Tech Final Project #4- 10 new websites

Ten Websites:

1) factmonster.com
http://www.factmonster.com

I am enthralled with this website. It contains everything to make a subject fun.From flashcards to worksheets, it's one of the only sites that's fun for kids and teachers at the same time.


2) Middle Web.com
http://www.middleweb.com/

A great one-stop shop for middle school teachers with blogs about classroom situations, to new ideas for presenting material. It also contains news pertinent to what's happening in education.

3) Discovery School.com
http://school.discovery.com/

Thanks to another class, I discovered this website with everything from crossword templates to access to united streaming clips that are correlated to state standards. In anticipation of being a teacher, the thing I worry about most is creating a curriculum that is both relevant and yet meets all the standards necessary.

4) ALTEC
http://altec.org/index.php

After playing with this site for the earlier part of this assignment, I have to add to my 10 websites. With games and quiz templates, as well as having ways to integrate technology, all I can see is unlimited uses. I was really excited by the link that allows me to access a subject and topic and then search the state standard at a glance.

5) Apple Learning Interchange
http://ali.apple.com becomes http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/

I love this site, I just place it later in my list because I am not yet surrounded by Apple as I hope to be. Right now, I'm restricted to several I-Pods. (The district I hope to teach in is very Apple happy.) I come from a business background and the PC is king in that arena.

The teacher I introduced to this site said I opened her eyes on how to use the site right now, but she also opened my eyes to how I could use the site. The fact that she's going to give out CD's with pictures and movies with my daughter and about her experience in her first year of school is priceless. Jenna will treasure that forever. To give kids memories beyond their class photos is immeasureable.
Her ideas for this site have really inspired me, so I'm going to help her with the project.

6) Electric Teacher.com
http://www.electricteacher.com/newteacher/

This is a site dedicated to new teachers. How can this not be valuable? It has chat rooms and guides to creating curriculum, as well as tips on things such as dealing with parents, especially difficult ones, diplomacy training if you will.

7) PBS Teachers.org
http://www.pbs.org/teachers

I love PBS anyway, but to find their website just for teachers is great. The first thing that caught my eye was a month-long "alternative reality" game where your students attempt to find a way for the world to survive without oil. Projects like this are so exciting to me. Developing thought skills while attempting to solve real world problems. The site is full of innovative and wonderful projects for every grade level and subject.


8) Teachers.net
http://www.teachers.net/

In all the website searching we've done, this is the first site I've seen with concise, well put-together meetings, job listings, and my favorite, the mailring. You can mailring with other substitutes if that's what you do, or with teachers from Australia, Canada, or the United Kingdom. How great is that. I'm especially interested in teaching my students through a global perspective, and being able to chat with teachers from other countries would be invaluable. They also have teacher classifieds. You can buy or sell many items, sort of a teacher only e-bay without the auction.

9) Teacher Blogs
http://teacherlingo.com

Right now, I'm really torn about switching from Blogger to Teacher Lingo. Teacher Lingo is made just for teachers so they will have a forum that other teachers can read and respond to, sort of a filter versus an all-encompassing site such as Blogger. A blog site just for teachers is intriguing to me. But who says all I want to write about is teaching. It's weird to say, but teaching isn't just some new career choice for me. I don't want it to be just my job, just something I do. But, I also don't want it to be my entire life. To be complete people, we have to have many aspects to ourselves, especially for us to grow. So, do I limit my blogging to teaching and switch or stay with Blogger, and maybe not get as much technical response. But, wait, maybe the teachers blogging on Teacher Lingo feel the way I do. I'm sure they have other aspects to their lives that we could all relate to, that don't necessarily involve teaching.

10) Oracle sponsored Think.com
http://www.think.com/en_us/

This site is operated free of charge by Oracle. You enroll your school, and you can blog, create teacher websites, student websites, and parent websites. And, only member schools can access your blog information or your website content, so if there's a problem, it can be easily traced. I'm very interested in creating class websites so that parents have full access to what we're doing. It makes it so much easier for busy parents to come home and be able to see our schedule at the touch of a button, and then, help with homework.