Group items tagged

Kent McKee 1/31/11 Overview: http://www.ala.org/yalsa is a website by the Young Adult Services Association that intends to provide information to teachers and students alike in the field of Young Adult Literature. There are copious amounts of information on the site about novels, authors, online classes, news and events etc. The site is well organized. The purpose of this site is clear from the second you navigate to it, it's a resource for anyone interested in English Educations-specifically reading. Design: This website is put together in a clear and effective manner. It has multiple navigation options and is designed in a way that it is easy to get around; it's simple but still looks professional. The site achieves what it is intended for clearly and effectively. It's well organized and clear enough to understand that students and teachers alike could use this site. And because it isn't an overly complex website, it loads almost immediately. Content: The content on this site is clear from the second it is loaded onto the computer screen. It has all of the sites information on the center of the page with links taking you all throughout the site, and to the left hand side of the screen there are also many links to different, applicable websites. The authors of this website are clearly identified and all the information is very current.

Gary Allen May 18, 2011 Overview: I found this site in the community library here on Diigo and thought I would check it out. As the title suggests, it contains accounts of many different events in American History. This site also appears to be geared more towards an older audience. Content: This site contains plenty of information, including some illustrations, and is navigated using either a search box or a list of links on the left sidebar. The information SEEMS to be legit, the author and copyright date are listed at the bottom of the page, with a link to the author's own website, however there are no sources listed on any of the articles. Design: Again, this site has a very simple design. There are a few ads, but that is to be expected and they're not too distracting. It almost appears as if the site is unfinished because there are many items in the sidebar that do not have links attached to them. Overall, I would probably recommend find another website to use as a resource.

Danielle Walter 9/5/11 Storyplace: The Chldren's Digital Library Overview: The Storyplace.org website is a great educational website for both English speaking students and Spanish speaking students. Or it also can be used for helping a child learn English or Spanish. The website has activities for pre-school age children and also for elementary age children. It offers an online reading, an activity, a take home activity and also a reading list so children can explore other books. The website is a great resource for teachers and parents to help children be excited about reading. Content: The Storyplace.org website is easy to navigate for children and adults. It is also set up nicely. It has the grade levels on the left side and when you click on one it comes up with a menu of the reading and activities. This is a great website for helping children learn how to read and to become excited about reading, but it is also great for teaching children how to navigate the web and to show them how useful it can be in learning. Design: The Storyplace.org website has very bold colors that are eye catching. It's also easy to navigate. It is a .org website so I would trust it to be a good website for my children or students to be on. It also contains the copyright on the page so it is even more trusted.

Lyle Wiley September 10, 2011 Overview: The Folger Shakespeare Library is an exhaustive site of Shakespeare resources with specific large pages for different audiences including a site for students and one for k-12 educators. While the site has a clear focus on selling published Shakespeare works and resources, there is a good deal of free information and resources available for students and teachers alike. These resources include Shakespeare information and history, lesson plans for teachers, study guides, audio and video embedded helps, space for teachers to interact and share ideas and experiences, and a frequently update blog (called "Making a Scene: Shakespeare in the Classroom"). This rather attractive site has some very helpful and interesting resources for the Shakespeare educator. Content: The basic content and intended audiences of this site is easily discerned upon entry. There are numerous authors of the material available on the site, but for the most part the author's contact and educational information is easy to find. The site appears to be frequently updated, and certainly the blog attached to the educational resources on the site is updated often. The purpose of the site is both business and informational which sometimes colors the available information on the site, but there is a large amount of rather good free information including lesson plans, teaching ideas and tips, audio and visual resources, and access to a creative community. There are few external links, but the information available looks to be very helpful to the Shakespeare educator. Design: The Folger Shakespeare Library loads quickly and has a nice aesthetic appeal. Well organized and heavily indexed, the site has an impressive ease of navigation which is complimented by some nice photo design and occasional embedded multimedia (which is always relevant and helpful). Again, much of the material on the site is up for sale; however, there are a good many quality resource

Overview The Folger Shakespeare Library site is the home page for the Folger Shakespeare Library located in Washington, D.C. The site has any number of features that any good library web site would have: an online catalog, listed hours, ask a librarian. The site is designed for teachers, students, scholars, and the average Joe who is interested in Shakespeare, Renaissance literature, and early modern literature. Areas of the web site of high interest are the Visitors section, Students and Families section, K-12 Teachers section (which includes monthly lesson plans), and a Scholars' section. Content The content included on this site is amazing. The Folger Shakespeare Library has a catalog of over half of the world's books published before 1640, and the catalog is, of course, accessible online. There is a section of Hamnet (the online catalog) for electronic resources as well. The site is interactive-offering a free e-newsletter, social media, a calendar of events, and an active blog. There are podcasts chock full of lectures, poetry readings, etc., digital images, an archived list of lesson plans. There is a six minute YouTube documentary on the First Folio! You could spend many happy days lost in this site. Design The site's design is simple, elegant, and business like. It is a light blue color, which is easy on the eyes. Most of the navigation is at the top or to the left. The site is sometimes difficult to navigate unless one has at least an idea of what he or she is looking for. A site map is made available if one gets distracted or lost though.

The content for this site is very well put together. It is a site where you can go and start a new language and you can either start a free trial or pay to use it. It might be similar to Rosetta Stone. It has a easy to use box that will start you with the basics of the language you are trying to learn.The design is simple you have the unit and lesson at the top of the square saying what one you are on. On the left had side there are boxes with learn, review, write, and speak. Once you have completed all of those levels you are able to use the skill builder exercises to improve your skill. In the middle of the box is a picture with the word of phrase you are trying to learn. Underneath is a rewind play and fast forward button so you can move back and forth from picture to picture. I think that although this could be done from beginning to end I didn't find a way for someone who already knows some words. I also don't think that the exercises were very fun and one would get bored after a while and either stop paying attention or their motivation would die so they would want to do something else.  I am also not sure who the author is or what date it was updated, the only information it said was copyright in 2011.

The content of this site is has Spanish, grammar, math and science. You are able to choose which section that you would like to work on and learn by playing games. The games are based for elementary students but the Spanish versions could help high school students learn as well as have fun playing games.The design is very user friendly. They have toolbars on the top and left had side of the page so that you can easily navigate to where you want to go. There are also pictures that go with the game and a description of what the game entails underneath. There are also bright colors to make the website very aesthetically pleasing. I think that this is a good site because it could easily be utilized by a variety of teacher of different age groups not just elementary as it is intended. If I wanted high school students to use this site they could work on cleaning up their Spanish grammar by picking that certain picture. If one game wasn't working out for one student they could always pick from the others that are available. 

Korinne Thoren 14 September 2011 Art Project-Powered by Google Overview: The purpose of Art Project is to allow users exposure to some of the world's best works of art without ever having to leave their home or classroom. The website is geared to older students, I think this site would work well for anyone middle school aged or older. My overall impression of the site is a good, I particularly like the quality and quantity of artwork users have availability to and the virtual touring is fun; the only thing I did not like was that it took a while to get used to the virtual tour navigation tools, however there is a instructional video provided on the website for users. Content: This interactive, virtual touring website gives its users access to 17 of the most world renowned art museums, allowing users to view all works of art or tour the museum virtually. This makes for exposure to thousands of famous pieces of art over a very unique and fun experience. The site also allows users to view very high quality, detailed photos of the art that can be zoomed into, which would not be found through just a Google search. Each painting contains the title of the work and the artist, but no mediums or dimensions are provided. There is a "create an artwork collection" feature that allows users to compile their favorite works, which could be useful for studying a specific movement or time period. The website does not provide contact information for the site creators or links to the actual museums. Design: The overall design of Art Project is superb. Upon opening, the site really draws users in because of the changing and vivid, zoomed up view of artworks used as the background. The listing of museums and artworks on the left-hand side is very clean and simple, thus making for a very appealing website design overall.

Overview Spanish Teaching is a site for the teacher or student of the Spanish language. At first glance, it appears a bit basic. It is not super eye catching nor filled with an abundance of sights, sounds and fluff. However, its form and function are succinct. Every item on the page has a specific purpose and supplies exactly what it implies. The hyper-links are true to form and also supply additional topic related substance. It is easy to use, straight forward and would be relevant for all grade levels of instruction. Content The site is broken into four divisions; Spanish Members Zone, Online quizzes for students:, Teaching websites of the week and Lesson plan ideas. Each division contains links to topics suited to the subject. Design The design of the site is simple. Site name and purpose is scrolled down the left side of the page in a colorful bandana. The Main idea: Spanish Teaching is at the top , a picture reference for memory follows. Next comes the site topics, Learn, Teach, Travel. At the top of the site home page the words Teaching , Traveling and Learning are in different bright colors and open to related links. Athe design is easy to follow and use.

Billie Slyman, 9/11/11 Purpose The purpose of this site is to provide resources for teachers for teaching weather. It's part of a larger site that has resources about all kinds of topics. There are websites, print-out activity sheet and Power Points. Although there are a lot of links, about half of them don't work, and there isn't any information on the site about how the sites are found and who runs the site. My overall impression is that this site has some good resources that could be helpful to teachers, but the link you want might not work, and there's no guarantee it is a good site. Content There really isn't any information (that I could find, anyway) about who develops or maintains this site, or any indication of when it was made. Although there are a lot of links to other sites, there is nothing about this site. There is a link to "Contact Us", but who is "Us"? However, it is nice that the links are divided into separate themes, like Weather, so it is easy to find the topic you are interested in. Design The site looks pretty plain. It's really just a list of links. However, this does serves the purpose of the site. It doesn't really have much reason to look nice because most people won't be spending a lot of time there; they'll be on the other sites. Although, even though the site is plain, it still manages to feel cluttered. With the links in the middle, navigation menu on the left and ads on the right it can be a little hard to stay focused. But the site is functional, and it can be helpful to have a large amount of sites about the topic all put together.

Overview: Math Goodies is a math website that can be used by both the teacher and the student. This website offers lessons and worksheets for the teacher. Games and homework help are provided for the students, making this website even more effective. This website is geared mostly towards grades 5-8 but can be utilized by anybody needing help in the math subjects offered.  Content: When first navigating to the homepage, you'll find lots of information. A downside to the homepage and the website all together is that there are a lot of advertisements. The author of the website is not clearly stated but there is a link to contact information at the top left of the homepage. At the top of the homepage there is a toolbar with links to all the resources offered through this website. The site is easy to navigate through. There is also a math forum on this website. Students age 13 and older are permitted to use this forum for homework help. This forum is effective when enforcing the importance that the students do the math problem on their own before they get help from the forum.  Design: The design of this website could be a bit livelier but overall, it isn't too bad. The advertisements could be a bit distracting to the viewer. The toolbar is helpful but if the links were a different color it would help the viewer to navigate better. They don't stand out against the rest of the content. After finding the toolbar and the links, they website is easy to navigate. 

Katharine Johnson September 19, 2009 National FFA Organization Introduction: The National FFA Organization website is a great insight to what is going on in the organization. It gives you events that are going on throughout the nation. Not only that but it has separate lings that can help you find careers associated with the organization. For FFA members it can help them find scholarships and learn about the many opportunities associated with the organization. Content Evaluation: First Look: The homepage is inviting. All the main components are bold and the site is easy to navigate through. It is obvious that the intended audience is for sure high school FFA members and also can be used by Agriculture teachers. Information Providers: The authors of the materials are not clearly identified. However knowing the FFA organization I know that the National FFA officer team has a lot to do with the sight along with the advisors and the employees of the organization. The site sponsors are sighted with a ling on the left hand side. Information Currency: It does not say exactly when the site was last updated. Even though the site does not say when it was last updated it is obvious that it frequently gets updated in order to keep up with all the events. All the links to other sites are current and in working order. Information Quality: The purpose of this site is informational in nature. The content of this site is effective in doing this. It informs the audience of all the news and updates that are happening. The site is also well organized. The main ideas are bold and eye catching while the information and links are all under titles. Design Evaluation: Speed: All pages and graphics load very quickly. Home Page: The homepage is attractive and eye appealing. All the information is clear and organized. Ease of Navigation: The site is easy to navigate. All the information is clear and organized and helps you find what you are looking for easily.

Kids Health / Nutrition & Fitness Center Posted by: Jeni Waring 9/18/2009 This website has information for children, teens and parents about nutrition and fitness. There are pages for children to calculate their BMI, look up their own recipes and play games. The site also has a tab that is for teachers to find health lesson plans. The planning pages include lessons in both English and Spanish and links to related websites. The site encourages teachers to share tips and has a place to sign up for emails when they have new information. The site is designed to be easily navigated and has a list of tabs on the left side of the home page. The site is a part of the Nemours foundation which is a nonprofit group that has been interested in children's health since its founding in 1936. The site has a page that explains how their information is evaluated and I think the site is credible.

Content The content in this article is very useful, and would be meant for someone with background knowledge in Bighorn National Forest; Wyoming; Livestock Grazing and Vegetation Management EIS. This site is more complex than the others, but if you have the knowledge to understand, it is a very helpful site. This site is from the Federal Register of Environmental Documents, so it is not updated regularly since it is a one time written article. The sources for the site are very easily found at the top of the page, and would make citing the source very easy. Design The design of this page is very simple. The page is very easily navigated, and the links on the left hand side of the site are helpful. The page is in good working condition, and has no problems. The only issue with the site is that it is all writing, with no breaks or graphics to add to the sites content. Attribution The sources are located at the beginning of the article. They are very easily found, and the site would be easily cited if needed.

Mike Wilson Site review September 18, 2009 NASA Education Grades 9-12 Introduction As this is a NASA site, it is an awesome resource. While my selection is for Grades 9-12, the site covers K-12 + higher education. The purpose is to give all students direct access to NASA space and aeronautics content through educational programs including high school internships. The A-Z Index for Students contains links to hundreds of NASA programs. The main NASA Education home page has a Google rank of 8/10, the Grades 9-12 has a Google rank of 6/10. Content Evaluation First Look First look is a bit busy and boxy. There are 7 + information boxes above the fold along with a top left menu. Information Providers It is NASA! Information Currency Last updated September 15,2009 by Shelly Canright. Extensive and updated future, current and past NASA program information. Information Quality The quality of the information is exceptional and seemingly endless, presented in a wide variety of formats. Images, video, podcasts, NASA TV, Interactive, 3D, RSS, Blogs. Design Evaluation Speed As with most NASA sites, a bit slow on the load. Considering the information presented, on each page, the speed is acceptable. Home Page If you are a space science student, this is the page for you. Geared to the 9-12 viewer with the exciting science you are looking for. Ease of Navigation Due to the depth of the information, there is some digging to be done to get what you want. Use of multimedia Comprehensive use of all multimedia formats. Browser compatibility Viewed only on IE7 Content Presentation From NASA Facebook, Career Profiles, MyNasa for homework help, Missions, if it's Space Science you will find it here presented world class.

Daniel Goe Web Site Review September 20, 2009 http://mtnathlete.com/ The Website Mountain Athlete goes over workout plans and techniques for the outdoor athlete. There are links for rehabbing an injury, exercises, store, and photo gallery. Content: The main objective of this website is to help people who don't know a lot about how to workout and what to do to workout properly. The kind of working out that is seen on this site is for fit people who are ready to be challenged mentally as well as physically. The objective is to lift weights while keeping your heart rate above 150. It's conditioning as well as strength. Design: The home page has an updated you tube video of people inside the gym working out. It shows how drastic the workouts are and the toll it can take on your body. Everyone in this gym is motivated and pushes one another to do their best and finish no matter how tired a person is. Attribution: I like the website because it is very simple and to the point. On the left are links to everything you need to know about what is going on in Mountain Athlete. The design is simple just like the workouts performed but overall the website gets the job done just like the athletes on this site get it done in the gym. No matter how it looks in the end the final project is amazing.

Bryana Wilson September 21, 2009 Website Review http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/sonnet.htm "Francesco Petrarch and Laura deNoves" is a site that goes into great detail about the life and art of Francesco Petrarch. I felt this site did a wonderful job of describing Petrarch's role in creating and perfecting his sonnets. It's a very useful site in researching Petrarchan sonnets and taking a look into the man who perfected them. The site is very well organized, and fairly current. CONTENT Petrarch is the subject of this site. It is made up of a variety of a wealth of information on Petrarch, his writings- including the infamous Petrarchan sonnet, as well as information on other things. I particularly enjoyed the quotes on the top of the page. There are links on this site that allow you tips on writing a sonnet and teaching a sonnet- which I found very helpful. There are links to all of the sections in the site on the homepage. These include pictures, writings, books, essays written on Petrarch, and so on. I personally enjoyed the web links section that sends you to a variety of sites concerning Petrarch. The site is most assuredly aimed toward both students and teachers wishing to read and gain insight into Petrarch and his writings. If there are any questions or comments about the site, there is a link to contact Peter Sadlon with any questions or comments concerning his site. Considering all the information was researched by Mr. Sadlon with links to his resources, I believe this site is a great tool. It was last modified in 2007, but I believe the information is applicable to modern day. DESIGN This site is clear cut and easy to maneuver around in. I personally found its organization refreshing and aesthetically pleasing. The information is easy to find thanks to the table of contents on the main page that moves to a vertical section on the left-hand side once switched over to a new section. This helps when you are trying to ma

Overview: This website is awesome! It makes me want to learn all about the Colonial Times. This website is designed specifically for 3rd graders, very entertaining and kid friendly. I would have my students use this site to gather accurate information about Colonial children, it is super fun but educational, and it is really easy to navigate around. The site is a little older (2000) just because it was made by a class and it was a one time thing. Luckily the information is accurate and the class that created the site actually won an award for it! I could easily contact the creators and there is a sponsor (top left hand corner), it is very clear and precise information. Content: The information in this site is easy to understand because it talks about home life, schools, and clothing of the children during this Colonial time period. The quality of this information is entertainingly informative. The site is very specific and stays focused throughout each page. There are different links in the site that lead you to explanations of different things (clothes, school, home) and then there are links that take you to different activities. All of the content is complete because it was made at one time. I know that the information is accurate because there is a citation page that takes me to different outside websites. If I were to do a project with my class that had to do with Colonial Times I would use this site. Design: The homepage downloads really quickly and it looks awesome and easy for any 3rd grader to use. There is a specific link that is called "Contact Us" so if I as a teacher, had any questions I could easily email them. The about site is an external link but it isn't posted on the home page so it might be a little tricky to find it at first. There are different sections of the web site that are focused and have very clear directions. The class that made the web site made their own videos to demonstrate a task, very cute! Web site is accessible by any

Overview: This site is available to parents and teachers that want to help their student improve in math and reading. I focused primarily on the math aspect of the website. The audience covers kindergartners all the way up to 6th grade. The website has math worksheets for K-6 students that look really fun! The only downside to this site that I found was that you have to pay a membership fee for full use. The "Free" part is where the worksheets come in. All of the worksheets for all of the grades are free. Overall the site was very nicely designed and easy to use. Content: The content of this website was really awesome. Again, it is made as a resource to teachers and/or parents who want to help and encourage their student to engage in math. The quality of information on this site is entertainingly informative! The math work sheets give you specific directions and then are very easy to follow and very fun to complete. I focused more on 3rd grade math, but all of the work sheets looked fun. The site is organized in sections: 1st grade math, 2nd grade math, 3rd grade math....etc. The content of this site was very useful and fun, even though a membership is required for full use. The membership is $9.95 a month. I think it would be well worth it, especially for a teacher. The organization and accessibility of this site was very well done and easy to follow. Design: The homepage downloads very quickly and it is attractive to look at. I can immediately tell where I am and easily find an index. The site provider is very clear to see in the upper left hand corner. The graphics are attractive and play a major role in the engagement of the student (on worksheet). I would highly consider buying a membership and using these worksheets in my classroom (regardless of what grade)

Content: This website contains lots and lots of stuff. It is set up like a classroom and has a reading link, a math link, a playground link, and an arcade link. I think this is more of a game site than an educational one. There are also lots of links to other help sites, but the majority of the links are for advertiser's webpage's, distracting visitors. Design: After looking at it for awhile, I started to feel lost and uninterested because of all the advertisements and the lack of visuals. There are thousands of links for kids to go to, and the actual site doesn't really support a good learning environment. As said above, it's mostly games with reading sections that really looks fun, but if you have to look through the games to get to that section, students will probably never get there on their own. The visual part of this website is interesting. The homepage is pretty boring and filled with links, but the reading and games tabs are designed for younger students. Attribution: The purpose of this site is probably intended to promote learning is fun, but becomes easily more of a distraction with all of the advertisements. I don't think I would promote this site in my classroom without adult supervision because students could so easily be distracted by toys and games.

Overview The purpose of this website is to help kids interact with math and reading. The intended audience is K-8. My overall impression of the website is that is very beneficial and a good free website for students to practice math and reading, whereas with other websites you have to pay to use the website. Content The only thing that I would critique on this website is having other links that would be appropriate and have to do with reading and math. But other than that, I would highly recommend this website. Design I think that everything is up to date but there is no for sure way to tell on the website, there is the copy right that does say 2013 but there is no one hundred percent way to tell if it has all been updated. So this is one thing that I would change on the design for the website.

Trevor Montgomery For this resource, we see another website that in a way, tricks students into thinking they are just playing games by giving them subject related activities. With the subjects of math and reading, students having interactive games, books and comics and even more fun links, without thinking they are doing much work. Through the "Funbrain" arcade, students can also complete activities and must pass obstacles to get through an interactive game board. If they do not successfully complete an activity, they will not be able to get past their current location, but will feel challenged to get through each activity and will most likely attempt multiple times until mastery of the activity. The great thing about this website is that students can also use codes to pick up where they left off on the game board so that they do not have to start over each time they log on (with their parents' permission of course). From grades 1st through 8th, there is a great variability from subjects, and students who are feeling extra brave might even try a level of difficulty higher than their current grade level. As someone who used this website in school when he was in elementary school, I can say that this resource is extremely effective and I think that students will come back to it time and time again. Navigating the website is easy enough. If you type in www.funbrain.com in the url box, you will be directed to the site. From here, you can choose to use the math arcade, reading, fun arcade, playground, and all games tabs, as well as books & comics and more fun activities. This website is specifically directed towards the audience of students in grades 1st through 8th, so as a teacher you can trust it to be safe and student-friendly.

Emily Phillips 8/31/2010 Overview: The purpose of this site is for the teacher to give his students easy access of his math notes and to provide his notes and math help to people who might need it. The intended audiences are students in his math class or math students in general, most likely in high school or college because of the levels of math that he covers (i.e. Algebra, Calculus I, II, etc.). Because it appears that he is the only one managing this site, he has provided other links where people can go to ask math questions. I think this site would be very helpful for people who need extra help and examples and need to find them quickly. Even though there weren't any stand out graphics or many colors, the site was easy to navigate and there was nothing to distract you like the ads that are normally along the side or top of the page. Content: It is very easy to tell quickly if this site would assist a person in their math needs or not because everything that one would need to find is available in a drop down menu at the very top and immediate left of the page. The information provided on the site seems current and accurate and the author appears to be qualified considering he states he is a professor at Lamar University (for which there is a link). The sponsor of the site is not clearly identified however. The links to other sites are very helpful and would further answer the user's questions if this site was unable to answer them. Design: The overall design was simple and easy to follow but maybe some more attractive colors could have been used to attract the eye of a person who might just be browsing through math websites. There were no graphics to distract from the subject and they are not necessary to emphasize anything on this subject. It would possibly be more beneficial to users if there were at least a couple examples which were interactive and let them figure out the answer for themselves.