Educational Websites

Introduction

It is the author’s belief educational websites have an impactful presence on a child’s education. In addition, they now play a significant role in understanding a child’s performance in terms of assessment and mastery of the concept taught. Furthermore, there are now a wide variety of different programs being offered to fit a variety of school districts educational philosophy. In the following one visited some websites and explored some of the features and how it played in to ones own educational philosophy and pedagogical practice. This perspective deals primarily with the subject of writing, literacy and its different subcategories. The author took a look at the structure and how easy it is to understand the features and compatibility; “While there is considerable debate over the value of the Intenet in U.S. elementary education—K-12 (kindergarten through 12th grade, which starts at about five years old and finishes at around 17 years old), the naysayers can only slow down the process; the Internet is coming to each and every school and classroom” (Soloway, E., Norris, C., Marx, R., Blumenfeld, P., Krajcik, J., & Fishman, B. 2000 pg 19).

Websites

The first website one took a look is called Writebritestation.com. What stood out to yours truly is that it offered a video on how to operate the website and the ever popular frequently asked questions aka FAQ. The aforementioned site also has the following links: training, explanatory, narrative, persuasive, tools, grammar, assess and research.  Each link allows the user to explore different avenue of writing emergent, and programmed lessons for mastery and grammar tasks to name a few without boredom especially when it comes to questions topic subject matter and content. “Consequently, the role of teachers in the writing process has gained another dimension in that teachers should not stick only to one writing practice in assessing students’ compositions, but should consider multiple works in the process” (AKKAYA, N. 2014 para 2)

The next writing program website is writestepswriting.com. Looking at the home page the author notices its content rich and very interactive. Each section of the homepage contains a variety in addition to a variety of video testimonial on the effectiveness of the writing program this website offers. Yours truly is more of a visual learner so this site was quite pleasant to view and explore. Keep in mind one as an educator is looking on how this site will benefit or enhance ones educational practice. What particularly stood out to the author was is the accessibility, how the links are displayed. Furthermore, the awards the website received since it’s operation. In addition, the following caught the authors attention; Administrators: What’s on your checklist? See how write steps meet your standards, and principals: write to the top. Each link appeals to a different branch of administrative and educational support in the subject area of writing. In addition, the site displays different subcategories and bullet points on how to writing, grammar and educational personnel and how each aspect is works together to help students become better writers. “What do teachers know about the creative writing process in general?” With regard to this research question, researchers attempted to identify teachers’ general knowledge related to the creative writing process by asking them what they knew about the creative writing process” (AKKAYA, N. 2014 pg 1502). This is one of many reasons why an internet writing program is useful, it helps a teacher with this process. Not to mention saving a significant amount of time doing research. 

The third website is named Zaner-Bloser.com is geared towards making the students who participate in the program a strong writer and reader by grade three. The most innovative part of the program or what the developers wanted to stand out are placed in the interactive screen and make up the top twenty-five percent of the homepage. Underneath the display are the following links; handwriting, reading writing and grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and professional development. The aforementioned links directs you to different parts of the website. Furthermore, there is an emotional video the content involves a past student’s letter to a former teacher. Yours truly thinks the site is straightforward. However, its important to note that the links at the bottom display the compatibility to a number of grade levels, each having its own separate link. “Implementing daily writing workshop takes a big chunk of literacy time but it’s worth it. The children get excited about writing and that is important” (Behymer, A. 2003 pg 88). Another reason as to why teachers need internet writing programs. The programs themselves help to save so much time a valued commodity in the life of a teacher.

Summary

In conclusion, yours truly reviewed three aforementioned websites and the features they offered and how the sites were formatted to help the user understand how to use and navigate and use it effectively. The author discussed the grade levels the website covers and the awards they received. In addition, one covered video testimonials on the compatibility of the site to ones own personal pedagogy. There are a lot of websites that offer to help teachers develop their own personal practice. All that is required is the process of trial and error to find which one best works for ones teaching style.  

 References

Soloway, E., Norris, C., Marx, R., Blumenfeld, P., Krajcik, J., & Fishman, B. (2000). K-12 and the Internet. Communications Of The ACM, 43(1), 19-23.

AKKAYA, N. (2014). Elementary Teachers' Views on the Creative Writing Process: An Evaluation. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 14(4), 1499-1504. doi:10.12738/estp.2014.4.1722

Behymer, A. (2003). Kindergarten writing workshop. Reading Teacher, 57(1), 85-88.