Web Resource Consideration

Kathy Schrock's Guides for website evaluation

Wiki Trip

This assignment is designed for you to use technology to collaborate online to build a virtual field trip for your ‘class’. You all are a team of _________ grade teachers who want to create an online field trip for Chicago. You’re assignment is create a cross-curricular virtual field trip for your students to get to know Chicago. The site will need to include a Math component, Language Arts component, and Social Studies component. You can include additional content areas if you’d like.

Beginning steps:
• In your group, research other Chicago Virtual Field trip sites to see what they have in common and what else you might want to include in your ‘visit’.
• You will need to work collaboratively, so decide how you are going to divide the work to build the site.
• Visit www.wikispaces.com and create a group Wiki. Send me the URL at the end of today’s class.

Wiki Trip

For this assignment, your wiki space will include, at a minimum:
• Authors page, listing your group names, a short bio, and your email
• Introduction page for the site, listing the outcomes and goal for your field trip
• Separate pages for each content lesson, there must be at least 3 lessons (math, LA, Social Studies)
• 15 resources for your site, embedded in your wiki and as a customized Google Search engine.
• 4 images within the site (royalty free you can check www.morguefile.com)
• slideshow of images
• PPT presentation on a topic of your choice (ex. To introduce a lesson)
• Word document on a topic of your choice (ex. permission slip, letter to parents, directions, scavenger hunt for students to use when visiting the resources)
• 2 additional widgets / gadgets to support your wiki trip


Your final projects are due on November 17th.

Reflective Blog on MS Office and NETS for Teachers

Your reflection postings on using MS Office to meet the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Teachers is due. I've pasted the assignment here as a reminder.

This assignment is designed for you to have fun and practice creating and formatting a blog site for you and your classroom. As we discussed in class, the idea behind your blog is to “push” information to your audience (parents, students, fellow teachers).

Classroom Blog

For this assignment, finish constructing your blog. Complete your profile, add a picture or avitar of yourself, and add an introduction to your self as your first blog posting. You can add various ‘widgets’ of your choice to personalize your blog. For this class, remember that your blog is for educational purposes and you want to present yourself in a professional manner.

Additional requirements:
• Add at least 3 links to educational sites you use frequently or would use to support your classroom
• Add at least 2 additional widgets to your site (of your choice) These can be images, slideshows, a poll, list of favorite activities, etc.

• Reflection post on the following question:

So far in this class, we’ve reviewed production software capabilities of MS Office (Word, PPT, and Excel) and you’re read about them in your text book. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) outline effective use and modeling of technology use in the classroom. How do you think you can use the production software of MS Office to help you meet NETS?
o Your reflection should address at least 3 of the 5 NETS.
o Your reflection should describe what the standard means in your own words, how you might use the software (any of the three) to support the standard, and why you feel this meets the standard.

My first Blog

yahoo...I'm blogging. I'm really really blogging!
Blogging has a place in education, it allows educators opportunities to share information with students and parents as well as illicit basic feedback. The reflective nature of a blog allows students time to think and reflect on topics and questions and share responses with fellow classmates.

Enjoy your time blogging in this class!