Website Evaluations

Web English Teacher

• For Teachers- Lesson Plans and Resources
• Grades K-12
• English (including Reading, ESL and Journalism)

This site has a plethora of links to web resources, lesson plan ideas, handouts and more for almost any Language Arts-related content. Searches can be done by author, title or skill. It covers basic reading skills to Advanced Placement content.

Chalkdust

• For Parents and Teachers - Resource, Blog
• Grades K-12
• All subject areas

Chalkdust is a blog from the maker of Web English Teacher. It offers interesting entries about personal teaching experiences, what may be going on in specific schools or districts and occasionally outside institutions (most recently the National Center for Learning Disabilities) will submit a post. It is interesting and entertaining reading from people who have experience in education.

Folger Shakespeare Library

• For Teachers and Students - Resources, Lessons, Blog
• Grades K-12
• English - Specifically teaching Shakespeare’s plays

This website has resources for both students and teachers, including opportunities for conferences and other kinds of extension experiences. There are lessons, guides. podcasts and suggestions for teachers, and contests, articles and other information for students. Elementary and secondary opportunities are presented. There is also a teacher blog that allows anyone to see what the Folger Library has been up to, most recently it has detailed the Teaching Shakespeare Institute.


Wiggio

• For Teachers and Students - Interactive Resource
• Grades 6-12
• All subjects - including extra-curriculars or sports

This site manages groups, allows “conference calls,” offers a shared calendar, members can upload and share files and send messages, as well as take polls. This could be used by one teacher managing her whole class as a group, or by individual groups of students. It is free and there are plenty of video tutorials to get everyone started.

Popplet

• For Teachers and Students - Interactive Activity
• Grades 1-12 (dependent on scaffolding)
• All subjects

This site allows users to create visual aids similar to a virtual bulletin board. One student can make a whole board, or multiple students can add to the same board. Boards can have text, drawings or images and can be made into a presentation format. Graphic webs can also be made. This is a great way for students to organize information for a paper or project, or it can be a project within itself.

Vialogues

• For Teachers and Students - Interactive Activity
• Grades 6-12 (earlier grades possible, with support)
• All subjects

This site allows the teacher to upload a video, even just one from youtube, and set up a form for discussion after students view the clip. Students can comment or answer specific questions, both multiple choice and open-ended. The end result is a dialogue about a video, and this product can be posted on a blog or other kind of class website. It makes showing film in class much more of an active activity!

Share My Lesson

• For Teachers - Lesson Plans and Resource
• Grades K-12
• All Subjects - Including electives

This site compiles lesson ideas by grade level and content area. The website is also aware of the Common Core Standards. Users can search by most recent lessons or most recently recommended, in addition to searching by content or skill.

Florida Center for Reading Research

• For Teachers - Resource
• Grades K-5 (some activities can be modified for struggling readers of any grade level)
• Reading and Literacy

This site compiles a variety of reading and general literacy center activities for students, organized by grade level and facet of reading. Most activities are printable. There are also a variety of articles, and much news about the Florida Center’s research and findings on reading and literacy.

SMART Exchange

• For Teachers and Students - Interactive Resource and Lesson Plans
• Grades Pre K-College
• All subjects

This site provides teachers with resources for their SMARTBoard, most of which are interactive for students. There are lessons correlated to the state standards, as well as plenty of searchable lessons, templates and games. There is also a Community section to open the lines of communication up with other teachers and a Training section for teachers to hone their skills.

ReadPrint

• For Teachers and Students - Resource
• Grades 6- adult
• Most subjects

This site offers free online books (fiction and nonfiction), poetry, plays, short stories and essays. Teachers can project the text onto the SmartBoard to show annotation, and have the electronic text to make a variety of technological tasks easier than inputting it manually. There is also a quote section by subject or author, a community aspect and ways for users to make lists of books. It would be an interesting way to suggest supplemental reading to students, as well.