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- Readers' Survey 2008 Home
- Best Blog for Educators
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- Best Virtual Field Trip
- Best Site from Which You Can Download Free Lessons and Materials
- Best Site for Grant Information
- Best Technology Product for Less Than $100
- Best Technology Tool for Students
- Best Education Software
- Amount You Spend Out of Pocket Each Year on Classroom Supplies
- Best Way to Get What You Need for the Classroom
- Best Public Advocate or Role Model for Educators
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- Top Concern of Parents
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- What's Missing from Education Degree or Certification Programs
- Who, from the Past or Present, You'd Like to Teach Your Class for a Day
- Subject That Typically Isn't Taught in Schools That Should Be
- Best Way for Schools to Keep New Teachers from Burning Out
- Best Way to Find Inspiration
- Best Way to Create an Educational Community
- The 2008 Readers' Survey was conducted at Edutopia.org March 26-April 30, 2008. Participants responded to questions in their own words, and their answers were tabulated to yield the top three to five vote getters in each category. The top responses for each question appear with voting buttons to encourage our visitors to participate further.
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Readers' Survey 2008: Best Site from Which You Can Download Free Lessons and Materials
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Nomenclature has always mattered in the ever-more-crowded universe of the Internet, and some of the sites readers suggested for this category have great names, even if they didn't make the final three.
MERLOT might give one an instant thirst (for knowledge, of course), but there's not a drop of vino to be found, just a lot of good ideas. And you won't find merlot or Merlin at EnchantedLearning, but the name makes us dream of a serenity rarely found in school. Then there's BrainPOP, which sounds like a late-in-the-day condition common among teachers. But pop the site does, with nifty graphics and an easy-to-navigate setup.
Now, onto the reader favorites, less fancifully named perhaps but well liked nevertheless: Thinkfinity, ReadWriteThink, and Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators. The envelope, please.What do you think? Weigh in on the results.
Best site for free lessons and materials
I help prepare future teachers. A site I strongly recommend to my students is Read, Write, Think. I find most of the lessons to be pedagogically sound and student friendly.
Reading/Language Arts
My students find the lessons to be interesting and often full of discovery. I like them because I rarely experience unpleasant surprises when implementing the lessons I choose.
Best website for downloading free materials
Kathy Shrock's Guide for Educators is very useful because all of the sites she recommends are tried and true by Kathy herself. They're not limited to one subject, either. They include math, reading, technology, science, and all other subject areas. I send them on to my colleagues, and they always thank me profusely. And in the end, it's the kids who benefit from her sites.
ReadWriteThink all the way
Kathy's site may be "tried and true by Kathy herself," but ReadWriteThink has the International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English--and all of those teacher/member authors--behind it. And you should check out their special website for summer learning, too!
Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators is a portal to other sites. She includes the ReadWriteThink site on her page, and that's how I learned about it. How can you compare a portal to one subject area? ReadWriteThink is fantastic for downloads too, but it's limited to one area. Kathy guides you to the best of the best. It's a one-stop shop for any subject.
Best site for free lessons and materials
Excellent site for teachers, students and parents
This site was created by nationally recognized teacher Alan Haskvitz which has tons of resources including lesson plans. There is also information for new teachers, scholarships and fellowships. You can even submit your own lesson plan for others to review and use.
Best site for free lessons and materials
Thinkfinity, which also includes Read, Write, Think, is the best. Thinkfinity provides content in social studies, art, economics, science, geography, humanities, and American history. All searchable and standards based. The student inter-actives help students understand the abstract with concrete, hands-on applications. And everything is totally free. The materials come from NCTM, AAAS, National Geographic, Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Museum of American History, and NCEE.
Read Write Think helps new teachers get started with innovative, interesting, challenging lessons for teachers to implement. I always have good luck with the lessons
Thinkfinity is best!
I work with educators K-16 and in every training I showcase Thinkfinity. It is the gateway (one address to remember) to over 55,000 resources for every subject area and grade level, K-12, plus adult and and family literacy. Lessons are created by the nation's leading educational and literacy organizations and are designed to improve student achievement anytime, anywhere, at no cost.
Thinkfinity
A Great site with tons of wonderful resources for students, teachers, and parents. This is something that every teacher should have at their fingertips. The search capabilities and the opportunity to have immediate interactive sites for students across the curriculum is a valuable tool in any district. The best news is the resources are of very high quality and it is free.