Web Resources

My favorite web resource is eThemes because it covers so many topics. There are hundreds of topics with many links for each one. It makes it very easy to find something on whatever topic you are looking for. It also includes standards for many of them. It also provides teaching tips on everthing from behavior and hands-on math to elmos and ipods.
The web resource I would use the most is probably 4teachers because it provides many things to create on the one website. Rubistar to create rubrics, and quiz star to create quizzes would both be easily and frequently used because they provide an organized way of creating them, which provides you a starting point and allows any specifications to be made that you desire. Assign-a-day is a tool that can be used by the teacher to create an online calendar, which I think would be a good way create an online communication with parents that would allow them to see due dates and special events, allowing them to know what is going on in the class and what their children should be doing. Think Tank and Academic Skill builder are both great sources to use for the students in the classroom as well. Classroom architecht is another great tool that helps teachers to see how effective a classroom setup may be and potential problems before spending the time and effort to re-arrange their room just to find it doesn't work and have to move it all back.

Inspiration

I can see where the software called Inspiration gets its name, as it naturally provides tons of inspiration on ways to use it in the classroom. In early childhood education it can be used by the teacher to make many of the things that would go up in a classroom. Some ideas include:
-daily schedule
-displaying of student works
-converting things discussed in class into simple outlines
-a teacher to do or how to guide
-a web to go along with a book you read
In an elementary classroom you can use many of the same ideas as well as some more:
-students create story webs
-students create character webs to show connection and character traits
-students create cause-and-effect maps in history and science
-teachers can create concept maps for planning and use in lessons
-teachers can input information and present it in both a visual web as well as an outline to target multiple types of students
In a special education classroom there are even more uses, as all of the previous uses can be used for content as well as many more to target things such as behavior and regulation. Depending on the students' levels students can create their own, work with the teacher to create it, or the teacher can create them to give to the students. Some ideas are:
- many types of behavior charts
- checklists
- classroom picture schedule
- individual schedules
- content uses for lessons

As you can see, there are countless uses for inspiration in the classroom for both teacher and student. If I was a teacher in a school without inspiration I would probably invest in if for my classroom, though it would depend on the level that I was teaching at. At an early childhood level, or in a special education class in which the children were not very high functioning on computers, I might not because the students may not be able to use it, however in an elementary or special education classroom with children who can use the computer, I would most likely want to invest in inspiration for my classroom.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking has many classroom applications, both as use for student and teacher. As a teacher it can be extremely useful as a way to save websites that you find, making it easy to use at home and at school, as well as easy to relocate from year to year or even simply day to day. It is also very useful as a search engine for finding more resources to use in your classroom. You can see what other people have found that relates to what you are teaching. If you know other teachers who are using it, or introduce it to other teachers in your school it makes it incredibly simple to share the things you find with each other.

It can be useful for your students to use social bookmarking as well. They can use it as a way of submitting a bibliography for younger students who do not yet know how to create a bibliography, so that you can see the sources they used. It can also be used as a way for students to share sources while doing group projects. There are countless ways to use social bookmarking in the classroom for both the student and the teacher.

The endless uses would also bring a great deal of benefits to student and teacher alike. Teachers are able to find many more resources through social bookmarking, and in far less time. They do not have to sort through as many sites because they can look only at sites that have already been determined to be useful. Students can benefit because they are able to share many sources with each other with the click of a button. The added ease that social bookmarking supplies is extremely beneficial to all.

It can even benefit me now, as a college student, before I enter my own classroom. It can be used as a search engine to find sources for any class, to find samples of lessons, and so much more. I can also use it among friends to share interesting sites that I find. I can even save sites for the future when I do have a classroom, which I have already found useful. Social bookmarking makes so many things online much easier to do.

Evaluating Websites

It is important to evaluate a website before you use it in your classroom or research. As a teacher, you want to ensure that you are not providing any false information to your students, and as a researcher, you do not want your work to be misrecieved due to wrong information.

Most people fail to evaluate the websites they visit before using them. They may have heard before that your information has to be credible, but they may not fully understand how important that really is.

I would bring the importance of website evaluation into my classroom by ensuring that students know how to evaluate websites and are doing so. Initially I would teach them how to find the key information and things to make sure of before using a website. Then they would be required to fill out a brief worksheet providing key evaluation information when a website is used to ensure that it is credible.

Blogs in the Classroom

There are many ways to use blogs in the classroom. One way is as a peer editing resource in which you can have students post their papers and assign students to read other students papers and give constructive criticism. Another way to use blogs in my classroom is as a communication log with parents if you are using a site that is designed to remain private for school use, which can bean especially valuable use in a special education classroom. Also, you can ask students to blog about their progress throughout a project to be sure that they are kept on track.

Technology is a very valuable resource in the classroom. It offers many varied ways to do things, and often maintains students attention more. Students are also more apt to work harder if they know that what they write is going to be visible online. Technology offers variety and an endless list of possibilities to the classroom and truly draws in the student. It does, however, also have its disadvantages. There is a great deal of risk in the way of internet safety. It is important to be extra careful and ensure that your students are careful as well.

First Blog

This is my first blog!