Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Making an Attractive Website
What you can do with a website
Websites created just for kids to explore and learn while using technology. There are lots of websites that have arts and crafts on them or math activities or science activities that are still fun for children but they are also educational and they are all free!!
Web Design is its own career now. People do to school to become designers and make thier living designing appealing and productive websites.
The World Wide Web. Where you can find information on almost anything you wanted to know. Below are some websites that I found that I thought might be useful for some of my teaching experiences in the future.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Web Site #3
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/
Authorship:
Kathleen Schrock, MLS (kathy@kathyschrock.net)
In association with Discovery Channel
Authors qualifications:
“Kathy Schrock is the Administrator for Technology for the Nauset Public Schools on Cape Cod, MA. A large part of her job deals with infusing technology throughout the curriculum in all areas and at
all grade levels. Previously a library media specialist, she is very interested in search strategies, evaluation of Internet information, copyright issues, emerging technologies and gadgets, and the use of technology as a tool to support instruction. Kathy recently served on the ISTE Board of Directors.”Purpose:
“Kathy created her site, Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators, in 1995, to help teachers easily wade through the many resources on the Internet. In 1999, Kathy partnered with DiscoverySchool (now Discovery Education) and continues to update the resources available on her site daily.”
http://discoveryschool.com/schrockguide/
Subject:
Agricultural Education
Art and Architecture
Business & Grants
Career & Consumer Ed
Education Resources
Entertainment & Travel
Health, P.E., & Fitness
History & Social Studies
Holidays & Celebrations
Internet Information
Kidstuff
Literature & ELA
Mathematics
News & Magazines
Organizations & Govt.
Performing Arts & Music
Reference & Librarians
Science & Technology
Shopping
Special Ed & Counselors
Sports
Weather Info & Maps
World Info & Languages
Presentation:
This website is very meat and organized. It is not quite as attractive and pretty as the other websites but it has lots of good resources so you can’t judge is just by its appearances. Almost all the information is just links to other resources so there is little work written by the author itself but it helps just weed out some of the confusion of all the recourses on the wed and makes it a little bit easier to sift through. It uses some technology but not as much as some of the other websites I was looking at. And you can tell. It makes it a little bit harder to get into it. It does just draw you in right off the page.
Credibility:
The author has a list of her credentials which is helpful to know that she has good information. The websites she lists also seem like credible websites to other well known organizations. She explains why they are all there and how helpful they can be.
Currency:
There is a counter at the bottom of the page that says when it was last updated. This was last updated on 9/27/2008.
Links:
The links are all still current and they lead to other really helpful website. There are lots of links on this page. She has links to other people websites, to other resources online, to book lists, to her blog. It really uses all different avenues of education.
Special Features:
This site doesn’t have as many special features as some other websites. It doesn’t have any special graphics or real eye catching material but it is a great list of link and resources to have as a teacher.
Web Site Critic Colum:
This is a good website with lots of good links on it. It is not the most attractive website or the most new fangled but it is still a nice website to know about. I would recommend this website to other people but only after a few other ones that I liked a little bit more. I would give this website a B+.
Web Site #2
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/home.jsp
Authorship:
Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved.
It is a website provided by Family Fun (magazine)
Purpose:
“Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company, has a corporate mission supported through all of its divisions of helping children around the world to read and learn. Recognizing that literacy is the cornerstone of a child's intellectual, personal and cultural growth, for over 87 years, Scholastic has created quality products and services that educate, entertain and motivate children and are designed to help enlarge their understanding of the world around them.”
http://www.scholastic.com/aboutscholastic/credo.htm
Scholastic produces educational materials to assist and inspire students:
- To cultivate their minds to utmost capacity
- To become familiar with our cultural heritage
- To strive for excellence in creative expression in all fields of learning, literature, and art
- To seek effective ways to live a satisfying life
- To enlarge students' concern for and understanding of today's world
- To help build a society free of prejudice and hate, and dedicated to the highest quality of life in community and nation.
Subject:
10,000+ Teaching Ideas
- Lesson Plans
- Teaching Strategies
- Timesaving Tools
- Planning Calendar
- Printables
- New Teachers
- Early Childhood Today
- Free Programs & Giveaways
Brainstorming Basics
brainstorm about your students'
favorite summer treat — ice cream!
Presentation:
This is another website hat is presented in a very pleasing way it re
ally catches your eye. This is more a website focused towards teachers and resources for their classroom therefore it has lots of current facts and hot topics on the main page. It gets you interested and has so many helpful links and articles. It is really a wonderful looking website. On the main pages there are mostly lists of information and where you can go to find more information. They try to include many different things so you can find what you are looking for and then go on to find more specific information from there. There is a headline that keeps changing about some of the top stories right now. I would say that it uses technology in many interesting and useful ways just like a quality website should.
Credibility:
This is a very credible website. Not only is the name scholastic very well know
n and trusted but they have multiple pages explaining what they stand for and why they are such an upstanding company. You can find out about the history of scholastic.
Currency:
This is a very current website. It looks recent and it says that it has been updated within 2008 but I am sure that it is updates very often because the news on the front page is constantly changing.
Links:
The links are all still current and they lead to other really helpful website. There is information on book and lesson plans for teachers and a place for teachers to connect with other teachers. It has all sorts of helpful information for you to look at.
Special Features:
This site is full of special features, it has many nice graphics and links and pictures and sounds. It is very effective for teachers because of all the different resources it provides it could be used by elementary teachers or high school teachers. This is a truly helpful website.
Web Site Critic Colum:
This is a fantastic website for teachers. It has lots of resources specifically for new teachers which would really be helpful when you are just starting your career as a teacher. I would love to remember this website and use it to help direct me in a specific direction. I would also recommend this website to other teachers. It is so nice to have a website where all these teaching resources are listed in one place. You don’t have to Google each individual theme and sort through thousands of possible responses, you have a list of places to go that have already been tested and approved and it makes it all so much easier. I would give this website an A+.
Web Site #1
http://funschool.kaboose.com/
Authorship:
Copyright © Kaboose Inc. Funschool is a trademark of Kaboose Inc. All Rights Reserved.
It is a website provided by Family Fun (magazine)
Purpose:
“Kaboose’s mission is to improve the quality of family life by connecting parents and kids in a fun, educational and safe environment…enhancing both their online and offline time together.”
http://corporate.kaboose.com/mission.html
This site is an excellent resource for students looking for a place to turn for information. It is also a great resource for parents to show their children where they can explore and have fun on a safe and educational website. It is also a great resource for teachers to lead their students to for quizzes on a specific unit or a way to expand their information on a specific topic.
Subject:
• Science
• Math
• Geography
• Word Play
• Games
• Quizzes
• Coloring pages
• Activity Center
• Craft Ideas
• Teacher exchange
• Puzzles
Presentation:
This website is presented in such an eye catching and aesthetically pleasing way it really catches your attention. I think that students will find it entertaining and exciting and teachers can use it for so many different activities. It is easy to navigate you can search by grade level or by subject area. You can find so many different options on every topic. It also includes lots of good uses of technology. There are pictures that are animated and links to other helpful websites. The icons on the page move and make noise as you run your curser over them. It is just a very well done website overall.
Credibility:
I think that the information on this website is very credible because if you follow the links available to the other sponsored websites you can learn even more about the information. There are multiple choices for whatever you want to do. A lot of the games and activities you can know are credible just because the content is correct and accurate. I also think the professional look of the web page helps with its validity.
Currency:
Although there is no date listed when the website was last updated you know it is current because of the style of the website. I also know that they have updated it recently because I have used this website in the past and now it has an entirely new lay out which makes it a little more user friendly.
Links:
The links are all still current and they lead to other really helpful website. I could have found all 3 websites to write about just off of this one website because it had such helpful links for everything that I wanted to know.
Special Features:
This site is full of special features, it has many nice graphics and links and pictures and sounds. Things that really help children stay focused and work hard on what they are supposed to be doing. I think it is very learner centered where children can just explore for themselves and learn new things through playing games or doing art projects. I think that it is a very effective website.
Web Site Critic Column:
This is a fantastic website for teachers and students and parents. I would recommend it to anyone who was looking for some fun activities to do with students especially to help introduce them to online resources and technology. It is such a nice addition to use after teaching a lesson in the classroom because it presents some of the same information in new and exciting ways so the students will be more engaged in their learning. I would give this website an A+.
