The Shortest Distance Between Two Points is a Straight Line

When using the Internet to teach, you can take your students to a web site or you can take them to a web page. A web site is made up of many web pages. Many lessons fall apart because students have to search for the information they are trying to learn. One would never tell students to search in their math book to learn how to divide fractions. The teacher would take them directly to the page that teaches how to divide fractions.

Imagine this scenario:

The mobile computer lab rolls into your room - you have it booked for 45 minutes. Your students are all excited to practice their math facts - they are in 3rd grade - on the computer. You write the following web address on the white board - http://funbrain.com. Your good spellers copy the URL correctly and then say, where do we go next (all at the same time and in a whiny voice). You scramble to help them. The bad spellers raise their hands and ask you why the page on their screen shows pictures of clowns or chickens or cows or calculators or ...who knows what. You scramble to help them. In a New York Minute , the class is in chaos, nobody is practicing their math facts and you wonder why you didn't just hand out the paper math facts sheet (the one the kids love sooooo much). You tell the kids to forget the whole idea and you become hesitant to use technology again. All of this can be avoided if you follow this advice.

Send your students directly to the web page you want them to view. Rely on clicking, not searching. In the above example you linked right to the funbrain web site and then the students had to find the link to the Math Baseball site to practice their facts. However, if you clicked on this link instead, your students would be right where you want them to be. You would be teaching the students how to use the page instead of fixing typing errors or explaining where to go next. Students love this site - even the Middle Schoolers I work with. So, you are probably wondering how to link directly to this page right?

Having your own web site is a real plus. MyTeacherPages.com is a very effective subscription service (as of this writing, about $39.00 per year) that enables one to setup links to favorite web sites. There are other teacher web site options, but I like MyTeacherPages because it does so much more than just let you link to other sites - but that is the subject of another blog.

Here is a low budget way that may require a little sweet talking to your technology coordinator.

1. First setup an account with a portable bookmarking service. I used to recommend ikeepbookmarks, but they are going through horrendous growing pains. Try Del.icio.us and learn how to bookmark the sites you wish to use with your students.
2. Then, ask your tech coordinator to create a link to your Del.icio.us page (like this link to World Explorers off my Del.icio.us page) from your school's web site.
3. And lastly, teach your students how to use the school's web site to access your accounts (all of this works the same if you have your own web site.
   

Here is how we utilize this paradigm in our Primary School.

Once you feel confident and your classroom is now extended into cyberspace - teach the moms and dads of your students. Now the learning never has to end!