Comments on: Ten Sites, Huh?

By: Simon Oldaker

Simon Oldaker — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 19:42:12 +0000

@Todd – yeah, I’m pretty tied to reading a text and forming a response to it, too. A great deal of what I make my students do is just that. With the internet at hand, I can often find a text that is more up-to-date, relevant, challenging, better-written, etc. than the tired pre-digested gunk in the textbooks. This is partly a practical issue, I know.

@Tom K – exactly – it’s raw material, ideas and resources (dictionary, verb conjugator, visual thesaurus, phonetics bank) that are the gold mine for the teacher, not someone else’s lessons.

By: Tom K

Tom K — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:28:06 +0000

I think the four item list covers it quite well. As a recent entrant into the web 2.0 foray (December 2008 through a masters class) I have been somewhat overwhelmed by what is out there. It has been like getting a drink of water from a fire hose. My best source of resource information has always been my colleagues at school. In a five minute conversation between classes they have often given me ideas that have taken root and grown with me as I have introduced them into the classroom. I have not incorporated every idea or gone to every teacher because I had to find what worked for me personally.

Ironically, the more developed an online resource, the less likely I seem to be able to incorporate it. My teaching is so connected with my personality and students that I need to find others who give me the ideas that I can, in a sense, make my own. This is where the PLNs of the web can really be helpful through RSS feeds from blogs and Twitter. Twitter has gone from something that I had no use for to a great resource. I follow and take a look at what floats by and find an idea that can be a seed for growth. The next step for me is to refine the list of who I follow. If I become part of a network of people who teach the same novels and stories, we can pass ideas as general as approaches to a novel to as specific as what worked in discussing a particular chapter or quote. A dialogue can begin when I find an idea that may work for me and/or my students and that may lead to something even better for all of those involved.

By: Iron Teacher at Bionic Teaching

Iron Teacher at Bionic Teaching — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:12:34 +0000

[...] there’s been good conversation lately recently about the lack of good lesson plans on the Internet. I think that’s true. I’m not sure [...]

By: Todd

Todd — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:45:22 +0000

There are plenty of reasons to need a textbook. I’m pretty tied into reading a text and forming a response to it. That’s the best way I see for me to communicate the instruction and skills I need to communicate.

I’m also in a school where the digital divide is huge (actually, most teachers are in such a school). And there’s also something to be said for being able to respond to the text right there with Post-Its or underlining and such. I wouldn’t be horribly upset if textbooks became digital, as long as everyone had equal access. That’s a rare thing, even in 2009.

By: Simon Oldaker

Simon Oldaker — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:11:32 +0000

The question is, what is a good website? I’ve got hundreds I use, but I seem to be looking for different things than you are. I gave up looking for lesson plans years ago. I’ve never seen a usable on on the net. Spot quizzes and so on for quickly checking student’s retention of new material, on the other hand – there is tons of excellent material out there. Examples of language use, reference material, guides for writing in different genres, etc. In my main courses, I don’t even use a textbook. Why should I need one?