PKenglishwebsites

Spring 2014 Directions: Click Edit, Type your name, Type your comments, Click Save.
 * Exploring the Potential of Interactive Websites in English/Language Arts**

For your comments, identify the name of the website and insert a hyperlink if possible. Then explain how you might use this interactive resource to (a) __activate__, (b) __assess__, and/or (c) __build__ **students' prerequisite knowledge for your lesson/unit.**


 * EXAMPLE FROM LAST SEMESTER:**


 * Amanda Dorado: VisuWords and Magnetic Poetry**
 * Site # 1: **VisuWords** - The first interactive website that I viewed was VisuWords. VisuWords is an online graphical dictionary. This website allows you to type in or find any word in their database. The site does not only just provide you with a definition; it provides you with a breakdown of the word in an organizer. You can move the boxes around or add words. There is a side bar with a key of what the different colors and shapes mean. The website also provides vocabulary lists, synonyms and flashcards. The website even allows you to type in phrases such as World War II. The graphic organizer for World War II gives a brief description and provides bubbles that contain information on which countries were involved. What I like most about this site is how flashy and interesting it is. It caught my attention immediately and I continued to flip through new words! After spending some time on VisuWords I have decided that as a teacher I could use VisuWords to **activate a student’s knowledge**. For example, if I planned to introduce The Diary of Anne Frank to one of my English classes I would use VisuWords to help me activate my student’s knowledge. If the school provided me with a laptop cart I would put the students into groups and have them pull up VisuWords. I would have the students talk about what they know about World War II. I would then have them type “World War II” into VisuWords. Now the students have a complete graphic organizer right in front of them, providing them with background information on World War II. This will help the students make connections as they begin to read.
 * Site # 2: **Magnetic Poetry** - The second interactive website that I viewed was Magnetic Poetry. Magnetic Poetry is an awesome site that allows you to create poems in a more interesting way than just typing in words. There are different categories to choose from for example there is a category named romance. If you click on romance a screen pops up and to the right there are a ton of words that would fit in the category romance. You can slide any of these words over onto the screen and create a poem. The website can repeat back your poem with audio and you can even submit your poem to the site. I found this website very interesting because it makes writing a poem more interesting. It gives you different words so you can formulate your own sentences. Since it provides you with words it can help stimulate different ideas. As a teacher, I would use this website to **assess my student’s knowledge**. For example, if in one of my English classes I was discussing different types of poetry, I would use this website to see if the students can apply the knowledge I just gave them about a specific type of poem. Say I taught my students the rules and guidelines of a sonnet. I would have the students go on Magnetic Poetry and create a poem about anything they wanted. The one rule would be that the students had to follow the rules and guidelines of a sonnet. I would have my students submit their poems and I would check to make sure they followed the guidelines of a sonnet.

TYPE YOUR RESPONSE HERE - THEN INSERT A HORIZONTAL BAR (8th icon on the editing bar) and then SAVE your work.

Erin Burns, Knowing Poe/MythWeb-Greek Mythology Site #1- The first site that I chose to visit for English was __Knowing Poe__. This website was really interesting and a great tool for a unit related to Poe's works. This site is broken up into three parts, the first is about Edgar Allen Poe and his life, the second is activities related to Poe's short stories and poems and the third is a full library on all of Poe's works and background information pertaining to them. This site is really great especially if you want to see if your students have any prior knowledge about Edgar Allen Poe or his works. If I were teaching this as a unit I would use the website to assess my student's prior knowledge by asking a simple question, such as "How did Edgar Allen Poe die?" If some students did not know, we could go to the website as a class and check. This website would also be really fun to use to find some ideas on new activities to give to the class after having read a short story by Poe. One example of a way to assess the students would be, if we were working on First and Second Person tenses in relation to Poe's works, I could go on the website and find an activity related to that specific unit. One really interesting activity related to that was about rewriting one of Poe's stories but through the eyes of a different character. This will really get the students thinking about first and second person as well as give them something creative and interesting to work on.

Site #2- The second site that I chose to visit for English was MythWeb- Greek Mythology. This website was really fun and useful to use as a tool. The website uses interactive tools such as pictures to describe any Greek Gods or Heroes. The description even includes the Roman names of the Deity as well as the Greek. The website can also be used as an Encyclopedia. If you click on any of the Deity names it will tell you their full description, as well as the story of the myth behind them. This website would be really fun to use especially if you were doing a unit where you had to read Greek Myths. The students could use this website as either background information or as a way to reference certain names of Deities that they do not know. Many Greek myths have multiple deities referenced within the story, this website would be a great tool for students to use. Students could bring their own laptops in order to use the website or if the school had a laptop cart, the students could use the cart as a station while reading to look up some names that might have been confusing them. I would use this website to assess the students knowledge by having them do a paper on one specific deity of their choice and have them research them at length using this website as a tool.

Ryan O'Connell - American Writers/Word Matrix

Site #1 American Writers is not an attractive site with its excessively bright purple color scheme, but once I actually explored some of the links I was impressed. The literary survey is chronologically organized first by era and then, on separate pages, by the authors included. The organization is really fantastic, and I spent 45 minutes clicking through pages with concise author biographies, easily accessed supplementary videos, and in the case of almost everything through 1901 there is at least one very visible link to an online version of one of the author's works. In most of the more recent writers these are replaced with study guides and other useful information. C-Span happens to also host an American Presidents site similar to this one, so the designers included small boxes at the end of each era page with the names of the era's presidents and links to their biographies on AmericanPresidents.org. The author biographies are concise, but they still contain many references to events, people, and places which any high school student would require some guidance in exploring. With so many free texts, as long as students have consistent internet access, the content on this site could be very nicely paired with Read Write Thinks's Cube Creator applet (http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/cube_creator/). Cube Creator allows students to make online graphic organizers of stories, biographies, and anything else you could want through a sort of tedious "create your own" option. The best feature of Cube Creator is that users are able to save or send their work directly in an e-mail. The writing space in the organizers is fairly large so students could use them for essay or test preparation, or as a homework assignment. (The site builds student knowledge of many many authors, and a companion site like Cube Creator assesses that knowledge)

Site #2 Word Matrix is a surprisingly fun game applet by Read Write Think that challenges users to plot words on a graph which measures a word's formality and the positive or negative connotations it has. I prefer just using one of the measures and creating my own "concept" so that no words are provided for me and I can challenge myself to get more than on the last word I tried. Unfortunately the game is relatively simple and lacks a lot of potentially useful features like quick definitions or even spell check. This is not really useful as an assignment or anything other than vocabulary exercise. It would be interesting to play the game with a class, having the students compete individually, in groups, or with/against the teacher. (The site activates students' vocabulary knowledge by encouraging them to think about or seek out words related to a central "concept" word, and hopefully builds their knowledge by encouraging them to expand their vocabularies through competitive or cooperative practice).

Site #1: The first interactive website that I chose to visit was //SAT Preparation Practice//- as someone who once stressed over the SAT, I wish I had known that this resource was available when I was in high school! What the website lacks in creativity, it makes up for by providing a multitude of available activities. For example, there are tests and drills that would allow students to brush up on difficult vocabulary. This website redirects users to other websites that allow students to try different methods. As an educator, I would encourage students to utilize this website, as the vocabulary used within the Sat is often challenging and students are not always familiar with these ambiguous terms. I would provide a five-minute warm-up in which allows my students to collaboratively work on identifying vocabulary together as a class. This would provide the opportunity for some students to tap into their prior knowledge and for other students to simultaneously learn something new.
 * Samantha Villella- //SAT Preparation Practice// and //ENotes Video Study Guide for Shakespeare's MacBeth//**

Site #2: The second website that I chose to overlook was //ENotes Video Study Guide for Shakespeare’s __MacBeth__//. This website seems to be a conventional Study Guide website- however it caters to multiple learning styles. The video portion allows auditory learners to grasp the material in an effective manner. Additionally, there is text for those visual learners who would rather read something than watch it. As a student myself, I visit websites such as this frequently as a guiding tool to understand text. I would encourage students to visit this website for preparation for classroom discussion or quizzes, but provide assessments that require students to expand on their own understanding to interpret or elaborate on summary and analysis. MacBeth can be a challenging text because anything Shakespearean seems foreign at first. I would review the “New Homework Help” questions with students as a way to get them motivated to think in a different way.


 * Kaylee Arruda: World Creation Myths/ Make Beliefs (Online Comic Strip Generator)**
 * Site #1: The first interactive site that I chose to visit was World Creation Myths. World Creation Myths uses flash animation to give an overview of Mayan, Inca, Inuit, Norse, Egyptian, Yoruba, Babylonian, Chinese, and Maori cultures and to present each culture's creation myth. For each creation myth there is a vocabulary list specific to the culture. The site also encourages the students to use what they have learned to create their own creation myth; every so often the site will feature the top picks. This site is useful because the students can learn about different cultures and use the writing skills that they have learned accompanied with the new vocabulary the site has taught them to write their own stories.
 * Site #2: The second interactive site that I chose to visit was Make Beliefs. Make beliefs is an online comic strip generator where the students can choose from a range of pre-selected clip art to make their own comic strips. As a future educator I can see myself using this in my classroom when I want my students to demonstrate an understanding of a text. So often I hear students complain when they are handed arts and crafts assignments because they are not "artsy," or they can't draw, this website would allow the student to identify the main ideas of a short story or chapter, in a comic strip, and they would would not need any artistic ability; they might also prefer it because it is online.

Elementary/English
 * Allie Hirsch- Sharing Picture Books & VisuWords**

Site #1: The first site I explored was about sharing **picture books** and the connections found between incorporating picture books and student achievement/learning. This website is a blog that is supported and maintained by a teacher with a love for sharing their knowledge. I first chose this webpage because to be honest, I was curious if the author could convince me of their claim that sharing picture books is beneficial in supporting student learning. I loved the provided strategies for teacher to use when sharing picture books with students. I can absolutely see myself using picture books to create a community within my classroom. What does this entail? By incorporating picture books into learning, a common ground is established for all students and abstract concepts can become concrete. I agree that students as a result of picture books can share a common set of images, thoughts and perspectives on a single topic while being in close proximity to one another. Picture books are also perfect avenues to introducing life skills like cooperation, responsibility, integrity, empathy and teamwork. Another great piece to using picture books with older students is that it can be used to help develop their visualization abilities which is most critical to reading comprehension. I see myself using picture books as a tool to assess prior knowledge and experiences with universal themes(like adaptability and empathy). I could also use picture books as a tool to support students' abilities to visualize and follow texts in an appropriate fashion.

Site #2: The second site I explored was called VisuWords and it is categorized as an online graphical dictionary. This cool, interactive website is geared towards the student support of understanding, developing and differentiating associated words and concepts. I really like this site because I can see myself personally using this site even as an adult, looking for a stronger clarification of a specific word. This website is a huge upgrade from the commonly known 'thesaurus.com' because it not only provides a clear definition of the word you want to learn about, but also teaches how words are related. For example, when you search any given word, you are provided with the exact definition but also words that are kind of related to.../an instance of.../a part of.../is similar to.../pertains to.../ and also see.... I love this website because it supports the understanding of new words by providing students with an outpouring amount of related words and it tells students in what way the two words are related which really helps to clarify any confusion. I can see myself using this site as an independent task for students to begin engagement with new words or concepts. It would be a nice activity to provide students with a blank graphic organizer that breaks down one word down to the most basic understanding of the word. I could additionally use this as an activity to build and activate knowledge for my students on a new unit that requires a strong foundation of relsted vocabulary. This unit could touch upon large concepts like racism, classism, sexism or abuse, etc.