Page 70 - Resources and Support for the Online Educator

Leveraging Technology for Teacher Efficiency and Effectivenes • CHAPTER 11

Even if you excel at finding good interactive websites for your students to use, a
search in TeachersFirst will bring up sites and tools you probably have not seen
before. If you register on the site, you can save your favorites and receive an email
every Sunday with tips, featured sites, and other goodies.

Internet4Classrooms (internet4classrooms.com) organizes a large range of educa-
tional resources for PreK–12. In addition to links to student activities by grade
levels and content areas, you can drill down to the individual standard elements of
the Common Core and access online activities mapped to the elements. This site is
extensive and concentrates on activities students can do to practice their learning.
Some sites may only be skills drills.

Utah Education Network or UEN (uen.org/k12student/interactives.shtml) has a less
extensive set of links than other sites but has an attractive and user-friendly inter-
face. Links are organized by grade levels, K–2, 3–6, and 7–12, and then by content
areas. Within each content area, the links are arranged with icons, and plug-in
requirements, such as Flash or Shockwave, are noted.

Instructional Support Websites

For lack of a better place to list my favorite websites, the ones I believe teachers
need to know and explore, this section highlights websites that are particularly
useful for teachers. Some may be mentioned elsewhere in the book. Instructional
support websites are those that offer teachers knowledge and materials for
teaching in content areas. Some may contain activities for students that teachers
can access, but their primary role is to support teachers as they plan instruction.
Of course, this list is not comprehensive.

Instructional Resources for Multiple Content Areas
PBS LearningMedia (pbslm.lunchbox.pbs.org/student-experience) serves schools
by providing digital resources for free. The collection has audio, video, images,
documents, interactives, and lesson plans. Many digital videos and materials can
be downloaded after free registration. Some of the videos can also be mashed or
put into a video editing program for teachers or students to manipulate. Teachers
also have access to four tools on the site: Lesson Builder, Quiz Maker, Storyboard,
and Puzzle Builder. Students may search the collection, but registration is required

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