Online Blog Page:

Class One Comments - Class Two Comments - Class Three Comments

Read comments made by other classmates as a supplement or replacment for class discussions.

___________________________________________________________________

Class One

-Review Collections and Search Engines

Jillian Sterner

The site I chose to explore is Internet4Classrooms. This is a site I use regularly and have for the past two years. This site offers many detailed descriptions of activities in the Microsoft Office environment. I use their videos available for some students in my Computer Applications class, because it seems to help them complete activities. The step by step videos allow them to walk through and see the steps on their computer. Sometimes my explanation and/ or presentation on the projector just dont suffice.
I would greatly recommend this site, and others like it, to other teachers as another resource to help students comprehend lesson activities.

Helen Agee
Helen is a TAG teacher with Knox County Schools.

The site I chose to explore is the Jefferson County Tech Update site. I am confident I chose it due to its school clip art and backgrounds. Once I got further into it I realized the current events lessons were very appealing to me as well. Sometimes I like to browse sites for specific state standards and other times I enjoy looking for lessons that are timely in nature. This site is similar to a monthly magazine or newsletter that highlights holidays and important events in history. A teacher can go into the archives to find lessons to go with any month. There were Power Point slideshows in all subject areas to download for use with many lessons. I thought the site was easy to navigate and pleasing. I will be sure to bookmark it and place it in the folder with other research sites for use in my classes (I know how to do this –Activity 4).

Activity 4
Question - Why do different search engines yield different results?
Different search engines probably yield different results due to the relevancy they place on the word or words being searched.
Question – What browser do I use most frequently?
I use Safari as my default browser but do have Firefox on all my machines for programs that do not support Safari.

Joyce Caldwell
Joyce is taking some time off a Music teacher.

I browsed through the Scholastic Website. While it is a .com site, it was fairly easy to use and there is a lot of information as well as some free samples available. I have used one of them last week, a word web in the shape of a fish, which is just what I needed for one of my tutoring students. To set search parameters and save time, teachers can select a grade level and specific subjects. There is also a section for thematic lessons and new lessons, a great timesaver. You can download and print the free items in PDF format and they are ready to use. A plus is that you can try out the samples and if they seem to be what you need, you can buy the source (book) on line and you will know that you have not wasted your money on a book that is of limited use to you. The site also has links to the latest educational research articles. A free newsletter is also offered as well as links to popular books such as Clifford and I Spy series which feature on line activities. --Joyce Caldwell

Amanda Lane

This year I received a smartboard for my classroom. So I was excited to take this technology class and gather some neat ideas for using the smartboard effectively. I have used a couple of the websites already as resources. I was interested in the Lessonplanz.com site. I felt it was user-friendly and had a very neat look to it. I liked being able to browse by subjects and grade level or to search for a particular topic. I like the fact many of the lesson plans I viewed had internet components to them. It was easy to maneuver from one subject to another. I appreciated that many selections could be made to narrow down my searching. It made me feel that my time was being used effectively because I did not have to scroll through endless lists of lesson plans. Since the lists were concise, it was possible to search and not find a lesson plan to fit the learning. Overall, I feel it to be a useful site that I would recommend to fellow teachers. --Amanda Lane

Bill and Kim Mink-
Bill is a PE teacher with Knox County Schools, Kim is a Music teacher with Knox County Schools

We use Mozilla with the Google tool bar at home to search. At school, Internet Explorer is used.

I found the website http://www.internet4classrooms.com/ to be the most useful in finding information that was health related. Although there was not as much information on lesson plans for my subject area in this site. It was user friendly and fairly easy to browse different topics. Some of the other sites were too busy and not that easy to navigate. ---Bill Mink


I chose the http://www.lessonplans4teachers.com/ site. It was very difficult to find good websites that had good music content. Some of these links I have used before and found them to be useful. I did not like the layout of the site because it was too busy but the resources were good. ---Kim Mink

Terry Blakely
Terry is a TAG teacher with Knox County Schools.

After spending much time trying to follow directions and overcoming computer hurdles,I attempt your assignments. I am thrilled to see the lists of recommended sites. I have used the <internet4teachers> site for years, and on one notable occasion, gave
instructions on how to use the site to a talented third grader who can do math way, way above grade level. I do not know if he uses the site any longer, but it was fun seeing him use {gasp!} an adult site. I have used <Kathy Schrock> ever since she began posting. I like her"Sites of the Day."

One of your sites has just walloped me "up side the head!" Where did you get <Trackstar > ? I immediately downloaded one of its
locations, printed it, and ran down the hall to give it to four of my fourth grade teachers. Math and Reading games for those uninterested and unloving students! Rubrics, which I hate to write! and all the different components -the Teacher toolbox...I will spend hours using this site this year! I am going to share this with every teacher I know! I have already emailed one supervisor, her assistant, and a certain DR. Principal about items found on this url. My needy "I am all alone in my building because I am a TAG teacher," self has just signed on for <proteacher.net > to comfort and enjoy hearing from other teachers- not -in-my-assigned -schools! Even though this is my 36th year in KCS, I still am sentimental about the purpose of teaching, and the lives we affect daily. I find inspiration at this site, and am happy to use its little "offspring" in my classes. Darn! I want computer access for my students.I want a smart board for us to use all the cool sites you have bookmarked for us, and I have saved to desktop.

I read all the search engines, too. I do not feel comfortable using business-oriented ones. I prefer simple "Google" for myself, but last week found an inappropriate hate oriented site that had slipped past our censors, so I notified the ENA-East TN rep, my principal, and MRS. YARNELL, as well as the Southern Poverty Law Center. It was that bad! The ENA has wiped it out nationally from their sites. I prefer to have students use < Yahooligans for kids >when having my 3-4-5 graders use the computers. I will be looking at the Search engines site again tomorrow, and explore the myriad details. Thank you for planning such a compelling assignment! I love research , and have actually learned from this and all my mistakes from yesterday! ---Terry Blakely

"Please contact us anytime you need assistance ."

danielm@k12tn.net

reagans1@k12tn.net

TnTech Email Access