National Council of Teachers of English

http://www.ncte.gov

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) was formed in 1911 as a means to give teachers of the language arts additional help in their jobs of giving an excellent English education to their students. Their website is a wonderful resource for English teachers and has information about anything one can think of. From lesson plans, to information about web seminars, to upcoming conferences, members have an outlet for advice and support. Initially, the homepage is a little daunting and overwhelming, but I like that on the side there are divisions of help by grade level- elementary, middle, secondary and even college, that gives tons of information. There are several different journal articles you can read on various aspects of English seminars, up-to-date education news, I could go on! Something I found very unique about this website was that they have an Anti-Censorship Center, where teachers can receive free advice and information dealing with censorship issues, which is something all English teachers will face when choosing texts to teach. Overall, the site is organized, but I would prefer if the site had less clutter and did not try to layer everything together. In my opinion, keeping it simple is best. NCTE itself seems to be very beneficial to be a member of, and I would certainly consider it. I give the site three out of four stars and would definitely suggest checking it out.

PBS

The PBS website has an education section that is directed at educational practice for teachers in the classroom. This site seems to offer a comprehensive set of knowledge for teachers ranging from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade instruction. For our use I particularly suggest looking at resources for either the 6-8 option or for 9-12 high school level activities and sources. The PBS site has a vast amount of resources for the classroom along with discussion boards, and a professional development section. One of my favorite parts of the site are the discussion boards because they include posts from real, in-the-field teachers who talk about their experiences and share their opinions. From here there is feedback on different lesson plans, techniques, and strategies for teaching. These testimonials offer answers to previously posted questions by other teachers in their field. I feel that in this respect the website is a great place for the exchange of ideas among educators. The resources section offers additional professional articles along with a large variety of premade lesson plans. I think this is a great place for teachers to either use some already made and proven lesson plans, or to help them generate ideas for their own personalized lesson plans. The lesson plans on PBS are very complete and innovative. The other resource links are usually websites that include comprehensive outlets of various types of information that use videos, blog postings, and informative articles all based on professional research. Overall, PBS provides a wide range of educational resources that are perfect for a variety of different uses in the classroom.

Shmoop!

www.shmoop.com

Shmoop is an informational site for both students and teachers. It has resources written by highly qualified educators about literature, history, and how it all fits together. For students, it has resources about specific titles of novels and poetry. Additionally, in the teachers' section, it has numerous videos of lessons and case studies. Under this section "Teacher Resources" there are also links to a myriad of teacher editions of novels and time periods. Within the Shmoop teacher editions, it includes assignments and activities, essay and discussion questions, reading quizzes, and current events and pop culture. The only problem with these lessons is that they are not all free. Parts are free and I think you can still get ideas from the overarching themes. Back in the general section of the site, there are links and resources that could be brought into the classroom.

Another interesting aspect of the site is the ability to convert the information into a pdf, app, or ebook. I think this is definitely something that is changing and we need to realize how our students are absorbing information. Students may be more receptive to the information if they can access it on their iPhone or Kindle. This site is very modern and is a resource for the new and researching classroom.

I’m hooked on http://www.edutopia.org/!

Edutopia.org is the ultimate website for teachers! For starters, I’m absolutely in love with the websites mission statement:

“Our vision is of a new world of learning. A place where kids and parents, teachers and administrators, policy makers and the people they serve, all are empowered to change education for the better. A place where schools have access to the same invaluable technology as businesses and universities -- where innovation is the rule, not the exception. A place where children become lifelong learners and develop the technical, cultural, and interpersonal skills to succeed in the twenty-first century.”

Ahh, Beautiful! Edutopia.org also provides archives of instructional advice, from classroom management tips to recommendations for district-wide change. My favorite part of the site is the blog section, in which various teachers, administrators, and parents post a weekly blog responding to what is going on in their local schools. I also love the “Special Report” page that features articles and resources on pressing issues, such as “Green Learning” and “Global Literacy.” Edutopia encourages teachers to collaborate and support one another by becoming a contributing member of the website, or by joining one of the many special interest groups. These special interest groups are similar to a group you might join on Facebook, allowing members to discuss specific issues in an open forum. Edutopia also grants free access to its monthly magazine Edutopia, which features articles about nearly every aspect of teaching.

Although Edutopia is for teachers of all content areas, the website is especially good for us English teachers. For instance, you can join groups that are designed exclusively for English teachers (there are lots!) or you can follow the bogs of your fellow English teachers. I’m particularly fond of Heather Wolpert-Gawron's blog, who writes about her experiences as a middle school English teacher.

www.webenglishteacher.com

www.webenglishteacher.com

While searching the many websites over the internet I wanted to be sure that I found one that covers many areas of English teaching. This website www.webenglishteacher.com is a great website and focuses on everything from book reports, grammar, speech, writing skills and the list goes on. Teachers are very busy and often times cannot come up with every lesson plan from scratch. This site allows for them to take some new ideas and maybe transform them or leave as is in order to teach their students. It presents different ways of teaching the students which can also help to cater to the different students individual needs.

I think that not only does it help the teacher learn ways of teaching the student, but also if the students are having trouble understanding/remembering what the teacher taught they can use this site for a reference. I know for myself in the past I have often looked up different ways of understanding the lesson my teacher may have taught during class if I was confused. The internet has so much to offer and it gives you such instant results. I often help my little sister who is a sophomore in high school with her homework and since she does not live close internet is usually the easiest way to help her.

This site is organized very neatly and it is easy to find what you are looking for which is very needed for those who have busy schedules. You simply just click on the area you are focusing on and it gives you many options such as games, lesson plans, or different teaching methods. This site directs you to many other sites which also can link you to even more pages if you do not fine exactly what you are looking for.

I found their AP and IB teaching resources and lesson plans to be very interesting, because they recognize that the information they have provided may not be appropriate for the advanced learners. Teachers are able to compare what they are teaching and see if it is for the most part on the same level as others teachings. This site appears as if they keep it updated which is much needed with students, because the same activities and ways of learning are changing due to the technology that has been created.

Sites for Teachers

Sites for Teachers

Sites for Teachers is a composite list of websites that teachers may find useful within their classrooms. The site offers various sections on lesson plans, different pieces and styles of literature, and ideas and activities that may be put incorporated. The website itself holds very little information with regards to the instruction of English, but is really more of a bank for teachers to search over that covers numerous sources and theories that sites with singular creators or keepers will be lacking.

Looking over the “Literature” section, there are sites provided that give analyses of texts, background/biographical information on authors and time periods, as well as novellas, short stories, and poems in their full text forms, ranging from a database of all the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle to an online collection of picture books that would be suitable for elementary/middle school students. That is the greatest strength I can find in this website, that because of the myriad of diverse information it provides, there is so much for teachers to use in classrooms of students at any age from elementary school through high school.

The “Ideas and Activities” section not only gives articles and documents which present activities that can be used within a classroom, but also provides articles that discuss strategies that may be used to help students with writing, reading, etc. The website has resources for areas of teaching beyond curriculum and unit plans, and stretches all the way towards providing help with approaches in teaching itself.

A to Z Teacher Stuff

While browsing the web, I came across a website called “A to Z Teacher Stuff.” I found this website very inviting just from the home page, because it offered so much to any and all teachers. The things that I found of particular interest on the home page were split into different sections in the “A to Z Teacher Stuff Directory.” These sections included Themes, Lesson Plans, Teacher Tools, Printables and Worksheets, Teacher Tips, Teacher Store Instant Downloads, Articles, and More Sites. I found this directory to be extremely useful when I clicked on a few of the links pertaining to English Language Arts. Most of the items were split into grade level, which made choosing lesson plans an easy feat.

One of the most useful parts of this website was under the Teacher Tools section of the directory. This gives teachers tips for dealing with students with ADHD tendencies, transitions, attention getters, parent/teacher conferences, and so much more. At the U of I we don’t get an actual class on classroom management, but these tips giving teachers different ways to handle these common problems within the classroom are very useful in helping us to manage them constructively. The other thing that I found to be useful is that the Teacher Tools section has many ways to make teaching be more creative. It has tools such as a word search and crossword puzzle maker, and other generators to use within the English Language Arts classroom.

This website also has many educators/teachers as followers, and allows them to post questions, problems, etc. on a discussion forum on the main page of the website. This can be a great tool for beginning teachers who maybe did not get the mentor they hoped to help them with problems in the classroom and such. Overall, I found this website to be very useful for teachers of all subjects.

http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/