Monday, November 2, 2009

Using websites to open up instructional worlds....

As a teacher who grew up during the time that computers moved from writing the simplest program line by line yourself on an Apple IIe to using a MacBook Pro and talking to teachers across the United States, I have watched and participated in the evolution of online learning. More teachers today expand their classrooms beyond the four walls of their school building than ever before in order to provide more tools to their students. I would like to share some of the sites that I have used and encourage you to share your favorites in the comments section.

I have enjoyed looking at the many ideas offered on Teacher Tube. It is the educator's version of YouTube that allows teachers to upload and share video clips of lessons. I have watched teachers share songs about math standards to motivational speeches by students that remind me why I do what I do every day.

Another site that I often visit is the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. This website offers a wealth of java applets that allow students to see math in many different ways. It was a website recommended by our state trainers for math standards training.

For teachers looking for more information on differentiated instruction, please visit Verna Eaton's website Differentiated Instruction. She gives several ideas on how it can look and how to go about providing such instruction.

A large website with a wealth of information is the Center of Instruction. They describe themselves as "your gateway to a cutting-edge collection of scientifically based research and information on K-12 instruction in reading, math, science, special education, and English language learning. Part of the Comprehensive Center network, the Center on Instruction is one of five content centers serving as resources for the 16 regional U.S. Department of Education Comprehensive Centers. Explore the links to the left for topic-based materials, syntheses of recent research, and exemplars of best practices."

What websites have you found to be particularly helpful? Would you like to see them added to our running list of websites on our site? Add your favorites to our comments section.

No comments:

Post a Comment