Saturday, March 1, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Evaluation of websites
Website 1: Louisiana State University football team (official site of LSU Athletics)
This site can be reached by going to:
http://www.lsusports.net/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&KEY=&SPID=2164&SPSID=27815
On a scale with the highest score being a 4.0, I would rate this website as being a 3.6. I feel that it has got much critical and entertaining content, and a true LSU football fan would find this to be a great central site to locate information and statistics about their team. For someone who is not as die-hard a Tiger fan, they will be able to learn much more about the team, their playing schedule, information about Baton Rouge, as well as much more. There is a great wealth of content here, and so much more for me to discover! I felt the graphics to be pleasing to the eye, as well, with many colored photos of the team and players displayed throughout the pages. I liked the fact that the background of the page was white, with the team's purple and gold colors as a theme above and below the page. Because the team is also playing in the BCS Bowl game, they have a running countdown timer counting down to game time. This was something I felt very entertaining! The things I did not like about this site is the abundance of advertisements throughout the pages. I felt that this was a distraction and caused the page to seem too busy. Because of the many great features and pages that this site has, I rate this website pretty high.
Website 2: Ball Parks of Baseball
This site can be reached by going to:
http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com
I would give this site a score of 3.2. This site gives good information and historical background behind each of the major league baseball parks. I enjoyed being able to easily search for my favorite ballparks. Once I clicked on a ballpark's name, however, I got a few pictures, but mostly writing. The page was organized by having writing in many longer paragraphs, all on one side of the page. The other side featured some pictures, but many of the pictures seemed out of date. As someone who likes to just peruse a website, I would not waste my time reading all of the information, especially in the way that the page was formatted. The neat thing about this site was that down at the bottom of each stadium's page, you were able to see the current running weather conditions of that city. The website features a section in which you can give feedback about the site, and at the bottom of the page, I can see that this page has been running since 2001. Some feedback I have for improvement are that the website take time to show much improved layout, organization, graphics, and layout. With all the other cool websites currently out there, this site would not keep my interest for very long.
Website 3: Mrs. Renz's 4th Grade Class Website
This site can be reached by going to:
http://www2.redmond.k12.or.us/mccall/renz/
I would give this site a score of a 3.7. I have used this website many times in my own teaching and in helping to inform me about various features I should also include on my class website. I know that this site is one of the most popular sites for other fourth grade teachers to visit. Mrs. Renz has organized the massive amount of information on this site in a very effecient way. On the home page, she has a small graphic next to the title of another page you can enter, such as Parent Corner, Websites for Students, and Homework Backpack. The content is great, as there isn't too much writing, but lots of graphics and colors used. This is a site in which one can find much information, and as a teacher, I can see how beneficial this would be for the parents of my students. Not only that, but as a teacher, you would benefit from having parents that are well informed of class projects and information. Down at the bottom, you can find a way to contact Mrs. Renz. Because so many people contact her, she has set up a section in which you can see her responses to many commonly asked questions. I feel that this site is one in which there is a high quality content, design, navigation, and formatting.
Website 4: Rick Steves travel website
This site can be reached by going to:
http://www.ricksteves.com
I would give this site a 3.5. I feel that this is a quality site, and it has lots of important travel information for travellers to Europe. For someone who enjoys watching Rick Steves' travel videos and shows on tv, this site can give even more specific information. I found this site helpful on my own trip to Europe, with helping me to purchase Eurail tickets. I love that this site is built for community purposes, too, and features message boards on a variety of subjects. This is a site in which not only the site administrator adds information, but the people also add their experiences. I felt that it was a bit of a challenge for me to find what I was looking for on this site, just as there is SO much information. All of the seperate links and pages made my visit to this site one in which I initially did not know where to start. I do feel that for a traveller, this site is the one place to go for much critical, accurate, and up-to-date information.
Website 5: Mercer Island School District website
This site can be reached by going to:
http://www.misd.k12.wa.us
I would give this site a 3.8. I feel that this site does very well in the areas of content, design, navigation, and formatting. This site has pictures of students as part of its header, but not too many other distracting graphics. This makes it easy to view the information. It is easy to find my way to each of the school's personal websites, as well as to departments of the district. I feel that the web interface our district uses is one in which parents and students can easily find critical information. I would describe this as a classy website that truly helps our district to look high quality and professional.
This site can be reached by going to:
http://www.lsusports.net/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&KEY=&SPID=2164&SPSID=27815
On a scale with the highest score being a 4.0, I would rate this website as being a 3.6. I feel that it has got much critical and entertaining content, and a true LSU football fan would find this to be a great central site to locate information and statistics about their team. For someone who is not as die-hard a Tiger fan, they will be able to learn much more about the team, their playing schedule, information about Baton Rouge, as well as much more. There is a great wealth of content here, and so much more for me to discover! I felt the graphics to be pleasing to the eye, as well, with many colored photos of the team and players displayed throughout the pages. I liked the fact that the background of the page was white, with the team's purple and gold colors as a theme above and below the page. Because the team is also playing in the BCS Bowl game, they have a running countdown timer counting down to game time. This was something I felt very entertaining! The things I did not like about this site is the abundance of advertisements throughout the pages. I felt that this was a distraction and caused the page to seem too busy. Because of the many great features and pages that this site has, I rate this website pretty high.
Website 2: Ball Parks of Baseball
This site can be reached by going to:
http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com
I would give this site a score of 3.2. This site gives good information and historical background behind each of the major league baseball parks. I enjoyed being able to easily search for my favorite ballparks. Once I clicked on a ballpark's name, however, I got a few pictures, but mostly writing. The page was organized by having writing in many longer paragraphs, all on one side of the page. The other side featured some pictures, but many of the pictures seemed out of date. As someone who likes to just peruse a website, I would not waste my time reading all of the information, especially in the way that the page was formatted. The neat thing about this site was that down at the bottom of each stadium's page, you were able to see the current running weather conditions of that city. The website features a section in which you can give feedback about the site, and at the bottom of the page, I can see that this page has been running since 2001. Some feedback I have for improvement are that the website take time to show much improved layout, organization, graphics, and layout. With all the other cool websites currently out there, this site would not keep my interest for very long.
Website 3: Mrs. Renz's 4th Grade Class Website
This site can be reached by going to:
http://www2.redmond.k12.or.us/mccall/renz/
I would give this site a score of a 3.7. I have used this website many times in my own teaching and in helping to inform me about various features I should also include on my class website. I know that this site is one of the most popular sites for other fourth grade teachers to visit. Mrs. Renz has organized the massive amount of information on this site in a very effecient way. On the home page, she has a small graphic next to the title of another page you can enter, such as Parent Corner, Websites for Students, and Homework Backpack. The content is great, as there isn't too much writing, but lots of graphics and colors used. This is a site in which one can find much information, and as a teacher, I can see how beneficial this would be for the parents of my students. Not only that, but as a teacher, you would benefit from having parents that are well informed of class projects and information. Down at the bottom, you can find a way to contact Mrs. Renz. Because so many people contact her, she has set up a section in which you can see her responses to many commonly asked questions. I feel that this site is one in which there is a high quality content, design, navigation, and formatting.
Website 4: Rick Steves travel website
This site can be reached by going to:
http://www.ricksteves.com
I would give this site a 3.5. I feel that this is a quality site, and it has lots of important travel information for travellers to Europe. For someone who enjoys watching Rick Steves' travel videos and shows on tv, this site can give even more specific information. I found this site helpful on my own trip to Europe, with helping me to purchase Eurail tickets. I love that this site is built for community purposes, too, and features message boards on a variety of subjects. This is a site in which not only the site administrator adds information, but the people also add their experiences. I felt that it was a bit of a challenge for me to find what I was looking for on this site, just as there is SO much information. All of the seperate links and pages made my visit to this site one in which I initially did not know where to start. I do feel that for a traveller, this site is the one place to go for much critical, accurate, and up-to-date information.
Website 5: Mercer Island School District website
This site can be reached by going to:
http://www.misd.k12.wa.us
I would give this site a 3.8. I feel that this site does very well in the areas of content, design, navigation, and formatting. This site has pictures of students as part of its header, but not too many other distracting graphics. This makes it easy to view the information. It is easy to find my way to each of the school's personal websites, as well as to departments of the district. I feel that the web interface our district uses is one in which parents and students can easily find critical information. I would describe this as a classy website that truly helps our district to look high quality and professional.
Quiz made using Discovery website
I used the Discovery Education website to help me create a 20-question quiz for my fourth grade students. This quiz is to be given as a review after the winter break, as it will help me assess my students' running knowledge of taught math concepts. The quiz has questions that include concepts such as elapsed time, multiplication and division concepts, key math vocabulary, estimation and rounding, area and perimeter, and more. My quiz, including multiple-choice, true-false, and short answer questions can be found at:
http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/studentCenter/index.cfm?cdCode=4FFB-E234
(The access code to view is 4FFB-E234)
http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/studentCenter/index.cfm?cdCode=4FFB-E234
(The access code to view is 4FFB-E234)
Saturday, January 5, 2008
"Kidd's Rime Time Circus" WebQuest
Title of WebQuest: "Kidd's Rime Time Circus"
http://www2.franciscan.edu/webquests/kiddsrime/
I can use this WebQuest in my fourth grade class when my students begin the poetry unit we complete each spring. This introduces students to five types of poetry by giving them concrete examples showing the patterns for each type of poem. I may use this to actually introduce the unit, as it allows the students to independently review the type of poems they most likely have already been exposed to in their education. Instead of direct instruction, I feel my students would benefit from working either independently or with a partner to complete this WebQuest (which also involves them writing their own example of each of the five types of poems).
The links for each of the five types of poems clearly and effectively show students the pattern for each of the poems. This is given as a brief overview, before students complete the scavenger hunt below. The scavenger hunt helps students to remember critical information, such as how many lines are in a limerick and to better understand figurative speech. It also introduces students to the works of other poets, including Dr.Seuss and Edgar Allan Poe.
I believe this WebQuest gets a 3.7 It provides great scaffolding for my students to learn something that is a part of our writing curriculum. I feel this WebQuest motivating to the students, with clear learning objectives and learning activities they will complete. The rubric will clearly guide my students in their work, and I feel that the design and formatting of the page will be pleasing to the eyes of my students. It could be improved with better, more interactive graphics.
http://www2.franciscan.edu/webquests/kiddsrime/
I can use this WebQuest in my fourth grade class when my students begin the poetry unit we complete each spring. This introduces students to five types of poetry by giving them concrete examples showing the patterns for each type of poem. I may use this to actually introduce the unit, as it allows the students to independently review the type of poems they most likely have already been exposed to in their education. Instead of direct instruction, I feel my students would benefit from working either independently or with a partner to complete this WebQuest (which also involves them writing their own example of each of the five types of poems).
The links for each of the five types of poems clearly and effectively show students the pattern for each of the poems. This is given as a brief overview, before students complete the scavenger hunt below. The scavenger hunt helps students to remember critical information, such as how many lines are in a limerick and to better understand figurative speech. It also introduces students to the works of other poets, including Dr.Seuss and Edgar Allan Poe.
I believe this WebQuest gets a 3.7 It provides great scaffolding for my students to learn something that is a part of our writing curriculum. I feel this WebQuest motivating to the students, with clear learning objectives and learning activities they will complete. The rubric will clearly guide my students in their work, and I feel that the design and formatting of the page will be pleasing to the eyes of my students. It could be improved with better, more interactive graphics.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Blogging as a way to reach the Millenials ~by Lindsay Kuciemba
The time has come in which students and teachers need to learn to more effectively implement technology usage within the classroom. For far too many years, laptops have been sitting in safe places, locked up and waiting to share their many capabilities with the lives of the current generation of students we teach. These students, referred to as the Millenials, are a generation of savvy and knowledgeable computer users. To many of these students, coming to school each day means learning the way their parents learned 30 years ago. The same style of teaching is simply not acceptable, especially when one thinks about the drastic amount of change our world has seen in the last 5 years.
One way to easily implement technology usage within the classroom is by having students engage with each other through use of a classroom blog. We already know that students enjoy sharing their thoughts with others through such mediums as text messages and emails. Why not have them share their thoughts and opinions about educational issues by participating in a blog with their classmates and teacher? Many teachers use one central blog for all students to respond to. Teachers can post a thought-provoking question or topic that has been covered in class, and students will respond. The benefits to this are many, but include allowing all students to share on a more level playing field, as well as allowing students to look at the thoughts and comments of their classmates. In the high school setting, many teachers set up a common class blog and allow students the opportunity to determine how they'd best like to use the blog. Students often work together to create their own study guide for an upcoming test. This can be done by having each student leave 1-2 bulleted items that share important concepts learned during the unit of study. All students can benefit from looking at the notes of their peers. This same concept can also be applied on a daily basis, by including things such as a question/answer section on the classroom blog. Students are encouraged to work alongside their classmates, helping all to better understand the information covered in class. And, all of this assistance takes place not in real time, but online. These are just some ways to help our students feel more connected with the technological world that they are immersed in.
Technology is a tool that will help to unlock many doors that are currently closed to our students. By acknowledging and accepting the way our students interact with their peers, we can more effectively "reach" them. One way to do this is by implementing the use of educational blogging. The uses for blogging in the classroom are limitless. Discover for yourself some of the ways that you can set up and use an educational blog. Like many other teachers that are currently using blogs, I'm sure you will find your students to be highly involved in a rich discussion and dialog that reaches far beyond the four rigid and confining walls of the classroom.
One way to easily implement technology usage within the classroom is by having students engage with each other through use of a classroom blog. We already know that students enjoy sharing their thoughts with others through such mediums as text messages and emails. Why not have them share their thoughts and opinions about educational issues by participating in a blog with their classmates and teacher? Many teachers use one central blog for all students to respond to. Teachers can post a thought-provoking question or topic that has been covered in class, and students will respond. The benefits to this are many, but include allowing all students to share on a more level playing field, as well as allowing students to look at the thoughts and comments of their classmates. In the high school setting, many teachers set up a common class blog and allow students the opportunity to determine how they'd best like to use the blog. Students often work together to create their own study guide for an upcoming test. This can be done by having each student leave 1-2 bulleted items that share important concepts learned during the unit of study. All students can benefit from looking at the notes of their peers. This same concept can also be applied on a daily basis, by including things such as a question/answer section on the classroom blog. Students are encouraged to work alongside their classmates, helping all to better understand the information covered in class. And, all of this assistance takes place not in real time, but online. These are just some ways to help our students feel more connected with the technological world that they are immersed in.
Technology is a tool that will help to unlock many doors that are currently closed to our students. By acknowledging and accepting the way our students interact with their peers, we can more effectively "reach" them. One way to do this is by implementing the use of educational blogging. The uses for blogging in the classroom are limitless. Discover for yourself some of the ways that you can set up and use an educational blog. Like many other teachers that are currently using blogs, I'm sure you will find your students to be highly involved in a rich discussion and dialog that reaches far beyond the four rigid and confining walls of the classroom.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Research Specific Objectives
Students will learn to locate and determine main ideas and supporting details in a selection.
Students will learn to include related text based details in their written reading comprehension question responses.
Students will learn to underline key terms and parts of a question, to help them better understand what they need respond to.
Students will learn to include related text based details in their written reading comprehension question responses.
Students will learn to underline key terms and parts of a question, to help them better understand what they need respond to.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
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