Kan-Ed Reflection

After searching through the Kan-ed website I discovered so many helpful tools that teachers can easily implement into their classrooms. There are links available on the site that can be used by teachers and there are links on the site that students can also utilize. Everything available on the Kan-ed website relates back to the Kansas curriculum meaning that all the tools you find will be things that you as a Kansas teacher can use without worrying whether or not standards are being met.

Some of the sites that I discovered that would be very useful for teachers would first be KERC which stands for Kansas Educational Resource Center. This site allows you to choose a grade level and content area. From there you may choose a standard within that content area. The site then directs you to a page where the benchmarks and indicators are listed. For each of these there are links that lead you to sites with already made up lesson plans and links that can direct you toward other resources such as worksheets etc. This site would be a great resource to use if you want to really switch up your lessons, try something new or just get your creative juices flowing. The only thing that is a bit of a downer for this site is that pre-service teachers such as myself cannot rely too much on sites such as these yet since we must create our own lessons.

Another site that I found in Kan-ed is called Kid InfoBits. This is a great tool to use with your kids when they are doing any sort of research or information finding. The site provides you with tons of topics to choose from such as math, science, history, historical figures, geography, geology. etc. From there the site provides the students with online articles concerning the topic they are researching. All the information they need is given to them right on the website. In a way it is like a virtual library for all content areas. The articles even list the reading difficulty level for the child, but all are geared toward elementary aged children.

The next site I found that I thought was really great for students was Kan-ed Live Tutor. This site is really for any age of student. It provides tutoring assistance for K-12 and also for college students. There a live online tutors available to help students from 2pm-12am everyday. They even have a proof reading and writing tips center available. I believe this is a great tool if students need help in a pinch. The only thing I do not like about this site is that teachers might push students to use this more than to ask the teacher for assistance. So it would be a good tool when students need immediate help but should not be something they have to use all of the time.

Another site that I discovered wasThinkfinity. This site also provides teachers with  a lot of free lesson plans that will line up with state standards. Much like KERC, Thinkfinity offers resource links for teachers also that provide worksheets, videos, interactive games etc. On this site you can look at different lessons and see what standards the lessons align with or you can search for the standard and then find the lessons that align with them. This ability gives you a lot of flexibility especially if you are unsure about which standard or lesson you want to use.

I really enjoyed exploring the Kan-ed site. I think there are so many resources and tools available for teachers that would be very useful. Teachers can utilize this themselves or can utilize it for their students. I believe the only downside to this site is that if you end up teaching in another state this site would not be as useful because it is geared toward Kansas teachers and Kansas curriculum standards.