Web+Evaluations+KS


 * Web Evaluations**


 * Title**: Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government
 * URL**: @http://bensguide.gpo.gov/9-12/index.html

This site has so much information and excellent resources! It has resources that I could not only use in class, but that I could send home with students for homework. The games might be a little juvenile for high school aged kids, but if we have fun with them then I think that it would support what we talk about in class. This site would be awesome if I was teaching a government class, but I think that I could also work information from this site into early American history classes. I could also provide a link for my students so that they would have it for studying purposes or just to have a great site to refer to. What I didn’t enjoy about this site was that I think that some of my students would think that the aesthetics of it were a little beneath them. Other than that, I feel that this site is easy to navigate and has a wealth of information! I could bring up much of this information directly from the site in class and also send home some of the activities that it provides for homework. I could also use much of this site to make up study guides for my students and provide this like for them as a study tool. -KS
 * Comments**:

Comments: I agree with much of what was said about this web page. I agree that it would be a very helpful tool in any classroom according the the grade or grades it says that it would be helpful for. The only real problems with the webpage is that it seems kind of aimed more towards children rather than children of a 9th to 12th grade comprehension. The links and navigation through out the site are great as well as the information is accurate and extremely helpful. You could definitely use this website as a tool both in and out of the classroom. Assignments through the webpage would be easy to find and just as easy to print out to bring to class the next day. I would use this website in my class any day because the great information it does include about both our government our countries history. -BA


 * Title**: The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden
 * URL**: @http://americanhistory.si.edu/presidency/home.html

This site has great links to information about the time period that each President lived in. Along with that link are more links to pictures that encompass that President’s life and administration. This site addresses not only the Presidents as individuals, but how life is in the White House, life after the President leaves office, and campaigning and inaugurations along with the President’s job and responsibilities. There is also a link the “interesting facts” on these topics. One limitation was that this site seemed to be unfinished. The link to “First Ladies” was not available. There are also so many places to go on this site that sometimes it may take some searching to find exactly what you are looking for. If I were to use this site in a classroom, I would first use the information that it provides in some of my lectures. The visual tools, I would show during class to enhance and bring life to the President or era (like the Civil War) we were discussing that day. What I like about this site is that I could use it in any aspect of American history, government, or politics that I could eventually have to teach. -KS
 * Comments**:

I really liked this site as a teaching tool for the classroom. I like the fact it was a history site that was directed more towards the high school level. I thought i was really neat that it provided a PDF file of classroom materials that you can use as a teacher. This basically was a lesson plan that was really informative. This resource made the website very easy to incorporate in a classroom setting. The activities the website provided were also fun and informative. -KM

I really liked this website as well. It has a good layout and while it draws you in and is interesting its not necessarily distracting like some websites. It loads easily and there's not anything that's flashing and slowing things down. This website also has a lot of information that is both interesting and useful within a history classroom. This website also seems pretty easy to navigate making it even better for kids who are searching through the site. This site is also very appropriate with almost no advertisements so you don't have to worry about students stumbling across things that could be deemed inappropriate. The fact that the site seems to have some small errors such as the deal like for "first ladies" might throw up a red flag but the fact that the rest of the website looks good balances that out. Overall i would agree that this is a good source for the classroom. -B.S.


 * Links to Rubrics**: [[file:Sowatsky_web_evals.doc]]