Internet Resources

There are a variety of internet resources out there which are available for us as teachers. The possibilities are endless when it comes to the many different ways in which these tools can be utilized in the classroom. Our students will benefit greatly from being exposed to different forms of internet resources such as kid-friendly search engines, email projects, VoIPs (Voice Over Internet Protocols), chat/IM services, blogs, wikis, and online collaborative resources. All of these resources provide students with an opportunity to expand their horizons and their communication and technology skills. I can specifically envision using these internet resources in my unit plan on communication.

Kid-friendly search engines provide your students with a safe and protected environment in which they can openly search for information. This internet resource is a wonderful tool which will open up many doors for your students. I would specifically use these kid friendly search engines during my unit plan on communication to teach my students search syntax as a web search strategy. Teaching the student to use certain vocabulary and syntax will help them narrow down their search results and this will reinforce accurate communication on the student's part. Here are some examples of kid-friendly search engines: Awesome Library, Kids Click!, and Kid's Search Tools. In addition, as a teacher you have the ability to create your own student search page. This is another wonderful tool which you can access through Google. This gives you the ability to customize a search engine for you students to use on a specific assignment.

Email Projects would be another great internet resource to utilize during my communication unit. There are many resources for email projects but two in particular stick out in my mind and would fit perfectly into my unit plan on communication. First, I would love to incorporate Gaggle.Net into my unit plan. Gaggle.Net provides safe and controlled email accounts for students and teachers to communicate through. This would be a great way to introduce the students to a form of online communication and explain the convenience and power of such online tools. Another email project resource that I would incorporate into my communication unit would be Class Connect. This internet resource provides students with the capability of communicating and interacting online with other students in classrooms around the world. What an amazing tool for communication to introduce students to at an early age.

VoIPs (Voice Over Internet Protocols) and chat/instant messaging services are some other examples of internet resources that can support communication in the classroom. VoIPs are internet resources that can turn a standard internet connection into a way to place phone calls, send instant messages or text messages, and in some cases share files. Chat/instant messaging services provides a fun and interactive way for students to communicate online and learn more about how technology can benefit them as individuals. The most appropriate form of these internet resources mentioned above, in which to incorporate into my communication unit, would be the chat services of EPals. EPals offers students a student chat forum where they can communicate with one another, among many other things. This would be a great resource to use because it would encourage the students to use the vocabulary and language development they are learning to communicate with one another online.

A blog is another powerful example of an internet resource that can be utilized in the classroom to promote communication. A blog is a websie usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Blogs allow anyone to share news and be their own reporter and publisher often for free. They give everyone an audience for their own kind of news about school, family, and so on. Blogs would be a great internet resource to incorporate in my unit plan on communication because it would give the students an audience which would validate their work. This is a huge motivator for students to communicate clearly in the work that they choose to post on their blogs.

The last form of an internet resource that I would like to weave into my unit plan on communication would be that of online collaboration. A great example of an online collaboration resource is GoogleDocs. GoogleDocs is a wonderful collaboration tool that, with proper instruction, can be used by students of all ages. This internet resource will allow your students to collaborate on a project over the internet, and have the ability to communicate online concerning their project. This is a tool that your students can use and benefit from for the rest of their lives.

In conclusion, there are a variety of internet resources that you can use in your classroom to enhance your students' learning. The particular internet resources that I have mentioned above have been specifically chosen for my unit plan on communication. There are many other internet resources out there that can improve the learning environment that you can create for your students. Kid-friendly search engines, email projects, VoIPs, chat/IM services, blogs, and online collaboration resources are all interactive tools which can be used in the classroom to enhance communication skills through the use of the internet. I strongly believe that these are powerful resource that we should tap into as teachers.

For more information concerning these internet resources you can visit my works cited document for my unit plan.