Response to Teacher’s Sites

The two biggest take-aways I got from looking at the teacher’s sites were 1) killing multiple birds with one stone (i.e. combining, say, a science lesson with a language arts lesson) and 2) using technology to provide a sense of accomplishment within students.

We’ve discussed combining subjects in class many times.  I like how these teachers combined, in general, a science curriculum with a language arts curriculum.  The common way of doing this seems to be by publishing a book of what the class learned.  This is an important lesson because as teachers, we have a limited amount of time to get things done.  The more efficiently we can work, the less stress will be on us, our students, parents, etc…

The other thing I like is being sure to use technology in the classroom to enhance “old school” assignments.  I remember making books when I was in elementary school… Eh… I never got a big rush out of it.  I do remember “checking out” our published book from the classroom so that I could bring it home and show my parents and that was cool.  So I would think the idea of putting your students work on the internet for parents, grandparents, other family, etc. to see would be really cool for the students.