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· American Memory is operated by the Library of Congress and contains millions of primary documents related to social studies. Having access to primary sources is an invaluable resource to teachers. It can save time from having to track down items or traveling to and from historical societies and/or museums. The minute I accessed this site I e-mailed it to the two theme coaches at my school, particularly the page with the resource links to grades 3-8 and 9-12. Right now our third grade classes are working on immigration and have been using immigration trunks from the Connecticut Historical Society Library and Museum in Hartford. Most of the artifacts are replicas, though, so being able to access primary source documents would be a huge boon for the teachers.
| Image credit: Google images; faculty.mercer.edu |
· GoENC.com is a subscription service (a one-time payment of $29.95) that offers high-quality math and science resources, as well as professional development, lesson plans, and web resources from The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education. This seems like a good resource, but I’m not sure teachers would be willing to pay the subscription fee, even if it is a “one-time” thing.
· Drexel University offers The Math Forum, an online resource for improving math learning, teaching, and communication. The site offers problems and puzzles; online mentoring; research; team problem solving; collaborations; and professional development. The “Problems of the Week” section looks very promising—my oldest son, who’s 9, would love them! I can also see using this site in my weekly Saturday Academy classes, where I teach CMT prep (reading and math skills) to some of our third grade students. Right now we're using IXL.com, which is also a subscription service.
· Web English Teacher offers an array of resources to incorporate reading activities into the classroom. Two dozen topics are presented for educators to choose from—from poetry to drama to Shakespeare. I can see this as being a great resource for secondary school English teachers.
· Starfall is a resource for children ages preschool through second grade. It offers decoding skills, phonemic awareness, and other essential early reading skills. Teachers at my school use Starfall frequently, particularly in our five preschool classrooms. The kids LOVE it and some of the parents have started using it in their homes, too. I used it with my own kids when they were in preschool and they really enjoyed the activities.
· The Literacy Web, offered through the University of Connecticut, offers resources for children’s and adolescent literature, writing, and various resources for grades K-12. This seems like a great resource for teachers, and it has the added benefit of being published by a well-known (and local) university.
| Image credit: Google images; mscrosswhite.edublogs.org |
· CyberSurfari is an online scavenger hunt. I played a variation of this game many years ago when the Internet first became a sensation. It’s fun to jump from site to site looking for clues.
· Education World, Enchanted Learning, National Geographic for Kids and the International Reading Association are all amazing sites that I’ve visited and utilized in the past.
I'm curious...would any of you be willing to pay subscription prices--even if they're small, one-time charges--for access to some of these sites, particularly when so many of them are free? Teachers make more money today than in the past, but they're still woefully underpaid. I tried out IXL.com at home with my sons, but it only allows you up to 20 free practice problems, then you're expected to pay to continue. My kids liked it and wanted to continue, but I wasn't willing to pay the membership fee. My school bought a package deal, which is how we're able to use the site for Saturday Academy.
Lisa, you covered lots of materials in this blog post. Yes, integration of technology is in part affected by school budgets, but with the cascading number of free sites and more computers making their way into the schools, we are making progress. Some schools have switched to BYOD--bring your own device. This approach has both its advantages and disadvantages, but that's a topic for another post. As for the NETS, we are overall making progress. The standards are broad, which allows for an assortment of ways of meeting them.
ReplyDeleteYou found numerous sites of interest and explain their value. You will want to use a social bookmarking site to help you keep track of all the wonderful sites you have in mind for students, teachers, and your own professional development. Do you use one now, such as Diigo or Delicious? There are also sites like LiveBinder, Symbaloo, and Pinterest that enable teachers to create "dashboards" for students to click and find recommended sites. Have you checked any of these?
This chapter was very informative! I appreciated the fact that it supplied so many resources that you can use now rather than a chapter of information that you have to digest!
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine ever paying for access to a site. I'd rather spend another few minutes searching for similar tools offered at no cost. I suppose that if I found a site I considered totally and completely unique and irreplaceable, I'd consider paying for it...but I highly doubt that would happen!
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