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Posted by Kate Guerrieri 9/18/2009 Title of web page: Tips on Teaching Creative writing. This website has helpful hints for new creative writing teachers. Content is easy to understand. Content: The content of this website is just a list of things that a new creative writing teacher might consider doing for their class. It offers insight from an experienced creative writing teacher, who knows what to expect when teaching this course. It deals with issues that may arise when teaching a creative writing class and offers solutions. This website is short, precise, and just a singular view point about teaching creative writing. It doesn't offer much information but the information is does offer is useful. Most of the idea's can be used for teaching any class and any new teachers might find this website helpful. Design: The design of this website is pretty standard. It has a bulleted list that highlights the information of the text. Unfortunately, there are many advertisements on this website that are somewhat distracting. There are no links to additional information. It is just a one sided view point that may be opinionated and it may not be credible. Attribution: This website is friendly for everyone. It is copy righted. People are free to use this information as long as they cite the author when necessary.

Posted by Kate Guerrieri 9/18/2009 Title of web page: The English Teacher- Lesson Plans for a Creative Writing Course Content: This website offers an entire 13 week lesson plan for teaching a creative course. The lesson plan is broken up into different sections that a teacher would cover for the 13 weeks. Each section covers a different topic and offers links to other websites that offer additional information or examples. There are writing prompt ideas and ideas for different assignments a teacher might consider using. If it meets all the state requirements of a teacher's location, it would be a good source to use for developing a lesson plan. If not, it is a general guide for what a creative writing lesson plan should look like. Design: This web site is split into thirteen sections, in correlation for the weeks that the lesson plan is made for. Each section has a description of what is being taught and ideas on how to teach it. There are examples and links in each section. It is easy to navigate and user friendly. Attribution: The site seems credible. Anyone can use this information as long as they cite the page. I couldn't find the copy write information on the actual page but it is part of a larger website that would have it.

Content: Although at first sight this website doesn't immediately catch your attention due to the lack of color on the page, the information that is given seems to be very valuable. Throughout the site it examines a variety of things that creative writing teachers might consider doing for their class. It suggests an array of things that can perform in an effective and an age appropriate way. It deals with problems and concerns that may arise when teaching this class, while also providing suitable solutions that have the amount of dependable resources that are available to children that are on a wide scale of learning skills/ levels. Design: Overall this site is designed pretty well. Although, it seems only usable for adults and teachers the information that is given is very helpful. The layout ( navigation) of this sight is incredibly self explanatory and does not seem to be displayed in a confusing manner. The author's information is also very accessible to get to, and they also provide other forms of contact information in case users have other questions. Attribution: The purpose of this site is to educate teachers on what the best way to approach creative writing in the classroom. Although this website lacks in the creative side of design the content is very intriguing and guides the educator in teaching the most efficiently. I would feel safe using this site, due to the number of resources they used. Just to make sure they were credible I checked a few and everything panned out, so in the future I would most likely use the site to get some ideas.

Creative writing website offering information and resources about creative writing. Details on how to pursue a career in creative writing included.

From the website: a new and developing online journal and resource site for teachers of Creative Writing and those who are in the process of training to become teachers of Creative Writing.

Posted by Kate Guerrieri 9/18/2009 Title of web page: Creative Writing Teacher Resources (Grades K-12) Content: This is a general web page for teachers. It just offers link to sources about teaching creative writing. It is a good resource for research. It offers links to sources for all different grade levels. Design: This is a just a web page that has a list of links a teacher could use. It is easy to navigate. There are some advertisements but not too many. Attribution: This website is credible. It is copy righted and the information for citation can be found at the bottom of the page. The information is open to everyone.

Kacee Von Krosigk 1-24-10 Content Web English Teacher is a way for teachers to learn new ideas to incorporate into the classroom. The viewers can follow this website on facebook.com or twitter.com. I believe this is a way to get teachers to discuss ideas for the classroom. Sharing ideas is a great way to use new and fun activities and projects in the classroom. There are also book report ideas, children's literature, mythology, poetry, speech, vocabulary, writing, and many other categories to choose from. Design The website doesn't seem to be very well made. There are a lot pop ups which become very off-putting and bothersome after awhile. There is a column on the left side which allows easy navigation from page to page. There is a Google Search on the bottom of the page. It is very distracting seeing all of the other ads. I wish this website would have a place where teachers or students could write other ideas to use in the classroom. There seems to be a lack of communication among anyone when there is definitely a need for it. Overview This website has a lot of creative writing prompts that I would love to use in my classroom. I think many teachers would be happy with this website because it has creative and new ideas for many different teachers and subjects. The content is easy to understand but it seems as if the page hasn't been undated in quite a while.

Natasha Tuft Web Site Review September 20, 2009 http://ilovethatteachingidea.com/ The purpose of this site is to allow teachers to share and find creative classroom management and teaching ideas. "Get inspired with creative ready-to-use teaching ideas!" I was very impressed by all of the very useful links, organized information, and abundance of different kinds of ideas for different age groups. CONTENT This is a site with a very clear purpose. At the very top it says "We inspire teachers with practical, teacher-created ideas and resources that you can use in your classroom immediately." In an easy-to -find place you can contact the information providers. Not only is there a "About Us" link, the site encourages you to join their free e-mail newsletter in a few different ways as you navigate the site. If there is a regular newsletter that tells me that the site is regularly updated, current, and active. The quality of the information is very good, of course remembering that any teacher (or anyone for that matter) can post teaching ideas. The usefulness of each idea is in the eye of the beholder. There is much access to further information on any given subject as there are topics and many links. DESIGN The page loads quickly and the homepage is appealing. The sponsor can be contacted easily and the organization of the links makes it easy to navigate the page. In trying to find "use of multimedia" I actually found a couple of downloads that didn't work, which doesn't mean there aren't other useful downloads or clips. The site was compatible with my browser, had excellent content presentation which was organized and eye-appealing. Things seemed current as mentioned above and there was a lot of availability to further information. The site made me excited to start planning my teaching curriculum and methods!

This site provides resources for getting a digital story started. It includes writing guides, tips, voice, pacing, etc.

Monique Koller Jan. 24 2010 These Stories in These Pictures is an interesting site that gives people a way to break through a writing block they may be encountering. Content: The content of this website is interesting however once you've read through the information on the pages there seems little reason to return to the site. I enjoyed reading the ideas given to break through a writing block and create a creative and interesting story. The ideas were useful and could be used in your classroom when directing your students in a new direction. Design: This website was very easy to navigate. You are given an apple and a couple of tabs. The site is mostly text so everything loaded pretty quickly. It had a few resources that linked you to the stories the author referenced or used examples from. Overview: This site is mostly for professional writers however it can be used by teachers as ideas on getting their students to make creative pieces. This site is worth a visit but I doubt a person would return after reading the content.

Daniella Gonzales Late, September 29,2009 Content: This website, SOU: Guide to Writing History Papers, is a very good resource for both students and teachers. It shows different structures for papers, general recommendations for writing a fact document as well as encouraging words for those who might get discouraged. I think this would be an excellent resource for any student having difficulties with writing fact documents, as these are much different than creative writing pieces. Also it is a good resource for teachers to use, so they can teach their students how to write papers before any are even due. Another reason it could be good for teachers is it would be able to help teachers know what to look for when grading a paper for a history based class. Design: The design of the website is very clear and concise. It starts with saying that it is a guide for writing papers, followed by a list that the website provides of everything that this website helps with, including links to help navigate to a specific part easier. After this navigational list the website starts going in depth of everything that was found on the list. It is very simple and even the individual who is completely new at using the internet could follow it. Attribution: I think that this website is an excellent resource for both students and teachers alike. I want to become an IB history teacher and as one you must prepare your students to write history papers in less than two hours that cover all aspects of the question. This website would help me learn how to teach my students to write better papers so that they can succeed on the exams. Also I think any student from middle school through college could use it if they didn't understand how to write a paper. This website is very well written and I would definitely use it as a teacher.

Daniella Gonzales Late, September 29,2009 Content: This website, SOU: Guide to Writing History Papers, is a very good resource for both students and teachers. It shows different structures for papers, general recommendations for writing a fact document as well as encouraging words for those who might get discouraged. I think this would be an excellent resource for any student having difficulties with writing fact documents, as these are much different than creative writing pieces. Also it is a good resource for teachers to use, so they can teach their students how to write papers before any are even due. Another reason it could be good for teachers is it would be able to help teachers know what to look for when grading a paper for a history based class. Design: The design of the website is very clear and concise. It starts with saying that it is a guide for writing papers, followed by a list that the website provides of everything that this website helps with, including links to help navigate to a specific part easier. After this navigational list the website starts going in depth of everything that was found on the list. It is very simple and even the individual who is completely new at using the internet could follow it. Attribution: I think that this website is an excellent resource for both students and teachers alike. I want to become an IB history teacher and as one you must prepare your students to write history papers in less than two hours that cover all aspects of the question. This website would help me learn how to teach my students to write better papers so that they can succeed on the exams. Also I think any student from middle school through college could use it if they didn't understand how to write a paper. This website is very well written and I would definitely use it as a teacher.

Mandy Schumacher 1-24-10 Overview: creativewritingprompts.com is a website that is intended to provide teachers and students with hundreds of different writing ideas. There are over 300 prompts on the site and all of them are easily accessible. This site can be a very useful tool for educators, or anyone who enjoys writing. Content: This website is targeted at anyone who is interested in writing. Creativewriting.com provides the user with 346 different writing prompts. The prompts can be used to create poems, stories, or other creative works. The purpose of this site is not purely informational however; this particular website is also a commercial site. Along the side of the page there are ads promoting online courses, a journaling kit, other books, and there is a list of "sister websites" displayed on the bottom. Copyright and information about the author is easily accessible on the bottom of the site as well. Design: The site quickly downloaded to the homepage. The homepage is really easy to navigate. There are numbers assigned to each prompt. All the user has to do is place the cursor over any of the numbers for the prompt to pop up in a text box. The ads along the side and bottom of the page serve as a distraction but overall the site is easy to navigate and well organized. There are also links at the bottom of the page

Natasha Tuft Web Site Review September 20, 2009 www.teachertools.org The purpose of this site seems to be to provide teachers with resources for the classroom. But because the site has not been updated for a long time I only could assume this after looking at the site's name and clicking through links for a while. There are links to areas of interest from decorating bulletin boards to language arts lesson plans to classroom discipline. I liked the creative classroom ideas on this site but it was difficult to navigate and did not seem like the most professional site that I've seen put together. CONTENT Especially at "first look", the purpose of the web site is unclear. I assumed that the audience is teachers because of the very obvious URL "teacher tools.org". The home page simply has a notice that the site is undergoing revision. That post was made in 2002! I could not find the information providers on the homepage or on other pages I navigated. I was able to find, however, many interesting and useful links to other more organized web pages. Even these, though, had confusing and sometimes unorganized labels. I should mention that a few of the first links I clicked on were incomplete links and got me nowhere. The strength in content for this site is simply its links and not its own content. Had I not been doing this assignment for class, however, I would probably have gone back to my search engine to find a more useful site. DESIGN The web site downloads efficiently but when it loaded I was really unsure if I was at the homepage or if I landed on something else. The homepage is not appealing. The only eye-catching thing is the teachertools.org icon and there is no way of contacting sponsor easily. Links on the side of the page were useful for looking in specific categories but a few of the links that I tried were incomplete or "under construction". I don't see it having any difficulties with browser compatibility but the content presentation co

Natasha Tuft Web Site Review September 20, 2009 www.teachertools.org The purpose of this site seems to be to provide teachers with resources for the classroom. But because the site has not been updated for a long time I only could assume this after looking at the site's name and clicking through links for a while. There are links to areas of interest from decorating bulletin boards to language arts lesson plans to classroom discipline. I liked the creative classroom ideas on this site but it was difficult to navigate and did not seem like the most professional site that I've seen put together. CONTENT Especially at "first look", the purpose of the web site is unclear. I assumed that the audience is teachers because of the very obvious URL "teacher tools.org". The home page simply has a notice that the site is undergoing revision. That post was made in 2002! I could not find the information providers on the homepage or on other pages I navigated. I was able to find, however, many interesting and useful links to other more organized web pages. Even these, though, had confusing and sometimes unorganized labels. I should mention that a few of the first links I clicked on were incomplete links and got me nowhere. The strength in content for this site is simply its links and not its own content. Had I not been doing this assignment for class, however, I would probably have gone back to my search engine to find a more useful site. DESIGN The web site downloads efficiently but when it loaded I was really unsure if I was at the homepage or if I landed on something else. The homepage is not appealing. The only eye-catching thing is the teachertools.org icon and there is no way of contacting sponsor easily. Links on the side of the page were useful for looking in specific categories but a few of the links that I tried were incomplete or "under construction". I don't see it having any difficulties with browser compatibility but the content presentation co

Jared Mohr-Leiva October 13, 2014 Sometimes, planning for class gets difficult, even for "easy" classes like English. Thankfully, there are resources for that. "Tes.co.uk" has a page chock full of them. However, since it is a U.K. site, they are not by grade, but by age (11-14, 14-16, and 16+). Regardless, that allows a pretty close estimate (within a year) of which grades correspond to which age group. The category list includes a large array of sub-subjects in English. These include Drama, non-fiction, Prose, and Writing. These are front and center on the page and vary depending on which age group the reader is teaching. Clicking on any of these subjects will open a new page filled with worksheets, activities, and PowerPoints. For example, clicking on "Drama" will bring up "8 Minute Madness - Creative starter activities" and "Romeo & Juliet: Powerpoint Synopsis," just to name a couple. Tes.co.uk is very blue-oriented, as well. The age-group category box is a deep, bold blue, front and center on the first page. Categories are bold and easy to find. The "sub-subject" pages are displayed as a list, again using large, bold letters. There is also a sidebar allowing the reader to narrow their search by sub-topic, type, format, or event. There are also categories at the very bottom to specify whether it is a special needs course or is applicable to the entire school. "Newest" and "Recently recommended" appear at the top of the screen alongside the number of results.

Jared Mohr-Leiva October 13, 2014 Sometimes, planning for class gets difficult, even for "easy" classes like English. Thankfully, there are resources for that. "Tes.co.uk" has a page chock full of them. However, since it is a U.K. site, they are not by grade, but by age (11-14, 14-16, and 16+). Regardless, that allows a pretty close estimate (within a year) of which grades correspond to which age group. The category list includes a large array of sub-subjects in English. These include Drama, non-fiction, Prose, and Writing. These are front and center on the page and vary depending on which age group the reader is teaching. Clicking on any of these subjects will open a new page filled with worksheets, activities, and PowerPoints. For example, clicking on "Drama" will bring up "8 Minute Madness - Creative starter activities" and "Romeo & Juliet: Powerpoint Synopsis," just to name a couple. Tes.co.uk is very blue-oriented, as well. The age-group category box is a deep, bold blue, front and center on the first page. Categories are bold and easy to find. The "sub-subject" pages are displayed as a list, again using large, bold letters. There is also a sidebar allowing the reader to narrow their search by sub-topic, type, format, or event. There are also categories at the very bottom to specify whether it is a special needs course or is applicable to the entire school. "Newest" and "Recently recommended" appear at the top of the screen alongside the number of results. 

Creative Commons Lesson plans for PK-16+ teachers

Overview: This website is a great website for children to explore. This website offers some great games and learning activities. This website is not only for science, but many other subjects. All over the website are characters from the movie Madagascar which Is a smart move for the website as a whole because it grabs the learners attention with the characters that they like to watch on the TV. This is a great website to use as a teacher because it has fun interactive games that students will enjoy doing.  Content: The content on this website is not only for science, but for other subjects as well. There are tabs for games, activities, videos, and mobile devices. The games and activities available are very informational and help teach the different subjects. There are informational videos as well that have the characters that all of the students enjoy to watch as well. There are science lessons, math, English/ writing, and geography lessons available to learn.  Design: The design on this website is very creative. The designer of this website used characters from the movie Madagascar to draw the students attention. This is a smart way to get younger children to go onto your website. The pages of the website are very colorful and welcoming to students. There are no advertisements, but there are links to share this website on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and some others. This would be a website that I would use a teacher because it isn't a boring page with links. This website would keep my students engaged and they would learn as well. 

Samantha Snethen- Feb. 5, 2012 Overview: OER Commons is website designed to allow educators from all over the worlds to share educational resources for primary, secondary, and post-secondary school. The website is free to view and has tens of thousands of lesson plans, classroom activities, assessments, video and audio lectures, games and much, much more. The site also has a bookmarking feature, in which users can bookmark new online educational resources to share. This website is a great tool for educators of any grade level to find and share wonderful classroom and teaching resources. Content: At first glance the site doesn't seem to give a clear idea of what it contains. However after reading some of the smaller print and doing some navigating it becomes clear. It provides a clear link to the creator and sponsor of the website, ISKME, so finding information about the organization is easy. One downfall about it is there is no last revision date provided, so it is hard to determine how old some of the resources available are. There is also little interactivity with the site. The majority of the content however, is easy to navigate, well organized and achieves the purpose it was created for. Design: The site is not designed to be very eye-catching and seems confusing at first glance. There were no directions for users available and again there was not last revision date provided. However, there was more than enough information and resources for almost any subject for almost every grade level. The information was also presented in well organized manner, which makes it easy for the user to narrow down the types of resources they are searching for.

Locate open education and creative commons resources for teachers and students of all grade levels

Overview: This website serves as a creative online music environment for children of all ages. Kids are able to compose music and play with musical performance. It also includes many music games and puzzles and educational facts about music. I think this is a great site for children learning music and expanding their music knowledge. The content of this site is very educational and the design is very kid friendly and of high quality. Content: The information provided in this website is straight to the point and its purpose is easy to determine. Author information is clearly identified and easily available. The purpose of this site is clear and the overall content is great for children learning aspects of music. Design: The design of this website is very kid friendly and easy to navigate. It is definitely a site aimed more for kids than for adults including many graphics but very little text. All information is organized and labeled well and can be found easily. The information is sufficient making this site worthwhile.

Emily Pariseau The overall point of the website is clear from the opening page that details specifically that this site provides various creative resources for English teachers teaching to second language learners - specifically this site deals with teaching in Japan and the author of the site, Jeffrey, encourages people to share the site among Japanese teachers as well. The site is extremely simplified with just black Arial text on a white background with just one photo of the author at the top. He explains in the about page that he keeps the site simple so that it can be more internationally friendly across every web browser and on mobile websites of varying operating systems. The site is aimed at teaching English for grades 1-6 in Japan and each link to a grade level provides age appropriate in class activities and lesson plans for basic concepts like counting, animal naming, and holiday vocabulary. Every lesson is provided in word doc format and concise but detailed enough that one could use it in their own class, which the author encourages.

Megan Ridings ITEC 2360 Website Evaluations January 24, 2010 Overview: On the website, Elementary Lesson Plans.Net, the main purpose is to help elementary school teachers with lesson plans for all different subjects. It is clear that this website is designed for an audience of elementary school teachers, student teachers and parents who are homeschooling their children. Overall I feel that the site is well made and organized, the site is easy to navigate, and extremely helpful with online video tutorials and printable versions of lesson plans. In addition, this site is creative because aside from the creators of the site, new lesson plans are added daily by teachers in order to keep the site full of useful lesson plans. Content Summary: I have found the content of this site to be "worth bookmarking for future needs." The site is continuously being revised, as each day teachers are adding more lesson plans, in addition it is easy to tell what the purpose of the site is to be informational. The content of this site is well organized and easy to navigate and understand. The site appears to be complete, and offers a sufficient amount of information for those interested in elementary school lesson plans. The only flaws I find within the site are related to the information providers. Since the lesson plans are added by teachers and parents daily it is hard to track the authors, also it is impossible to determine whether or not the authors of pages are qualified and reliable resources. Design Summary: On this site the design is much weaker than that of the content. This site downloads efficiently, however it lacks the "eye-appeal," that I would hope for within a site based on elementary lessons. The homepage over all is strong and contains information for contacting the sponsors, as well as appropriate copyright date and other clear indicators of the contents of the site. As for navigation, the design of this site is efficient. Within the mult

Monique Koller Jan. 24. 2010 Invention at Play is a website designed to get kids interested in being inventors. Content: This is a cute website that has good stories about people who have done some inventing. It also has informational videos and games that encourage parents to allow play as exploration. The games are educational and logic based. Design: This site is very easy to navigate. The links work well and guide you to places that you might find interesting later. The games are educational and encourage creativity. It is easy to find who you would need to get a hold of if you had any additional questions or concerns. I wouldn't be super surprised if this site added new stuff regularly. Overview: The big goal of this site is to encourage learning and imagination! It is built for children and parents. This site has a lot of great stories of people who have become inventors, it has learning games, and informational videos that encourage parents to keep their kids exploring! I really enjoyed Word Play and Tinker Ball, the videos were reassuring and the stories of inventors are inspirational.