AASL Best Websites for Educators

The American Association of School Librarians has a great resource titled, "The Best Websites for Teaching and Learning 2014." This list includes websites for media sharing, digital storytelling, file management/organization/sharing, social networking, content related sites, and curriculum collaboration sites. Each site includes a brief description, target age level, and a tip for its usage. Though I found that most of the target ages were for upper grades and less were targeted for K-12, I explored many of the sites and found that they an be adapted to any grade/age level. Of the list my three favorite were Alchemy Learning, Vocabulary.com, and Canva. 


Alchemy Learning:

This website is a great tool for creating digital lessons. I love the idea of taking what you've taught in class and creating a digital version. This can be helpful for students who are absent for one day as well as those students who are absent longer for whatever reason. 

Alchemy Learning can serve as a great tool for assistance with homework. Teachers can create short video clips with tips, tricks, and reminders for the homework; especially if the homework is based on a new skill taught that day. As a fourth grade teacher I see this as a great resource for math homework... fourth grade math is a struggle!

Aside from homework assistance tutorials, Alchemy Learning can be used to create a unit review in content for an upcoming test, and the video can be linked to the class website or email out to parents. It can also help with project assignments. I often find that I have to repeat directions for projects to both parents and students, and I also often have to show examples and sometimes do a small demonstration (trifolds, etc.). Alchemy Learning would be a great place to post instructions for projects and include examples from past projects as well as any other necessary tutorials. As with the test review, this can be posted on a class website to be readily available to students and families throughout the project time frame. 

Visit the Alchemy Learning website here.


Vocabulary.com:

Vocabulary skills were a statewide area of need in fourth grade this past year based on previous SOL data. As a TAG teacher I am given some resources for vocabulary instruction, but the Vocabulary.com website can take vocabulary instruction to a whole new level.  

In exploring this website I found that it can be completely adapted to any unit you are teaching. There are preset word lists available, but my favorite feature was the ability to create my own word lists. Vocabulary.com can incorporate cross-curricular learning by giving teachers the ability to create word lists from math vocabulary, content vocabulary, and even vocabulary from novel studies. 

This site provides students review questions, sentence examples, and also allows students to track their mastery of words with badges. The "Leaderboard" tracks student progress and makes it a fun, challenging game-like activity while they are learning. Students can use this site in the classroom as a station rotation during any of of their subjects, or it can be assigned as a homework component as well. 

Visit the Vocabulary.com website here.


Canva:

Canva is a great website for the creative side of learning. I try to create an environment of project based learning for assessments and this website is a great resource for students. Many of my projects are presented in a menu format where students choose up to three to create. Often they include items such as brochures, flyers, game boards, posters, and trading cards.

Over the years I have noticed a shift in the project mediums from handmade items toward digitally created products. Canva can provide students with the means to create their digital product with ease. Canva can help eliminate the stress of too many options by providing stock backgrounds, images, and fonts; however students can also upload their own images as well if they like.  A great aspect of Canva is that it includes helpful how-to video clips (they helped me!) as well as design tutorials. This can help parents working with their child as they learn how to navigate through the site.

Though Canva says it is for grades 6-12, I can easily see my students working on this at the elementary level. Teachers can do an in-class tutorial, or team up with their Library Media Specialist and ITC to demonstrate for students. Great for at home projects, Canva can also be used in the classroom for a long range project (similar to the service learning projects) or for a fun school-wide activity, such as "Design a poster to promote your school library's upcoming Scholastic Bookfair."

See the Canva website here.


Sources

Alchemy Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved July 26, 2014, from http://www.alchemylearning.com/.

Canva. (n.d.). Retrieved July 26, 2014, from https://www.canva.com/.

Vocabulary.com. (n.d.). Retrieved July 26, 2014, from http://www.vocabulary.com/.