Reflection on Annotated Bibliography

Annotated bibliographies are a great way to share ideas. While creating this annotated bibliography, I was able to find many websites that I could use for my classroom, and I am interested to find other people’s bibliographies to hear of more ideas. I was surprised to learn all the various tools and websites that are out there, and I never knew about them. There are always weaknesses to websites, but I feel as if the websites I came across would have more positive attributes than negative attributes.

Bookmarking tools seem to have captivated the interests of many young people. I have never thought about incorporating them in a classroom. I found some bookmarking tools that could be useful. Twitter seems to be something students are obsessed with, at least my students. Teachers could hashtag various topics and make the students write about the implications of that hashtag. Interests would be sparked because the teacher is relating their social networking world to the world in which the teacher must cover various topics and concepts. I have never thought about this until this class, and I really think I can apply this in all of the English classes that I teach.

Another bookmarking tool that I found was Pinterest. This is something that is also popular. The students are somewhat familiar with Pinterest as well. Regardless, it intrigues the students and makes them want to pay attention. Students can look at Pinterest and find clothing that actors could have worn while acting a Shakespearean play. Students can also create a fake Pinterest account in which they can depict what the characters would look like in the Shakespearean play they are reading. It even has information dealing with adjectives. I never knew that Pinterest had so many interesting aspects. I never knew this website would have anything relating to school. I will have to remember this when I am trying to find new, innovative ways of teaching a lesson.

Several of the websites in the annotated bibliography I have used before. They have always been very beneficial. No Fear Shakespeare is a website that I use as well. I have greatly benefited from this whenever I was unsure of what exactly Shakespeare was saying, so I know that students could use this site as well. Students that go on homebound, or have ISS, are suspended, or sick have all used this website since they miss the in class discussion. I know that Shakespeare is hard, especially if you have to read it on your own. This give them a chance to feel as if they understand something complicated, and they might actually enjoy it once they understand what they are reading.

YouTube and Biography.com are always great websites that students come across, not just the teacher. They like these websites too. Anything that seems valid to the students and helps them understand something, seems to stick with the students. YouTube can also be used for other things, so that is why it must be closely administered by the teacher.

I had never used a Prezi before. I love them! They are very interactive, and I cannot wait to use the Prezi on Julius Caesar next semester. It is highly student centered and has many higher order thinking questions. It even has a fake facebook account that has the major characters of Julius Caesar , a picture of what they potentially looked like, and a description of who they are and what they did. I do need more practice with them because the zooming in and out was confusing at times, and I was not able to easily get back to the main screen. With everything though, the more times I use it, the easier it will get.

TestNav is a software application that we are required to use. Periodically we have to go to the computer lab and make students write an essay. This allows them to practice their writing skills and gives them practice for when they take their SOL since the SOL is based off of this software application. When the printer does not work in the computer lab, students must save it to the student drive, and every once in a while that terrible student will come along and delete another person’s essay. It is super important for the teacher to access his or her computer right away, access the student drive, and print the essays.

I was thoroughly impressed with the websites I found. I never would have found some of them if it were not for this class. Technology is such an important tool to embrace, and I am finding this out more and more each day.