ED638-40: Teaching with the Internet - Fall Intersession 2021

       Blogger is the original idea that started blogging. It is a free online tool for creating blogs. With a Google account, anyone can create a blog that can have any topic. People have the freedom to post anything they want like cooking recipes or reviews of educational tech or tools. With the proper teacher supervision, students can create a blog where they can post things that are related to the class. Students can also share their experiences or ideas is a blog format. With the easy to navigate and simple interface, students and teachers can include texts, photos, and videos in their posts. They can also tag each post by specific subjects. For students to fully benefit from Blogger, teachers should provide structured lessons and step-by-step tutorials in the beginning. From there, the students should become less reliant on the teacher and will be able to post independently.      Users can also change the look of their blogs like background color, font style and size, and the

     Moby Max (https://www.mobymax.com/) is a K-8 learning website for all major subjects such as Math, Literacy, Science, and Social Studies. Students will be taking a diagnostic test for teachers to understand what level they are in, and it guides the teachers on how to differentiate the lessons for the students. Moby Max also has over 60 curriculum, assessments, practice modules, and subjects for the teachers to use. This program also actively engages the students with what they are learning, and it allows them to stay at their own pace with the assignments they are completing. It also gives the teachers the data when they are progress monitoring the student. Teachers can also customize the test prep questions and lessons to fit what they are learning in class.       There are schools from the Guam Department of Education piloting the Moby Max program at their schools. Unfortunately, the school I am teaching in is currently not using this program. As I spoke to the other teachers at

 Raz-Kids (https://www.raz-kids.com/) is an online platform with hundreds of leveled eBooks that let students read and take comprehension tests after each book. Students also can have the books read to them for modeled fluency. Since Raz-Kids is an online platform, students can access this website anytime and anywhere with the teacher's subscription.      One of the benefits that I like about Raz-Kids would be how teachers have control in assigning assignments to the students, and we could also monitor the students' progress based on their voice recordings of them reading the story. Raz-Kids is also aligned to the Common Core Standards, which is beneficial to teachers to help support our curriculum. Although this program would need a paid subscription to use, there is also an option for the free trial version of this platform so that teachers could see if they like the program and decide if they would want to purchase the program to continue using in their class.      Raz-Kids

     Vooks (https://www.vooks.com/) is an online platform that has various animated storybooks. It is a website similar to Epic, but the downside of this website is that it does need a paid subscription. I started getting hooked with Vooks after the librarian at my school introduced me to this website, and I also saw a lot of the reviews on this website from teacher groups on Facebook.       Vooks has animated storybooks, but it also has various resources that kids could do based on the stories they watched. An example would be that some stories would have art and craft videos that go along with the story they just read. There are also other coloring sheets or activities that the students get to do with the story that they are watching. I also like how Vooks has an app to use anywhere we go. I am not the only teacher that loves this website, but 95% of US Elementary Schools have at least one teacher subscribed to Vooks. Various teachers say that Vooks helps students comprehend the stor

           Teach Your Monster to Read (https://www.teachyourmonster.org/) is an online website filled with games for young learners to help them learn how to read. This website is not only for reading, but it also includes Teach Your Monster Number Skills and Teach Your Monster Reading for Fun. For this article, we will focus on Teach Your Monster to Read, and this website is entirely free for students and teachers if used online. There is also an app for this program, but you need a paid subscription to get it in the app store.     Teach Your Monster to Read has it all, from letters and letter sounds to reading complete sentences. As a first-grade teacher, I use this website to help my students learn to read, and I also see its benefits. My students do not notice that they are learning. They think they are playing games in class and are inclined to keep playing.     Teach Your Monster is a non-profit that creates games to help students learn with the help of their monster friends. Thi

   Google Classroom             Google Classroom is Google's version of a Learning Management System provided through Google's Education Suite of apps. Simply put, it is a virtual classroom in which teachers can give announcements, materials, or assignments to students for them to access or complete. Through Google Classroom, teachers can provide grades to students on their assignments, as well as monitor student work, provided they are using Google Docs or Slides, or another compatible website or application. Teachers can also use the platform to communicate with parents who are linked to a student’s class. When this happens, the parents have access to announcements that are posted in the Classroom stream, along with a list of assignments that were given and whether the student completed them or not. For students that have multiple classes that utilize the Google Classroom platform, their parents will automatically have access to the same type of information for each class. Go

Benskin Bergen ED 638 Fall 2021 Dr. M. Rivera ILA Newsletter Project #3: Effective Literacy “Into the Book”               Into the Book ( Into the Book: Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies (ecb.org) ) is a reading comprehension resource for elementary school students and teachers. It is focused on these eight research based strategies: prior knowledge, making connections, questioning, visualizing, inferring, summarizing, evaluating, and synthesizing. The central focus on the program Into the Book is mainly on reading. Evidently, knowing how to read would tremendously aid students across subject areas as reading is vital in all subject areas. Into the Book provides lessons that are based on the eight different reading skills. Mastering those eight reading skills will definitely make an impact on the development of student’s literacy skills.             The site provides many useful resources for teachers and students to use. Each of the eight reading strategies comes in instructio

  Tricia Eliou ED 638 Fall 2021 Dr. M Rivera IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website # 3 Read Theory ( https://readtheory.org/ ) is an online reading comprehension assessment tools that allows students to read narrative, informative and literary passages and answer corresponding comprehension questions and tracking students’ performance and reporting progress to teachers. Read Theory( https://readtheory.org/ ) is free for all users. It also offers online reading activities for all ages and ability levels that suited for each individual needs. It will be a great resource for any classroom. It can be used for reading instruction and also for individual practice. The designed material in this website can be easily implemented in the Language Arts classroom to support reading, writing and critical thinking skills. This website provides high quality, engaging content, designed to assist self-learning, and critical thinking, outlined by national benchmarks and specified by the Com

       Zoom is a video conferencing platform that teachers use to facilitate our online classes. Zoom was a lifesaver because I found it easier to use than Google Meet. I also liked how the students could annotate the screen for activities that we could do as a whole class. When I used Zoom for my class, I created a recurring link so that my students would need to use that one link for the entire school year. Zoom also offers the ability to create breakout rooms where the students could collaborate, and the teacher would be able to jump around the different breakout rooms.       Zoom allows the teachers to continue with our classes even though we cannot be together face to face. It gave us a bit of normalcy that the students could see each other and have classes through this platform. When I was conducting online classes through Zoom, I noticed how excited the students were to see each other online. When we all could not be together in a class, Zoom allowed us to see each other still a

       Google Classroom was the platform that the Guam Department of Education chose to use for our online classes. I found it easy to use and understand for both teachers and students, especially when it had to be done with no training when the pandemic hit us. Google Classroom was easy to use because all students and teachers had a Google account through the department. Teachers were able to assign assignments through various Google platforms such as Google Slides, Google Docs, and Google Meet. I liked how Google Classroom can put all the different resources into one LMS for the students and teachers to use.       Google Classroom has a lot of functions, such as being able to grade the students' assignments on the spot, and I liked how the students were able to download the application to access their assignments, whether it is through their phones, tablets, or laptops. I also enjoyed how Google Classroom allows the students to discuss the topics I posted, so our class had its fo

       Google Slides is one of the internet tools lifesavers for online teaching. During the pandemic, teachers worldwide had to find online tools that they would be using to continue teaching their lessons. I used Google Slides to assign assignments, and I also used it to create my presentations. Google Slides had many benefits, such as editing the presentation from anywhere I am since it is all found in Google Drive. I love how flexible this online tool is because when I am on the go, I can continue working, which allows me not to slow down when it comes to completing my requirements.       As I searched through various tutorials on Google Slides, I saw how it could be used for the students' assignments. I like how it can be interactive for the kids, and when I did use Google Slides, I had a lot of feedback from my student's parents that their kids loved how they could interact with the material we were using in class. I also noticed the level of interaction that my students

  BrainPop (https://www.brainpop.com/) is another meaningful digital platform that aims to provide both teachers and students with a fascinating strategy of making learning exciting. Furthermore, it is an excellent means for introducing new concepts creatively. It generates high engagements among students as it involves them deeply in the diverse activities that the platform provides. This platform includes significant subjects such as Math, Science, English, and others that create practical and exciting learning for the teachers and students. Each given subject provides a variety of topics once clicked, which offers both learners to determine how they want to learn according to their preferred choice. The learners have the power to choose from movies, games, vocabulary, quizzes, and many more, which could be beneficial to both educators and learners. For example, the teacher could incorporate their assessment through these numerous options, helping the lesson plan be fun. On the other

       Epic (https://www.getepic.com/) is one of the most effective digital literacy platforms that educators around the world have commonly recognized. It is known for its collection of over 40,000 famous and high-quality books from 250+ created by the world’s best publishers, which develops reading confidence and encourages critical thinking among children under 12.       The platform provides a well-rounded approach that makes learning fun and easy. Furthermore, It significantly helps educators and students be hooked on this platform because of its user-friendly interface. It features educational tools such as audiobooks, read to me, videos, quizzes, etc., that are beneficial to the students’ learning. The audiobooks and read to me allow the students to listen to the story, which helps in improving their pronunciation and fluency. The videos would be a significant factor in immersing the students more interactive, especially visual learners. The platform offers the option to impleme

     Storyline Online (https://storylineonline.net/) is a website where beloved actors and actresses read various storybooks to children worldwide. It is a free website where children can listen and watch a video of their favorite picture books. It is also an award-winning children's literacy program with awards such as the 2021 #1 Best Educational YouTube Channel for Kids and the 2020 Notable Children's Digital Media Recognition.       Storyline Online is operated by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds and produces videos for Storyline Online. Each book found on this website also includes a supplemental curriculum that could be used inside your very own classroom or for your child. This curriculum aims to strengthen English language learners' comprehension, verbal and written skills.       Storyline Online could be used inside the classroom for teachers and students. As a first-grade teacher, I use this website to showcase various storybooks as a

  Jeremie De Leon ILA Newsletter Weekly Project: Effective Literacy Website #3 ABCya (https://www.abcya.com/) is a free website that has hundreds of educational games that are organized by grade level and subjects. The website’s primary target are students from pre-kindergarten to sixth grade. High school students will not benefit as much from this website, but it can still be used as a refresher for skills that they learned during their early school years. The educational games in the website are great tools to help students learn and motivate them. There are a few multiplayer games that students can play with their classmates. Majority of the games are aligned with the Common Core Standard and teachers can assign games that meet a specific standard.             Unfortunately, the website does not have any type of assessment, learning support, or ways to track progress. The lack of those specific features makes ABCya an enrichment tool that also acts as an award for the students

Elisa Balbuena ILA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #3             Learning Ally ( https://learningally.org/#close ) is a website and phone and tablet application that provides a digital library of 80,000 high interest audiobooks to teachers and students. What sets this literacy platform apart from many others that provide similar resources is that the audiobooks are human voiced. This makes it a great tool for students who are struggling readers or have learning disabilities or physical impairments that prevent them from reading at grade-level.             Learning Ally allows students to listen to books as they read. Text is highlighted as the story is narrated to help students stay focused. Students are given control over their reading and learning experience to meet their needs and can adjust the speed of the narration, text size, and background color, among other options. They can also bookmark and annotate as they go, and they are able to see a definition of a targe

  Jayprise Orlando ED638 Fall 2021 Dr. M. Rivera ILA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website#3               Reading Rocket ( https://www.readingrockets.org/ ) is a website for kids to learn to read, teachers to know why students have struggled in reading, and how teacher can help children with their reading and writing skills. It also provides strategies for teachers, parents, librarians, and others to become a strong reader. It also provides teaching of reading and to present what works in a way educators are able to understand and use. Reading Rocket provides information about teaching reading and helping children who fall behind. It offers free professional development and program features leading education expert covering topics like effective reading programs, assessment, pre-reading skills, teaching English language learners, and writing. This website explains reasons why kids might struggle with reading; like they might have limited English language skills,

      Storybird (​ https://storybird.com/ ) is an online creative writing platform that allows its users to author unique storybooks of their own. Students can select from a multitude of storybook formats for publication ranging from comic books, picture books, poetry collections, or long form prose. The team behind Storybird, which comprises experienced teachers and expert writers, has formatted their website in a way that allows emerging writers of all grade levels to select writing challenges that will help stimulate creativity when writing. These challenges feature accompanying curriculum including lessons, quizzes, and short form writing prompts. Additionally, Storybird also offers a curated library of artwork, images, and other visuals, made by illustrators from across the globe, to help writers lay a visual foundation of images to coincide with their original stories. The visual appeal of Storybird is what makes this platform stand out among many of its competitors.     While th

Jayprise Orlando ED638 Fall 2021 Dr. M. Rivera   Internet Tool: Google Classroom             Google classroom is a free blending learning platform developed by Google for educational institutions that aims to simplify creating, distributing, and grading assignment online. It is the process of sharing files between teachers and students. Teachers and students communication in this learning platform integrates other Google application for education such as, Google doc, Google sheets, Google slides, Gmail and Google calendar. This site was created as a way to get rid of papers in classes and to make digital learning possible.                Google classroom allows teachers to set assignments, have work submitted by students, to mark, edit, comment of students work, graded papers, and return to students. It makes teacher work on assignments much easier than correcting papers, printing papers, and typing papers. It also makes grading paper much easier because give students