http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/burch-s-webmix
Please go to the above site and select one of the sites across the bottom of the page. Review the site and write a brief description about what resources are available there, how they are arranged, and what grade levels/subjects are covered. Add how you think the website/resources could be used in a differentiated classroom.
Your target audience is your fellow classmates. Make certain that your review/report is useful to them. *State in the beginning which site you reviewed and the URL.
If you do not blog, or have trouble posting to the blog, send your report to me via email so that I can forward it to the class.
Thanks!
http://www.justreadnow.com/index.htm
ReplyDeleteThe website I chose to review was Just Read Now. My initial opinion of the site is that it is rather blah and not visually appealing. It is all in red, white and black font and there are not very many pictures or stimulating things that draw your eye right away. While clicking on the links, it was fairly easy to maneuver around the site, but most topics under the Discussion Strategies heading were things that teachers who teach Reading already know about Reading. It offers fairly basic strategies like how to use Bloom's questions, Think Pair Shares and Think Alouds. The goal of the site is to "balance sound theory with tools for effective classroom practice." The website offers links to Just Read Florida and No Child Left Behind and some basic reading strategies as well as links to online training, but I am not quite sure they met the "sound theory" part of their goal.
I would say the target audience of this site is the K-5 teacher, but many ideas given seemed to be things that the K-5 teacher would already know about Reading instruction. As far as uses for differentiating instruction, the Frayer model was discussed under the Vocabulary Strategies heading and I did like the Reciprocal Teaching Strategy under the heading Active Reading Strategies (the teacher explains 4 reading skills that he/she will demonstrate, models, then divides the class and has the students teach the skill to their group). Overall, I was not super impressed with Just Read Now and did not see any sample lesson plans or video demonstrations of teachers modeling strategies as stated on the home page of the website.
Melanie Cretella
ReplyDeleteThe website that I chose to review was Think-Tac-Toe. It looks like a Tic-Tac-Toe board. http://www.rcs.k12.tn.us/rc/instruction/ttt/ttt.htm
Here is the message they had on the site for the overview: T-T-T is a form of alternative assessment and can be used with all grades and with all subjects. The idea is for students to work in groups and choose three projects to do. The top line is simple, the middle line is a bit more difficult and the bottom line is projects that would take several days to complete. Students can select any square from the three columns (which would include a project from each level), or they could choose either diagonal. Teachers may decide to assign particular projects to the groups. This allows for differentiating in the classroom to meet the needs of each student.
I think the idea for the board is really interesting and the students would really like to create each project. It gives them a choice and allows them to be very creative and use their special skills and talents to demonstrate what they know.
The one problem I thought about was that some of the students might not be able to create the projects due to the lack of technology (no internet access, programs aren’t loaded on school computers, etc.). But even if they can’t use the program to create the timeline or brochure they could always use paper, construction paper, crayons, markers and other supplies to create the same thing. This could also be a way that the teacher can differentiate for students that are on different levels.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHumm...it keeps on going away....lets see if this works!!
DeleteI reviewed the website A Different Place (www.adifferentplace.org). My first impression of this site was WOW information over load! There is a lot of information throughout the site. A Different Place is designed for teachers to use in a regular class to differentiate instruction for bright and gifted students in grades k-12. There are tabs for the teacher and parent to use to find information about what is means to be gifted and differentiation. For the teacher differentiation is defined and you are given examples and resources to help provide differentiation in the classroom. The Kids tab allows students to go online and participate in differentiated activities. Everywhere I looked I was finding more information about ways to help differentiate for my students and finding resources for gifted education. Many of these activities require technology, which can limit some classrooms or students with the availability of resources. I found the site to be easy to navigate and think it would be useful while looking for activities to use with higher ability learners. The various lists of resources were well organized by grade level and content or theme. This makes looking for specific information easier for the teacher. Between the curriculum, curriculum enrichment, and “Best on the Web” links us teacher should be able to find activities and sites to use with many of our students. I enjoyed the links and hope to use them in future planning.
Although I enjoyed the site I did find myself asking several questions. First off who are Nancy Bosch, Enhanced Learning Center, and Shawnee Mission School Districted. We are able to deduct that Nancy in involved with the Learning Center which is within the Shawnee School District. I would like to know some back story for the site. All and all it’s a good site that gives teachers resources to use in differentiating our classrooms.
Kimberly Anderson and Krista Miller
ReplyDeleteKrista and I looked at two websites that focus on 21st century skills. Taking this PLC at my school, I have learned a lot about the importance of 21st century skills with all students, not solely GT, but ALL students. One of the teachers taking the course with is a SPED teacher, who has done some wonderful, worthwhile things with the core being 21st century.
The first website we looked at was: http://21cif.com (21st century Information Fluency). Basically this website was developed as an internet search challenge with specific tasks to complete in doing so. There are “action zones”, where the student is given a question (such as: “find the name of the poet whose poem begin with the line: ‘this is about no rain in particular’.” Or “On what mission number did NASA first take a Slinky toy into space?”), and they must beat the time on their search. This site solely focuses on Internet searching, and basically is only applicable to kids who can independently complete the tasks. So in other words not appropriate for K-2. The site shares a Reference Model, which was kind of interesting. But it is geared more towards librarians or higher level teachers (middle/high)
The second website: http://www.p21.org (The Partnership for 21st century Learning Skills), is a basic site for 21st century skills that gives information such as a: mission/purpose, framework, updates on 21st century skills, background on the partnership, and shares presentations and conferences. So if you are looking for in depth ideas or lessons, or even tools to use, this site seems to be more about what 21st century skills are, than anything else. Virginia is not a state listed on the list.
Which brings me to my honest opinion; I felt that neither site really gave me resources that I could use. The first site seemed to be more of a jumbled mess of only ideas for “searching” the internet. The second site basically all the insight of what 21st century means. I guess what I am comparing these two sites to, the one I am using in my PLC, which has been made by the two wonderful teachers who are teaching the class. It is full of information, resources, ideas, etc. It goes over the importance of 21st century skills. So I would like to share that site with everyone, so you can see what I am working with in my PLC. In our class we have learned that there is a misconceived notion that 21st century solely means technology. In my class I have learned that this is not so; we have learned that is just one component on the “rainbow” of 21st century skills. It focuses on the elements such as: life and careers skills, learning and innovation skills (which are where critical thinking, communication, and creativity are involved), information media and technology skills. Here is the wiki that has been made for my PLC: http://mes21stcenturyplc.pbworks.com/w/page/44653679/FrontPage if you click on “21st century websites” you will find worthwhile resources to use! If you click on “course calendar” you will see the areas we have covered and are covering in our PLC. It’s some good stuff!
WritingFix.com
ReplyDeletehttp://writingfix.com/index.htm
The website I chose to review was writingfix.com. I chose this last class because just that day we had a discussion in my writing workshop "Professional Learning Community" at school about this site. Our reading specialist had shared a list of amazing resources she had found on a topic, and I had never heard of the website. In a strange coincidence, it was an option last Thurs, so I jumped on it. What was this awesome website that I had been missing out on?!?!
Well, it is a great website. But it wasn't earth-shattering. :) The most worthwhile thing about this website is that it offers a great deal of ideas in terms of mentor texts when teaching writing. In fact, this is definitely the most valuable piece I found. I feel like I have a good source of these in my classroom and at my school, but this website offers mentor texts, ideas and lessons to go along with them, and LOTS of them. The website was a tad overwhelming to navigate at first; it’s organized in so many different ways! You can find writing ideas and resources based on 6+1 trait, genre, browse through mentor texts, grade level, etc. There are lots of resources; I spent a while on the site and I feel like I haven’t even really skimmed the surface yet. If you teach writing, it’s worth checking out, no matter the grade level.
My favorite part of the site was the Writing Genres section. This gives you a ton of prompts, lesson ideas, mentor texts (again), and even student samples. I have found that using student samples is a tremendous teaching tool.
In terms of our differentiation needs, there are prompts designated right-brained and left-brained, which I thought was pretty cool! This would be a neat section for all to investigate. I thought it was very interesting! I will definitely use some of the left-brained strategies, they seemed really different from what I’ve done and could offer a nice challenge to my GT learners. I also think that exposing all to this variety of writing would be beneficial. Take a look at this page and see for yourself. I really liked the sound of the “start and stop” game and it can be geared up and down or altered quiet easily depending on what students need to work on. http://writingfix.com/left_brain.htm
I got really excited when I found the section dedicated to RAFTs as we had just discussed these in class last week and I was SO excited to implement them in my classroom. The ones on this website weren't great, in fact they basically just offer templates on how to built them virtually identical to the one Jana gave us in class.
I would say this site is definitely worth checking out. I think that if I weren’t totally burnt out on writing this year, I would be WAY more enthusiastic and excited about it, so I think you all should check it out. I’m sure that after a rejuvenating summer, I will definitely utilize this great site to jumpstart my writing workshop with some killer lessons.
Betsy Rhodes
ReplyDeletewww.readingquest.org
The site I reviewed is named ReadingQuest. Created in 1998, and last updated in 2009, it is a complete resource for any teacher who wants to learn about the whys and hows of increasing their students’ comprehension in content areas, and to find a wealth of resources for different strategies. It is easy to navigate, so if you really don’t need a (not so) mini-lesson in comprehension best practices, you can quickly get to the strategies and resource pages. A banner at the top of the home page says it best, “Welcome to Reading Quest”, strategies for reading, writing, organizing, discussion and vocabulary in Social Studies (and all subjects)”.
Included are Overview and Foundations pages which are quite wordy. If you are familiar with why comprehension is important, you can skip right to the Strategies, Framework, and Resources pages. Here, you will have access to descriptions and reproducible for many note-taking, organizing, and product activities. Most can be adapted from K – 12, and definitely used in all subject areas. The Framework page helps the teacher choose a strategy based on the objectives for a lesson. Do you want your students to understand the main idea? There’s a strategy for that! Do you want them engaged in active learning? There’s a strategy for that! Ditto, generating background knowledge, discussion and metacognition. The Resources page has links to sites that give more info on the different strategies and understanding how to use them.
I’ve bookmarked this site, and plan to use it frequently.
Dare to Differentiate Website
ReplyDeleteWhen I first googled this website – I thought I was at the wrong place! The website is actually a wiki page where people can contribute and upload different documents. People also have linked different websites to the original Dare to Differentiate wiki (it reminds me of Pinterest, but for differentiation). The website itself is not very visually appealing or jazzy in any way.
The first link I clicked on was called The Differentiator. I like this tool in terms of lesson planning – when you’re looking for different blooms verbs or different ideas in terms of student output. You can click through the links and quickly get several lists for ideas on content, resources, products, etc.
The wiki also gives you several links to PDF’s and word documents that are looking to assist you in lesson planning. There are many links that provide examples of blank lesson planning pages, rubrics, and questions to consider when planning to differentiate. I found many of the Tomlinson documents (like the equalizer) here as well.
The next section, called Managing Differentiation, seemed more useful to me in particular. This is the area of differentiating instruction that I find more difficult. The wiki gave several power points that I found powerful on how to effectively manage students while working with small groups, etc.
Finally, on the left hand side of the page, there were many links to the strategies that we have been talking about in both this class and our summer class (ie. Structured Academic Controversy, RAFTs, Choice Boards, etc). I also think that these are useful in terms of a place to look for strategies to incorporate in your lesson planning!
Overall, this wiki is a great place to look for tools to incorporate in your lesson planning for differentiation! I have already bookmarked the page and will be able to use many of the documents right away!
Here is the link! http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com/Planning+for+and+Managing+Differentiation
ReplyDeleteI was interested in the Internet4Classrooms icon. I selected the tab Grade Level Skill Help at Internet 4. An adveristment for a site called IXL.com was at the top of the resulting page, included a link for Algebra. The Algebra link took me to a page in IXL.com with links to math skills for each grade from pre-k through 8th grade and a link for algebra. Selecting the algebra link took me to a page of skills that student study in algebra. The address for the IXL algebra page is ixl.com/math/algebra-1.
ReplyDeleteThe page has five tabs: Practice, Reports, Awards, State Standards, and Membership. The Practice tab links to skills that are organized into categories that would coincide with units that we teach in algebra. The student can click on each skill and answer interactive sample questions. The number of problems attempted and the number of problems answered correctly are tallied. A dialog box pop up showing how to work problems that have been answered incorrectly. The Report tab provides information students’ understanding of the material. This would be useful for identifying areas that need reteaching. The Awards tab goes to grade-level themed game broad that is like a treasure hunt that is tied to mastery of a skill or to the amount of time practicing a skill. This would be good to motivate the student to stick with the practice. The State Standards tab goes to a page with icons for each state and links to the skills categorized by state standards. This would be very good in SOL review and preparation. The Membership tab is for joining the web site.
The site does not indicate whether the skill level is for Algebra I or Algebra II. I believe that my Algebra II classes could use this site when reviewing skills for assessments. It would be very good for SOL preparation. The site is designed for practicing skills already taught and not for explaining the skills. There are other sites that a better at explanations, such as khanacademy.org.
I had to review the site Differentiator. You can find it here: www.byrdseed.com/differentiator/ . My first reaction to this site was “Great, Blooms is listed for me and broken down into activity words”. Then I had to figure out what to do on the site. It takes a couple of minutes to learn how to use the site. There is a Help video you can watch and that was very nice in understanding how to use this site.
DeleteThis site helps you build a lesson plan on one topic and break it down into the different levels of Blooms. You can pick the Thinking Skill (Blooms Level), Content you would like your students to use (such as Depth – Big Ideas, ethics, rules, trends, Complexity – Multiple points of view, across disciplines, Imperatives – origin, parallels, paradox, contribution), Resources (online materials textbook, library books, magazines and online resources like websites, wikipedia, journals and articles), Products (visual, construct, oral, multimedia, written), and finally Group Size.
I decided to play around with the site and picked a topic I was working on, Famous Americans. For Thinking Skill I choose the level of Understanding and that students were to explain. For content I choose Depth with big idea. For Resources I picked offline textbook. For Product I picked that the students would use a visual graphic organizer and for groups size I picked 3.
Here is what my finished product looked like:
Students will explain the big idea of how Caesar Chavez helped Mexican Americans gain better working conditions for migrant workers using textbooks to create a graphic organizer in groups of three.
Here is what I created for my TAG students:
Students will compare the big idea of How Caesar Chavez and Martin Luther King J. wee similar in their fight for equal rights using textbooks to create a PowerPoint in groups of three.
This website easily goes across all subject areas and all grade levels. Once I played around with it became very easy to use.
I do like this site and would highly recommend you using it for your lessons.
The site I chose to review is the Bedford County Dept. of Education.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bedfordk12tn.com/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=1153&PHPSESSID=d8c6a5e82cb5a14694dc64d934fc7244
The link takes you to a listing of Think-Tac-Toe activities. They used the model from the Rutherford county school system and provided examples of subjects the Think-Tac-Toe activities could be used for. There are basically levels of easy medium and hard activities touching on the different learning styles. It is a great resource for upper elementary and secondary as an assessment tool or alternative project for a variety of learners. The activities have links that connect the students to tools they can use to present information. It looks like fun! It provides an example for many grades and almost all subjects. It could definitely be beneficial in the classroom because even if you don’t use the Tic-Tac-Toe activities provided, it gives you a framework around which to design your own. It takes the guesswork out of where to begin and how. It would need a little adaptation for the younger grades, but all in all, a good resource!