Group items tagged

Elise Verley September 9, 2011 http://www.artpoints.net Overview: At first this site seems like it might be a valuable resource for art teachers to use, but after spending time on the site it has the feeling of not being maintained. The logo says "for artists, art educators, and art lovers" since the site is offering resources for so many people it is overextending its reach. Content: It has ideas for lessons, but since it didn't seem to be regularly updated the content may run out. It had a calendar of art shows and other art related opportunities, which it advertises as "most complete on the web". Navigating the site I repeatedly notice articles that were posted in 2010 or earlier. This site has a promising premise but falls short on execution. Hopefully in the future they will gain the resources to keep the site up to date. Design: The site has a nice design with a welcoming earthy palette. Articles have no dates of publication so there was no way to tell how long ago they were posted. There is not a search function for the site, but it is easy to navigate around the site. It has spammy ads on the sides.

Chelsea Eisenbarth 9/11/2011 Overview: This website is a great website full of information in an easy to use format. The website is intended for teachers and students to be able to explore and inform themselves of the expedition of Lewis and Clark as they discovered the new world. There are different activities to help sustain students' interest on their learning journey as well as lesson plan ideas for teachers to use in the classroom. Content: The content of this website is easy to understand and find. The information seems up to date though I couldn't find an official date for the last update. However, all the links seem to work with ease and the information seems current and valid from my background knowledge of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The information was well organized and delivered with grammar that a student would be able to follow and understand without trouble. Design: The webpage for this site downloaded to my computer with ease and was easy to navigate. The graphics coincide with the information well and aid in understanding. Information is well organized and the different links work with ease without dead ends. The design was simple and effective ensuring that an elementary student would be able to navigate the site with ease.

Kathryn Slothower September 11, 2011 Overview: The purpose of this website is to help students with math problems that they do not know how to solve. There are different sections available to look through for the correct math subject. The website is easy to navigate through and can be very helpful for students or I could also see it being very helpful for teachers and parents. There are many resources for the students to use and help with math. Overall this website is a good website that could be very helpful.  Content: There is a lot of content found within this website. The main content found is all of the information to help find the answer to the math problems that they need help with. The only purpose of this website would be only to find the answers. There is no lesson on how to master the math skill. However the website does show you how they solved the problem with is very nice because then the viewer can really see how the problem is solved to use on other problems. I could see myself using this website for personal uses when I cannot figure out how to solve a math problem.  Design: The design of this website can be very confusing. Web Math is sponsored by Discovery Education so at first you see Discovery Education and the viewer does not know what to click on to receive help. There is an index at the top of the page that breaks the different levels of math up. This is a huge help for the viewer. Nothing on this website drawers viewers to the website to use it. 

Bridget Stein 9/14/11 Overview: This website is great for students who are ESL students, (English as a second language), or for teachers who will be teaching English. It is a user friendly website and has valuable information that can be used in the real world as well. Content: On this website, it has a list of things for students or teachers to. For students, there are activities that relate to the real world, such as dating and media, and relate it to them by having them answer questions or practice their vocabulary and grammar in English. For teachers there are activities such as lesson plans, word searches, reading articles, all that will help them teach English in a friendly and easy environment. Design: The design of this website is immediately inviting and opening. It is clear to see where you would click if you were a teacher, and what you'd do if you were a student on this website. It is visually appealing to the eye but also extremely helpful.

Megan Switzer September 11, 2011 Overview: Overall I was thoroughly impressed with the ESL lounge web site. The purpose of this website was to familiarize on with information about ESL through teacher's stories, guides, books etc. It also provided lesson plans as well as activities to do with students in your classroom depending on level whether beginner, intermediate and so on and so forth. The targeted audience of this website is mainly teachers, although there is a link which leads you to a site for students. ESL lounge for students provides children the opportunity to learn through activities, guides, exercises, anything that may be helpful in their learning of the English language. Multiple resources are available on this web site and are clearly labeled for easy accessibility. Overall this website is organized and clear with information that pertains not only to teachers, but also to students. This website seems like a good resource for those interested in learning about ESL. Content: The content of this website was extremely helpful as well as appealing. Not only did all of the links work, but the information was easy to navigate, understand and accurate. The date of when it was last revised seem to be current and although there did not seem to be any information providers such as an author, the information still seemed trustworthy, consistent and accurate. The way in which the information was organized was clear and easy to find the concepts one would most likely be looking for. Design: Overall the design of this web site was extremely satisfactory. It had an appeal to the eye, was easily understandable, it provided a helpful guide as well as was organized into sections. All links were up and working, the information was extremely helpful as well as relevant. Although I could not find a creator the information was up to date and helpful. Overall this was a site that was easy to navigate and the purpose of it shined through. If one has any que

AAA Math is a site used for learning, practicing, playing and exploring.

Meghan Snell September 11, 2011 Overview: AAA Math is a very useful site for the learning of children. It's goal is to help children learn any subject in math, give tools to practice with, a few games to play based on the desired subject and some exploring available afterwards. It is definitely a learning based site instead of a site based on playing game after game. Information about the site authors is difficult to find but a section about the site itself and its purposes is easy to find. Every kind of math subject you can think of is given in a table of contents on the side and a header at the top gives options to link to any grade from K-8th. Content: As stated above, the authors and sponsor were not easy to find which is a valuable part of the site itself. Although there is that one little problem, the content of the site is very nice for the use of children. I like how it is organized into different subjects as well as grade levels and then does each in order through steps of learn, practice, play, and then explore. The site serves the purpose intended but another faulty is that no information about revisions is available. Design: There is not a lot of design to the website. The home page contains no graphics and just gives information about the site itself. This could make it hard for the website to be appealing to children. Parents and teachers would be able to look past and see the value of the site but children often look of graphics and fun. Everything is clearly labeled and organized though which makes it very nice to navigate.

This website is for K-8 grade level. It is interactive math lessons. You can pick what grade and what subject you want to practice. It is a drill and practice type of website. When you go to a subject it shows you how to work out the problem then allows you to practice. I think this is a good website to allow children to practice when you first introduce a new topic.

Overview Spanish.language&culture is a website aimed the teacher of Spanish. It is a well formatted site and may be suitably adjusted for use in all grade levels. It may also be used individually by students in Junior High and up. It allows the student to "see, hear and say" the language. The format provides activities that the student engages, instant feedback and corrections and study modules that support the ideas of the lesson's text. The modules allow the use of the language in 'real time' and cultural context. Overall, it could be a useful and relevant site for use in the classroom as a technology resource. Content The site contains Announcements, Study Modules, Home resources, Activities and Verb conjugation charts. Each of these links open to other exercises, lessons and information. Design The unassuming design of the site draws the eye to its benefits. It begins with a white background. Centered on this is a white page with a gray outline shadow. the page contains three sections. The Announcements portion tells who and what the site is about. Study Modules are located beneath the Announcements. the study modules are separated by photographic pictures and module contents written in red. The right third of the page is divided by a vertical space bar. To the right of the bar are the links to Home and the Activities site. Across the top of the website is a red ribbon which contains the name of the site and its promoter.

Eileen Andrews 9/11/11 Overview: This site is very useful if someone is looking for information specifically about World War 2. This website provides tools for both students and teachers including lesson plans, overviews and in-depth information a topics about WW2. Many tools provided for teachers, such as field trips and in-class visits from the museum are only useful for those in the New Orleans area. Content: This website provides a lot of information about the museum and what it has to offer both at the museum and online information. Design: The site seems to be well taken care of and it is fairly easy to navigate as well. The tool bar at the top provides drop down menus so you know exactly what you are going to be finding in that section. The graphics on the site also make it very appealing.

Chelsea Eisenbarth 9/11/11 Overview: This website is made for the general public to enjoy as they learn about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Students, parents, teachers can all find something to look at. There are photos and an interactive timeline to help put in perspective the location and time of the different stories that make up the story of Lewis and Clark. The information compiled by National Geographic is easy to follow, read, and understand. Content: This website contains easy obtainable information on Lewis and Clark. It is well organized in a timeline with information, a photo gallery, and even lesson plans or activities that can be used in the classroom. The information is easy to understand and fun to explore. The information seems to be current and the different links work without stress or frustrations. Design: This website took a refreshing new design approach using a timeline to help organize their information. The timeline was easy to use and loaded with ease and efficiency. The graphics were nice and effective providing pictures to go along with the information in the readings. The site was easy to navigate and the links seemed up to date although the copyright was from 1996. Due to the content of the information I don't think this date makes much of a difference and the information still seemed accurate.

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. 

John Ripley 9/13 Overview: This is a site produced by the Federal Reserve to promote financial literacy. It is aimed at providing information and activities to all age groups from kindergarten to adult. There are only two games/activities for the K-4 level and I didn't think that either one was especially good. There are several more games for kids at older age levels that are a little better. I still can't imagine kids getting excited about playing any of the games that I looked at though. The games/activities are only a small part of the site and I think that the real strength of the site lies in the information that it provides for a high school age audience that might be exposed to the information through a teacher in a classroom that could help interpret it. The educational value is more as an aid to a teacher in planning a lesson or relaying a concept rather than assigning the

Overview This site is designed for teachers, students, and parents. It really helps them really get to know the school's expectations and resources and really be able to know what's going on with the student at school. It has great lesson plans for grade levels first through fifth grade. This site also has great resources for kids to find information in the library. It also shows different projects for each grade level in different subjects. Their goal for this site is "to encourage students and teachers to use their creativity and support their ideas and curriculum." This site really wants students, teachers, and parents to work together. Content The content on this site is well put together. It is easy for elementary kids to access this as well as their parents. The site includes helpful links to other websites for kids to learn more about literacy. There is no revision date on the site, but this site does include a detailed description of the site and the school as well as a address and phone for contacting. One of the best parts on the website would be the library section. It has great information for kids to search through different topics on sites and obtain information from those sites as well. Design This site is great for what it does for the school. The library section of the site is well organized in all the information it provides. Everything is labeled and has brief sentences describing what the student will learn while they are reading. It includes great pictures, animations, videos, and games for the student. It provides all of the things that a website can possible provide to help the kids learn to love literacy at their school. This site is overall a great website as it gets the parents involved with their students and their school. It gets the student involved to read more, and teachers to improve on their students' literacy skills.

Overview This site is for grade levels kindergarten through high school. It has so many different subjects that you can access from Reading and Writing, Math, Social Studies, Science, Language, and Foreign Languages. To help the students prepare for these subjects for tests, quizzes, or even homework, this website has test prep for all grades and subjects. This website has puzzles, printable activities, and critical thinking exercises for students to engage in and have more fun on the website. This website also includes information for teachers. Teachers are able find lesson plans and worksheets for their classrooms. This website is very well layed out and easy to navigate for teachers and students. My observation of this website is good. Content There are so many different subjects you can learn about, and every subject has different content that contains important information that you can learn about. You can learn about anything! This website mandates that you be a member in order to be able to make use of all the activities and information. Design This website design is very easy to maneuver and navigate through. The subjects are surrounded by many different games, puzzles, and critical thinking activities that students can access. It is very well organized and has great pictures and themes. This website clearly shows that it is very informative and promotes interaction by the student or teacher.

This website includes more detailed features of the motion detector, data collection demo, and DataMate screenshots. Students can get a better sense of the tool will be using in the lesson.

Overview - Kinderart.com is a strong resource for elementary art educators where they can find lessons, teaching kits, supplies, community, and more. Content - The content and the intended audience are apparent from the get go at Kindart.com. The authors of the site, Andrea and Jantje Mulder-Slater are credible in their art education backgrounds and have provided accessible contact information. The site is kept current, indicated by its recent update and its up and running links. Content is purposeful for art educators and should be easy to navigate by its simple organization. My only complaints are in the pop up ads. Design - The design elements at Kinderart.com are clean and crisp for the most part. Aside from a bit of clutter near the foot of the home page the tool bars are easy to spot and navigate. Labels are appropriate and links are well organized. Again, my only complaint are the pop up ads.

Nathan Wonnacott 9/9/11 Overview: The purpose of Kinder Art is to supply teachers and parents ways to teach art. There are many lesson plans as well as supplies at the site. The pull-down menu contains a direct link to several art topics, craft ideas, and contests. Content: The first impression of the site is for teaching children, but it is littered with advertisement on the side bars. The authors, Andrea Mulder-Slater and Jantje Blokhuis-Mulder, are described as active and efficient teachers. Contacting them is a hassle, but possible. Overall, the content is updated and relevant, but is easy to say that major revisions are needed to make this site effective. Design: This site is not particularly fast, efficient, or effective. To obtain information one needs, he or she needs to navigate for a few minutes. I found a few dead ends when searching links. For the time it takes to finish searching, the information is not efficient.

Posted by Lyndsey Neelands on 9/19/2009 TeAch-nology is a website designed to help teachers integrate teaching and technology in many subject areas. Content This site attempts to cover many subjects as well as teaching resources. The site is well organized for how much information it contains. The sponsor/group responsible for the website clearly identifies itself as TeAch-nology and what their goals are. There are clear links to other websites and information that may be hard to find otherwise. This site provides its own worksheets and printables but also has many links that lead to lesson plans. Overall the content of the website is very diverse but very useful if you know what you are looking for. Design This website if very "busy" . There is a lot to look at when looking at the homepage as well as many of the other pages. There is a lot of information but it takes a few clicks to get to what you want. There are graphics and advertising that seem to be irrelevant to the website content. The sponsor is clearly identified and the copyright is clearly displayed. The information seems to be updated often but I can not find a clear display of the last update. Again, this sight has a lot of good content but trying find it and get to it quickly will probably not happen with the design.

Posted by Tanisha Daugaard on September 21, 2009 This site is specifically designed for English teachers at any age level. It has many useful resources ranging from children's literature to ESL. It covers a wide range of topics and issues in English education. Content: This site is highly organized and really easy to navigate. The links are divided into the different areas of English and grammar. The site includes a date for which it was last updated, and it appears that it is updated often. The purpose of this site is easy to determine and it has sufficient information on the topic. The content appears to be complete and put together in a useful way to all skill levels. The information I found had good grammar and spelling. The site appears to be created by someone who is highly educated in English education. In general, the links work and route the user to other useful sites, and everything flows together nicely. This was the most useful site I have found yet! Design: This site is designed brilliantly. Everything was really easy to navigate. It does include a couple ads, but they do not take away for the purpose of the site. It does include some ads that do pertain to the subject and purpose of the site. All of the links are useful and divided in a manner that is easy to locate the information you need. The site is eye-catching and uses graphics and fonts to get the users attention. The site is modified frequently and includes contact information. Overall, it is designed in a way that keeps the attention of the user and is easy to use. Attribution: This site also isn't specifically designed for information that is quoted. However, it does give permission to link to any educational site. The site is copyrighted and has contact information for the site creators. All of the information and links are very useful and is meant to be used by teachers; it can also be used by students or anyone else needing help with English.

Cara Storey 9/2/10 Overview: Web English Teacher is a website designed as a teaching aid for English teachers through grades Kindergarten to 12th grade. The site offers a variety of resources including lesson plans, classroom activities, reading lists, and resources for students to excel in the classroom. This site is a useful site for any English teacher looking for resources. I found it to be a helpful site based on content, and the design easy to navigate. As a teacher I would use this site in my classroom. Content: At first look it's very easy to determine the directive of this site as it clearly identifies its audience and contents. The information on the author of the site is easily accessible and gives the reader an opportunity to contact them. All of the pages had been updated in the last couple of months and all the links were working well. The purpose of the site was clearly informational, and the purpose of the site was achieved through its contents. The site's content is very applicable to its audience, and offers accurate information and other links that could help with planning a curriculum. Design: This site downloaded easily and on several different browsers. The homepage was attractive without being distracting from the contents, and it clearly indicated the audience and contents of the site. Navigating is made extremely easy by the table of contents and the "sitemap" a list of links categorized by subject. The content of the site was organized and labeled, and there was enough content to make visiting the site worth while. The information on the site was easy to find and decipher. The site was current and up to date. It also clearly listed the author and contact info for any questions.

Posted by Tanisha Daugaard on September 21, 2009 This site is mainly intended for middle school teachers, but it can also be used as a resource for students. It focuses on English, writing, and reading. It is a great site to find lesson plans, electronic books and manuscripts, and other useful information for the classroom. Content: This site is very well organized. It is divided into three sections: English, reading, and writing. It has numerous links to other sites dealing with each subject area. It appears to be updated frequently and the website developers also take input on what other sites would be good to add. I feel the content achieves the purpose quite effectively. Everything just flows together. It is easy to understand, and each link has a description of what can be found on the site. The authors appear to be qualified in middle school education. In general, the links work properly and route the users to other useful, creditable sites. Individual contributors are not listed, but an email for the designers is provided. This site also clearly labels the new links that have been posted. Design: The site is designed very well. It is clear of ads and other pictures that are not related to the subject. This site is easy to navigate. Each site that is linked falls under one of three categories. Each graphic serves a purpose and the site doesn't include anything that distracts the users. There is enough information provided that makes the site usable for teachers and students. It covers many areas under English, reading, and writing. The site is modified and the updates are clearly marked. Everything is well organized and easy for anyone of any age to use. Attribution: Using and quoting information from this site can be tricky. Some links clearly state who the authors are, but others don't at all. Overall, I think this site is used more for getting ideas than actually quoting someone. The information provided is very useful, but one has to be careful

Sam Burns, 9/20/2009 The "German Teaching" page is a website full of links for all things related to German. From teaching help, to verb flashcards, and to advanced readings, the site has a lot of helpful information. I think it is more useful for beginning German learners but the site still has a lot of value. Content: This site is completely free and is actually just a site containing links to other sites. It contains hundreds of links to German sites for almost every problem a student, or teacher, might have. Links to German games, flashcards, and even some lesson plans are available through this site. The range of skill level activities provided on this site are also very broad, beginning to "advanced". I feel that the site is a lot more directed at lower level education but is still helpful. Design: The website is fairly easy to navigate but it is not professional looking at all. The layout looks cheap and unreliable. By looking at many of the links, I noticed that some of the information provided was unclear and may be more confusing that helpful to beginning students. However, some of the links are very helpful for specific problems someone might be having.

Waddie Love 10/13/2014 Overview: K12 Reader is a Reading Instruction Resource from that is designed for teacher as an easy resource for lesson planning or Ideas on how to teach things information from spelling to writing composition, grades 1 through 5. It is updated frequently and has new topics on it daily for teachers to access for free. It is very easy to navigate around the pages. Content: Everything on this website is very straight forward. It is a resource that teachers can use to help teach their classes. It is very easy to navigate through the teaching activities and examples. There is information from student worksheets to lesson planning templates. It is resourceful, giving not only their work but presenting a reader with other recommended sites to gather information and ideas. Design: The site is well structured. It has add icon but they are not distracting from the page. It is very easy to navigate around the pages. It is only supported in English. Visually it is a great page.