Website evaluation #1 Starfall.com

   The website I am evaluating is Starfall.com.  The website URL is http://www.starfall.com/  .
The website is for PreK-2nd grade, English development (ELL, ESL, ELD), and Special Needs.  The website is all in English.  It was designed as a free public service to teach children to read with phonics.  The website is very colorful and user friendly.  It is designed for parents and teachers, and many children could easily navigate the website.  I can see it as very helpful to language teachers because the student sees the letters and words and hears the correct pronunciation.  It is divided into 4 sections with mini lessons in each general section.  The main areas are ABC's, Learn to Read, It's Fun to Read, and I'm Reading.  The website is probably most useful for students with a little English who can benefit with additional vocabulary and reading instruction and practice. However, it could be used with non-English speaking students because it begins with the alphabet in several very engaging mini lessons and moves through to teach phonemes, phonics and reading..  The website is very bright, cheerful, and engaging. The mini lessons in each section provide repeated opportunities for practice and assessment.  Students are often reinforced with increasingly sophisticated songs, action, and images.There is also an Educators link that provides lesson plans and worksheets for practice and assessment.  The strengths of the website are it's attractiveness, it's ease of use, and the engaging images and stories.  There is a white, middle class ambiance with certain sex stereotypes.These issues are not so pronounced as to discourage teachers or parents from utilizing the website.Both the fiction and non-fiction stories in the main section I'm Reading include more ethnic abd female representatives.  My husband uses this website site with K-3 students in a very multicultural classroom, 1/3 of which speak Spanish as their primary language. The students love using the website. 

How to Bring our Schools Out of the 20th Century

  I agreed with much of the article.  Technology skills are vital for students.  Learning to be citizens of the world is also important. All of my 5th graders are pen pals with 5th and 6th grade students in Kampala,Uganda.  I don't agree that it is unnecessary to know certain facts because they are easy to find on the internet. For example, fewer and fewer students come to fifth grade knowing their multiplication and division facts.  This is the result of several years of well meaning teachers who have given them charts so they can spend their time "more fruitfully" in math. What I and my fellow 5th grade teachers have found however, is that it is very difficult to think on higher levels when you have to first search for the answer to 9X8.  Whereas it is easy for me to make the jump from one problem to another my students struggle to connect the two ideas because of their deficit in basic math facts.  To truly prepare our students for the 21st century we must learn how to combine the necessary facts from the past with the important skills of the present and to prepare them to ready for the future.  It isn't enough to just teach what is considered important now.  When I was in elementary school computers were giant machines that were housed in separate buildings.
     Two important factors left out of the article were parents and students.  Students must be held accountable for their own learning.  Students are refusing to do homework in record numbers in all grade levels. Parents sit at tables in restaurants with their children talking on their cell phones while the children play hand held games.
     Certainly it is important to look at all areas of the complex issue that is education today. I just ask that each part of the problem receive equal consideration.

About me

My name is Julie.  I have joined this class late. I am a 5th grade teacher. I know technology is going to continue to be ever  more important in schools.   I am excited with this opportunity to increase my knowledge and skills.
My goal is to be even more comfortable using technology in all aspects of my students' learning.