Monday, September 28, 2009

Assignment for October 5, 2009

Using Internet in our classrooms is our next topic.

Visit the Kathy Schrock site at http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/

Choose one of the links and in your comments to this post give a short review of that link. Please read your colleague's reviews (comments) first and then choose a link that has not been reviewed.

Please remember to comment to this post and do not make a new post.

Thank you.
Dr. Topp

22 comments:

  1. I checked into some foreign language sites and found there were some pretty interesting lesson ideas for language learners. These were very well categorized (i.e. Spanish, ELL, French, beginning, intermediate and advanced levels). I think I could find something to use for any of the levels of French that I teach with minimal modifications.

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  6. I decided to look through the math links. I saw several sites that were age appropriate and a few I was already familiar with. A new favorite is Johnnie's math page. It has tons and tons of really interactive games that deal with all sorts of math lessons. There is a wide array of things offered on Kathy's page in math alone. Some are lesson plans for teachers. SOme are games for student. I saw something that was a page of a lot of text explaining how to use an abacus. I am very impressed with all that Kathy Schrock has to offer. Sadly, it seems quite time consuming to sift and sort through all that is available.

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  7. I looked at the website Bing.com. It is really neat to find pictures and video to enter into powerpoints. I searched for Native Americans and found several pictures and then found several videos on Navtive American culture. There is also a feature to look at different maps. This website will help me with my lessons and developing interactive powerpoints.

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  8. I checked out a few links under the "Performing Arts" area and found the "Songs for Teaching" link to be very helpful! Once on the website (songsforteaching.com), there are several categories and subcategories available, for all different disciplines. You do have to be a bit savvy, however, and avoid the links that ask you to pay for songs. There are several free downloads and lyrics, but you must purchase CDs or official booklets if you'd like something fancier :).

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  9. I found a link to a "Clip Art for Foreign/Second language Instruction," which is a collection of simple black and white drawings which are culturally and linguistically neutral. It is easy to use and covers the categories of verbs, adjectives, nouns, medical, and pronouns. The drawings are simple but fun. I think teachers of other subjects could use these as well.

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  10. I did click on the "World Language Link" to see which links were available. Schrock has quite a few, but since we are doing a food project this year in my upper level Spanish courses I chose the link "Marilee's International Food Links". The creator of this site had the page grouped by continent (ex. North America, South America). My class will studying South America this year and so I selected a few of the options here. Unfortunately, as usually happens with links pages, many were dead ends or they now led somewhere else. There are still many more to choose from, but I have my sites already bookmarked that I've used and like. If I need to find something I usually just google it or go to YouTube to watch the recipe preparation. But, it is always good to have other resources. My only complaint about recipe sites is that they do not give an ingredient substitute for ingredients that may not be available in your area. A few of the recipes I did look at from this website did have ingredients that are not readily available here or are too expensive. It would be great if they could give alternatives for example, it is really difficult to find farinha de mandioca here, but I can substitute Cream of Wheat, the taste isn't quite the same, but you get an idea of texture and why it is important to the meal. While I think Schrock's site is a good place to start, it really comes down to ability to retrieve information quickly w/o error pages, personal preference and what can be used in the classroom.

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  11. I decided to visit the Holidays and Celebrations collection of sites, since others had already explored the language link. As a Spanish/ELL teacher, I am interested in resources that show other cultures and how they celebrate. I really liked the Diversity Calendar because it had many of the holidays hyperlinked so you could learn about them. I'm sure that it is not an all-encompassing list of world holidays, but it includes the more well-known cultures. It also could be useful for teachers in other subjects, particularly the social sciences. There are many sites that deal with U.S. holidays and history. The only complaint that I have is that the link to children's activities didn't have any crafts or projects from other cultures. Overall, a good resource.

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  12. I visited the Literature and ELA link. Since I am a Language Arts teacher, I was looking for sites about reading, writing, and grammar. There was a great website that step-by-step leads students through writing a research paper. Sinc this is a requirement for my students second semester, I found it very helpful. There was also a great website that helps students find books - they can put in reading levels, grade level, and interests. Another website gives information for fiction or creative writer's including prompts, advice, and contests. One of the coolest links was a digital storytelling website. It included examples and projects. I agree with some of the earlier posts that this website includes a lot of great information - it is just a matter of going through all of the resources and finding what works for you and your students.

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  13. I visited the Literature and ELA site. Within that, I went to http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

    This is an excellent site for English and ESL teachers. It is very simple. The site has a main page divided into six pages that each have a drop down menu.

    There is a grammar drop down, a sentential level menu, one for the paragraph level, one for essays, and one for the writing process.

    Obviously this wouldn't replace anything that a teacher was doing in their class, nor would it replace planning, but it looks like a great aid for supplementing instruction.

    I can also see this a an extra item in the bag of tricks for pulling out a quick comprehension check that goes beyond the lesson or the text.

    For ESL learners, I think the quizzes would be an excellent self-check and I would like to teach them the site.

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  14. I visited the Internet Information site and found a lot of really good information. I eventually landed on the "UC Berkeley - Teaching Library Internet Workshops". Here I found information on Comparing different search engines and how search engines work.

    There is another great section on Evaluating Web pages. It describes what the URL can tell you and what to look for in a good web site. This is especially important as many of our students believe that every web site is Gospel, when in fact we should be teaching them HOW to determine if a web site if good. (Ever heard about the tree octopus? Check out http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/)

    If you ever need style sheets for citing sources, you can find them here also. APA and MLA are shown and a great section on plagiarism.

    Perhaps one section that everyone should bookmark is the "Glossary of Internet & Web Jargon. Words such as Blog, Boolean, Cookie, and Domain are defined for the 21st century. It's a decent list and it's good!

    The final section shows handouts and powerpoints that are used in the UC Berkeley workshops.

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  15. I visited a site that had Internet Activities for Foreign Language classes. Basically, the instructor can copy (for free) worksheets for Foreign Language students to complete in a computer lab. The instructions vary but, typically, a student is asked to visit a Spanish website and answer level-appropriate questions in English/Spanish. It's just what I've been looking for as I try to incorporate more technology in this 40-year-old mind!!! :)

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  16. This is an awesome website . . there is so much information. I checked out the Entertainment and Travel site. I went and looked at several things; Etymology of First Names and the All Movie Guide. The All Movie Guide had the trailers for every movie you could think of. I spent about 30 minutes reliving my past and checking out some really OLD movie trailers. It also had listings for upcoming movies, television shows and movie blog. This is definitely a FUN site kids could easily navigate for entertainment value. I also think kids would get a kick out of the Etymology of First Names site to see what their name means and what language it's derived from.
    Linda Herman

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  17. I went to the math section and looked at the mathematics illuminated link. There are 13 different units (the primes, combinatorics counts, how big is infinity?, topology’s twists and turns, other dimensions, the beauty of symmetry, making sense of randomness, geometries beyond Euclid, game theory, harmonious math, connecting with networks, in sync, the concepts of chaos) designed to help adults/ teachers explore mathematics. Each unit has an online textbook, video transcripts, and interactive illustrations on the topic. Each unit gives the history and several examples of the topic. To be able to accomplish some of the units, I think you would need to have some kind of background in mathematics.

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  18. I found this a really nice website with a lot of useful information. I checked out the link to bulletin boards and found some really great ideas. The site breaks them down by subject, so you can narrow your search fairly easily. It would be helpful if all of them had a picture to go by, but the explaination was still useful. I like to change my boards often to give the students new information or to review something we've talked about in class. I'll probably visit this site again!

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  19. I chose to comment on Kathy Schrock's site linked to the, Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), 2008-09 Edition. This is great site for career search and career education. In this site, different types of jobs from throughout the U.S. are identified and covered in detail. Each job lists the training and education needed, earnings, expected job prospects, what workers do on the job, and working conditions. This is a very detailed resource for career education research that could be used by most anyone.

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  20. I checked out a lot of the art links, they were some good & some not so good. My favorite was the http://www.artjunction.org/ This was my favorite because it had things for adults & teachers, and it also had things for children to create.

    Another one I like is http://www.artlex.com/ this is one I already have saved in my favorites, we use it often for vocabulary enrichmant in my room. LOVE it!

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