TECH+507+Annotated+Bibliography

This assignment was a little challenging for me for various reasons. My schedule this week has been the most demanding so far in terms of after school activities. My choir students had rehearsal 4 out of 7 nights; consequently, it made it very difficult to “collaborate” on such a busy week. Another reason this assignment was challenging was because of my subject area. This week catered to core subjects; music and electives will be addressed next week. I did not want this assignment to be something that I cannot use in my own classroom, so I incorporated general education sites for the bulk of my work. I did include a few music websites, but I wanted to make sure that I completed the assignment correctly. Simply put, I was torn between sticking to the “rules” of this assignment, and making sure that researching math, science, English and social studies websites were not a waste of time for a music teacher. Our group chose to use Diigo as a bookmarking tool. Before this week, I did not even know that bookmarking tools existed! In my opinion, Diigo really fit the bill. My teammate Jennifer helped to explain how to to incorporate the websites into my library. I was grateful for this, because once I got the hang of it, the whole process thereafter was smooth sailing.

I was familiar with bookmarks, as I use them on my pc; I am familiar with tags, because I use them when I search for topics. This assignment made me realize just how important it is to tag articles correctly. When a large amount of time is invested into research like this assignment, why not make it available to my peers/ educators as correctly tagged reference tool? One website that was really impressive was [|Discovery Education]. I appreciated the fact that the home page groups available topics according to grade, then subject. Even though this website was not necessarily pertinent to my music class, I could see at first glance what the site offered without having to search or click on multiple links, only to find nothing at all. This website is particularly helpful for grades K-12 core classes (science, English, social studies, and math), and offers lesson plans and worksheets. There is also a link entitled [|"New Teacher Survival Central"] that is beneficial to first year educators that really have no clue what they are getting into (like me last year!) The only downside to this site for me is that it does not include the arts at all in its content.

Another website that impressed me was [|The Gateway]. The website boasts that “The Gateway has been serving teachers continuously [|since 1996] which makes it one of the oldest publicly accessible U.S. repositories of education resources on the Web. The Gateway contains a variety of educational resource types from activities and lesson plans to online projects to assessment items. //Since January 1, 2012 we have delivered// **1,061,088** //resources to educators worldwide//.” I can appreciate the longevity of a website like this, because the standards/ rules for education change so quickly. At first glance, I didn't think that this site would have any music content; the home page looked plain and didn't seem like it had much to offer. However, when I put the word “music” as a search, dozens upon dozens of lesson came up!! Sorting through the results was very easy; there were various filters such a device type, education level, price, and even language. I plan on going through the numerous pages throughout the year and 'stealing' ideas from this site. This wealth of information could be perceived as a negative, however, because it will take a great deal of time to go through all the lessons. Once I do, though, I know my students will appreciate fresh ideas for the same topics each year.

The last website that I included in my annotated bibliography was [|Education World]. The website is referred to as “the educator's best friend.” I agree. Of all my websites, this one was all encompassing. It uses topics that are relevant to both teachers and students to teach subjects in a creative way. There are lesson plans, videos, articles, professional development classes; this site also has a technology integration section. Even though this site did not have music content as The Gateway, I know I will use it on a weekly/ monthly basis for themed units and ideas. Since the site has such a wide array of topics, the home page can be difficult at first to navigate. Overall, however, this website impressed me the most.

One of the most important lessons I learned from this assignment was the availability of music content on general education sites. When I began my research, I was bothered that most of my work for this assignment would not be useful to me as a music teacher.... or so I thought. I actually found more helpful music content on the general education sites than actual “music” sites! As far as integration goes, I think I will create another “group” on my Diigo account for my music students to benefit from. It will include these websites and music specific websites with pertinent information; it will essentially replace the “helpful links” page on my Wikispace. On a side note, I think I will also use Diigo to begin to clear all the bookmarks I have on my pc. I could arrange them according to subjects like recipes, music, etc. I believe that Diigo will become a very relevant tool used in both my classroom and my home. I will also spend a few minutes teaching my students about it in case they want to set up their own. As you can see, I was impressed overall with my experience using Diigo. Annotated Bibliography