Aim
This curriculum web acts as a tool for teachers
as both an archive of educational web sites as well as a resource for assessing
those web sites.
Rationale
Because of the wealth of educational web sites
on the web, it is difficult for teachers to find time to sift through them
all, assess their value as a useful site, and evaluate them for use in
the classroom. Therefore, this project seeks to create a narrowed
base of valuable web sites for teachers in the form of one-page "practical
guides" that will evaluate the sites for elements such as: standards addressed,
teacher prep time, classroom activities, grade level, content, description
of what is involved in the site, and what technology is required (or recommended)
to use the site.
This module will save teachers time while also introducing them to worthwhile educational sites they can use in their classroom to address learning standards.
Goals and Objectives
The primary goal of this project is to benefit
the teachers by creating a well organized and easy-to-use resource for
them to make educational resources more accessible and the task of finding
them for use in the classroom less daunting.
The secondary goal is to benefit the TRAs, WIT, and CUIP in general by providing another resource to help us help teachers, and also to give us a tool to begin to tackle the countless number of educational web sites.
The final goal is for Heather Meunier, Stuart Vanorny and other TRAs to learn about curriculum and learning standards in the process of research, in order to help her teachers move to the next level of integrating technology into their classrooms.
Audience
Fifth through eighth grade Chicago Public Schools
teachers who are interested in using educational web sites to enhance their
curriculum and to address state standards. This module will eventually
be expanded to include primary grades and high school.
Pre-requisites
Ability to navigate through the web
Subject Matter
This curriculum web involves integrating technology
into the curriculum. It is a series of one-page "practical guides"
for recommended educational web sites, as well as an introduction to using
technology in the classroom.
Instructional Plan
Teachers will first browse by subject matter
or grade taught. A fifth grade science teacher, for instance, can
first choose "Fifth" from the list of grades, and then choose "Science,"
or choose "Science" from the list of subjects and next choose "Fifth".
The teacher will then browse through a list of names of sites that are
appropriate for this subject/grade level. The teacher will click
on the site name, and be transferred to a one-page "practical guide" that
describes that specific site and details specific components. After
reading about the site, the teacher will click on a link to be transferred
to the actual site.
Materials
Evaluation: Frequent links to developer's email will help her improve this module.