Tools for Educators

I am always scrambling trying to find creative ways to acquire art grades. This user has given me a site that not only includes art, but has printer friendly worksheets in English and in Spanish. They include games and a link called sites for teachers. It is categorized by grade levels and subject matter. I pay annually for a site that only does a fraction of what this site promises. It is entitled Tools for Educators by a user named digireboot.

The Best Teacher Blog

I read a blog today by a writer only known as Mystery Teacher. The subheading What the world needs now is love, sweet love was listed under a title called Mysterious Teaching. In this blog a teacher reminisced about how it used to be acceptable to hug a student who initiated a hug. She says that since it has been deemed politically incorrect, the children who need the hugs have not disappeared though. She sites how parents’ love now a days is shown by the showering of game systems instead of with guidance, insistence on obeying rules and necessary consequences when rules are broken. She noted that a child should always be assured of her parent(s) unconditional love. I find that I agree with her and I appreciate parents who are willing to give my decisions in my classroom the benefit of the doubt before automatically siding with their child.

Geography at the Movies

This blog entitled Climate Change: Geography at the Movies provides teachers teaching geography a variety of videos about geography. I especially found the movies on global warming interesting. I do suggest previewing the videos before use because some have pictures that may not be age appropriate for classroom viewing.

Nik Peachey

Culture

http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/search/label/culture

This culture site tells of a Youtube video site, LoneGirl15 that provides teenage students with personal situations in video form common to teenagers in language that they can identify with. I learned that providing these types of discussion starters is a great way to get teenagers to write and talk about issues that affect and interest them.

Knowledge Sharing
http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/search/label/knowledge%20sharing

From the knowledge sharing Youtube site Online Video: As Knowledge Resource, I learned how “with just a simple webcam, or a digital camera or camcorder it is now possible for teachers and students to create and share their knowledge and experience of a vast range of topics” that interest them. They can also “access a global pool of knowledge and experience from cultures all over the world”. Again this is done in video form and serves as a great introduction to discussions or writing activities.

Language Exchange
http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/search/label/language%20exchange

I learned about a language exchange site, Friendshipsabroad.com, that allows students, or anyone for that matter, to get a language pal that they can email, chat with or leave voice-mail messages for without disclosing personal information (not even their email). It has the potential to aid with social language development (BICS). “You simply put in your language and then the language you want to learn and then you can also choose the country where you would like to find the person. Click on search and you get a list of people who fit your criteria.” Although you have to register, it is free and provides tool to aid you with your communication.

Science and Math sites for ELL

In this list of sites,The Best Science & Math Websites — 2008, Larry combines both Math and Science sites. He does not list them according to preference. However, he does have a clear choice for the number one site — and the same site is number one for both science and math. In order to make the list the sites had to meet his usual criteria. They have to be free, engaging, and accessible to English Language Learners. Some of the sites in both categories give opportunities for language development.

Reading Sites for ELL

The sites on this list, The Best Websites To Help Beginning Readers, can be helpful to beginning and early intermediate English Language Learners, as well as to younger native-English speakers. They provide them with accessible and high-interest text. All the sites, except for one, have “talking stories” that show images and provide audio support to the text. The images and audio provide a high-degree of accessibility. Larry ranks eleven sites, with only one not being free. He suggests that the $60 yearly subscription for that one would be well spent. He also estimates that there are well over five hundred high-quality stories, including fiction and nonfiction, contained in these eleven sites. These sites provide countless online reading activities to supplement the texts as well.

Listening Sites for ELL

This Larry Ferlazzo's website, The Best Listening Sites For English Language Learners, consists of a series of listening websites that he lists into two categories, “sites that let users listen to anything they write or find on the internet” and “sites that have a wide-range of listening options combined with assessments. Sites in both of the categories had to meet the following criteria to have been included: “be free, be accessible to English Language Learners, let English Language Learners listen to pretty much anything they would either write or anything they could find on the internet, or have a wide range of listening options that would be combined with comprehension assessments”. Although Larry tries not to identify these in order of preference, he does single out one because he can’t seem to help himself.