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Whitney Mills; Website Reviewed: January 24th 2010 Overview: Songsforteaching.com is a website that uses songs to help teach students. It seems as if it'd be very helpful in the classroom because younger age children love to learn through songs!! Content: There are many different aspects on this website that include singing songs in different languages, singing for different holidays, different ages, different subjects, and even for special education students!!! The purpose of the website is clearly defined, and that purpose is to teach through music. The site offers thousands of songs, clips, etc. The links to the other sites work properly and effectively. The grammar and spelling are correct throughout the whole site and the overall content is very well done. I would definitely use this site in my future classroom. The author is stated clearly and it is updated often. Design: The design is very organized. The theme is the same throughout the whole site and it is very easy to follow. The graphics are very well suited to the site. The homepage has strong eye appeal and makes a person want to find out more about the site. I think this is one of the more professional sites I have looked at throughout all the sites I have looked at to review.

An online text book for teachers

Learning Math: Geometry Overview: The purpose of this site is to help an individual create a lesson plan or simply learn geometry themselves. It provides step by step process to learn geometry. The intended audience is probably a teacher. Any teacher who needs help designing a lesson in geometry can go to this site and learn what to do and in what order, it has a list of each session and what should be covered to move on. The site itself, learner.org, has many options in different lesson plans from geometry to trig to English. This site appears to be free, and contains legit information which is a pretty good deal. Overall, my impression on this site was that is has good information but it all seems boring which is why the audience must be a teacher, its not flattering to the eye. Content: First glance tells you the site is about how to learn geometry or better yet, teach it. About the site including the authors is a click away on a separate page than the home page. The group seems credible and they provide contact information for any further questions. The way this page is laid out makes it very easy to maneuver around, the quality of the information is fulfilling to any math teacher, there is not only basic information for teaching geometry but extra tid bits one could choose to look in to, to teach. Every page you click onto contains links to other lesson plans or different subjects making it very useful for any teacher. In general the content is sufficient to not only a math teacher but any teacher. Design: The homepage and the other pages load up quickly and efficiently. This website doesn't necessarily have strong eye appeal but when targeting teachers as an audience, and giving basic information it isn't a necessity. Everything needed for the page to be legit is included, from the copyright date to site sponsors, etc. It is easy to navigate, with links to each lesson session and to other pages. I would definitely recommend this site to a teacher; it

Jonathan Krajnak 9/14/11 Overview: Scholastic's site covers a seemingly incredible amount of useful information for educators. It's pretty clear and straightforward, none of the information buried or misrepresented. There are a few sections that require a subscription, but most of the information is readily available. Content: The site includes several things that can be valuable to teachers. Among them you can find lesson plans, tools, tips. There's even a section for new teachers. There's an area dedicated to parents which helps educators because it gives parents a general knowledge of what kids need socially, cognitively, and physically. It also promotes and helps parents understand how to get involved in this aspect of their child's life. For the kids, there's a large interactive section. However, it's mainly geared towards ages 8-12. Design: The site easy very easy to navigate and professionally presented and designed. The presentation itself is appropriately tailored to whatever section you're viewing. (Namely between adults and children.) Couldn't find anything wrong with it.

OVERVIEW: The purpose of the Scholastic website is to help children to learn to read and also to provide teachers with lesson and book ideas. Librarians and administrators can also take advantage of this website to learn to teach certain students and learning of the newest authors. Some of the resources this website provides are tips on how parents can teach their children to read, as well as games that kids can play. The Scholastic website gave me a wonderful first impression. I would definitely use it in my classroom or library and recommend it for others to explore. CONTENT: The content of scholastic.com was amazing. The general audiences are easily seen in the table of contents on the top of the home page. Grammar and spelling all seem to be correct and the information on the site is simple to understand. Like the last website I reviewed, it was difficult to find a sponsor. This was the only flaw that I was able to see. DESIGN: Scholastic has provided the public with a beautifully designed website. The home page is neatly organized with easy to read font and not too much going on. It is nice and simple. It is easy to navigate between pages and there are no incorrect links. There is plenty of information that makes the site worth visiting. The same format is used consistently throughout the website which makes it even more professional and organized.

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.

Mary Magnuson, Teaching science The website http://www.mii.org/lessons.php has good content. All of the links are current and take you to where you need to go. This would be a great source for teacher if they needed to find a lesson plan for teaching geology. It has a list of lesson plans and it also has activity ideas. It walks you through all of the processes you will have to be accustomed to, and how you can incorporate them into your classroom. The site is not the most beautiful site, but it is easy to navigate. The site also downloads fast. It has pictures that you could use for your classroom, and others that help the teacher understand the specific activity.

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.

The purpose of this article was to encourage teachers in their work and the impact that they have on students, as well as provide a few resources that have held true for the author, sixth grade teacher, Elena Aguilar. Mrs. Aguilar said that she received an email from a student who had taken her middle school English class and was now going into the same profession. On a personal side, I would like to note that my story is very much the same, so this caught my attention. The teacher recounts what she told her student, that middle school was and still is her favorite level to teach. She then shares a book, websites, and blogs that she has referred to many times throughout her many years of teaching. Visually, the website is appealing. The content is simple and organized. There were no graphics, but there really was no need for any here. The content is formatted in such a way that there are no distractions along the sidebar or even at the bottom of the page. I personally really enjoyed the simplicity of this article. The piece is only a few paragraphs long, but the message being relayed really only needs that much content. There are no spelling or grammar errors here and Mrs. Aguilar maintains a professional speaking voice while she relays a very personal story. The resources that she provides at the bottom of her article are also worth a look. Overall, the article is short and sweet, yet helpful.

Alyssa Maurer The website Teaching Channel is designed to connect teachers to one another across the world. The site also provides video demonstrations of in class techniques that can be used for video reflection and coaching. The audience is for teachers across the country that can influence and assist one another. The entire website is based on connectivity between all teachers who visit the website. The website also acts as a social networking site by allowing visitors who register with the site create profiles. My impression of the website is that it could be a very useful tool for teachers to continue to improve their lesson plans and to be able to retrieve constructive criticism. The Teaching Channel as a website seems to be very useful as a teaching resource for teachers. It was created specifically for teachers to connect with one another and share their experiences in expectation that the audience can gain knowledge from others practices. As a visitor of the website you can also select grade level and topics to further a specific search of videos. Along with the videos which is the main portion of the website they also have a blog, newsletter, and questions and answers page. The website is created by a non-profit organization that clearly defines their mission, contact information, terms and conditions of the website, discussion guidelines, video guidelines, media coverage, and frequently asked questions. The site seems to be quite user friendly with a modern look to the setup of the website. A critique of the website would be the visual aspect of the website. It also only allows teachers to interact with one another and forgets to include students and parents. The site does seem to be modern and created in our generation for easy access and navigation. The videos are filtered by subject so that each teacher can easily navigate through the website to reach the desired subject area.

Bridget Gegg-October 7, 2012 Overview The purpose of Into the Book is to teach students and help teachers teach reading comprehension using eight different strategies. It provides interactive areas for students to learn and it provides an area for teachers to reference. The audience is K-4 teachers and students in a language arts classroom. This website has an area for students that allows them to watch and use the eight strategies, and it provides an area for teachers to learn about the strategies, how to teach them and the standards they cover. Content The content of this website is addressed on the main page of the site, how it should be used, and whom it should be used for. The authors are credible authors and they are represented on the home page. It is unclear when this has been updated or if there are revisions being made, but the content is very relevant to both teachers and students. The content achieves the purpose of the site and it is easily used for both teachers and students. Design This website entices viewers immediately. It looks both fun and informative. It is really easy to move around and it is very clear which areas are for students and which areas are for teachers. The graphics are visually appealing and the sounds, pictures and videos are all very interactive and fun. It is very easy to navigate through each different area because everything is very clearly labeled with sounds to accompany it for younger students. This site is very well constructed.

Overview: This website is directed toward preschool and childcare professionals. Its purpose is to teach these professionals more about play based learning and how to bring these elements into the classroom. Content: The content of this site is reliable and professional. The creator of the site posts her entire background of working in childcare facilities. Her seminars are posted for viewing and the information given has resources to back it. The site also provides different links to sites that use this play based learning approach, and you can browse their sites for more information on how they run their programs. Design: The design of this website is good. The pages load quickly and all the URLs are correctly linked and are available. The pictures used are relevant and tie to the material. Navigating this site is also very direct and easy to follow.

Brianna O'Shea October 13, 2014 Overview: The purpose of this article is to tell the two sides of bilingual classes and what both side, whether to keep in schools or get rid of, think about bilingual classes in relation to their children. Some believe that teaching a second language simply hinders teaching and lowers test scores while the other side believes that students should have the right to learn two languages, including their home language. The audience is meant for those debating whether to keep bilingual classes in their children's' schools or not, especially Latino parents. Overall, this article is a good read and presents good reasons on both sides of the argument. Content: The title states both the purpose of the article and the intended audience, yet while the author is provided, information about the author is not available. The sponsor is identified, yet there is not obvious way to contact them. The article is up to date and the content is complete while also achieving its purpose. It is organized and doesn't seem to be biased as it presents both sides. Design: The title is clear and it is visually attractive with small, easy to read paragraphs. The sponsor is clearly identified and the copyright date is easy to find. It is easy to search the site and provides good information to make the site worth visiting. The format is consistent throughout the site and is easy to follow. The date is clearly visible yet no link is provided to contact the author.

Hannah Clucas October 10, 2012. Overview: neoK12 is an educational video website. The whole site is basically a giant database to help teachers with their lesson plans. The main purpose of the website is to offer educational videos that teachers can use in their class. But there are also quizzes on topics of choice, diagrams, pictures on topics of choice, and even an option to create a school presentation. The site is simple but useful, though it is probably more useful for science and history teachers rather than language arts or math teachers. Content: As I said above, neoK12 is a website that allows teachers to find videos to help with their lesson as well as quizzes, pictures, and diagrams. All of the videos are from Youtube and cover a wide variety of age groups. The content was amazing in some areas and not so great in other areas. In regards to the history and science sections for videos, they are amazing. Several of the science videos are from National Geographic and the history videos are well done and cover a wide variety of eras and cultures. Several of the language arts videos were not made very well. They would probably be more useful to teach with if a teacher cannot come to class. It is the same for the math videos. The quizzes are useful and relevant. The ability to create a school presentation is a great tool for students to write about what they have learned or for creating study guides. All of the videos and other functions of the website are relevant and useful. Design: The site is extremely easy to navigate and is well organized. The home page is the list of the main categories of videos and their subcategories. The design is very simple, nothing flashy or amazing. The site does not bombard you with ads or other websites, which is nice and helps insure that students will stay on the website.

This website shows many different links to science videos, games and lessons. This helps the teacher and the student in many ways. It gives the teacher a way to look at other lessons and other perspectives to help them teach the class in different ways. The students also get to look at other ways to learn something, and they get to play games and watch videos to learn content instead of reading. Content: The website has multiple different links that relate to sciences from earth and space science to physical science. Each link that is clicked then shows different activities for different grade levels.

This website shows many different links to science videos, games and lessons. This helps the teacher and the student in many ways. It gives the teacher a way to look at other lessons and other perspectives to help them teach the class in different ways. The students also get to look at other ways to learn something, and they get to play games and watch videos to learn content instead of reading. Content: The website has multiple different links that relate to sciences from earth and space science to physical science. Each link that is clicked then shows different activities for different grade levels.

Overview Code Academy is a website that is used to promote the proper teaching of different computer languages to people of all ages. It is mostly aimed at people who are in computer science classes from middle school through college. The site has a number of corporate sponsors as well as many 'teachers' that donate their time to creating lesson plans for this site. They really advocate the teaching and learning of these computer languages. For being programmers, the site is actually fairly simple and had some glitches on my computer. I will attribute that as much to the computer as much as their programming.

The aim of the website www.poets.org is to provide resources for teachers, from elementary to university level, that wish to teach poetry in their classes. The website's mainpage contains man clickable lesson plans and resources that link to various poetry books that can all be used in a classroom or modified for whatever level the teacher wants to teach. Each lesson plan is clearly labeled with an author as well, which could help a teacher locate lesson plans by the same person if they really liked another one they wrote. The point of the webpage is evident in their opening paragraph at the top. The design of the page is lacking in a few respects; for example, the address, credits, and contact links are at the bottom of a white page in white colored font - I only found it because I highlighted them.  The website's goal is obvious from the first look at their introduction paragraph, which contains a little history about the website and what their main goals are where poetry in the classroom is concerned. There is no place on the main page that indicates when the site was last updated, but the page is currently advocating for teachers to participate in National Poetry Month, which is April, so either this site is very up to date or is years behind in some other poetry month. 

K-5 Math Teaching Resources is a website for elementary teachers that provides example activities that are aligned with Common Core State Standards.  It is easy to determine the content of the site because of the navigation bar one the side of the page. Within this bar there are options to browse specific content areas, as well as the intended audience (grade level).  After you choose the content area you're interesting in planning a lesson for there are links that take you to site that provide information based on that content. The links with possible activities also provide you with information of which common core state standard the activity correlates with.  Another thing that I really liked about this website is that it gives you examples of outside resources you can use (titles of books, pattern block, etc.) that you can use to keep your students physically engaged in the activity and learning. No ads are present on this website, and all of the links provided work. There are also some resources that teachers can use for their school to incorporate special days for the students, like 100th day and states day, which keep the students engaged on special days of school.  This site is very easy to search through.  They also provide you with a link that states the terms of use at the bottom of the website page. It also clearly identifies that it was first published in 2010 and updated up through 2015, and is published through the K-5 Teaching Resources LLC.

Enhancing Secondary Math Education with the Net Reviewed by Betina Turner 8/31/10 ITEC 2360-02 This website has hot links to many different web sites that help teachers use technology in the classroom to teach math. Each one of the links has a synopsis on what you will find on that site. It is very easy to navigate. The Web sites appearance is simple but effective. It has a list of categories so you can simply bring up just a list of links for specific areas of focus, and it also has "asks an expert" links. I clicked on several of the links this site contains and I did not come up with any dead ends. Some of the links not only will help me find ideas for teaching math to my students but some of the sites will even help with my current math classes that I am taking. I believe I will be using this site a lot in the future. It will save me a lot of time that I would have normally spent in search engines weeding out the junk! The only problem that I could see with this site is that it may not remain on the web forever and may not get updated because it was designed by UEN to accompany a class for secondary math education teachers and it is not clearly stated when it was made and when the last update was. But all the links I went to did work!!

Lana Macdonald Aug 31, 2010 Overview: As the site indicates, it is for dummies. The content is very elementary for those who wish to learn algebra. A few reviews of the page state that it is a waste of time, yet others state that the site cleared up questions they have had for years. If the user of the site has some algebraic knowledge then the site is most likely not useful. However, if the user struggles with the terminology and basic steps of algebra, this site is for them. Overall the information given in the site is correct but the graphics make it hard to learn. Content: The author of the site is not given; however, the site is based off a well-known series of books that are considered creditable. The site is current, all links are updated. The content of the site is very vast, however the organization of the site allows the user to find what is needed quick and easy. The information given is very helpful, but since the information is given by video, the user may feel that the video explains too quickly. The resources given on the page are not very helpful in learning more about math. Design: This site is attractive, and uses up to date graphics to attract users. The site is easy to navigate and very user friendly. The format of the site is consistent throughout the pages. The new age technology may not work well for teaching math. The site employs video to teach math problems. This has some advantages and some disadvantages. Some advantages allow for the type of people who learn best by listening to learn easily. However, the videos can go fast for the user, and make it harder to learn. Another advantage is that a problem can be explained more effectively as the speaker walks through a problem. One solution the site might try is in addition to the video, have a few problems worked out below the video for a quick overview of what is in the video.

Overview: The website MathisFun.com is a math website for elementary and middle school aged children. The purpose of this website is to help children understand math in a fun way. In this website there are many different fun learning tools to help the students understand geometry, algebra numbers and measurement better. This website gives links to other helpful websites that have games using base ten blocks adding and subtracting games, and much, much more. Content: The content of the website MathisFun.com is very clear and organized in a very interesting way. This website is fully completed and is used effectively with a well organized and interesting home screen that is easy to understand and helps the child or the teacher find different types math subject areas without any problems. There are other games that have been listed for the higher grades such as 5th grade to help challenge the students in a fun way. The website offers many different types of games and puzzles, along with games to further the education of elementary and middle school aged children. Weather the teacher had the games pulled up on the smart board and then the students could interact with other students and work as a class to figure out the answers. This is a great interactive website for students and for the teachers. Design: The website MathisFun.com is a well designed website that looks like a road with many math stops. This website is full of different colors that grab your attention. The website does not have any ads which is a good thing so the children can focus on just the math subject areas. This website also offers worksheets and a dictionary that the teachers section that offers many different tools like print zone of different activities and work explains different math terms.

Whitney Mills; Website Reviewed: January 24th 2010 Overview: Mathisfun.com immediately draws a person's eye in with a fun, exciting homepage. Anyone can see clearly that the purpose of this website is to help teachers teach their students math. Content: This website has a clear and definite purpose, and that is to help teach children math in a fun and exciting way. The site is very well organized and very well made. I feel like there was much work put into making this site effective for children. The author is very clearly identified, and the links to other websites do work effectively. This website also covers many different areas of math such as; algebra, geometry, data, etc. It is stated on the actual website that the content is updated frequently, which is a huge plus for using this site in a classroom. A person can also check out all the different additions added to the website which could be helpful. Design: The website is very well designed. It is exciting to a child's eye. He/she would be more than happy to learn math using this website. For adults/teachers the website is very organized and clear throughout the entire page. The design is the same throughout the whole site and it seems like a very fun and exciting site to use anytime, anywhere!!