Today, I spent some time on the World Wide Web researching websites. Using search engines such as Google and Yahoo, I found millions of websites that could come in handy to elementary school teachers. However, on the flip side of that, I found many websites that were not as useful. In my opinion, I learned a valuable lesson: not all things found on the internet are as accessible and handy as they seem. There were even some websites that seemed perfect and lured me along until the very end, where they requested some form of payment to further access the site.

I began on the “Ohio Treasure Chest of Technology Resources” page, (http://www.ohiotreasurechest.org/index.html), which was a link provided to me by my teachers.  This link provided access to an excellent site for elementary school teachers. The site is created and maintained by a group of city schools in Ohio, so therefore it is very up to date and accurate. The site is free, easily accessible, and it is very organized. It allows teachers to select the exact grade level and subject that they are teaching and then provides links to different web resources, lesson plans, connections, comments, and assessments. In my opinion, one of the best parts about this website is that the topics are aligned directly to the Ohio Standards for each subject. Therefore, teachers can follow along with the Standards for the state and find valuable resources for each one. The only thing that I did not like about the website was that it seemed a little boring. Although too much color and activity on a website is a bit distracting, this site could use a bit more, in my opinion. However, overall, this website is very exceptional because of its great information, amazing organization, and spectacular accessibility.

After finding the first site so useful, I began to look for others that might come in handy when I begin teaching. This second site, entitled PBS Teachers (http://www.pbs.org/teachers/), provides teachers with free resources for teaching and learning. Their goal is to provide “you, your students, and their families with resources that will transform teaching and learning.” By providing a website with all of these resources, the site directors hope to further enhance the role that teacher’s play in children’s lives. Some of the benefits of the site is that it provides thousands of lesson plans, teaching activities, on-demand videos, and interactive games and simulations. Like the other site, it allows the teacher to select a subject and grade level and the subjects are based on the National Standards as well. An interesting aspect of this site that I did not find on many other sites was that it provides resources for teacher development. As I have been learning the past few weeks, a teacher’s education is never finished. In this ever-changing world, a teacher has to further his/her education constantly. PBS Teachers provides resources and links to sites for professional development that include over one hundred and thirty graduate level courses. Overall, I think this is an excellent site, as it is interactive, accessible, organized, and very appealing.