the site. It was broken down by subjects. Since I am a math/science teacher I went into those subjects to see what I could find. There were a ton of math science videos that were efficient and quick. They where factual videos, but they were not boring. They had humor and the characters were cartoons. After the short video clip the students had the option of taking a quiz. It was a short ten question quiz based on the concept covered in the video clip. I liked the site. It was very user friendly, practical and the lessons were tied to SC state standards. It would be an awesome way to introduce a lesson or use for closure after you have taught a lesson.
I also visited the site http://www.surveymonkey.com. I liked this site as well. This site allows you to create survey questions, and have the data collected sent directly to your email. The site also allows you to analyze your data through different graphs and charts. I thought I could use this in my own classroom to teach data in our math unit. One of our sc standards requires students to plan and conduct their own survey and graph the results. This would be a great way to integrate technology. I also thought I could use this to collect data about my students. We usually survey the student’s learning style and interests at the beginning of the school year. This would be a great way to start off the year with technology.
The first site I looked at was http://www.iknowthat.com . This site is designed for students in kindergarten through 6th grade with activities in math, science, language arts, social studies, and thinking skills. Activities are divided by subject area and grade level. There is an option for signing up for an account and no email is necessary. Creating a unique screen name was a bit difficult, but not impossible. All activities can be accessed without an account, but the sign up screen pops up before each activity if not signed in. Once logged in, ipoints are tracked and students have a buddy list and the ability to send and receive messages. There are advertisements on the screen, but nothing inappropriate popped up while I was exploring.
From the home page, you select activities either by grade level or subject area. I played a little of everything, and for the most part, the grade level was on target. There were a few areas that seemed a little more challenging than the grade level listed. For example, I chose a social studies activity on explorers, thinking Cartier, DeSoto, Magellan, and so on. Instead there were questions on more modern explorers such as Cousteau, Peary, and Livingston. Not a bad quiz, and very educational, but just as with anything else, the teacher should preview for content.
The games are cute and easy to figure out. Progress is monitored and sound effects indicate correct or incorrect responses. Generally, incorrect responses cause something comical to happen to the character playing. For example, in the Money Monkey Mayhem game, students are asked to count coins the monkeys are pitching over the side of a boat to add up to a certain amount. The pirate in a row boat zips across the screen to catch the correct change. If the total amount is too much, the game ends with a buzz and you get to start again. Sometimes the monkeys toss over an anchor, so don’t just try to catch everything!
Many activities also had a print option, where the questions and the answers submitted could be printed out and reviewed. There is also a section for individually created quizzes.
There is a chat associated with this site called the Bee Hive. Your avatar is a little bee with your screen name under it. There are places to visit such as a school room, dance club, and restaurant. Chatting is limited to phrases to click on. This is where you can use your ipoints to buy items to decorate your “cell.”
Overall, this is a great site. There is a lot going on to keep the attention of students and the activities are educationally sound. I think students would enjoy exploring and maybe even learn something along the way.
The second site I explored was Education Oasis. The web address given in the textbook no longer takes you to the certificate site. It has been changed to http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/Printables/awards_certificates.htm . This site is a totally free site to print readymade certificates, bookmarks, homework passes, etc. Navigation is simple, simply click on the type of certificate you desire, and then print it. You cannot change anything on the certificate or add anything. Most of the files are in pdf format. Many of the awards are rather simple, but some have outstanding graphics. Of course, keep in mind whether you are able to print in color or just in black and white. This is a great place to grab quick awards to acknowledge student achievement.
Other than the awards and certificates, this site also offers tons of graphic organizers, lesson plan ideas, curriculum resources, hints for new teachers, classroom management ideas, and book reviews. There is a lot of information on this site and it is well worth exploring. The only downside is that the font is a pale blue, which makes for difficult reading. Definitely bookmarking this one!
The first site that I visited was http://www.brainpop.com. I visited this site because our school recently purchased a school wide subscription to this website. I wanted to play around and see where I could use brain pop in my lesson plans. I immediately liked the site. It was broken down by subjects. Since I am a math/science teacher I went into those subjects to see what I could find. There were a ton of math science videos that were efficient and quick. They where factual videos, but they were not boring. They had humor and the characters were cartoons. After the short video clip the students had the option of taking a quiz. It was a short ten question quiz based on the concept covered in the video clip. I liked the site. It was very user friendly, practical and the lessons were tied to SC state standards. It would be an awesome way to introduce a lesson or use for closure after you have taught a lesson.
I also visited the site http://www.surveymonkey.com. I liked this site as well. This site allows you to create survey questions, and have the data collected sent directly to your email. The site also allows you to analyze your data through different graphs and charts. I thought I could use this in my own classroom to teach data in our math unit. One of our sc standards requires students to plan and conduct their own survey and graph the results. This would be a great way to integrate technology. I also thought I could use this to collect data about my students. We usually survey the student’s learning style and interests at the beginning of the school year. This would be a great way to start off the year with technology.
As I lookeed through all the websites listed in Chapters 1 and 2, I was specifically looking for a math website for middle and high school level. I saw http://www.cut-the-knot.org. The book stated this website had “engaging mathematice” and “illustrations of math concepts.” I thought this would be great. However, I found the site to be more on a high school/ college level. There are some games involving basic arithmetic, however most games were more complicated puzzle games. There are several different resources on this page besides games. There is a section labeled “what is what.” This includes definitions of several math topics. This could be a great resource for students. Some of the wording is a little hard to understand. There is also a word problems section. I found these to be very challenging. They are much different than most word problems you would find in a textbook. I think this site would be a good resource for teachers to enrich learning in the classroom. Also, it could be a resource for students to gather information.
I was also looking for a website to download templates for giving awards to students. I found http://www.educationoasis.com to be a good resource. This site has many printables from achievement awards, to awards in various sibjects, to class coupons and homework passes. Each award has nice graphics. There are many different awards that can be applied to various situations. This is a great site to get templates to award students for academic success and to give rewards such as homework passes, or the coupons could be for special priviledges given as rewards.
Brainpop.com and Brainpop, Jr. are exceptional sites. Both sites are user friendly and chalk full of information for students and teachers. Best of all, they engage students with quizzes and activities that allow for immediate feedback. Brainpop, Jr. presents The Word Wall which contains much of the vocabulary that I emphasize each year, and the Choosing a Book section will be of great assistance in reinforcing the lessons I present each week to the them. Watching these clips is more enjoyable than hearing the librarian repeat the same information week after week. Enjoying the clips means paying closer attention and retaining more. Further, it allows me to know if my messages have been received.
The language arts, technology and social studies parts of Brainpop.com will all be beneficial, but will be especially valuable to me in teaching research. Because all of the features of this site are based on state standards, all of the instruction we are required to put forward are covered. The site reinforces the how to of research which is imperative for our students from middle school on. In addition, by fourth grade, all students need to know the rudiments of copyright law, and introducing digital citizenship is vital. The technology I most want to emphasize to my sixth graders are the on-line safety, instant messaging and blog issues so important to their daily lives. In short, virtually everything I teach can be accessed quickly which is both good for me and for my students.
Kids-space.org is a remarkable site. In addition to the interaction it allows students who may write stories to match the art work of others, it is wonderfully thoughtful of children’s safety. In sending stories to the site, children are asked to:
Email address of your parents or guardian:
Enter your caretaker’s Email address:
And answers the questions: Why shouldn’t I type my own email address?
Also, I am particularly taken with the International aspect of this site. Folklore from various countries are included as are original tales, and class-work.
The site is well constructed and I am most eager to encourage my students make use of all that it has to offer. The pride they will take in “publishing” their stories on line as well as enjoying the work of others will be worth the hair pulling aspect of helping them edit their work!
http://www.mathplayground.com/
Math Playground is an eye catching and fun website. It has resources for both teachers and students. The games and puzzles accommodate many different levels of students and the teacher has quite a variety of resources to use as well. It is easy to navigate and has additional links to further your exploration. As an instructional coach I plan on sharing this site with my teachers. We have used some of the worksheets in the past, but I want them to see some of the additional activities that are available. We are always looking for additional resources to use as RtI interventions and this site could be useful. I think my resource and special education teachers might find this a useful site as well.
http://www.surveymonkey.com
I have completed several surveys at Survey Monkey but I had never explored the website until now. It was so easy to use! I am preparing a survey for my faculty to complete to find out their thoughts about our bi-monthly professional development afternoon meetings. This will be an excellent resource for me to use! Hopefully they will feel free to express their true opinions – this could be a good or bad thing for me – and then perhaps they will be interested in using it with their students. I think several of my junior high teachers will be interested in trying it soon. A couple of them are always looking for new ideas and technologies to try. I also like that you can have the results emailed to you and you can analyze the results with charts and graphs. This site will be a good addition to our bag of technology tricks.
The website http://www.iknowthat.com is a comprehensive website with one stop shopping for educational games in core subject areas and skill areas for elementary aged students, pre-Kindergarten through sixth grade. The site features some graphics and is organized according to grade level and subject area. Once students complete a login with a screen name for competition and score purposes, they can choose from several games and links labeled according to subject areas of math, language arts, social studies, and science, along with social learning, the arts, and thinking games.
As for its usability, the site’s front page contains few distracting graphics or advertisements that may confuse or over-stimulate younger users. The labels could be more kid friendly for pre-K to first grade by using more graphics and symbols to direct these limited readers. Some games require bothersome but not complicated downloads for a teacher, but may be time consuming if the software has to be installed on many computers. Most games are labeled so users know what skill(s) they will be working on. There are some brief explanations of each skill in a review box which contains a “read it to me” feature. Also on the site’s front page, there is a search box for users to find games that feature specific skills. For instance, if a teacher wanted students to spend time practicing greater than or less than, this site’s search feature would allow a teacher to type it in and presto—there are several games that a student can play with that particular topic.
During some games, students will hear audio and see cues if they answer questions wrong or right. The site contains several types of practice with “check it” and “review” features along with interactive games to appeal to students who do not like pencil/ paper activities. The most practical aspect of the site for students is its score and points keeper. Because students use the same screen name and password, the site tracks, collects, and shows student progress. There are several customizing features for quizzes, study guides, and review sheets that teachers can easily access and print. Teachers can use the “teacher guide” feature to check that each game is aligned with standards being taught in the classroom. These games certainly don’t replace quality instruction, but could help reinforce skills that students have not mastered but need to practice. Because it gives immediate feedback and rewards points and plays “praise,” the site could be a win-win for students and teachers. Struggling students who are normally turned off by the reteaching worksheets would not view the interactive games with funny characters as extra work but as effort, just a funner kind of effort.
Kids’ Gallery is a child centered website that showcases students’ projects, class work, and publications. Not only does this site give students an abundance of responsibility in publishing and showcasing their work, it provides a designated area that children can see each other’s work. With the exception of a few misspelled words, students can find examples of writing that is age appropriate and inspirational for students who do not like to write. The process of submitting is easily explained on the website and children’s privacy is maintained. The multicultural and international submissions are an asset to the site because it promotes interdisciplinary lessons and exposes students to authentic experiences with many people of various cultures.
As explained in the textbook, a link to this site on a school’s website would help parents view their students’ class work and projects. This site sheds special attention on a student’s work which could improve some students’ motivation to achieve and put in more effort. Some links for voting on and interacting with the projects was unavailable or out of date. Once a teacher changes grades, schools, or even positions, the comments link is not well maintained. Ideally, each teacher or student would clear his or her class project from the website at the close of a school year or a semester. With a little bit of searching, one could find a better showcase website that has fancier, updated graphics and a less “nursery rhyme like” feel.
Dreamyard.com is the website for an initiative that provides project-based arts education to students in the Bronx NY public school system. Professional artists team with teachers throughout the school year to infuse visual and performing arts into the curriculum. Out-of-school experiences and a performing arts high school are also included. Funding for Dreamyard comes from a combination of public, private, and foundation money.
This website is very well-done, clean, well-organized, and easy to navigate. Pictures, videos, examples of student work, and an annual report (from 2007) are available but are presented in a manner that does not overwhelm the reader. Very little scrolling is needed to use the website. So, there is a great deal of information in an easily digestible format. The Dreamyard project reminds me of South Carolina’s Arts In Education initiative. But, where AIE residencies are for a day or a week, Dreamyard collaborations last for 32 weeks and include professional development. This program aims to improve literacy and creative thinking though project-based education and is aimed at non-traditional students and potential dropouts. According to the annual report, the Dreamyard schools are receiving higher report card grades than the traditional ones in the Bronx. It is also a real plus for at-risk children that many of the programs extend into after-school, weekend, and summer hours to keep kids actively engaged and off the streets.
Cut-the-knot.org is a disparate collection of materials that relate to the teaching of math. Items on the site run the gamut from interactive games to scholarly articles to book reviews to lesson plans to blogs and wikis. Most of the math games for children have been moved to a linked site called CTK Math Games for Kids.
The home page and all succeeding ones that I looked at are exceedingly busy with both right and left sidebars, static and moving ads, and a prodigious number of links. The right sidebar alone on the Home page has Amazon search, Google Translate, Google search, and an Amazon widget, plus ads! Scrolling and lots of it is a way of life on this site, both horizontal and vertical. This site is supposed to help students improve their math skills and understanding, but many will find it way too distracting. The linked site to which the math games have been moved is even worse with its annoying ads and pop-ups. There may be some great games and professional information, but there is way too much garbage.
The first site that I examined was http://www.pbwiki.com , I have learned some about wiki’s but I was hoping to see some different ways that they could be used by looking at this website and I was right. There are some great examples on this site that allow you to look over some educational wiki’s and see how they are used. The examples give you a great idea of how you can use them in your classroom. I still feel that wiki’s are something for teachers with older students who have more access to the internet compared to students in elementary where our time is limited and students can not always get access to the internet at home. This site gives helpful hints about setting up your wiki and allows you to see others wiki’s. I feel that this site would be good for teachers with the older students and they could send them here in order to learn how to do a wiki if they chose to do a wiki project. They would be able to navigate easily through the site and learn what they needed all from one site.
The second site that I examined was http://www.educationoasis.com , I loved it. There were more than just certificates. There were awards, bookmarks, conferencing forms, blank calendars, reading sheets that correlated with units that I teach, reading contracts and so much more. I was a site that would be very useful to a teacher in order to go to one place and look for what is needed and print it out. You could even use this site as a link on a web quest and have students learn to navigate the internet and print out their own form for a certain project. Great way to tie in some technology skills. I enjoyed looking through these sites and can’t wait to dig through some more.
Before analyzing the programs at iknowthat.com, I examined the credentials. I liked that it identifies various people that create the programs. The privacy statement guarantees no selling of identification to other organizations, it encourages students to use nonidentifiable screen names, and there is a listing of various people within the organization to contact for various issues. Eleven awards are listed from various groups that evaluate children’s’ software. A subscription removes advertisements, allows for tracking of student progress, standards based activities, and an opportunity to design a class homepage. With subscriptions, access is allowed at home and at school. Students may also interact with other students, making the educational activity have a social component.
Once I went into the program, I experimented with Math and wished I had been taught two digit multiplications this way! It guided me through each step of the way and even provided a quick tutorial when I requested help. The screen is very busy and perhaps too distracting for the younger student, but they may be more used to the business than me. PreK through 6th grade activities seemed appropriate. I became frustrated with the program as it required a download of Shockwave on each page. Some of the directions weren’t too clear on the activity. However, knowing students have much more exposure to games set up this way, they probably wouldn’t have trouble on a networked system.
I would like to examine it at school with a group of students before making further judgment. As we are on Fall Break (Modified Schedule) I had no class available. There is a free 14 day trial so a teacher could experiment with it at school before deciding to spend the money. I tried to find out how much a subscription would be and never got to that point. I was not comfortable with advancing to step 2 on subscribing as step 3 was confirmation. Although the program looks promising as a reinforcement type program in the classroom for all subject areas, I would like more time before I would commit. The standards I checked seemed like they would follow SC standards, but educators would be responsible for making sure they match activities with appropriate grade level standards. This might be a different site to investigate using instead of, or in addition to, other programs already used at our facility.
Peanut Butter Wiki has recently changed to Peanut Butter Works. It is a good site for collaborative work. Only those people given permission for access to enter the site may utilize it. Another thing I like about PBworks it that it is free, and there are no advertisements. This makes it good for schools, churches, and other organizations to use. It can be a little tricky, for example, in getting a widget such as a calendar that works properly. I maintain my Sunday School classes‘s site and it is impossible to save and close when you use some of the calendar functions—no matter what browser it is opened with. I need to take the time to see if another calendar may go in there, such as Google calendars. The main trouble I have had in promoting its’ use is the skepticism of the older users (could be our teachers, for example) and being used by a church—they do not care for the term wiki which they have associated with Wiccan in their minds. Even assured that wiki is a Hawaiian word for “quick”, they are still hesitant. This might be a problem, not from the students, but from their parents. Instead of using it to learn, they may question the intent of the teacher once their student tells them they are setting up “wiki pages” over the dinner table.
My favorite website listed in Chapter two and three is http://www.explorelearning.com. This website provides gizmos which are virtual manipulatives. This site caters to math and science. The gizmos help engage the student in the learning process. Each gizmo provides a tutorial followed by a short quiz. The students are provided immediate detailed feedback. The site is nonjudgmental to the student. The website provides an abundant selection and the gizmos are grouped by state strands. The use of the gizmos and tutorials address all learning styles. The website offers a thirty day trial for teachers and students to utilize.
Another favorite website was http://www.brainpop.com. This site has short movies in all subject areas. After watching the movies, students can do a practice quiz followed by a graded quiz. This website is teacher and student friendly. The animation demonstrates concepts and highlights important vocabulary terms. Students get immediate feedback and struggling students can watch the movie and retake the quiz as many times as needed. Our school has a subscription to Brain pop and the site is a great support to classroom instruction.
New Technology High School Student Portfolios
http://www.nths.nvusd.k12.ca.us/School/Students_parents/portfolios.asp
This page could not be found. However, using
http://www.nths.nvusd.k12.ca.us/
will allow you to look at the student portfolios by selecting the link on the left side of the page. The New Technology High School’s mission is “to prepare students to excel in an information-based, technologically advanced society” as is evidenced by the posting of their work. Students develop a personal statement, goals, resume, letters of recommendation and evidence of meeting the school’s 8 areas of learning outcomes. Students are required to update their personal statement each year.
Student individuality is evident in their choice of art work (personal photographs, graphics, original art work, etc) in this “e portfolio”. Much time is obviously spent in developing the look of their site. This is certainly an appropriate method of recognizing student work since this is a technology focused high school.
I suggest that you look at the “best of” portfolios. All students in the class of 2008 and 2009 have work posted but some are incomplete. The earlier years’ “best of” submissions are wonderful. In today’s world of social networking students, they are eager to share their thoughts with others. This is a way to capitalize on their interests (blogging, facebook, etc) and with an educational focus (letters of recommendation, resume) along with an opportunity for introspection (personal statement and goals). Having well defined expectations of what to include in the portfolio helps to maintain the level of expectation.
• Education Oasis
http://www.educationoasis.com/teacher_tools/Awards/awards_certificates.htm
Looking for a quick way to recognize your students ? This is a site packed full of a variety of printables (most in PDF files) such as: Awards and Certificates, Bookmarks, Monthly Calendars, several classroom forms and charts which can be easily customized. In addition , there are coloring pages for elementary students, Conference forms, letters and reminders home.
Other opportunities are here for student recognition and feedback. This site includes two student surveys. The “Self-Discovery Reflection Questions” are listed as suitable for high school. Some of these questions could be used for middle school in the form of “bell work”. The “student information and interest survey” contains a lot of information. A better use of this might be to select appropriate questions and use Survey Monkey therefore incorporating technology.
Several analysis worksheets (written document, photo, cartoon, poster, map, artifact, motion picture, sound recording) are ready to go and can be completed on the computer. These would be very useful as they contain a variety of levels of questions.
The section on Language Strategies for Active Classrom Participation gives a list of expressions students may use to communicate clearly and connect their ideas to the ideas of others. While this is in the Language Arts Subject section, there are great phrases here to use in a variety of classrooms to facilitate meaningful discussion and polite conversation.
BrainPop…a quick and fun look at almost anything at anytime.
The first site I chose to evaluate was http://www.BrainPoP.com. As a site, BrainPoP is user friendly for both adults and students. The amazing thing about BrainPop is that is covers every subject taught in public school. The videos are relevant and attention grabbing. The content is appropriate for teaching in the lower grade levels and for a fun review or introduction in upper grade levels. In terms of impact on student achievement, BrainPoP is a great way to get students involved, which is half the battle. It makes learning and review fun. On top of the fun, the information provided is of good quality. Like any website, the teacher should obviously preview the video prior to using it as it may not go far or deep enough or may go too far in its explanation.
BBC Skillwise goes back to the basics.
The second site I chose to evaluate was http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillwise. This site is also an easy to navigate site that is designed to help both Math and English teachers teach and review the basic skills needed for each subject area. The site is easy to navigate. Users either chose to work on Word or Number skills and then pick from one of many sub-topics. The content is appropriate for younger learners as it covers the basic skills and concepts. It would also be beneficial for students with lower level performance or ESOL students. The games are rather simple, but serve as a reward for getting the information correct.
http://www.brainpopjr.com Actually, http://www.brainpop.com was listed in the book but this website is for the younger ones. I really like this one. I have already used 2 videos that correlated perfectly to what I was teaching. I used them as my activating strategy and to introduce new vocabulary. The videos were short, to the point and kept the children entertained and interested. One video was math and the other social studies. On the social studies one, I used my interactive board and we took the “quiz” together. The children enjoyed it and I could easily assess who listened and understood the material. The website is user friendly and it’s easy to navigate. There is a “notepad” on the side of the video that displays the question to answer in the video. I really enjoy this one and hope my school buys a subscription. That is the only downside- it is rather expensive but I do believe I’ll get our money’s worth.
http://www.mathplayground.com To me, this site was not as user friendly, especially if I were to let my children play the games. It has advertisements and the screen is busy, making it hard for young children (I teach first grade ) to know what to do. I played one of the games on word problems. If the user answers the problem correctly, a batter runs around the bases. It’s not too exciting. I will not use it in my classroom with the kids. However, it does have some good resources for teachers. But I think it would be my last resort.
One site I chose to look at was educationoasis.com and was surprised to see such a variety of resources. This site is primarily for teachers as it provides many resources for them. To name a few, children’s book reviews, teacher calendars, graphic organizer templates, bulletin board ideas, templates for awards and certificates, bookmarks, classroom forms, charts, and posters, coloring pages, lesson plans, and classroom management information, to name a few. The items seemed to be high-quality and the site was very user-friendly and easy to navigate. With regard to the potential impact on instruction or student achievement, it would be helpful since it is mostly for teachers and provides such an array of resources. The only student resources I saw on this site was a link to websites for students. I thought this site was something I will go back to in the future and use some of the resources in my own instruction.
The other site I looked at was iknowthat.com. I enjoyed exploring the resources provided here. I think students would enjoy using this site for educational games and quizzes in a child-friendly format. I liked that it was sorted by grade level and subject, including math, science, language arts, social studies, and thinking skills. Teachers should preview before using to check the ability level of the students versus the difficulty of the grade level activities. The interaction will engage students’ interest. This could be used in any elementary classroom as a great reinforcement or learning tool. I will return to this site and select activities for my students to use in the library using the language arts and thinking skills categories. I felt the content and quality of the resources was high.
I visited http://www.brainpopjr.com this is a website that contains information useful for all subject areas. It was created about ten years ago by a doctor who wanted to explain difficult concepts to young patients. It now consists of a team of educators, animators, and writers who produce the material on the site. The site is governed by a team of advisors who provide valuable input. The material on this site is reliable and up to date. The videos capture the attention of the children and are followed up with a quiz. The quizzes provide great immediate feedback and the opportunity for re-teaching. This site also allows you to pull material, lesson plans and videos, by states and standards. If used in conjunction with best practices this site can have a positive impact on teach instruction.
The second site I visited was http://www.cut-the-knot.org/games.shtml. I do see how this may be able to impact instruction, but it was very busy and oveloaded with information. A teacher would need to be able to find the extra time to surf this site in it’s totality to find what could best benefit his/her students. If you stick to just the games portion of the site it would provide the students with another see math applied.The simulations involve higher order thinking skills which would be a great way to challenge your higher level math students.
BBC Skillswise http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise
Technically this is a better than average quality webpage. The website is visually pleasing to look at, well arranged and easy to navigate. The content is specifically English (language arts) and math. The page is authored by the internationally known news agency and television portal BBC (British Broadcasting Company). They are the largest broadcasting company in the world. The pedagogy of the site is addressed in its tagline: Factsheets, worksheets, quizzes and games to help improve your skills. The site appears to appeal more to “fun” learning through games. The site has validity in that it is standard English language and math skills. There are no subscription fees; the site is a free site however there does not appear to be any hidden agendas or messages. The website is technically current and contains various interactive aspects. The site is targeted for grades k-6 and each skill is partitioned into three different levels with opportunities for student advancement. The site appears to be updated daily as it has a date stamp available. I would recommend this site to others looking to expand their website favorites list.
BrainPOP http://www.brainpop.com
Technically this site is amazing. It is a variety of short video clips on a wide range of subjects. I had seen this site mentioned before but not had time to examine it. The content covers the basic core curriculum subjects. The site was initially designed 10 years ago by a pediatrician and today is a commercially run website. To take full advantage of the site you must purchase one of the licenses; however, there is a substantial amount of free material. This site also appeals to the “fun” aspect of learning. The videos I viewed appeared to be relatively bias free. I previewed a clip on Christopher Columbus and it was quite a balanced view of the man and his contributions to history. There is an entire section devoted to “research” on the effectiveness of BrainPop. There is also an extensive list of funding partners (apple, promethean etc.) BrainPop is geared toward elementary and lower middle school grades. The content is marketed as geared towards state standards. I would recommend this site as an excellent source of background knowledge and review material.
As the saying goes, “as soon as new technology comes out, it’s already obsolete.” Such holds true for most websites. After looking through the websites in the two chapters, I chose to write about BrainPop and Wikispaces. I’ve used both of these for the past couple of years.
BrainPop is a great resource for launching a new lesson or wrapping up a unit. It offers short 5 minute videos on most subjects taught across the curriculum. Tim and Moby start most videos by presenting a question related to the topic. Once the video has ended, students have a choice of taking a review quiz or a graded quiz. Quiz questions offer immediate answers to questions and students are able to see the correct answer if it’s missed. Teachers are also given the option of printing a hard copy of the quiz. Most videos also offer additional activities if the teacher wishes to use them. BrainPop is a quick, visually, interactive resource for reinforcing new topics.
Wikispaces is a great Web 2.0 resource that offers a different twist on making researching a topic a little more fun. Although the basic site is bland, once students create their own accounts, they are able to post their own writing and images making it more appealing. The great thing about creating a wiki, is knowing that someone else can come along and prove your information isn’t correct. It offers students the challenge of making sure what they post is valid and they are able to prove their research. To add to the challenge, I usually pair up with another class who is researching the same topic and have students try to disprove each others research. Talk about developing great research skills!
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