I am going to start this post with a warning. This is a biased list and based solely on my experiences. I have not taken the time to check site usages and plug those numbers into all those awesome algorithms I learned as an undergrad to determine if there is a statistical difference between sites. I am just not that ambitious. This is a list of sites I feel are important. The first two however are geared towards working with students with disabilities. The final 3 sites are important for everyone, not just teachers. So read on and tell me your thoughts on my list in the comment section below.
1. Boardmaker Achieve (formerly Boardmaker Share) - Well due to my procrastination I am able to give some new information on this site. The site has changed from Boardmaker Share to Boardmaker Achieve today (August 5th)! This site is a file sharing communities for those with the Boardmaker family software.
Be sure the file you are downloading is compatible with your copy of boardmaker before downloading. Unfortunately, the new version does not specify which version of boardmaker each activity is compatible with. You can browse activities but you need create a Free account to download activities. However, Boardmaker Player, Plus, Studio etc. are NOT free and you will need to purchase on for these or download a free trial to use the activities. I am not going to get into the difference between each, I could write a whole post on the pros and cons of each version in the Boardmaker family. The site itself is now aligned with the Common Core so activities can be searched for by specific standards. This is an easy way to get ideas and modify activities to suit your classroom. I am on this site almost daily throughout the school year getting ideas and sharing my activities. If you do sign up for Boardmaker Achieve feel free to look me up.
2. News-2-You - This is an adapted newspaper that is published weekly throughout the school year. Symbols are used with words to help emergent readers recognize key words. Each week the newspaper is published with several different levels available each week. There is also now a mobile version that can be downloaded on the iPad. I really like this site for the newspaper which I read with my students on a weekly basis. Furthermore, with a subscription to this newspaper, you have access to SymbolStix. News 2 You's database of symbols. They have some fantastic symbols to supplement those that come with boardmaker software. For example, after doing a newspaper on President Obama a picture symbol drawing of him and his family were added to the database and are now available for download. The major drawback of this site is that it is not free, you have to purchase a subscription but it is really well worth it; except for the corny knock knock jokes in each newspaper, those I could do without.
3. Google - Or your preferred search engine. Honestly, so many problems could be solved by looking up things on Google. Trust me you are not the first person to have trouble printing something or to not be able to open a file at work that you started at home. Teachers I work with, I have some bad news for you, when you come to me for help, about 1/2 the time I end up looking up the answer on Google. The good news is, this is something you can do yourself and feel empowered that you figured it out on your own. You don't have to tell the rest of us where you got the answer. I won't tell anyone, I promise.
4. YouTube - When Google is not enough, go to YouTube. This provides the visual along with directions to do things. Need to know how to make a video tutorial of you doing something on your desktop? YouTube has the answer, trust me I looked. Need to learn how to perform a ridiculous dance because of a classroom incentive you gave your students? YouTube has that too, again I know from experience. Thankfully, a video of that is not up on YouTube.
5. Your site - This may be the most important site of them all. Keeping up your own site/blog. So many things can be done depending on your purpose. I have this awesome blog to throw out my thoughts every once in a while to the greater community. Teachers use sites to post assignments, flip classrooms, and provide resources and encouragement for their students. The options really are only limited to our imaginations and willingness to try new things. I am going to make an effort to blog more this year and to hopefully create a classroom website to pass information along to my students' families and group homes.
