Top Ten Websites & Tools 1.

Name: Teaching Channel Type: Video & Lesson Plan Resource Web address: www.teachingchannel.org Age Level: For teachers

Molly Beichner

Description & Purpose: This website is a inspirational video site that allows viewers to watch great teachers in action. The site has tons of videos that can be sorted by subject, grade level, or topics. The topics vary and include things such as behavior, assessment, differentiation, or just plain subjects like math, science, or English. Justification of Inclusion: I chose this website because it contains a wealth of teacher tried ideas and lessons that all teachers in any subject or grade level could use. I like this site in particular because it helps teachers learn about themselves as teachers, as well as help their students learn. This site also includes some lesson plans to help teachers achieve more engaging teaching.

2. Name: Pinterest Type: Idea Resource Web address: www.pinterest.com/all/education Age Level: For teachers Description & Purpose: This website is a picture and idea resource that has an educational section. The purpose of this site is to search for ideas or topics and the site will come up with tons of pictures that are (usually) relevant that have been pinned by others. Then teachers can incorporate the ideas they see into their own classrooms and lessons. Justification of Inclusion: I included this site because it contains a wealth of pictures and ideas that can truly change how one teaches and engages students. Some of the ideas are truly outstanding for lessons, posters, and student engagement ideas. There are also sometimes links to other educational websites, blogs, and activity pages.

3. Name: Class Dojo Type: Classroom Management Helper Web address: teach.classdojo.com Age Level: For grades pre-K through middle school

Top Ten Websites & Tools

Molly Beichner

Description & Purpose: This website gives teachers a visible and interactive way of keeping track of their students behaviors. Attendance can be recorded, good and bad behaviors can be set, and students are awarded positive or negative points based on their behaviors. This site also allows students to customize their avatar and allows parents to get weekly behavior reports of their children. Justification of Inclusion: I included this site because I feel that because it enables the students to actually see and keep track of their behaviors. This tool gives the students more responsibility over their actions when they know that it is recorded for everyone to see. Teachers can use this tool with all of their classrooms to keep their students engaged in control of their behaviors.

4. Name: The Physics Classroom Type: Help for Students (and teachers) Web address: http://www.physicsclassroom.com/ Age Level: High school and teachers Description & Purpose: This site features interactive lessons on physics, as well as reviews and homework questions. The Physics Classroom also has a unique physics calculator that encourages students to find the answers to problems with some gentle nudging. A laboratory on the website allows students to see physics in action. Justification of Inclusion: I chose this site because it contains a wealth of physics information and help on just one website. The Physics classroom not only tells students what they need to know, but also shows it, has them do it, and finally tests them on it. The site includes a way for teachers to assign MOPs (Minds on Physics modules) as homework that they can then validate online.

5. Name: Chem4Kids Type: Chemistry Help Web address: http://www.chem4kids.com/index.html Age Level: Middle school and up. Description & Purpose: This website features lessons on the many aspects of chemistry, from the basic to the more difficult. At the end of each lesson there is a nicely done quiz that students can take. There are wonderful illustrations to demonstrate the topics from the lessons. Justification of Inclusion: I chose this site because it makes chemistry relevant to

Top Ten Websites & Tools

Molly Beichner

students, as well as encourage them to explore the world around them. The quizzes are done so that both the correct and incorrect answers are explained (which continues the learning). The website also makes it clear that chemistry is constantly evolving and that changes are continually made, which is why chemistry is important.

6. Name: BrainPOP Type: Interactive Lesson and Study Resource Web address: http://www.brainpop.com/ Age Level: grades 4 through 8 Description & Purpose: This website features fun lessons, games, study activities, and videos for all subjects. There are free parts of the site, but the best of the site is only available by subscription. There are tons of cute and interesting characters within the site that keep the students entertained while learning. Justification of Inclusion: I chose this site because I have seen it used in classrooms and know that the students hugely enjoy using BrainPOP. I find that the site offers really nice lessons that align with the common core, as well as provide assessments for the lessons. BrainPOP truly makes the students find connections rather than just giving the information to the students.

7. Name: Twitter Type: Social Networking Web address: www.twitter.com Age Level: All ages Description & Purpose: This website is dedicated to people connecting with other people. However, in the education perspective, this website allows people to share educational ideas and websites to anyone on Twitter. This website can be searched for particular hashtags to get you the results that you are looking for. Justification of Inclusion: I chose this website because it constantly is adding new and relevant topics about education. This site can find the latest information on the common core better than Google can. Twitter can even be managed so that I can follow the tweets that are particularly useful to me.

8. Name: Discovery Education

Top Ten Websites & Tools Type: Informational site

Molly Beichner

Web address: http://www.discoveryeducation.com/administrators/curricularresources/science/ Age Level: K-12, and teachers Description & Purpose: This website features free homework help, videos, articles, and lesson plans. The purpose of this website is to engage students more fully into science (and other subjects) through the use of real world applications. Discovery education wants all students to discover what they learn on their own with guidance from educators. Justification of Inclusion: I chose this site because it uses real world applications of the topics and lessons to truly get the students involved and interested. The site allows teachers more information than the students get so that teachers are able to help the students. It also has a parents section so that parents can get involved in their students learning, which is really important.

9. Name: The Hubble Deep Field Academy Type: Interactive Space Learning Web address: http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/hdf/ Age Level: Middle school and high school Description & Purpose: This site takes you through the steps of unraveling the universes secrets! There are several lessons that allow students to become astronomers and learn about statistics in astronomy, classifying objects, calculating distances, and identifying objects. There are also teaching tips for teachers. Justification of Inclusion: I chose this site because it really can interest the students with its real pictures from the Hubble telescope. The site has deep thinking questions to really make the students put thought into what they are learning about. The site really puts the size of the universe into perspective for middle schoolers just learning about it.

10. Name: InnerBody Type: Interactive anatomy Web address: http://www.innerbody.com/ Age Level: High school and up

Top Ten Websites & Tools

Molly Beichner

Description & Purpose: This site allows students to deeply investigate all parts of the human body. The anatomy viewer zooms in and highlights which part of the body you are looking at, and then explains what that body part does, and how it interacts with the rest of your body. The site has various way to categorize human anatomy, which allows the students to follow how their teacher might be teaching it. Justification of Inclusion: I chose this site because of its detailed illustrations and information about anatomy. This site allows students to really see and make the connections within the anatomy of a human. There is also a link on the site about nutrition and careers involving anatomy.