Top+10+Websites

//**A List of my Favorite and Most Frequently Used Websites:**//

1. Wikispaces

Wikispaces is a wiki website that makes it easy for someone to post information, links, assignments, comments, and more. As a moderator, an instructor can create a wikispace and change the pages as frequently as desired. Students can submit their assignments by editing the pages or posting discussion threads. I have made use of wikispaces for several years, and I find my wikispace, http://mrsschrack.wikispaces.com, very helpful. I often design pages specifically for direct instruction and it’s simple to post an assignment that students can easily find.  Grade Level: All; Teachers; Parents

2. Delicious

Delicious is a social bookmarking website. A user can bookmark favorite sites and access his or her bookmarks from any location with Internet access. Although I do not have a Delicious account to keep my bookmarks, I like to use this site as a search engine. I count on finding good resources because other people have already “favorited” good websites. It appears that the sites that are listed first are those which are bookmarked the most, thus it’s not a matter of how much the company pays to be at the top of the search list, rather they must be preferred by the consumer.  Grade Level: 5-12, requires literacy skills

3. YouTube

YouTube contains plenty of educational material. It’s a great one-stop site to find videos of current events and mini-lessons. I often find good clips to use during our Mentor Periods, Spanish class, and social studies classes. In order to use them in class, I embed widgets into my wikispace in order to avoid obscene or unnecessary ads as well as posted comments. Very important to note is that YouTube does have its problems. If used for class, the teacher MUST preview everything. Posted material is often copyrighted. Also, sometimes videos are removed after a period of time.  Grade Level: All (WITH DISGRETION)

4. Google Docs

Google docs is a form of “cloudware.” Cloudware is a term given to programs that seemingly exist only in the clouds. These programs are online, and a user needs only a log-on name and password to access their files, as if it were a digital locker. Google docs contains programs to type documents, create spreadsheets, charts, graphs, and tables, author slide shows, and more. Not only does Google store one’s files but also makes those files available for collaboration (multiple authors simultaneously) and viewing by other users as the creator permits. I have had many students write historical research papers using Google docs who share the document with me for proofreading and revisal. I have also seen Google docs used to create entire school newspapers- and the writers never meet face-to-face! I have also used this in professional development. It has been very easy for me to type conference notes, then quickly share them with my professional colleagues. Together we have also produced lengthy documents with entire conference notes, thus eliminating the need for us to all attend the same sessions.  Grade Level: 5-12, Teachers

5. The History Addict

The History Addict is a fantastic site for Advanced Placement U.S. History and Advanced Placement U.S. Government. A social studies teacher consolidated his resources for each class on his class pages. He also posts helpful notes and outlines as well as podcasts of his lectures. This site is inspirational to me, as I hope to create a website with similarly valuable resources for my AP students. I would also like to try to create a podcast of my direct instruction, but I think it’ll be quite a while before that happens!  Grade Level: 10-12, Social Studies Teachers

6. Mrs. Pojer's Historyteacher.net

This history website, created by social studies teacher Mrs. Pojer, is a total resource overload! After years of assembling this website and providing constant maintenance, Mrs. Pojer has linked hundreds of news sources, maps, historical documents, governmental institutions, and more to her classroom- and mine! I frequently use this website in research for my social studies classes as I plan my lessons, and I have often referred students to this website to complete current events assignments as well as perform research for their required papers. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Grade Level: 7-12, Social Studies Teachers

7. PBS

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The Public Broadcasting Station website has multiple applications in the classroom. There is a link to PBS Kids, which contains educational material and online games for elementary students. I prefer to use the PBS site as a companion to many of the social studies and cultural Spanish lessons I have planned for my high school classes. For many of the documentaries and programs PBS broadcasts, they post a plethora of additional resources. In particular, I have used sections on The Lost Boys of the Sudan. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Grade Level: All

8. Teacher Tube

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">TeacherTube is a forum similar to YouTube, where videos clips are posted by users. Teachers can recommend videos from other sites to post to TeacherTube, or they can post their own. The idea behind the website is that teachers have quality educational material to use in their classrooms. Unfortunately, the resources here are still very limited. Also, although videos should be safe to show in class, my professional advice is to preview everything anyway. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Grade Level: All

9. Intellicast Weather

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">This website is an in-depth look at the weather. It is pretty simple to use: simply type in your zip code and the current weather and forecast quickly appear. I appreciate this website for its geography perspective. It’s very easy for me to connect the five themes of geography with the information on this website (location, human-environmental interaction, movement, region, and place). The tools here could also be very useful in science. Students could even become the meteorologists! <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Grade Levels: 5-12, Teachers

10. Perry-Castaneda Library of Maps

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The University of Texas provides this exceptional library of maps. Every country we study in geography can be found on this website, and I find myself constantly studying the maps for a better perspective of the world. I have printed several for use in class, and they are far more helpful than the typical search engine standards! There are also many different kinds of maps, and they are posted in an easily negotiable format. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Grade Levels:3-12, Teachers

11. CIA World Factbook 12. Hulu 13. Have Fun with History

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