Thursday, May 15, 2008

4Teachers Family of Tools



Look at the educational resource links that use technology to improve instruction across all content areas and grade levels on this website: http://www.4teachers.org/tools/?PHPSESSID=0eb1361136b4e042ed2bae7a03334b0c.

Here you will find current resources that align with standards, promote higher-order thinking, and support the development of writing skills. There are tools that can monitor student research and writing, evaluate student performance, and create bilingual online lessons, classroom calendars, and quizzes in less time than traditional methods.

Choose one that you think you might use in your classroom in the future. Try it and then share a brief explanation of what the tool could be used for and how you might use it. Answer one of your classmates' posts by offering another way you might use the same tool that they evaluated.

Explore some other pages on the 4Teachers website http://www.4teachers.org/ , this is a great resource that you will want to add to your Internet Explorer "Favorites."

85 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a great resource for teachers. Technology is meant to simplify our lives. These resources will save teachers time when completing traditional tasks. With the buzy life that teachers lead, I feel that teachers should take advantage of all the help that is provided by technology to save them time and energy.

Anonymous said...

These are very useful websites for teachers as well as students. When I have my own classroom I will have the students use Think Tank. This website facilitates students in developing a list of topics in addition to subtopics for reports and projects. Ultimately this website aids students in learning how to refine their subject, making it easier to do a search. This is a really effective tool for students who are first learning to use the internet as well as those who are advanced.

Anonymous said...

Melissa makes a lot of great points. The resources that are right at our fingertips are phenomenal. Teachers should take advantage of all of this great technology.

Anonymous said...

I already use rubistar, and the PBL checklists site is similiar. I will definitely used the classroom architects link next time we have the laptops in the room. My visual learners will love it!
I just have to be sure the site is not blocked!
I will try thinktank on erica recommendation.
Theresa P

Danielle said...

These are excellent sources for teachers. RubiStar is really resourceful tool for teachers to use to create rubrics. The site saves a ton of time and is extremely beneficial. Another useful website is 'Equity Index' which provides teachers with resourceful tools to use to meet the needs of diverse learners. It is always helpful for teachers to be able to access ways to diversify their instruction and assessment. Websites like this one help to make this possible for teachers who may not have a Special Education background.

Danielle said...

I agree with Melissa. Technology is meant to simplify our lives, and I think that we are too quick to look at it in a negative light. There are so many resources that it has to offer and this article proves that.

Anonymous said...

I already added this link to my favorites. It is such a great resource for teachers because it provides easy-to-use tools that are beneficial and will improve learning. I particularly liked the classroom architect design program. As a new teacher it is so important to set up your classroom in a way that not only is beneficial to your students but to you also. The classroom environment is very important. The size of the classroom, the colors you choose, the furniture, the amount of light, and the room arrangement all influence how students learn. It is important that you really think about how to design a classroom as a new teacher, which is why this tool is so important for experimentation.

Anonymous said...

Melissa made a great point. We should not let these tools go to waste! We need to incorporate technology as much as possible in a constantly changing technological world.

megan said...

I have been looking for a website like this, where all of these valuable tools are all together. This is like our very own hotlist to help us manage our time! I was happy to see the link that gives us project checklists and advice in setting up web pages.

megan said...

I agree Katie that the classroom environment is the most important and influential aspect on the learning experience. From teaching, I have learned that it's not how much you know about your content; it's HOW you deliver the material.

MargueriteK said...

What a find! This website contains so many excellent links to help teachers find materials for their content area. I certainly plan to make use of them. There were many websites that I visited that had activities for students to complete on the web.

MargueriteK said...

I also agree with Melissa on how important technology has become in the classroom. There were so many helpful sites to make a teacher's life easier that I can't see anyone passing them up.

Anonymous said...

I checked out Erica's recommendation on Think Tank, and I agree that it would be very useful in aiding how to generate subtopics and refine a subject. The site is a great resource before actually using search engines for a research project/paper.

Anonymous said...

Although all the provided sites are wonderful resources, my favorite was Web Poster Wizard. The idea of being able to create a quick worksheet or class page and post it online right away is great. Using the site for students’ projects provides an interesting way to assign a in-class task, poster, or short report. There is even the ability to add links to the created page(s). I can definitely see myself using Web Poster Wizard to develop authentic and unique assignments.

you think you know said...

I feel that this is an essential tool alotted for teachers to develop their instrictional strategies and succesfully implement learning among students. The technology that is now provided to teachers is of unmeasureable proportions, where the variet is so widespread that most teachers can incorporate many useful concepts into their teaching. Being that so many students learn in different ways and at different paces, these resouces are important vehicles for the progression of education and high-order thinking among our students. Like Melissa says, these resources will save teachers a lot of time and will invariably raise the level of information being delivered to our student learners as well.

Anonymous said...

Danielle, these sites are definately great resources that will help teachers to meet the needs of diverse learners and it is always helpful for teachers to be able to access ways to diversify their instruction and assessment.

Anonymous said...

I think this a great resource for teachers! I feel that with the better knowledge of technology only makes our lives much easier. I found that the program RubiStar can really be a helpful tool for educators in order to create rubrics.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Danielle that Rubistar is such a helpful tool. It saves us a ton of time and aggrevation of making up our own rubrics! It really

Anonymous said...

Being part of the Toolsmith group I had the opportunity to visit some of the useful websites that were offered on the 4Teachers Family of Tools website. I have used Rubistar in my own classroom and I look forward to using the new links that I discover in this class. As a teacher it is our job to find useful and educational websites that suite the needs of our students. The web has so many opportunities just waiting to be clicked on.

Tara L.

Anonymous said...

While searching through the various links, I came across the RubiStar website. My current school has begun to stress the use of rubrics for projects, and this website would be a huge help in creating one. I could use these for creating graphs in math, for problem solving activities, or to help break down the scoring of a certain homework assignment. I will definitely use this website in the future!
Justin M.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Luci about how the web poster wizard website can be a great resource. A teacher could create an assignment using this webpage (such as the month long trip to South America that was shown) and have the students use the links provided to complete it. You could also use it as a review for a test that is coming up. This is another website that I would consider using.
Justin M.

Kathleen R said...

Danielle made a great point about the Websites making things easier for teachers, like myself, who do not have a Special Education background.

Anonymous said...

I find Trackstar to be a very useful tool as it lets you create an online lesson relatively quickly and easily. If you are lucky, you might even find the lesson you’re looking for already made for you, or you can take the original lesson and tailor it to your needs. I think this type of online lessons should be used for situations where you would want your students to locate very concrete information. For more collaborative and analytical type of lessons, I think I prefer WebQuests. Another advantage of this tool is that it helps with keeping students on “track” when searching for information on the Internet—which is a lot.
P.S. Did I defy the rules of netiquette by not keeping this post short and sweet? I do apologize.
Francisco (a.k.a. Paco) Kuhn

Anonymous said...

In response to Justin, I believe more and more schools are stressing the use of rubrics. I have been using them with my students for some time and find them very useful mainly for two reasons. First, coming up with a rubric before assigning an activity helps me to stay focus during instruction and reminds of what I have to really emphasize. Secondly, for the students it serves as a clear guideline as to what I am expecting from them.
(Oh, no. I think I did it again!!)
Francisco (a.k.a. Paco) K.

Anonymous said...

Kristen H.

I checked out the Assign-A-Day website which was pretty neat. Basically, it is a site where teachers can create a calendar and post all assignments and projects for the students to view. This is a great planning tool for teachers and fosters good communication between teachers and students. Moreover, this calendar would be helpful for students if they are absent in order to see what they missed.

Anonymous said...

Kristen H.

I think Luci made a great comment about ThinkTank. Sometime students (and adults) can get overwhelmed when researching a topic, and often do not know where to begin. This website helps students refine their searches and doesn't make researching a daunting task. The site helps develop research skills.

Anonymous said...

Karine M.

Teaching high school living environment and chemistry, I find that many of the sites may not apply to me directly, although I looked through all of them and they are all very pertinent and user friendly. The one link that I think I could use is http://equity.4teachers.org/. This site provided a template for a self assessment rubric that I feel would benefit my students before exams; let them see were they stand and were they need to work on. Also there are many rubrics designed for the diverse student whether they be physically or mentally challenged or have communication issues.

Anonymous said...

Karine M.

I am glad to see that Danielle also feels that the equity site is a useful one for the diverse learner. There are more and more diverse learners in the classroom, and we as teachers must be able to develop skills and techniques to help them succeed. This site is a good starting tool.

Miss Graham said...

There are some really great resources on this site for teachers to use. Specifically I think http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ is a great way for teachers to organize and prepare rubrics for all subjects. I liked how when you pick the content area and specific subject in that content area, it gives you options for the different categories in the rubric. Some of the categories are things that you might not have originally thought about, but are important. I also think it’s useful because if you do not want use the premade rubrics you can write your own and tweak them to how you need them. I wish that I had known about this website earlier when I had to make my own rubrics for other classes!

Miss Graham said...

I think Kristen’s comments about the Assign-A-Day website were very insightful. I originally hadn’t clicked on that one, but after reading her post I checked it out. I agree that it is an excellent way to foster communication between the students and teachers. Also, I think some students learn better when they know what to expect and what the whole picture looks like. Through the use of this website they can see when units start and when assignments are due. I also agree with Kristen that it is very beneficial for students who are absent from class.

Anonymous said...

I think this is a wonderful collection of websites that will be of great use to teachers. Rubistar and the Assign-A-Day are the two that I as a teacher will use most often. I also liked that this "4teachers family of tools" had a section dedictated to not only resource tools for teachers, but as well as for students and parents who may not have a strong background knowledge on those students who are culturally and linguistically diverse as well as those students who have special needs.

Sabrina

Anonymous said...

I had not orginally checked out the equity link but after reading Karine's post, I decided to check it out. I think this is pretty cool how they track certain resource tools to see who is meeting the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Our students come from all different backgrounds, and as their teacher, we must find ways to make them feel welcomed and comfortable in our classrooms!

sabrina

Anonymous said...

There seems to be a number of informative websites available for teachers. Rubistar is a great resource for all educators. As a future secondary English teacher, PersuadeStar appeals to me as it "is designed to help students in grades 5-12 write an online persuasive essay." These sites are good examples of how we can use technology as a tool to enhance our teaching efficacy.

Anonymous said...

Karine made a great comment about the site http://equity.4teachers.org/. It is a great instrument to help craft lessons which effectively incorporate differentiation of instruction. In addition, the self assessment sites are invaluable. With a seemingless endless supply of information available to teachers, it is nice to see useful data streamlined into a compact arrangement. I will save this link in my favorites.

Anonymous said...

James O.
We all know how busy teachers are...going to grad school, creating lesson plans, etc. I wish I knew this site existed in my first year of teaching. It is very user friendly for teachers, and it simplifies our lives. I have used Rubistar in the past, and it literaaly creates the rubric for you. My first year I was sitting there changing margins and formatting on Word which took forever. Simply, this is a very useful site!

Anonymous said...

James O.
I agree with Kristen H. about the usefulness of the Assign-A-Day link. It is very helpful especially when students are absent or miss class for some other reason. It is also easier for the teacher - instead of saving papers for them, etc., you can say that the assignments are on the site. It is easier for both the students and the teachers.

Anonymous said...

I really liked the resources provided on this website. I have never used a rubric when grading my math students; however it is something that I would like to incorporate next year as I plan to give more projects. RubiStar is really easy to use. I also feel like it will make grading easier for me and fairer for the students because they will know how they are being assessed.

Katie G.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Kristin H. about the Assign A Day website. I always like to give my students an idea of what is to come. Putting the class calander online is so much more effiecient. When I put it on the board there is a chance that someone copied it wrong or that it will accidently get erased. I agree with James. O that it is easier for both teachers and students and it is a great way to help both stay organized.

Katie G.

Anonymous said...

As Art mentioned at did save this in my Favorites. I also loved the Rubistar and the Assign A Day calendar. Not only does it keep the students informed of what is comming up, what assignments are due when, when certain topics will be discussed but it also keep us as teachers on task. Again as Kristen mentioned when a student is absent and they miss an assignment they have no excuses because they have the schedules. The calendars can also be sent home to keep the parents updated as well. This may also help keep them as an active member of their chrildren's education. I also have to add that I liked the Academic Skill Builders website because this is a perfect site for those students that may need more practice with their math facts. My 8 year old daughter and I sat down to play some of the games, she and I did enjoy playing. This site can also be used as a incentive those students that earn computer time as a moditvator. (If my first version went through I appoligize.)

Marianne C

Anonymous said...

I really liked the QuizStar and Assignment Calendar websites featured here. The online quizzes available on QuizStar would be an excellent way to give assignments/take-home quizzes that students can access in school and at home. Since they are online, they have the freedom to complete the assignment/quiz at their leisure and without time constraints. The best feature is that the website collects and organizes all the results, making it really quick and easy to get an overall assessment. I would definitely consider using this in my classroom. The assignment calendar would be a great tool for the students who don't keep agendas or write HW down during class. With the online calendar, students can check it at all times and always know what they are responsible for. I teach high school and I think this would be very helpful to have.

Kristen P

Anonymous said...

I really like Karine M's suggestion about the self assessments. Having the students self assess before a test would really give them an idea of how well they are grasping the new material, as well as highlight the material they may need extra help with. I think its a great idea!

Kristen P

Anonymous said...

This is a really great resource for teachers of every level. There were so many great websites with user friendly ideas, lessons and programs. I think one of websites that i found to be good is Academic Skills Builder. This was a great place to have students use free time or even crate a learning center with some of the games. It helps to reinforce skills that you have just covered or give your more advanced students a sneak peak at the things to come. I also enjoyed using the Assign a day website.


I agree with Kristen H. I thought this was a great way to help keep students as well as yourself on track. I have used it before with some of my other classes. Its a great way to keep students focused and also get the parents involved in what is going on in the classroom.


Kelly L.

Colleen said...

I like the rubistar website. I have used it before and it is very easy to navigate. It is extremely handy when you need to make a quick rubric for a lesson or for the students. It is free which is also an added bonus! It also is good for a template for me to go create my own rubric.

I also really liked the Assign-A-Day website. I think it would be harder to use for elementary grades but I think it would be great for middle school and high school. The majority of students have internet at their homes and they would always know when assignments are due and a description of what the assigment consist of.

Colleen said...

I agree with mostly everyone who commented on the Rubistar website. It is helpful and even though I am not teaching currently, I think it will be useful when I do begin teaching. A teachers time is valuable and it matters how you use time!

Anonymous said...

I agree with Colleen, I like the rubistar website and the create a quiz webpage. I find that more info you can find online, the better you are prepared as a teacher. It is helpful to see what other teachers are using and what has worked and how you can "tweek" things for your personal classroom. It is helpful to have something readily available to you.

Katie

Anonymous said...

I agree with everyone that Rubistar is a great classroom resource and something that would be beneficial and used often. I also was intrigued by the Academic Skill Builders site. This site offers educational skill building exercises in a video game format. Kids love that! The use of this site in the classroom would be a great incentive for kids to strive for throughout their school day. It's fun for them but educational and great practice too!

Anonymous said...

I agree with Melissa. These websites are great timesavers for teachers. I already use many of these websites in the classroom as well as in school and I have found them to be very useful for teachers and students. I will definitely use them in the classroom in the future.
Erin C.

Anonymous said...

I think that I use technology often in the classroom, but I have never heard of most of the sites that 4teachers has! Working in a diverse district it would be great to use websites like casa notes, which would help translate notes home in Spanish. Also, I would love to use something like assign-a-day where I could post different assignments and projects, but for fifth grade I don’t know how beneficial it might be, it would definitely be great for high school students. Another great addition to this website is that all of these wonderful resources are put together so they won’t be hard to find when I need them. I definitely look forward to using the 4teachers website in the future.

Anonymous said...

In reading through everyone's comments on rubistar, I decided to look into it further. It definitely is something I plan to utilize and agree with others that it is easy to navigate. This website could definitely save any busy teacher a great deal of time!

Anonymous said...

When I teach in the classrrom I need every resource that I can use. These websites are great resources for teachers and students.I see way to many high school classrooms that still teach the old way of 40 minutes of lecture and few if any activities that use the web. As students are required to use the web more in college and in the work place they need to be aware of resources they can use to help them in the learning process. Also anything I can do to save time and direct my energy into providing better classroom enviroment is a great thing and with these websites I can do that.
Robert Dfu

Anonymous said...

I agree with Melissa who said that this site is a great resource for teachers because it saves time. I think that anything that can be use to help teachers to simplify their lives and help them make things easier, is great.

- Alexandria

Anonymous said...

I found this site to be very helpful. I clicked on the right side at the icons for each teacher site. There were some that I clicked right back because I thought they would be too time consuming to use just by their appearance. Then there were afew that caught my eye right away that I think would be great tools to use as a teacher. Quizstar,
Classroom architect, Casa notes and Kids’ Vid are some of the sites I liked. Casa Notes I think is something that all teachers will find helpful because of the rising % of Spanish speaking students in the public school system. Kids' Vid was also very appealing but something that needs teacher/parental guidance because of the scripting, making, editing, and showtime steps they list. But all in all, anything technology based is great for teachers.

- Alexandria

Anonymous said...

Malcolm, T

This is an excellent tool for teachers to use. I see so many time saving tools on this site. Having this technological tool is a blessing in this profession especially when there is always something to grade and plan. I would recommend this site and personally use it in my planning. I haven't seen one negative comment so far but the reason is clear...as teacher's we can use all the help we can get. Thanks professor M.

Anonymous said...

These websites are great for teachers. Some maybe geared more towards the younger grades, but they can still be useful in highschool classrooms. I especially like the rubistar, rubric creater. I love having my students do projects in class so this will be perfect to use in my classrooms.

Mike F

adolescentscience said...

I don't know if I will ever toil over a lesson plan in the same way that I previously have after having looked at TracStar, a vast collection of lesson plans on a multitude of topics.

Having already selected the topic for my unit plan in this class--the forces in Earth: a look at plate tectonics and natural (geologic)disasters, I narrowed my search on the site to this topic. The wealth of information, complete with illustrations, was unbelievable. All data was correct in the 8 plans I viewed and would make a wonderful list of sites to visit for review for students.

Just as an aside, Rubistar is a site that I have used in the past and loved.

adolescentscience said...

There were several posts that talked about the "Assign-A-Day" feature of the site, so I went back and looked it over again. I have to agree with all of the favorable posts about this tool; giving students that ability (and the responsibility) to check the site for missed work will be a tremendous time-saver in the classroom!

melodyinwords said...

I played the math racing car game in Arcademic Skill Builders.The game is actually very motivating. I wanted to answer the math questions correctly since the I didn't want to loose in the car race.I would use this website as an activity for 4th grade students who easily mastered the lesson objective. It's a fun way to memorize the times table.

-Jenny Chen

melodyinwords said...

I checked the Think Tank link after I read Erica's post. By narrowing down the topics, this website provides a great way for students to organize information and help them start their draft on an essay or book report.

-Jenny

J. B. said...

like jenny and a few others said, http://thinktank.4teachers.org was my site of choice. The greatest benefit that I see for telling students about this site is to help them find a topic to do their science fair project on.

Anonymous said...

This site is amazing. Everything is so useful. Every teacher can take advantage of what this site has to offer. I have already used casanotes and its simple and clear to work with. I just added this page to my desktop favorites because I know for a fact that I will be using it very often.
Danyi T

Anonymous said...

These are great resources for a teacher. I like Think Tank, it would be a great tool for students to use to help organize their ideas. Rubistar is another great tool for teachers in helping to set up rubrics for assessments. I agree with Katie and Melissa, having these tools at our disposal would save the precious little time we already have to concentrate more on creating meaningful lessons.

Rob sabino

Mike Stern said...

These are really great resources for teachers. I have used rubistar before which is a great tool when creating a rubric for a class project or assignment. I thought academic skill builders and quiz star were very great resources for teachers. Academic skill builders have great educational games that would be great for me to give to my math students as a review for an exam or a project. Quiz star is another great tool to use that would help me create quizzes as a study sheet or an upcoming math exam. These resources are great tools for teachers of all subjects.

Unknown said...

I used the classroom architect feature, that allowed you to set up a floor plan of a room. This is an underrated feature because I feel that a good layout of a classroom can be crucial to quality learning. This allowed you to explore different layouts without all the furniture moving.
I agreed with Mike, who said that the QuizStar feature can be great for making quizzes and assessments. I think they can also be used by students to take these quizzes and learn to assess themselves. By having them go on sites like these, students can take the initiative to improve their learning.

Colleen Freehill said...

I, too, used the classroom design website. What a great tool. I wish I knew this tool existed, I had to complete a classroom design assignment for another class, and sometimes it is a lot easier to visually see your classroom and play around with it before it's permanently on my poster board! Oh, well! Now I know for next time!
I agree with Rob that the think tank would be an excellent tool to help students stay organized while writing a paper. This will help to stay interested in the project and want to use the tool again!

Christine said...

I have used rubistar for many projects in class and with my students. I like this website because of its versatility. You can pick a rubric that is already made in a matter of minutes, or you can make your own. Even when making your own, the template is so simple and easy to follow you can complete it quickly!

I agree with everyone about quiz star as well. Another use for this may be to have the students go on the website and create their own quiz questions as a review.

Jenny C said...

I found all of these sources to be very useful for both teachers and students. I have used RubiStar in the past and found it was an easy way to create rubrics. Rubrics allow students to self-evaluate themselves. Also, I really enjoyed the Arcademic Skill Builders site. I found it is a great and interactive way for students to practice their math skills. The Classroom Architect site is also great. I agree with Patrick in that it is a great way to see your classroom arranged in a different way without having to move the furniture.

*Jenny

Anonymous said...

4Techers is an excellent resource for teachers! There is so much information contained within the links I wish I knew about this site sooner. I liked the Equity Index. It offers a great way to search for lessons that can be used to reach diverse learners.The Equity Index provides a list of various diversities that can be found in the classroom and then had a list of corresponing links. I agree with the other members of the class that Quizstar and Rubistar are both excellent resources for teachers.
-Bridget Sheerin

Anonymous said...

This website is great a resource for teachers becuase there are so many links to other sites all in one place. All the ideas they have listed are definetly resources that I will want to use in my own classroom.


-Deanna C.

Melissa said...

The website contained many resources that will be helpful to me in the near furture and during my classes for projects. I would definetly use rubistar and quizstar to create quizzes and rubrics for my classes. It saves the teacher time on having to create their own templates. You can just input the information and the websites collate everything for you.
I would like to use the PBL checklists websites for an upcoming assignment, recommended by Theresa P. I wish I would have knew about these helpful tools in the beginning of grad school.
Melissa H.

Anonymous said...

This website is extremely helpful for tools to use in the classroom. I tried Classroom Architect. This website was great for helping to reorganize your classroom and seeing it in different ways. It's great for people who are visual and like to see things before they try it out. I agree with Melissa because I was not aware of some of these tools before grad school started so it would have been helpful to know them beforehand. I would use QuizStar and RubiStar because they are helpful ways to make rubrics and create quizzes for our students. These websites give templates that all you need to do is input the information. This is helpful because it is less time consuming and can keep information more organized.

-Jeanine T.

Anonymous said...

I like the Arcademic Skill Builders site. I think that students benefit from playing games that reinforce learned skills. It is always helpful to learn by doing and the more fun the practice, the more the students get out of it. Some of these games remind me of the Fast Math software that I've seen in a lot of schools that I've done observation in over the past two years. I also agree with Kristen P. about the Quizstar site. I think it could be a great resource for making up exams and quizes for students who are absent or stuck at home.

-Jeff K.

Anonymous said...

These are great resources for teachers to use. I personally used the Arcademic Skills Builders website last year with my students. I also have it listed as a resource on my class website for my current students to use at home for additional practice in math. It is a great site and the students love it. Two new sites that I think I would personally find most useful would be the QuizStar and RubiStar. Both seem to be great tools to assist teachers who need to make up their own tests and rubrics, they are probably a time saver too! I look forward to trying them out.

-Kathy M.-

Anonymous said...

This collection of tools can be very useful for all educators. Any aaspect of a lesson can be assisted with one of these tools. Personally, I enjoyed using the Rubiustar rubric creator. When differentiating instruction is becoming so popular, having various methods of grading students is necessary. Rubistar makes creating rubrics such a quick, simple process.

John G

Anonymous said...

This collection of sites is an excellent toolbox for teachers. I am excited to share it with my co-workers tomorrow. The resources here are excellent!
I particulary liked the Casa Notes website, which provides teachers with basic letters home in English and in Spanish. This is an extremely helpful tool for teachers who have bi-lingual students and its FREE! As mentioned by many others I believe Rubistar is a useful tool as well! Kristina B.

Anonymous said...

The resources provide in this website are extremely helpful for teachers. It provides teachers with different sites that could help improve any lesson and make things easier for us. I would use casa notes tool, its fast and a easy way to create a letter to send to the parents. I would also use RubiStar is a great tool to use to create rubrics.
-Saira U.

Anonymous said...

4Teachers seems like a great resource for teachers to obtain much-needed tools to help them run and organize their classrooms more effectively. A few of the links on the website I have already used, including QuizStar, Rubistar, and TrackStar. I think the best thing about 4Teachers is that it organizes all these resources and puts them in one central location. This saves teachers a lot of search time.

Tom L.

Anonymous said...

This website was a great resource. If I had to use one of these in my classroom I would use the Arcademic Skill Builders link. It is designed for math and englisth teachers and its free. I would probably use this with an applied math 7th grade class. I could connect the content strand to number sense and operation. In my school some of the classes are very far behind academically. The Ratio Martian game is designed for 6th grade but we can definitely do it for 7th grade. All the student has to do is click the space bar when their is a ratio the is present and the martian will eat them. It was very functional and fun I would recommend it.

Anonymous said...

I remember how many essays I used to write in high school english. For this reason, I can see myself consistently using Persude Star. It helps students organize their ideas, construct a well designed essay, learn spellign and vocabulary and more. This sounds like a perfect tool for an english teacher to use. Learning to write and convey our message is a big part of everyone's everyday life. It is also a common assignment in high school. This is a good way to help the students learn how to write a well organized and well thought out essay. In many of our everyday writings; letters, emails, petitions, ads we use persuasive language to get our point across and hopefully have others agree with us. Learning to do these tasks before students are out of high scholl is of the utmost importance.

-MIKE T.-

Anonymous said...

I think 4 teachers is a wonderful resource becasue many tools for teachers are condensed all in one place. I have used rubistar before and it makes creating rubrics very easy! I look forward to trying the other resources listed to not only save time, but to make my lessons more effective for my students.

-christine s

Anonymous said...

I too think this is a wonderful resource for teachers! I like that many of the different resources out there are condensed in one place to make things eaiser for teachers. The website rubistar iss very effective in creating rubrics of any kind. These resources not only make teachers' jobs easier, but they can help make lessons more effective! I look forward to further investigating the other tools listen in 4teachers.
-Christine S.

Anonymous said...

The post from 11:20am was from David B

Jessica W said...

This website was a great resource for teachers. I was impressed with the number of different tools they had available. I explored the Casa Notes website because I am going for dual certification in Childhood Education and TESOL. This website would be an excellent resource for teachers who haev students with parents who speak languages other than english, specifically spanish. We also used teh Rubistar site in class and I found that to be extremely helpful in terms of conserving time and developing accurate and fair rubrics for assessment. I agree with Tom that the layout of the website is extremely effective and helpful.

Anonymous said...

I was really surprised to see that there were so many resources available to teachers. I really like rubistar. It takes a lot of time to sit there and make up your own rubric, so rubistar is very hellpful. I like how you are able to change and edit it the way you like it to be. I am very happy to have these websites available to me when I start teaching.

Jaime R

Anonymous said...

WHAT AN INTERESTING SITE. I REALLY ENJOYED ARCADEMIC. I HAVE 4TH GRADE I.D. STUDENTS THAT ARE HAVING A HECK OF A TIME LEARNING THEIR MULTIPLICATION FACTS. I AM GOING TO SET THIS UP FOR THEM IN CLASS AND LET THEM TRY IT THIS WEEK. IT WILL BE GOOD PREP FOR THE STATE MATH TEST NEXT WEEK. I WOULD COMMENT ON OTHER BLOGS; HOWEVER, AT THIS TIME THERE ARE NON UP.

LISA C.

Anonymous said...

This website is an awesome resource for teachers. It is definitely a website that I would share with anyone who is interested. Technology was created to make things easier to accomplish and by using this website is will make teaching a little bit easier.

Lauren G.