I wanted to have a mass collection of websites that I could use in my secondary English class one day. Hence, these websites will be going on my delicious account, but I wanted to place them on here first, so I could highlight which parts I liked best about the sites. I decided to use the new search engine, Bing to search for these sites. I was fairly impressed with this search engine, and it aided me in my ability of improving my searching. And without further adieu, here are my 13 websites that will aid me in teaching secondary Language Arts/English one day.
The General Lesson Plan Section
1.) http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LAJH.htm
I struck goald with this website, provided by Hot Chalk. The first portion of websites are not so useful, but as I read further down, every section is relevant to my subject. These topics include reading literature, such as The Great Gatsby, the parts of speech, reading comprehension, spelling, vocabulary etc. You could make the argument that this is the only site I need, but more is always better.
2.) http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/lang.shtml
This site offered a variety of lesson plans that I found compelling right off the bat. I enjoyed the one about research papers, the daily language practice and the scriptwriting with a wiki. This just shows you how you have to dig deep on search engines because all of the sites I found preceded this one.
3.) http://lessonplanz.com/Lesson_Plans/Language_Arts/_Grades_6-8/index.shtml
This page seemed similar to the one Hot Chalk provided, and it was not as simple to sift through. However, it does offer some useful information on poems and figurative language. It was not my favorite, but it is a middle of the pack option.
4.) http://www.col-ed.org/cur/lang.html
This site is a classic example of the saying don't judge a book by its cover. It seems dull, but the poem, reading and vocabulary content sections caught my eye as I clicked on them. This would not be the first site I would visit, but it does have some useful activities included.
5) http://www.education-world.com/a_tsl/archives/ah.shtml#lang
A plethora of these options are for younger students, however I included it for the quality of lessons that some middle school teachers provided. I enjoyed the appetizing adverb plan, the comparing and contrasting cookie one, and the snowy simile activity. No, it is not a coincidence that two-thirds of those activities involve food.
6.) http://www.lessonplanet.com/directory/Language_Arts/Word_Games
I hand-picked this portion of this site because I was intrigued by the idea of word games. Many of them applied to younger students, but one that really caught my eye was the Latin root game. I recall Latin roots being a difficult subject for some middle school students to grasp, so I would utilize that site for a Latin roots activity.
7.) http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/language_arts/68/3/
This site is difficult to navigate through and is a real hit and miss. The only reason it made my list because even with the quantity issues, each page had at least one useful and unique activity. My favorite was how to introduce the Thanksgiving myth which appeared on page 3. However, for every good lesson plan, about 15 mediocre lesson plans accompany it. Hence, why I placed it at the bottom of my list.
Specific Sites Directed at Specific Topics
http://middle-school-lesson-plans.suite101.com/article.cfm/short_research_papers_for_middle_school_students
This site intrigued me because it was primarily aimed at middle school students writing a research paper. It sticks to the basics and how to prepare students to write a research paper. I would also include a MLA citation manual and citing sources, but that would exceed 13!
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/programs/greatbooks-huckfinn/
I knew I could not go wrong with a website labeled Huckleberry Finn library. I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn once in middle school and once in high school, so I am banking on the fact that I will at least have to teach it once. I believe it is vital to approach this book with effective teaching methods because students can lose touch with this book fast.
http://www.lessoncorner.com/English/Writing/Essay_Writing
This was my favorite expository writing site because it had the perfect storm of quality meeting quantity. It had a variety of essay prompts, while also explaining how to introduct expository writing.
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=268
This site solely focuses on how to write a persuasive essay. It is the War and Peace version of the persuasive essay guide, but I must say it gets the job done.
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/lessonplans/expository-writing-the-five-paragraph-essay-lesson-plan-2-of-2
Expository writing is an essential part of teaching secondary English. This site included some parts I liked more than others on it. Overall though the site hammers home the key parts about teaching expository writing.
http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/literature/journalism/
Journalism was my wild card lesson for secondary English. I was on the newspaper staff as the Sports editor, so I figured I may need to have a lesson plan about it. Once again this site has a great blend of quality and quantity, as it includes basic rules of journalism and topics to cover for journalism.
Those are my fantastic 13 sites to cover secondary English. It may not be the most technologically advanced project, but I know for a fact those sites could prove useful down the road. Having appropriate lesson plans and teaching tactics is an essential part of being prepared to teach a new topic.
Monday, November 2, 2009
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