Mary Ann George's List: Best of Education

American Association of School Librarians. Standards for the 21st century learner. (2011). http://ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/standards.cfm

Summary: Follow the link to "best websites for teaching and learning" which provides the top 25 list, past top 25 lists and landmark websites. If you link to tools and resources, you can download bookmarks with the last 3 years' website winners on them. The websites listed are free, web based sites.

Assess: AASL has done all the work. all I have to do is click around and pick and choose knowing that they have been approved. The websites are labeled and easy to navigate. If you could only have one place to search for websites and lesson plan ideas, I think this would be it.

Reflect:
Why: This is the jackpot! Free web-based sites for exploring and sharing.
How: I would refer to this site often for ideas to either add links from my library website or use in my curriculum.

American Association or School Librarians. Standards for the 21st century learner database. (2010). http://aasl.jesandco.org/

Summary: This is a site sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards for the 21st Century. It contains lesson plans geared to teaching essential learning skills.

Assess: Wow!! I looked at the lesson plans and there are two pages of standards in both information technology and core state standards before the actual lesson plan. This is a comprehensive website and would be highly useful for librarians and teachers. There are not very many lesson plans (yet?) so this might be a limiter but it also allows educators to register and submit lesson plans for review. My expectation would be that this site's content will grow.

Reflect:
Why: I was impressed by the thorough references to all the standards that the posted lessons contained but it made me realize that this process could be overwhelming for a classroom teacher or SLMS.
How: I would refer back to this site often for both lesson plan guidance and a models of lesson plans that fit into core literacy and content standards.

American Library Association, Association for Library Service to Children. Great Web Sites for Kids. (1997/2011). http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/greatwebsites/greatwebsitesforkids/greatwebsites.cfm

Summary: The criteria used by the ALSC to choose the "great websites for kids" selections is also a good check list for anyone wanting to evaluate a website.

Assess: A practical and useful link to refer to when assessing a site or teaching literacy skills to students. More appropriate for K through 8.

Reflect:
Why: I like the checklist format and simple wording of this information for both kids and adults.
How: I'd make a link from my library homepage and include it in my information literacy lessons and perhaps parent night.

Authentic Education. Big ideas: and authentic education e-journal. (2011). http://authenticeducation.org/ae_bigideas/index.lasso

Summarize: This site is a link from the main site of Authentic Education. It provides a forum of opinions about teaching, assessment and common core standards. Authentic Education's four beliefs are (1) "excellence in schooling requires a vigilant focus on learning - and specifically learning for understanding. (2) all education is local, (3) Schooling needs to be grounded in more authentic forms of learning, and (4) education succeeds if and only if everyone in schools gets constant and powerful feedback and is obligated to seek and consider it"

Assess: I have seen Wiggin's name and backwards design mentioned in several articles I read this session and his textbook is in both UM's and Western's collection. There are references to many universities that use their text and states that have consulted with Wiggins on reform matters. I feel this is a valid and useful website. The website homepage primarily advertises institutes and their training center. The link I provided (Big Ideas) is for a discussion forum but I searched around for a while before I found it.

Reflect:
Why: I read about Grant Wiggins when I was doing my research for my first reaction paper. His backwards design model really made sense to me.
How: I want to be able to refer back to the Authentic Education model and if given the chance, advocate for continuing education and training in this model for a school or district I may work in someday.

The Big6. The Big6. (2010). http://www.big6.com/

Summary: Lesson Plans, Organizers, Handouts, Workshop Information, Blogs, Events...everything Big6

**July 27, 2010/ I tried to use this site for my Lesson Plan and it has expired.

Assess: This site has it all. I could find lesson plans, information and inspiration although I do find Eisner a little harsh. I know it is what LMS's need to hear but some may be turned off by his gruffness. The site is very searchable and has excellent links.

Reflect:
Why: I chose this site because Helena School District uses the Big6 and I would want to have resources from "the source".
How: I would develop my lessons with the Big6 as a reference point.

Byerly, Greg. (May 2010). Web sites on literacies for 21st Century Learning. School Library Monthly. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibrarymonthly.com/articles/Byerly2010-v26n9p33.html

Summary: Byerly provides a comprehensive list of links to various Information literacy web sites.

Assess: I found this article to be current and informative and the links to ICT (Information and Communication Technology) are unique to my current resources.

Reflect:
Why: I am always looking for ways to incorporate information literacy into curriculum. I think this source and this author will be an ongoing resource for me.
How: I trust the research that the author has done and can use the web sites recommended with some confidence of legitimate, timely information.

Discovery Education. Kathy Shrock's guide for educators. (1995/2011). http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/

Summarize: Kathy Shrock provides practical, timely resources. She provides resources and lesson plans for all levels of K-12 curriculum in all subjects

Assess: This is a very easy site to navigate. Links are marked well and it is updated regularly. The affiliation with Discovery Education, I feel, gives it depth. On the negative side, I do not see any references to common core standards on the website and when I linked to a few 9-12 lesson plans, they are vague. One step states "allow group members to research television on the internet". The research part of the lesson plan is weak and based on our inquiry models I would like to see more of a team approach. That being said, one could modify and enhance these lessons to reflect more inquiry learning and better integration.

Reflect:
Why: Everyone recommends it and it has a large variety of esources
How: She has links to all core subject areas and I would use this site as a jumping off point for topics and add my own format to the framework.

Galileo Educational Network. Assessment. (1999-2011). http://www.galileo.org/tips/assess.html

Summary: This site provides links to rubrics, and other assessment tools to use in an inquiry based learning classroom.

Assessment: the resources are classroom ready and directly correlate to a guided inquiry lesson.

Reflect:
Why: I read an article about a school district in Canada that did a district-wide incorporation of inquiry learning. Galileo was the organization that oversaw the project.
How: I will use the resources provided to assess my lessons and the other links for research and reference.

Google Earth Lessons. (May 29, 2008). http://gelessons.com/

Summary:A variety of lesson using Google Earth. The lessons vary from student controlled to teacher controlled to "Google Earth How To's".

Assess: This is a very easy site to navigate and offers good support for first time users. I encountered several dead links and the 2008 date of the last update makes me a little suspicious about the currency of the site.

Reflect:
Why: I think Google Earth is cool but have never been very proficient at using it so I like the "How To" section for me to get more comfortable with the tool before sharing it with students.
How: I think this will allow me to add an interesting component to the tools my students can use.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2011). http://www.iste.org/welcome.aspx

Summary: Resources for technology, interactive sites to network and discuss ideas and issues with other educators. Conference and training information on technology. I linked to the Professional Development section and discovered interesting information.

Assess: There were some free resources available and lots of Net 2.0 ideas to implement in classrooms. This would be a good resource for ideas on how to implement technology into a classroom or lesson.

Reflect:
Why:So much of what LMS's are expected to do involves technology. This site could be useful for support and information.
How: Reference and my own continuing education.

Libraries Unlimited. School Library Monthly. (2011). http://www.schoollibrarymonthly.com/index.html

Summary: (taken from the home page) SLM content supports K-12 school librarians as they plan instruction collaboratively with teachers. It helps strengthen information literacy skills, inquiry and the research process and encourages the use of a variety of resources. It promotes the integration of technology and provides links to a vast array of literature.

Assess: This site has access to articles, lesson plans, blogs, research and more.

Reflect:
Why: I found many useful articles and information and decided to put the link to the magazine web site on my list.
How: I will refer to it monthly or more often for great ideas and information.

Montana Office of Public Instruction. Curriculum and Assessment (2011). http://opi.mt.gov/Curriculum/

Summary: This is a link from the MT OPI Curriculum and Assessment page. The PDF pages link to the monthly publication, "Content Standards Informer". This monthly publication provides information on lesson plans, professional development, resources and news of educator achievements.

Assess: I linked to several issues and there was a wide variety of information available. The link also provided a subscribe option. This page provides back issues through 2009. The back issues are not indexed so you would be clicking and reading blindly which is a negative.

Reflect:
Why: I think that keeping current is a major challenge for educators.
How: This newsletter would be a quick update of what's happening in curriculum and assessment in Montana.

Montana Office of Public Instruction. Curriculum and Assessment, Common Core Standards. (2011). http://opi.mt.gov/Curriculum/Index.html?gpm=1_7

Summary: This is Montana's base for Curriculum and Assessment. This link provides the common core standards for Montana educators in the various subject areas.

Assess: This is the encyclopedia of common core standards for Montana educators. It is well designed thorough and yes, overwhelming. It is the most current and up to date information one would need for reference purposes. What it does not provide is lesson plan examples or guidance.

Reflect:
Why: I want to be current on State issues.
How:I would have this link handy to reference common core standards and access most current happenings, initiatives and news from Montana OPI.

Montana Office of Public Instruction. Curriculum: Montana School Libraries. (2011). http://opi.mt.gov/Curriculum/libmedia/

Summary: The Library Media page on OPI's web site provides information specific to School Library Media Specialists. There are links to information literacy content standards, essential learning expectations, etc.

Assess: Again, I would use this site as a reference. There are a couple of powerpoint presentations that talk about why school librarians are important to a school with achievement statistics which I'm not sure that one could use but it would give ideas for talking points. There is contact information for State Library Media Specialist, Colet Bartow. She signs her web site as "informationally yours" and that is really what you are getting - statistics, standards matrices, etc. We talked about living in a world that wants data so this would be a good resource for that.

Reflect:
Why: Data, data, data
How: I'm not sure how much I would use this site for my daily lessons but I would want to get to it quickly if I were making a presentation to a principal, superintendent or school board member.

Assess: Like most OPI links, this is best used as a reference tool. Knowing information from the source is important and knowing how to contact the state library media specialist is always good information

National Archives. Teaching with Documents.
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/

Summary: The National Archives provides several links for educators. The two I explored were Lesson Plans & Activities and Docs Teach. Both provide lesson plans and activities that are based on primary historical documents.

Assess: I found the DocsTeach link more interesting and could see using the primary documents in a dynamic lesson. These sites do not link the standards to the lessons.

Reflect:
Why: This is an excellent site for primary resources.
How: I would consider this a reference site or jumping off point for a more extensive lesson. This is a valuable museum site.

National Council for the Social Studies. National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. (2010). http://www.socialstudies.org/standards

Summary: This site provides a partial list of national standards for Social Studies and a link to 21st century skills. This is the first core subject site that used this reference.

Assess: The NCSS only provides partial information and the rest must be purchased. I think what is available on line gives a pretty good synopsis.

Reflect:
Why: I want to be able to access the Social Studies National Standards
How: I will use them for reference.

National Council of Teachers of English. NCTE/IRA Standards for the English Language Arts. (1998-2011). http://www.ncte.org/standards

Summary: These standards were published jointly with the International Reading Association (IRA) and are meant to complement other national, state and local standards.

Assess: This site provides a synopsis of the standards with a link to the full document if one chooses.

Reflect:
Why: I want to be able to refer back to the national standards, if necessary.
How: Reference

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Standards and Focal Points. (2011). http://nctm.org/standards/default.aspx?id=58

Summary: This site provides many links to focal points and standards from elementary through high school.

Reflect:
Why: I want to be able to access the national standards.
How: Reference and talking points.

National Science Teachers Association. National Science Education Standards. (2011). http://www.nsta.org/publications/nses.aspx

Summary: The national standards for science education are listed here.

Reflect:
Why: I want to be able to access the national standards in Science.
How: Reference and talking points.

Smithsonian Education. Standards of Learning Search Results. (2010). http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/resource_library/standards_of_learning.asp?state=MT&grade=9&subject=Social+Studies&Submit.x=12&Submit.y=4

Summary: The Smithsonian Museum provides a link to most states' curriculum standards with resources educators can use to meet the standard. The lesson plans include links to additional resources and tools, class by class guidance and assessment tools.

Assess: I looked at several lesson plans and the information is thorough and well thought out and lists the standards at the beginning of the lesson or throughout. Our text discussed the untapped resource that museums provide and this website could be an important window for students into art, history, science and culture.

Reflect:
Why: The Smithsonian site had lessons for all core subject areas How:I think I would use it to create collaborative lessons and as a primary resource for students to explore.