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.
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.
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