This document sharing website allows users to share a large variety of documents for free. The user just has to upload their document to their dropbox and anyone with permission to view their dropbox will have access to the document. The site provides a short tutorial on using dropbox and provides users with a free account with a large storage capacity. For more storage users can upgrade their account or get other users to sign up for a free account. This site does not offer the ability to collaborate in real time, but it supports all file formats.

This is a collaborative mind mapping resource. It is used to work together to find and share information on any subject. It can be used in real time with users around the world to create collaborative mind maps on any topic. This site provides tutorials for users to learn about the various features that can be utilized within the program. I think this site is the best resource for mind-mapping because of the real time collaborative element and the ability to find a variety of pre-created mind maps.

This brief tutorial explains the ease of use of the SMARTBoard, although the participants in this workshop are familiar with the SMARTboard and it's use, they may need a quick refresher and it may show some shortcuts or features that they have not been utilizing. I found this site to be easy to access and the way the information was presented was interesting and engaging to the learners.

This tutorial teaches users how to most effectively use the gallery tool in the SMART software. Most users use the gallery, but do not maximize the effectiveness of this tool. The presenter in the video is a trained SMARTboard trainer and goes through the tutorial at a comfortable pace and allows users to practice as he goes through it. I found this site to be extremely beneficial for all users of SMART software, novice to expert.

This free rubric creator allows educators to create rubrics aligned to the content that is being taught, for students to self assess their performance, and for students to assess the quality of instruction received. This site provides step by step directions through the creation of the rubric as well as the option for users to search and modify rubrics that have already been created.

This is another rubric website. It offers up several categories of pre-created rubrics to choose from to use. I did not particularly find this website extremely helpful because it was not very easily navigated and it provided a lot of extraneous information that needed to be processed in order to get to what you are actually looking for.

This interactive site allows users to create mindmaps and graphic organizers online that can be shared with others, saved to files, and exported to the web. This site allows users to collaborate with one another on the mind map or graphic organizer. It is fully customizable and very simple to use. The site offers a quick tutorial for users looking for guidance before they get started, but it is so easy to use that many users would not need to use the tutorial before getting started.

Balanced Literacy in the Primary Classroom

http://literacycoachingservices.edu.glogster.com/guided-reading-overview/

This site introduces the participants to the basic principles of guided reading. This site is designed to help teachers integrate guided reading into their literacy block. The multimedia artifacts on this site are short videos demonstrating how to set up a reading notebook, and how to organize guided reading in the classroom. This site using dual coding, using both audio and visual cues to engage the learner (Mayer, 2009). With this site the multimedia aspects do not take away from what is being presented. The bright colors and different fonts add visual appeal without overpowering the message.

http://literacyidentity.wikispaces.com/Literacy+Block
This wiki covers the elements of a literacy block. It provides several multimedia examples of activities that students can independently complete during the literacy block. The simplicity of this wiki lends itself to the amount of content being covered on the wiki. This wiki is text based and does not incorporate any of Mayer's principles of dual coding, cognitive theory, or limited capacity theory (Mayer, 2009). This wiki would be used as a reference site for students to explore on their own time. The content covered on this wiki will be covered in other sites and through the course content.

http://www.fcrr.org/Curriculum/studentCenterActivities.shtm
This site provides a link the instructional DVD that would be used in conjunction with this professional development session. The material covered in the DVD correspond to the text that will be used throughout this professional development. This aligns with Mayer's limited capacity theory, the students will take the information either from the text or from the DVD, whichever resource they learn best from (Mayer, 2009). This site also offers several resources for teachers to use in their classroom in their balanced literacy block.

Reference
Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.