Resource Blog 3 (formatted correctly this time)

The resource I have found for today’s blog post is called Thoughtco.com. Thoughtco.com is a website focused on “expert-created educational content,” according to their mission statement. Thoughtco provides in-depth articles and lists in order to help students of all ages learn more about what they have a passion for. Thoughtco has extensive sections on STEM, Humanities, Language, as well as educational help resources and study guides for students and parents. Thoughtco exists to make learning easier and provide students and their families with the materials to do so, which is highlighted by a massive bank of resources for SAT, ACT, and college exams.

The main reason I stumbled upon Thoughtco was because I was looking for a book that would work well in my emphasis area: historical fiction in order to show middle schoolers about a historical event while having the entertainment of a narrative. Thoughtco provided me not only with articles about the historical event itself, but also with lists of nationally-recognized historical fiction novels that fit the description and age group that I wanted. It is a near-perfect resource for anyone trying to find content, with both primary and secondary sources, to provide to their students. 

Word Count: 200

Resource Blog 3

The resource I have found for today’s blog post is called Thoughtco.com. Thoughtco.com is a website focused on “expert-created educational content,” according to their mission statement. Thoughtco provides in-depth articles and lists in order to help students of all ages learn more about what they have a passion for. Thoughtco has extensive sections on STEM, Humanities, Language, as well as educational help resources and study guides for students and parents. Thoughtco exists to make learning easier and provide students and their families with the materials to do so, which is highlighted by a massive bank of resources for SAT, ACT, and college exams.

The main reason I stumbled upon Thoughtco was because I was looking for a book that would work well in my emphasis area: historical fiction in order to show middle schoolers about a historical event while having the entertainment of a narrative. Thoughtco provided me not only with articles about the historical event itself, but also with lists of nationally-recognized historical fiction novels that fit the description and age group that I wanted. It is a near-perfect resource for anyone trying to find content, with both primary and secondary sources, to provide to their students. 

Word Count: 200

Synthesis Blog 3

Subject Matters Chapter 6 was full of useful exercises to shake the notion that textbooks are the worst thing ever. This chapter provides meaningful ways to mix it up, and best of all, clear things up to students. At the beginning of the chapter, I appreciated the tips on how to best use a textbook before even assigning it in class--emphasizing that it isn't always necessary to assign the whole book, and sometimes teachers need to address how a textbook is written before letting students read it. As someone who has yet to teach so far, I thought that the part pleading for teachers to review the material covered on the state exams was a useful nugget that I will make sure to carry into my classroom. It would be a shame and a waste to make my students read even more than they need to if it isn't important nor tested.

There were several activities that were listed that also caught my eye. First off, teaching is hectic and schedules can get scrambled due to unforeseen circumstances. If anything were to happen where I needed to cover a lot of material in a short amount of time, I think that Jigsawing would be the perfect solution. Covering a whole chapter or more of material by dividing it between multiple groups not only speeds things up, but it also provides thoughtful discussion between groups and group members. Guide-O-Ramas seem fun and interesting, partially because I used to annotate my books in high school with as much humor as I could in order to make reading less boring. By guiding my students this way, it keeps them invested in the reading as well as provides some much-needed entertainment and comic release when reading a boring textbook.

Word Count: 295

Resource Blog 2

This may seem like a joke, but I promise it's not--one of the best resources that I have found and personally utilized is a website called ducksters.com. Ducksters is a great resource to use in the realm of social studies because of its simplicity. When I was a middle and high school student (and continuing into college), one of the most difficult things for me was understanding difficult texts and hard-to-read textbooks. When you can't understand what you're reading, it makes the subject a lot more confusing and difficult to understand. Ducksters is an educational website focused on making educational content as simple as possible, and in a broad range of subjects. While I mostly utilize it for brief and easy-to-understand breakdowns of social studies and history, it also has a vast science section. Ducksters.com's main focus is creating simple content for not-simple areas. As an educator, I would continue to use ducksters.com because it makes concepts a lot easier to both learn on my own so that I can translate that to my class, as well as provide as a resource to my students who may be struggling themselves. At the same time, the website provides a nice and well-earned break from the traditional textbook--students can even play geography matching games without leaving the site.

Word Count: 219

Subjects Matter Chapter 11

Subjects Matter Chapter 11 was interesting to me in many ways. First of all, the example at the beginning was eye-opening to me, explaining how the student was unable to solve the physics problem not because of his science knowledge, but because of his lack of understanding of the basic world problem. The most important part of creating a solvable problem is the ability to paint a picture in your own head, and many students fail to do this because they can't break the problem down.  I thought that this was an interesting way to look at the problem and identify it, mostly because making pictures in my head is the only way I could solve science or math problems--as someone who doesn't enjoy solving either.

The next standout piece of text, to me, was the sentence where the authors made sure to emphasize that "not every teacher gets to work in the kind of supportive professional culture that Downers Grove South has achieved," in reference to Downers Grove South's improvement program focused around supporting cross-curricular reading. I think that, as a future teacher, it is important to realize that resources may be scarce depending on where you are, and you need to utilize these resources whenever possible in order to help your students learn.

This chapter provided some neat insights on how to make sure my students understand the material at hand because of their substantial understanding of how to read the material.

Word Count: 244