ITEC2360

Overview: This article is written by Dr. Michael Morales. He goes over the themes of Shakespeare's "King Lear," and effectively summarizes the play. The blog is updated, and uses current language to describe an old piece of text. This article would be intended for students of High School age. Content: The article is very descriptive with the summary of the play. He is also descriptive with the themes, and cites examples of all of his claims. The information is accurate to the plotline, and the language is correct and meaningful. Design: The website is pleasing to the eye, and has many links to different articles. All of the links work, and it is very community-based. It is scholarly without ads and all information.

Overview: This article is written by Dr. Michael Morales. He goes over the themes of Shakespeare's "King Lear," and effectively summarizes the play. The blog is updated, and uses current language to describe an old piece of text. This article would be intended for students of High School age. Content: The article is very descriptive with the summary of the play. He is also descriptive with the themes, and cites examples of all of his claims. The information is accurate to the plotline, and the language is correct and meaningful. Design: The website is pleasing to the eye, and has many links to different articles. All of the links work, and it is very community-based. It is scholarly without ads and all information.

Overview: This essay is intended for High School students studying literature or as a resource for teachers teaching literature. It concisely covers all the themes of the poem "Blackberry Picking," and accurately describes literary devices used. The author has been editor approved and the site is updated. Content: The essay covers the content of the poem very well. It deeply describes the poem and goes over all the different meanings the poem has. It gives accurate information of the poem and dissects it line by line, thoroughly describing it. Design: Aesthetically, the site is nice looking and looks and sounds accurate. All the links work, and there is lots of information available. The only bad thing is that you must create an account to read the entire essay.

Overview: This essay is intended for High School students studying literature or as a resource for teachers teaching literature. It concisely covers all the themes of the poem "Blackberry Picking," and accurately describes literary devices used. The author has been editor approved and the site is updated. Content: The essay covers the content of the poem very well. It deeply describes the poem and goes over all the different meanings the poem has. It gives accurate information of the poem and dissects it line by line, thoroughly describing it. Design: Aesthetically, the site is nice looking and looks and sounds accurate. All the links work, and there is lots of information available. The only bad thing is that you must create an account to read the entire essay.

Kayla Bowie 13 October 2014 Overview: Preschooleducation.com is a site for preschool teachers. It isn't very professional looking but all of the content on it is useful. There are links for theme days, calendar time, games (inside and outside), and holidays. If you're in need for a quick idea, this is a good site to use. Content: There is a lot to go through on this site. If you knew a topic of interest, it would be pretty easy to search for something. Because there is so much on here, it can be a little slow find things though. Design: It is pretty organized with about twenty tabs on the side to narrow down searches. However, there is an add that will pop up whenever you go to a new page which makes it a little irritating to look around on the site.

Overview Paragraph: The purpose of this site is to provide different kinds of activities to use when teaching math. The audience is mostly teachers but parents would benefit as well. There is all kinds of math worksheets and games and such that are available for grades preschool through high school. Overall this site looks very useful and helpful if you're in a pinch for an activity for a lesson plan. Content Paragraph: The content of this webpage is up to date and current according to the copyright. Also, the authors of the site are all listed and described and have degrees in the content that they are discussing. The sponsors are clearly displayed. All of the links that are displayed are working and fully functional. The content is well organized and easy to use. Design Paragraph: It was very clear as to where I was when I clicked on the link as to where I was on the internet and what the content of the website was. There is a decent amount of viable information to make this site worth visiting. The graphics are very useful and aid in the navigation of the website. There is a link that is available to click on to contact a person for more information and other websites are available to for use.

Overview Paragraph: The purpose of this site is to provide different kinds of activities to use when teaching math. The audience is mostly teachers but parents would benefit as well. There is all kinds of math worksheets and games and such that are available for grades preschool through high school. Overall this site looks very useful and helpful if you're in a pinch for an activity for a lesson plan. Content Paragraph: The content of this webpage is up to date and current according to the copyright. Also, the authors of the site are all listed and described and have degrees in the content that they are discussing. The sponsors are clearly displayed. All of the links that are displayed are working and fully functional. The content is well organized and easy to use. Design Paragraph: It was very clear as to where I was when I clicked on the link as to where I was on the internet and what the content of the website was. There is a decent amount of viable information to make this site worth visiting. The graphics are very useful and aid in the navigation of the website. There is a link that is available to click on to contact a person for more information and other websites are available to for use.

Kayla Bowie 13 October 2014 Overview: Starfall.com is a site for teachers, parents, and students for preschool. It goes over back concepts like ABC's, reading, math, calendars and holidays. It has instructional links for parents as well as games for students. There are also links to the starfall store where you can purchase curriculum activities for kindergarten phonics. Content: The links are working and it is easy to navigate around the site. The content is current and accurate and will still be useful for years to come. Design: The design is very well done. At first sight it is kind of in your face with colors, but other than that is very easy to navigate. With a little help, younger children could easily use it.

Brianna O'Shea October 13, 2014 Overview: The purpose of this article is to talk about what the purpose of the No Child Left Behind Act was and how it has changed. Even though NCLB hasn't reached the goal it was designed to in the allotted time, the change of focusing on growth rather than test scores, has shown an improvement in schools and has seen to help students. The audience of this article is those doubting what good NCLB can offer and why it is still in effect. Overall, this article shows a side perhaps unknown about NCLB and would be good for potential teachers to read. Content: The purpose of the article and its audience is clearly identified, as well as the author yet no links are given to contact or look into the author. The article is recent and links to other sites work and provide good additional information. The purpose, informal, is clear and its purpose is achieved. There seems to be a little bias towards NCLB, yet the article does point out on critique of the Act and accepts it.  Design: The title is clear and the article is well organized with headers and good lengths of paragraphs. The sponsor and copyright are clearly identified while the site is easily maneuverable. The links to other sites are helpful to look at if confused or wish for additional information. Information is easy to find under each header. There are no additional links for the author or similar articles from this page. 

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.

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.

The purpose of this link/resource is to inform teachers (specifically) of things that they can do in order to become more appealing to those who are hiring in the education field. The piece first looks at how teachers should dress. They highlight how teachers should dress as if they plan on getting a lot done that day, or to dress for the occasion. The piece goes on to discuss how attitude and body language impact how others view our professionalism. Finally, the article talks about how we, as teachers, need to constantly be thinking on ways to improve our teaching, learning from other teachers and testing out strategies. At first glance, I think that the page is a little too cluttered with extra links and ads. The article contained minimal graphics, just a small picture next to the title. This was beneficial because there are very few images that would actually serve to enhance this specific page. The page does provide links to other pages on the site, but it may have been better if the links were at the bottom of the page, as opposed to the sides, as they were distracting while reading. Overall, the page was reasonably easy to navigate and effectively read. The author was obviously well-read and presented ideas that are not too cliché, allowing almost any reader to take something away from the content and use it as a tool for learning. There were no spelling or grammar errors in the article, demonstrating a professional approach. This was especially beneficial since the author, Emma McDonald, was speaking about professionalism herself. She aligned what she was writing about with how she wrote about the subject.

Purplemath.com Reviewed by Betina Turner 8/31/10 ITEC 2360-02 This website is a very helpful site for students to get extra help with 7-12 Math. It has lessons the students can go over and there are also forums and helpful links to other sources that can provide extra help with Secondary Math. This web site is simple to use and it is up to date and it clearly states who made the website and give contact information. I have personally used this website to refresh algebra concepts and my mother uses it with her students when they are struggling with math concepts and they really like it and they are able to understand the material better. This site is a great resource for alternate learning.

OVERVIEW Purplemath.com is helpful to sudents who need suplimental help in mathematics.  It goes over basic content, and explains why there is a certain rule in the "math world."  It also has links to helpful sites that could make subject matter easier to understand.  There are also links on this site for test prep.  Overall, this is a good site if you know what you are looking for. CONTENT Links to other sites are helpful, current and working properly.  It's not  very well organized, but you can find your way around.  There doesn't seem to be any bias associated with it.  The content is current, accurate, and consistent with other sites. DESIGN The design isn't done very well.  It's not attractive and there are a lot of links in places where you might not actually look for what you are looking for.  It's easy to navigate within the site once you find what you are looking for, and the links are all working.

Charles VanPatten 10/13/14 The purpose of this source is to show the history of education throughout the world and how it changed. This is mainly just a summary and could be a good source for a paper. This audience is more limited to those who are pursuing history or maybe doing a speech on the history of education. The content in this information seems decent but there are no real sources other than the fact that a link at the bottom takes you back to the world history center website. This makes the source a little more credible but there is no dates on the source saying when it was last updated. Although it has the name of the person who last updated the site just no date. The design of the page is very lengthy and just a bunch of reading, this could be good if you were trying to get a lot of information in one place. But it has no further on links to direct you towards other places to get more information. Also they only have one button to go back to another page in the world history center that is not related to the information.

The purpose of this resource is to help intermediate Spanish learners to learn the irregular verbs ser and ir and how to conjugate them in the present tense. There is a slight introduction and it is a very short video with lots of information. This is a great video to learn or review how to conjugate these irregular verbs. The content is short but well used. The instructor isn't shown in the video but her voice is very clear and she speaks slow enough to understand. There is no English in the video which could be difficult for some but its good listening practice. There are different examples and it is a good video to make the students think. It is a great video for a high school classroom and it is very accurate with the forms of conjugating of the verbs she uses. The spelling is correct and all the examples are correct and well used. This video contains examples that are both written and explained orally giving the students opportunities to answer the questions on their own before the instructor gives the answers. The name of the instructor doesn't appear but it is clear to know that she is a native Spanish speaker.

Tyson Bagley October 13, 2014 The purpose of this resource is to help beginning Spanish learners to better understand how to conjugate regular -AR verbs in the present tense in all forms. There is no introduction and he immediately starts with conjugating example verbs. This is a good resource for beginning learners to learn to conjugate these verbs accurately. The content of this video is great and is very useful. The instructor in the video speaks slow and very clearly and explains the "how" behind each form of conjugation. The instructor was very accurate and presented multiple different examples to help with the repetition of the conjugating. This video is great for a class room to introduce conjugating -AR verbs because it is short and not extremely boring. In the video the instructor not only talks, but also has the words and examples appear on the screen in a format easy to read. He also says every sentence in English and Spanish to help the viewers to understand what he is saying.

Tyson Bagley October 13, 2014 The purpose of this resource is to help beginning Spanish learners to better understand how to conjugate regular -AR verbs in the present tense in all forms. There is no introduction and he immediately starts with conjugating example verbs. This is a good resource for beginning learners to learn to conjugate these verbs accurately. The content of this video is great and is very useful. The instructor in the video speaks slow and very clearly and explains the "how" behind each form of conjugation. The instructor was very accurate and presented multiple different examples to help with the repetition of the conjugating. This video is great for a class room to introduce conjugating -AR verbs because it is short and not extremely boring. In the video the instructor not only talks, but also has the words and examples appear on the screen in a format easy to read. He also says every sentence in English and Spanish to help the viewers to understand what he is saying.

Overview: The intended purpose and audience isn't very obvious when first looking at the page. Once the user hits play he/she can clearly see that it's a punnett square simulator in determining genotypes and phenotypes of the rabbit offspring. The audience is for students in biology learning about punnett squares - it's a kid friendly site with the use of animated rabbits.  Content: The content and audience is easily determined once hitting play - a set of instructions pops up. The author/info provider isn't clear on the website of the simulation. There's no information on date published. The quality of the site is good - it accurately helps students with punnett squares. There were no links to additional sites.  Design: The page downloads quickly. The homepage is appealing to the eye - a children or student would be attracted to this site with the use of animated rabbits and high use of color. There isn't anywhere else to navigate - it's simply a simulation for practicing with punnett squares. The multimedia is key for this site - a perfect use of it. The site is compatible with multiple browsers. The content is presented well - it's obvious that it's a simulation. 

Share My Lesson is a resource for teachers to share their lessons with other teachers, and find new ideas for lesson plans.. The page that I was particularly interested in was the high school biology teaching resources page. The intended audience for this page is biology teachers This page has a lot of different links to many different topics, and I think that it would be a great resource for a biology teacher looking for inspiration for lesson plans. The content of the site is reiterated many times, so it is very easy to determine the basic content. I wasn't really able to see who actually edits the site, but the authors of all of the lesson plans are various teachers who are members of this site. This could be a problem because I don't think there is anything requiring members to show that they are actually teachers. However, I think if a user is careful, this website would be a really excellent resource for writing lesson plans and finding worksheets etc.  The design of Share My Lesson is really well done. I think that the website looks very professional, has strong eye appeal, and it's very easy to navigate. All of the links work, and there are a lot of videos and pictures embedded into the site. The design of the site was a real strength.

Candace Carder October 13, 2014  Overview:  The video focuses on the four seasons in a year, and is aimed for younger children. This video was published on January 14, 2013, and the category that it is focusing on is education. The video is intended for the audience age of 5-8 year olds. The videos information is all there and easily seen.  Content: The website talks about the four seasons, and sings about each season. The video first talks about winter, and how you build snowmen, go sledding, and how you need hats and gloves to go outside. The next season they sing about is spring, and how it rains for hours, and the flowers are starting to bloom. The next seasons, they talk about is summer and how you go to the pool, and how it is very hot outside. The last season the video sings about is fall, and in that season you rake leaves, and wear sweaters. The video then recaps singing about all four season in a year.  Design:  The video is set up to be a cartoon video that catches students attention. It is a song that will stink in your brain after you listen to the song. The video is made for younger students, it is supposed to catch young students attention. The video was pretty accurate and gave good information to students. 

Lionel Escobedo 10/13/14 This power point is designed to help people with low understanding of internet search engines such as google and informing on how to make better use of search engines by limiting the search by applying domains. The slides talk about how to help Google help you! They do this by providing information on how to limit google searches by applying several techniques. They discuss tips such as limiting searches by applying domains by being more specific in the search by applying file types, what type of site, and what key words are preferred in the title.

Lionel Escobedo 10/13/14 This power point is designed to help people with low understanding of internet search engines such as google and informing on how to make better use of search engines by limiting the search by applying domains. The slides talk about how to help Google help you! They do this by providing information on how to limit google searches by applying several techniques. They discuss tips such as limiting searches by applying domains by being more specific in the search by applying file types, what type of site, and what key words are preferred in the title.

Lionel Escobedo 10/13/14 The power point was created in 2011 by Marisa Conte. Although it is a three year old peace of work, and soon to be four, it still holds rich value. The power point is a great source for understanding or referencing techniques on better evaluating web research and resources alike. The slides highlight on many areas that should be taken into account when evaluating web research and resources alike. However what makes this source most rich and insightful is the order in which it is organized by design. The power point is clear and easy to follow and includes visual aids to strengthen the readers understanding. For example the beginning slides talk about making better use of key wards when searching online to more detailed and specific techniques in later slides.

Lionel Escobedo 10/13/14 The power point was created in 2011 by Marisa Conte. Although it is a three year old peace of work, and soon to be four, it still holds rich value. The power point is a great source for understanding or referencing techniques on better evaluating web research and resources alike. The slides highlight on many areas that should be taken into account when evaluating web research and resources alike. However what makes this source most rich and insightful is the order in which it is organized by design. The power point is clear and easy to follow and includes visual aids to strengthen the readers understanding. For example the beginning slides talk about making better use of key wards when searching online to more detailed and specific techniques in later slides.