The website I decided to review for my blog today was the class page of Mrs. Cookerly, a 2nd grade teacher at Pine View School for the Gifted which is located in Osprey, Florida. I chose this website because I had a close relationship with her while attending this school. Most of the information seen on her page includes news from the week and homework assignments that are due. The tabs on the side of her website take you to a school supply list, summer readings, a weekly focus link, and other resourceful links that can be used by the students to further their education. The links that Mrs. Cookerly posts include fun activities and games that help the students understand the lesson without having them consciously know they are learning.
For my own use of technology, I plan on creating a website but unlike Mrs. Cookerly, I plan on making my website private so it is only accessible by students and their guardians. I also plan on using spreadsheets to help with my organization of my documents so I can update them every year. My PowerPoints will include different types of animations to entertain the students while getting them to understand the subject. My slides will also include hyperlinks to other websites that I will reference to. With my materials being digital, they will be easier to update and I will be able to use them from year to year. It will also be easier for me to share my documents which while enhance my own and other teachers productivity. I plan on using Evernote because it can be used in lesson planning and it is one of the most flexible note-taking tools I am currently aware of.
For my own use of technology, I plan on creating a website but unlike Mrs. Cookerly, I plan on making my website private so it is only accessible by students and their guardians. I also plan on using spreadsheets to help with my organization of my documents so I can update them every year. My PowerPoints will include different types of animations to entertain the students while getting them to understand the subject. My slides will also include hyperlinks to other websites that I will reference to. With my materials being digital, they will be easier to update and I will be able to use them from year to year. It will also be easier for me to share my documents which while enhance my own and other teachers productivity. I plan on using Evernote because it can be used in lesson planning and it is one of the most flexible note-taking tools I am currently aware of.
I personally did not like the Web Resource Evaluation because I thought the assignment was too vague and I feel like I already know how to evaluate websites. This assignment reassured my knowledge but I felt like the assignment itself was just common sense. I felt like the assignment could have been more effective if we were evaluating each others websites and commenting on how we did ourselves. Looking at other websites just felt normal because I typically look/judge whatever website I am on regardless if it is part of an assignment or not. In my future profession, I will continuously be judging websites to make sure they are appropriate enough for my class, but I would have done that without the reinforcement of this assignment.
I agree that at this point evaluating websites has become second nature. After writing upper level papers for a few years, I am very comfortable with finding and evaluating credible resources. This assignment was tricky because it was hard to put into words what I use to evaluate websites, and sometimes the criteria we used did not necessarily apply to some very credible websites, like government run sites.
ReplyDeleteI love Mrs. Cookerly's class website! However I do agree that it should be more private, I had the same concern with my teacher's website. Especially since it appears that this teacher posts pictures of her students. Your outlook on the Web Evaluation assignment was interesting and I appreciate your honesty.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the Web Evaluation assignment - it really is in our nature at this point to judge a site based on whether or not we think it's credible. Even scrolling through Facebook, it's really easy to figure out what's real and what is just click-bait. I also understand the point of the assignment, however. Even though it's second nature for us to differentiate between credible and tricky sites, it's not as easy for those who are just getting started in the technology world, and future educators need to be able to teach this to their students. Being forced to put it into words now will be easier later down the line, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteGood recommendation to evaluate other's websites. I will bring it to the crew.
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