Assignment #3

Intro to toolbox
I worked with Heather on this assignment and we used Delicious.com for our toolbox.
delicious.com/heatherandteixeira
We chose delicious because of its practicality. We liked that you can go back anytime and access your websites, even if you forget what the website was. By typing in tags that you used, you can find all of your websites that you tagged with that word. A couple things I really like about Delicious is that you can see how many people tagged a particular website, this shows you its popularity, and you can search for other sites that people have marked with tags similar to yours. This is a great tool for future resources and when I am in a classroom and can find websites that other users have found helpful. Our toolbox is organized by the tags. You can also change the order between date added and alphabetically. Here are a few of my favorite websites.

Spanish Dict
I chose this website, because I would love to be an ESL teacher or even teach Spanish someday. This is a website that has a Spanish/English dictionary and translator. I have used translation sites before, but I really like this one. Instead of just translating whatever word you type in, this website gives the part of speech, the correct usage or usages, and examples of each. I would use this in my classroom in a couple different ways. First, I would have a "word of the day" and students would use this website to find the definition and then use the information provided to use the word in their own sentence. Second, this would be a great resource for students as they do in class work or even homework. I think having the students look up a work or looking it up as a class is much more effective than simply telling them the definition. When they have to look it up, they are much more likely to remember it. I believe a paper dictionary does much the same thing, but students are more motivated when they can use technology.

Dave's ESL Cafe
Again, I want to be an ESL teacher someday, so I really liked this site. I wish I had known about it when I taught English in Chile for 7 months. This site has great lesson ideas, teaching tips, and job postings for teachers. One of my favorite features is the "Idea Cookbook." This is a place where teachers post fun/different ways they teach a certain topic. There is everything from worksheets to games. It also has a lot of great information for students. There is a place where they can get help with their homework, take practice quizzes, look up any topic to get more information, and read up about idioms. I would use this as a teacher to get ideas for teaching different topics. I think this is especially important for ESL classes because you have to find a way to connect what you are doing to prior learning. I would also direct students to this site if they need extra help and also if they finish work early because they can take practice quizzes, enter a student forum or explore different idioms.

The History Channel
I this website because it could be used as a great tool in the classroom, but it is not your typical educational site. This site is a great resource for a history class. It has articles, pictures, episodes, and shorter videos about countless historical topics. One of my favorite features is its list of holidays. You can click on a holiday to learn all about the holiday and find out about its history. As a teacher, I would use this for personal research and I would also have it listed as a website that my students can go to for research. I think students will like using this site because it is a visual appealing site and doesn't look like typical sites for students to find information. I also really like the selection of videos. I will definitely use these in my classroom someday (they would be perfect for anticipatory sets).

Learn to Read with Phonics
This site is perfect for a reading lesson. It has help for kids who are preliterate, just learning to read, and already reading. There are fun activities and games that incorporate phonics and reading. What I really like about it is that many of the activities have an auditory element so kids actually hear the sounds as they are playing the game. This involves visual, audio, and kinesthetic and that helps kids learn better. I would use this in a reading class as one of the stations that they do. I would also use it for kids who are struggling or who finish their work early as reinforcement.