Internet Resources for teaching English

1. Readwritethink.org - http://www.readwritethink.org/

This is the ULTIMATE site for English teachers. The site has well developed, comprehensive lesson plans (that meet NCTE National English standards and IRA International Reading standards – which corresponds to state standards) for all of your English classes’ needs. All the lessons are printer friendly and organized in the following fashion:

Author
Grade Band
Estimated Lesson Time
Overview
From Theory to Practice
Student Objectives
Resources
Instructional Plan
Resources
Preparation
Instruction and Activities
Session A
Session B
Extensions
Web Sources


What is nice about this particular type of lesson plan set-up, besides its highly organized state, is that an Overview of the lesson is provided right in the beginning so that teachers can quickly scan the lesson summary to see if it is fact a viable option for them. As teachers we have a million things going on at once and are always looking for efficient ways to achieve the many tasks we have to achieve; this website provides the level of efficiency that we need and provides quality, well structured lesson plans in a variety of inner-disciplinary English subject areas (reading, writing, vocabulary, poetry, literature, speech, etc.). Lastly, you don’t have to use the entire lesson plan provided by Readwritethink.org, as every lesson plan is flexible and easily molded to accommodate your needs.

2. Web English Teacher - http://www.webenglishteacher.com

I found this website when I was teaching an Expository Writing class, as I found myself running into the challenge of doing activities that helped to build writing skills – beyond just having students write and edit essay after essay. I also had a difficult time coming up with new and original writing prompts for the students to respond to for the daily journaling the students did at the beginning of class.

The website is organized and divided into several subtopics of English so that us busy teachers can easily access information on the specific are of English we are teaching:

AP
Book Reports
Children's Literature
Drama
ELL/ESL/ESOL
Grammar
Home
Interdisciplinary
Journalism
Just for Fun Literature (Prose)
Media Mythology
Poetry
Professional Resources Reading/Literacy
Shakespeare
Speech
Study Guides
Vocabulary
Writing
Young Adult Literature


The website also provides thematic units based on holidays and multicultural events.

When I ventured onto this site in search of expository writing material I was thrilled at the detailed organization of each subtopic (as listed above) into even smaller topics that really narrow down the search for the specific materials youa re looking for. Under writing, Web English Teacher provides over twnety different writing areas for teachers to get lesson plan ideas from and classroom activities. The webpage is updated regularly and the materials offered are current, relevent, and easy to do. Each lesson provides print-outs for teachers to make copies for their class and the activities are mallable, so that you can mold the activity to your class' need.

This is a FANTASTIC resource that isn't tapped as often as it should be, as ReadWriteThink.org gets the majority of English teachers' attentions. Utilize this resource. It has so much to offer. I've only utilized one very small portion of all it has to offer.A

3. Discovery School - http://school.discoveryeducation.com/

This is the best puzzle making site available for teachers – and it’s free! To assist my students with vocabulary review I use the Discovery Channel’s puzzle maker to make word searches, cross words, and other word puzzles for my students. The tool is user friendly and all you have to do is input your vocabulary words and definitions and the site generates a puzzle for you. You can print the puzzle of and make all the copies you need – for free. It took me a long time to find a free puzzle site (and one that didn’t require you to download add-ons to your computer). In addition to the puzzle maker tool, Discovery School provides lesson plans, resources, videos, and activity ideas for ALL disciplines and grade levels. Many of the Discovery School lessons are thematic, providing the teacher with structured, themed units to engage students in a variety of ways (they also support cross-disciplinary instruction).