Using the Internet to Enhance K-12 Teaching and Learning

Educators

What's All the Hype?

The Internet has fast become the most extensive resource tool available to teachers and learners across the globe. From printable off-line resources to interactive Articles, the Internet medium provides enriching activities that can be used to enhance K-12 teaching and learning.

Lesson Plans

Examples of Resources Specifically for Teachers

Teachers have been sharing knowledge of successful lessons for as long as we can imagine. Teachers in the same school or maybe even district often share ideas to help them improve their teaching practice. The Internet has taken the sharing of knowledge to a whole new level. Today, a teacher from Los Angles, California may come up with a wonderful idea and share it with teachers across the globe via the Internet. This one simple exchange could most likely be seen by thousands of teachers within a few short weeks.

You will find two types of invaluable sites for lesson plans on the Internet: Lesson Plan Depots and Lesson Plan Directories.

Lesson Plan Depots- This category would include websites that have large collections of exclusive or original lesson plans.

Exemplary Web Sites include:

  1. Lesson Plans Page- http://www.lessonplanspage.com
  2. NY Times Lesson Plan Archive- http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/archive.html

Lesson Plan Directories- This category includes websites that have been reviewed or have recommended links to outside lesson plan sites. Please note that Teachnology is a mix between a lesson plan depot and a directory. We have over 6,000 original lesson plans and link out to 1000s more.

Exemplary Web Sites include:

  1. Lesson Plan Search- http://www.lessonplansearch.com
  2. Lesson Planz- http://lessonplanz.com
  3. Teachnology- https://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/

Rubrics

Rubrics have been becoming more popular in the educational world as the need for alternative assessment grows. The Internet can provide you with a variety of example rubrics for just about any content or skill area as well as the tools for creating your own customized rubrics.

Exemplary Web Sites include:

  1. Makeworksheets- http://makeworksheets.com
  2. Rubric Generators- https://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/
  3. RubricStar- http://rubistar.4teachers.org
  4. Why Rubrics?- https://www.teach-nology.com/Articles/teaching/rubrics/

Learning Games

Students can learn best when they are motivated. Educational games can keep students engaged for hours. The Internet has the wonderful ability to produce learning challenges that connect multiple levels of intelligence through the use of multimedia. Technology provides the medium to stimulate today's generation of visual learners.

Exemplary Web Sites include:

  1. Brain Pop- http://www.brainpop.com
  2. ExamBuddy - http://www.exambuddy.com
  3. Fun Brain- http://www.funbrain.com

Worksheets

Printable worksheets have long been a staple in the teaching profession. The Internet is filled with worksheets. Many worksheets can be found in a high quality format ranging from Kindergarten levels through the college ranks.

Exemplary Web Sites include:

  1. Getworksheets- http://getworksheets.com
  2. Makeworksheets- http://makeworksheets.com
  3. Teachnology- https://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/
  4. Worksheet Library - http://www.worksheetlibrary.com
  5. Math Worksheets World - http://mathworksheetsworld.com

Web Quests

A Web Quest is an inquiry-based activity where students are given a task and are provided with access to on-line resources to help them complete the task. It is an ideal way to deliver a lesson using the web. Web Quests are discovery learning tools; they are usually used to either begin or finish a unit of study. Over the last five years, the TeAch-nology.com staff has seen a great deal of Web Quests.

Exemplary Web Sites include:

  1. ExamBuddy - http://www.exambuddy.com
  2. IWebQuest- http://www.iwebquest.com
  3. The Web Quest Page- http://webquest.sdsu.edu
  4. Web Quest Generator- https://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/web_quest/

Newsletters

Many wonderful free resources are available to teachers over the Internet. Daily, weekly, and monthly electronic newsletters are available by simply supplying your email address to the writers of the newsletter.

Regardless of the grade level the newsletter targets, newsletters can provide many good ideas. We often receive comments from users telling us that even though they are secondary teachers, they find a great number of ideas from elementary teacher newsletters and vice versa.

Exemplary Web Sites include:

  1. Teachnology- https://www.teach-nology.com/newsletters/

A Final Thought

We provided you with a sampling of resources that are easily accessible and easy to use. However, as teachers have better access to the Internet, we believe educational resources will continue to grow and reach higher levels of sophistication. The future of educational technology seems endless!