Purpose: To find five credible websites that assist the teacher in helping all of his students learn. The description of the website will prove the validity and usefulness of the source. The websites are intended for a high school English classroom.
OU Database
This is a credible website because it is part of Ohio University's database for English education. Any student or teacher can access the website and find help in oral or written English. Teachers can find quizzes and handouts for their students and students can conduct practice exercises online to better prepare themselves for class. For teachers, the site gives a holistic approach to teaching English and provides the teacher with remarkable resources.
FreeRice
I found this to be a credible website through background research on the program. It appears that FreeRice has partnered with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, so that association leads me to believe that the program is indeed credible. I also took the quiz for about five minutes and found each answer that the website provided to be accurate. This incredible resource as dual benefits for my students. First, and most obviously, it is increasing their vocabulary. This will help them formulate their thoughts more clearly in papers, help them comprehend reading more easily, and help them score higher on their standardized tests. While an activity like this can become exceedingly dull, FreeRice donates 20 grains of rice per correct answer on the website. This teaches my students to be global citizens and to be responsible not only in the classroom but outside of it. As a teacher, it benefits me because it is a lesson that the entire class can embrace and is pre-made for me.
Big Buddy
Big Buddy is a mentorship group centralized in Baton Rouge. Because they set up the website, I am assuming all information on it is credible. What the site offers me as an educator is a basic outline for a high school student spoken word organization. Slam poetry and self-expression are powerful empowerment opportunities for inner city youth, and by engaging my students in programs such as this, I am offering an alternative to the traditional English classroom. For my students, being involved in a performance group will be an exciting opportunity because their work will be taken seriously and their education will be rewarded. While I don't anticipate teaching in Louisiana, this website gives me contact information as well as a base of knowledge from which I can create my own program.
Short Stories
This is a website linking from Carnegie Mellon's English website. It is an incredible resource for any teacher because it is so in-depth and rich with great authors. The writers go from James Joyce to Mark Twain to Oscar Wilde and each exhibits the best that the short story can offer. I believe that with many of my students, the novel will be a difficult hill to climb. Because most kids don't like reading forty pages a night, the short story, which can be as rich as the novel, is most likely the better path to choose. In schools where resources are tight, books can become expensive and this website offers a free and very accessible alternative. Also, for more advanced students, it offers guidelines into criticism and biographies of authors. As a teacher, I anticipate this database of short stories helping me a great deal.
Teacher Tips
Studyguide.org is an acclaimed website maintained by a teacher named Mrs. Adams. It has had 250,000 views since 2002 and has been named a Web English Teacher Outstanding Resource. It includes a direct e-mail address to the site maintainer and because it doesn't offer strict factual information or offer to sell anything, it should be viewed as a credible resource. This website is an incredible resource because it links to plays such as Hamlet, offers free versions of the play, offers potential essay questions for students, and offers criticism from professors and authors to guide the students research. If teaching were a science, Studyguide.org would make it an easy learn.
Growth:
Through this activity, I stretched my knowledge of teacher databases. I had no idea that the web offered so many lesson plans, so many movies, or so many full pieces of literature, available free for teachers to use. I was able, through in-depth research, to move past the simple Google search and to find quality websites that will guide content and discussion in future classrooms. Individually, I feel these websites enhance my unique theory on how English should be taught in the inner-city classroom through community performance and group learning.
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