Lisa Martin

MGE/SEC 444/G

LITERACY AND TECHNOLOGY

Attention Teachers:

            In the year 2001 technology is taken for granted.  It is something that is at every individual's disposal and yet, only a select group of individuals know the far reaching limits of technology available.  Throughout this page, you will find many examples of how technology can assist you in many aspects of teaching literacy to middle and secondary grade students.

            TEACHING SUPPLEMENTS:

            With the countless numbers of sites that are available to help teachers, there is no reason for any teacher to not have a creative classroom.  If you go on-line, there are sites that will write out an entire lesson plan from someone else=s perspective which helps a teacher see a different point of view than what he/she might have had originally, therefore allowing teachers to stay creative and not allow their classroom to become mundane. Below are listed some of the sites that I found most interesting and helpful:

                        *http://essay.freehomepage.com---this site gives teachers the ability to quickly search and see if a student has downloaded an essay off the Internet.  As easily as essays can be downloaded and used by students, they can now just as easily be caught by the teachers.  This is the first site I have seen of this sort and I really found it interesting, especially considering every content now has room for essay tests and most standardized tests now have some type of essay.

                        *www.ncte.org---this site is for English teachers.  This gives English teachers a place to chat with other teachers and give ideas and tips.  It also provides some lesson plans and activities, and suggests readings for inside and outside the classroom.

                        *www.pbs.org/teachersource---this site links you to the sites that give the best information available from t.v. shows and publications.  This site also gives teachers advice and activities to use with his/her students in the classroom.

                        *www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/---this site gives you research on publications and books for children=s and young adult literature as well as giving links to other related sites.

            BILINGUAL BOOKS

            In today's society, many teachers are faced with students whose first language is not English.  In cases where the teacher is only fluent in English, both teaching and learning become difficult.  The site listed below gives information about books available that include instruction in both English and Spanish, written side by side.

                        *www.bilingualbooks.com---This site gives books that have been published to assist teachers and students overcome the language barrier in the classroom.

 

            ONLINE BOOKSTORES

            There are many sites of bookstores which both give previews and summaries of books but also sells those books online.  Listed below are the two which seem to have the largest selection of books to assist teachers in their classrooms.

                        *Barnes and Noble-www.bn.com--This site has thousands of books that a teacher can browse through and below are seven related to literacy, in many different subject areas:

            1.  Benchmark for Science Literacy

            2.  Using Technology in K-8 Literacy Classrooms

            3.  Teaching Secondary School Science

            4.  25 Emergent Reader Mini-Books

            5.  Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning

            6.  Linking Literacy and Technology:  A Guide for K-8 Classrooms

            7.  Content Area Literacy

                        *Amazon.com-www.amazon.com--This site has thousands of books, magazines, software, and much more.  Below are two books related to literacy:

            1.  21st Century Guide to Increasing Your Reading Speed

            2.  35 Rubrics and Checklists to Assess Reading and Writing

            SUMMARY

            I am a firm believer that every teacher can have a creative learning environment inside their classroom by just going on-line and finding what is out there.  If you go to Yahoo.com and do a search for Ateachers@, hundreds of sites can be found by just following the links.  And, Yahoo is only one of many search engines available to browse the Internet with.  All you, as a teacher, must do now is turn on your computer and begin.  The information available is endless.....enjoy!

                Created by Lisa Martin.  2001

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

            1.  www.yahoo.com.  2001.

            2.  www.bn.com.  Barnes and Noble.  2001

            3.  www.bilingualbooks.com.  Bilingualbooks Inc.  1999-2001

            4.  http://essay.freehomepage.com.  Matt Clare.  2001

            5.  www.ncte.org.  National Council of Teachers of English.  Traci Gardner.                             1998-2001

            6.  www.amazon.com.  Amazon.com.  1996-2001

            7.  www.pbs.org/teachersource.  Public Broadcasting Station.  2001.

            8.  www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/.  Ask Eric.  Andy Wisemen