Teacher Websites

1. One teacher website that I think would be very useful is worksheetworks.com
          More specifically, I found the following tools on this website to be helpful:
               a) The Secret Map found under Puzzles
                        -This is a great tool for encouraging students to check their work
               b) Time worksheets under Mathematics
                         -Many students tend to struggle with telling time, and these worksheets are very helpful
               c) Alphabetizing Dictionary Pages
                         -Many students also have a hard time with alphabetizing words; this worksheet provides
                          excellent practice in this skill

2. Another website that would be helpful for teachers is enchantedlearning.com
            The following tools on this website appealed to me most:
                   a) Essay Topics under Writing
                           -Dozens of essay topics and free write topics are offered
                   b) Veterans Day activities
                           -Dozens of games, crafts, and activities are offered for each holiday
                   c) Plants
                            -Many coloring pages, charts, organizers and crafts are provided to help students learn
                            more about plants

3. A third website that I looked at was Teachers Helping Teachers
             I found the following three applications to be very useful:
                   a) Classroom management:
                              -This tool provides lists of what to do before the school year starts, how to organize the
                              classroom, ideas for grading, supply lists, etc.
                  b) Language arts:
                             -Information and ideas on essays, autobiographies, and poems are provided
                  c) Educational resources page:
                            -This page provides a list of dozens of other websites and resources that teachers have
                            found to be helpful
                  
       

Thing #12 "Fun n Games"

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Thing #11 "Web 2.0 Award Winners"

The site that I found to be most interesting is Picnik. Picnik is a browser-based  photo editing program that can edit photos from the internet or on your computer. I feel that this program would be very  useful for more complex art projects for older students. Picnik could also be used to touch up photos used in a presentation or project. Although this is a very interesting program, I feel that it might be a bit difficult for students to get the hang of--it would require some practice. But once understood, this program could be used to greatly improve many different lessons and assignments.  

Thing #6 "Flickr Fun and Mashups"

I found Montagr to be the most interesting program. This program allows you to make a photo mosaic from pictures found on Flickr. I think this would be a great way of decorating a classroom, or a great visual aid for a lesson, or even a great art project for older students to complete. There are so many different topics that could be shown via the photo mosaic -- specific species of animals, pictures of historical figures, geographical features, etc. This program offers teachers many opportunities.

Another fun program to use would be the Poster Maker, which allows teachers to create posters with personalized inspirational sayings. This would be another great way to decorate the classroom. Students could also use this tool as part of a project or report.

Thing #10 "Imagine Generators"

(Comic Strip Generator)

Thing #12 "Fun n' Games"

(wordle.net)

Technology in Teaching and Learning

My sixth grade Language Arts class was probably the most dull class I have ever taken. Trust me when I say this--my class was much more boring than your sixth grade Language Arts class. We spent an hour of every day, five days a week, filling out repetitive worksheets and reading out of the textbook. Grammar, spelling, vocabulary...You name it, it was on a worksheet. Our class would get excited about watching a five minute clip of School House Rock. It was quite pathetic.
I feel that there are so many ways that technology could have improved this class. A smart board would have done wonders for the lectures on sentence structure, spelling and vocabulary. My teacher could have posted various sentences up on and called us up to the board to edit the sentences. We could have also created our own sentences and have our fellow students edit them. My ninth grade English teacher had my class do this, and we all found it to be extremely effective. Quizzes or games on the computer would have also been a great idea for practicing spelling and vocabulary. Instead of filling out worksheet after worksheet, we could have played matching or fill in games where we could actually apply the information and techniques.