Resource Blog #3

I found the Annenberg Learner website as a third potential resource for when I become a teacher. This particular website was developed to reach a wide range of students reaching from K-College. It is also an excellent resource for a variety of subjects including art, foreign language, language arts, literature, mathematics, science, and social studies/history. I personally do not think this site would provide useful examples of lesson plans to help create new ideas. What I do think is helpful is how it speaks directly to the teacher about how to improve teaching strategies and facilitate better discussion.  As part of the Annenberg Learner’s mission, it wants to create flexible teachers who are always willing to learn and integrate their findings to create the most optimal learning experience for the students.

As I mentioned, I wouldn’t use Annenberg Learner as a primary source for lesson plan ideas mainly because of the lack of lesson plans that are available. While the few, available plans can be helpful, there aren’t enough of them to cover weeks’ worth of material in a single subject. There is an interactive section that offers fun activities for the students to take part in.  I think the video series category is extremely useful because it offers multiple, free videos covering several, specific topics within a unit. I could see myself using these videos to help further my students’ understanding after I teach the content myself. The use of videos to sum up information was always useful for me as a student because it was a change of scenery and kept me interested in the topic.

(word count 268)

https://www.learner.org/

Synthesis Blog #3

This week’s topic has been about properly using a textbook. I am 100% in favor of the use of textbooks, but they have grown to be so monotonous. While I understand organizations are trying to make textbooks more entertaining to promote student engagement, I think very little has changed.

During an in-class activity, my group discussed the aspects of a textbook that can be more hurtful than helpful. Nowadays these books, especially math and science textbooks, are riddled with extra fluff including multiple examples, quick history lessons, fun facts, etc. These extra components can be helpful for the most enthusiastic readers, but they don’t work for everyone. When I was in middle school, I simply wanted to know what I needed to get done, so I could hangout with my friends and play outside. Even if teachers assign the more important information, the fluff can still be distracting to someone who struggles with reading.

A tangible way that might help students that the book discusses, is focusing on reading strategies. Even with a difficult text, students can adapt and learn to find the information they need. Before reading a piece of the text, students should always question and hypothesize what they’re about to read. As someone who personally struggles with retaining information, I would advise my students to take notes. I think the real key to success is refreshing over the information the day after reading the text. The information is fresh enough to remember, but it’s already beginning to fade away.
(Word count 252)

Resource Blog #2

For my second online resource, I was pleasantly surprised by the website, Howtosmile. This website is a compilation of professionally assembled lesson plans that are oriented towards mathematics and science. The creators of this site had a vision to make math and science come alive through their videos and activities, and they particularly wanted this to be a tool for out-of-school teaching for grades K-12. Howtosmile is completely free for both teachers and students, and an account isn’t even required to access this useful tool.

                One of my favorite components, is that any teacher can post self-created lesson plans. These lesson plans then get reviewed and revised by a team of experts before they can be accessed by the public. This site offers 9 different subjects for teachers and students to choose from including astronomy, energy, climate, life sciences, chemistry, math, health, ocean literacy, and even cooking! That’s right! This site integrates math and science and the fun, life-lesson of cooking! Within these 9 broad subjects there are several subcategory topics that cover a wide range of material within the subject.

I like that this site lists the essential principles that one needs to understand before moving onto the next topic; I think it is a good way of challenging students to be diligent readers. Each lesson includes helpful information like the preparation time, learning time, cost of materials per student, and the age range that each lesson was created for. For each hands-on activity, an extensive amount of helpful, play-by-play instructions are provided, so that even the most ill-equipped teachers could complete the lesson with confidence. I would use this particular resource in my classroom. While it is more geared towards out-of-school teaching, I could still implement these lesson plans in my classroom setting. (295 word count)

https://www.howtosmile.org/