Week+3

Week 3: Evaluating Web Resources

This week you will choose and evaluate several websites. Think about your upcoming units that you are teaching and outcomes. You might want to evaluate websites that you can use with your students. Teaching your students to be critical and reflective thinkers is crucial in the 21st century. Many websites are based on personal opinion and not on factual information. Today you will see the importance in this and how to teach this to your students.

**//Part I: Critical Thinking and the Internet//**

1.) How to Read a URL – Presents some great information about what each domain name extension stands for and to understand the beginning of using a critical eye when viewing websites.

2.) Please read the following article by Alan November "Teaching Zach to Think." teaching-zach-to-think.pdf

//Alan November, is a well-known leader in the area of instructional technology and promotes the effective use of information and classroom technologies that support and enhance learning for children. His website, November Learning, is a wonderful resource for learning more about information literacy and the future of communication technologies in our classrooms.// 3.) View the following website about thePacific Tree Octopus. Explore this website. How would a student who is researching endangered species know this is a fictitious website? It looks rather legitimate, does it?!

// Why do you think it is important to teach our students how to read a URL and be critical thinkers of what they are reading? //
 * __Blog Topic: __**

//** Part II: Website Evaluation **//

1.) Read the "[|ABCs of WebSite Evaluation]" article.

2.) Review the [|Kathy Schrock Critical Evaluation Survey] instrument designed for student use. How could you modify this to use with your students? How could you add this to a lesson from your curriculum?

3.) Evaluate ** ONE ** potential instructional website using the [|21st Century Information Fluency Project Portal tool]. This could be a website that you have used or are interested in using with your class. This website is a reflection tool to help guide you through questions you should be asking when using technology . **

Use the discussion tab at the top of this page to share your URL and describe how you would use it instructionally. __(Please post your response by Tuesday Feb. 16th by 6:00pm)__ **

**__For the next class __**: //(Note: You do not have to use the 21st Century Information Fluency Project Portal Tool to evaluate these resources, however, make sure they are valid resources based on the parameters you have read today.)//
 * Create a list of 5 valid websites that you would use in classroom instruction pertaining to one subject area.