Recommendations
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Item (linked) |
Rationale |
Listservs or
Forums
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Telecollaborative
Projects
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Search Tools
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ah-ha.com |
This is a filtered search engine that uses "FAST
search". The home page features an index of categories (much like
Yahoo) and strains to follow in order to refine your search. To be
even more specific, you can use the search box at the top to insert the
key words you would like to find. I typed in "grapes" (just because
I'm sitting here hungry) and the first several listings to come up were
for commercial sites such as eBay and Ancestry.com. The reason behind
this is that these sites pay ah-ha.com to list their sites first!
My opinion of this search engine dropped upon learning this. Students
in my class are much more likely (as I'm sure eBay and Ancestry.com are
WELL aware of) to click on the first or second listing while searching.
I had to do a little more searching and digging to get to more pertinent
sites. Although this could be a valuable site for some uses, I don't
have a lot of faith that my students would get the best and most pertinent
information while using this search engine. |
| zeeks.com |
Zeeks.com is, like ah-ha, a filtered engine.
At first glance, this is a flashy, kid oriented engine. It uses bright
colors and pictures to catch your attention. I was impressed to note
that the index strains offered were to topics like questions (linking to
AskJeeves and Altavista), reference, broadcast and media, arts, sports,
and so on. However, upon trying to search for "cougars", I found
that this is only a go-between site. After typing my keyword, it
asked me in which place I wanted to search (those offered were National
Geographic, Discovery, and other science related sites). The pages
that turned up were only found at the site I selected. This could
be great to use to find specific information on a desired site that may
not offer its own search. I may use this when it comes time to search
the NASA site for information on the Challenger Disaster, however for everyday
searching, it just won't get the job done. |
| salukisearch.com |
I really liked salukisearch.com. Out of all
the engines I tried, this one was the easiest to use and got me where I
wanted to go quickly. It is set up a great deal like Yahoo, however
the categories include a nice sized education section. Upon clicking
on a topic, the index lists several different sites to visit. All
are filtered for content. A specific search on frogs came up with
two pages of listings (considerably less that altavista would turn up)
yet all seemed to be educationally motivated. This site seems great
to use as a family - parents and teachers won't have to worry that the
child is visiting sites that have questionable material. It
was easy to use and I would trust my students to utilize salukisearch for
any questions they need answers for! |
Lesson Plan
Sources
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Scholastic.com |
Scholastic is a pretty familiar name for all of us (at
least elementary teachers). This site can be used one of two ways.
It can be used to search for (and find) books sold by or recommended by
Scholastic that have lesson plans. This doesn't quite meet our needs
(or my assignment!). However, it can also be used to find actual
lesson plans and reproducibles from their vault.
From the index page, it asks you to check the grade span you are searching
for and to select a topic or sub topic. Each search turns up books,
sites in and out of Scholastic.com, as well as lesson plans and reproducible
pages in their site. You do need Acrobat Reader to view and print
the information.
I found a wealth of ideas and lesson plans in this site. However,
they were not always as structured and clear as I would have liked.
I'm so used to the UD format for lesson plans that when I don't have objectives
listed, I cringe! If you're looking for quick ideas to utilize in
school, this is the site to visit. The reproducibles are wonderful
and clear. |
| www.col-ed.org/cur/ |
I think this site will be a staple for me this year!
WOW! What a list of lesson plans and all are well formatted and clear!
This site is maintained by Columbia Education center. All the plans
are in categories and are subdivided by grade grouping.
I viewed several of the plans. All are formatted similarly to
our UD format (yea!) and are extremely clear. Step by step instruction
are noted, as are objectives and review questions. The activities
are explicit. The only thing more I could ask for would be suggestions
in classroom management for specific tasks (such as recommending large
groups, circle discussions, or collaborative work).
I especially liked the misc. section of the lesson plans. These
included plans on boosting self esteem and confidence builders! Life
skills are extremely important, as are strategies in working together.
This site has plans to help your class learn how to work together.
I definitely recommend the use of this site. Make sure you bookmark
it! |
Data Sets or
Online Tools
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http://world.altavista.com/ |
This is a search tool found in Altavista's site.
It is a translator tool called "BabelFish." What I found so utterly
awesome about this site is that you can use it to not only translate inserted
text, but to tranlsate web pages on the web!
When you enter the site, you'll see a text box toward the top.
In this box, you can enter whatever you want translated, in whatever language
you have. For example, I receive a note from an ESL student, and
it is in Spanish. I can copy the text into the text box. Next,
you pull down the "translate to" box. This gives you selections such
as "English to Spanish," "English to French," and "English to German."
Other languages you can English into are Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Italian,
and Portuguese. If you scroll down that box, you'll also find you
can translate foreign languages (such as French or Spanish) to English.
For our purposes, we would select "Spanish to English." Then hit
the "Translate" button and VIOLA! The English translation of the
text you typed in appears!
This is great for me due to my high number of ESL students with non-English
speaking (or writing) parents. I can write a short note into the
translator, translate to Spanish, and send home the Spanish translation.
This would also be a great tool to use in foreign language classes, in
pen pal situations, or in day-to-day fun! I really was impressed
with this tool and plan to use it in the future!
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| http://www.emode.com |
Ok, Emode is something I discovered a year ago when
a fellow teacher advised me to try one of their tests. This site
is a bank of hundreds of fun (and a few serious) tests on personality,
career, relationships, and health&wellness. To get in to the
site, you do have to join. It is fairly simple - email address and
password. After you're in, you may take any of the tests.
There are several tests that are "Ph.D. developed." Among these
are an IQ test, depression tests, and so on. These tests, if previewed,
could be used with a high school psych class. however, it takes some
digging to discover just who developed the test.
The majority of the tests are purely for fun. I took the "Which
VW Beetle Are You?" test. It asks mostly unrelated (or so we think)
questions like, "How many fillings do you have?" and tallies your answers
to pick what type of Beetle you would most likely buy (I am a Sport, by
the way). Other similar tests to this are "What Breed of Dog Are
You?" (I'm a Pug) and "Who's Your Inner Rock Star." Definitely
a fun way for teachers to relax and laugh a little.
As an educational tool, however, this is lacking. I could never
use it with my 5th graders, as the humor and questions can get too personal
and mature for them. High School students could handle it, however I'd
suggest a parent preview and possibly a release form before using it in
a school. The other problem with the site is that students would
have to be monitored at all times. It would be too easy for the student
to visit "Which Sex Goddess Are You" when he or she is supposed to be in
the "Identity Test."
In conclusion - try it yourself, but use caution with the kiddies.
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