Wednesday, October 7, 2009

BrainPOP.com

BrainPOP.com is a site that offers a fun, interactive way for students to learn about different subjects. The main page is a listing of all the different subjects that the site offers. You then click on a subject and it takes you to another page which is broken into different categories related to the main subject. This site is really great because digital natives can easily relate to it. It has bright colors, cartoon like animations, and shows the information in a productive way.
I would use this in my classroom probably in some sort of computer lab. I would gather my students into a computer lab and assign them each something different relating to the site. I could make worksheets that require going on the website and finding the different information. This way the students learn a lot about the topic at hand and can learn how to successfully navigage through this website so they can go back to it if they need it for studying.

FREE.com Teahcing resources and lesson plans

Free.com is a site that offers a bevy of different teaching resources and lesson plans. It is broken down into dozens of different categories that apply to several different subjects. It then offers you links to other websites for the different category that you end up to land on. At the top of the home page there is also four different links labeled animations, pictures, videos, and primary docs. This is the area that provides you with great resources for the four categories listed.
I would use this in my classroom for a few basic tools. It would be great for me to make my lesson plans. There is a large selection of lesson plans for social studies so that would be very handy for me as a teacher. I could also utilize the different videos, animations, etc for my classroom. This is another tool that is very efficient. It would solve several different issues (lesson plans, resources, etc) in one convenient location.

Rubistar. A great tool for rubrics

Rubistar.com is a free website that helps teachers to create quality rubrics. It is broken down into different subjects and areas that you might want to make your rubric. There is also an area where you can create your own games, maps, etc for your classroom. Each subject is broken down into various sub categories that go with the main subject. It is a great resource for a teacher who is looking for a quick, effective way to create a rubric.
I would use this in my classroom probably in two or three ways. The most obvious way being to make rubrics for my class. The other ways I would use it would probably be for such things as the games or maps. I see this as being a way for me, as a teacher, to have a quick resource that can help me in a couple different key areas of my classroom.

How Teachertube would help my classroom.

Teachertube is a website very similar to youtube (shock I know). It takes educational videos from all around the country and conviently puts them on one website. The videos are all in some way related to something educational. This is a great source for teachers to find educationl videos for the classroom.
Teachertube would have many advantages for using in my classroom. It would provide a great visual aid for my students to learn by. A teacher can find almost any kind of video that applies to their subject on teachertube. These videos would provide a great way for the students to be entertained and still go about learning. The digital natives of today's classroom, I think, would find this method of teaching very exciting.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

edHelper.com...One Efficient Tool

Edhelper.com is a website that takes any subject you can think of and breaks them down into categories. It then takes these categories (social studies, math, english, etc) and gives you dozens of different puzzles, worksheets, timelines, etc that you can print out for your class.


I would use this in my classroom in many different ways. I could use this website as my primary source for different worksheets, puzzles, etc. It would work as a very efficient tool for me as a teacher. It would save me a ton of time searching for worksheets and different ways to evaluate my students progress. These worksheets are a great way to let the students show their progress and let themselves judge how well they are doing in the class.
The other benefit that this site has is the variety that it offers. There are so many different subjects and categories that it would be hard not to find something that applied to you as a teacher. And once you find the specific subject that applies to you there is an even larger amount of worksheets and activities offered. The possibilites that this website offers can be countless and can have so many different benefits to a teacher.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Sexist Boot Fashion

Ok so in today's blog I'm going to discuss something that has been irking me. As the entire world knows the always attractive fashion of Ugg Boots burst onto the scene a view years ago and sadly is still going strong. Well last week down here at IU it was raining all week and I began to notice and equally disturbing fashion. Rain boots. It appears that the thing to do is for girls to find brigh pink, poke a dots, or just generally hideous rain boots and wear them up to the knee and parade them around like they are on the Paris runway. My biggest problem with these boots is not their "unique" look but the fact that they cater to only one sex. Females. A man can't be seen walking around in Ugg boots and he certainly can't be seen walking around in pink rain boots. It just isn't fair. So it is with this blog that I am going to make my plea for a crazy, ugly, lacking creativity boot fashion that can be worn by both sexes. This way I won't have to hide my Ugg boots in my closet. blog blog blog blog

Friday, September 25, 2009

Thanks Carrie Wadycki

I would like to take this post to thank a one, Miss Carrie Wadycki. So I had this project for my Education with Computers class in my FRESHMAN YEAR OF COLLEGE. The project is to created a digital story using windows movie maker. I soon realized, "Hey, didn't I do a project exactly like this in my JUNIOR YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL?" And the answer was yes. I did a very similar project for my photojournalism class. Who was the teacher of that class you might ask? It was none other than Carrie Wadycki. So to you Wad I say, thank you. Your obviously a revolutinary who is way ahead of her game and prepares students for life in college. Your also a super lady who can put a mean full nelson on someone. So everyone should update their status today to say something about Wad and the super lady she is. blog blog blog blog