My Professional Library
Here I will list, provide links to, and explain my involvement with some online resources and websites that I've made use of this year with my students and for my own professional development. I will divide the 10 resources listed into three categories: those used for German, those for English Language Arts, and those for education and teaching practices in general. Please feel free to peruse these sites and to make use of them yourself, if you find them useful or interesting! Cheers!
German Online Resources :
PONS is an incredibly useful and very accurate online English-German, German-English dictionary. This online dictionary provides students with not only word-to-word translations or equivalents--in both languages--, but also shows idioms, colloquialisms, and examples or excerpts of some words used in context. For fluent speakers and beginners alike, PONS is one of my most trusted Internet resources for German-English, English-German dictionaries.
LEO is, like PONS, a very useful online dictionary. This site never fails to offer the searcher a wide variety of commonplace and technical terms, words, phrases, etc. LEO is certainly useful for learners of German.
Tagesschau--or, in German, 'view of the day'--is an invaluable resource for learners of German and those interested in German culture, current events, history, politics, and economy. The Tagesschau website contains a multitude of links to texts, videos, and audio files in German, and the Tagesschau in hundert Sekunden (view of the day in one hundred seconds) has been very useful for upper-level German students, as the videos present them with authentic German news, spoken a normal, conversational speed.
AATG, or the American Association of Teachers of German, has some interesting teacher resources and mini-lessons or unit plans for students of German. The AATG is also a great resource for German teachers with a local chapter, because AATG hosts award ceremonies for students and teachers alike, as well as promotes ties between American students, schools, and teachers and Germany, German language, and German culture.
The Goethe Institute's English/German language website has SO many great resources, links, materials, etc. for learners of German. A great thing about the cite is that everything is also available in English, making the cite ultra-accessible to German learners of all abilities. Thus, for instance, if one's German language skills aren't so hot, one could still learn a lot about Germany and the German through the sites many, MANY links! German-language also an available setting.
People may not think so, but language teachers need to keep up with their language skills and use, too, just like students. Because language teachers are likely not teaching the target language in a place where it is spoken commonly or by a considerable population of heritage speakers, the need for we language teachers to stay on top of our game is even more important. To keep sharp on modern, current, and correct language usage, I rely on Duden--an online dictionary and German language resources that boasts over 26 editions between print and online materials.
English Language Arts (ELA) Online Resources:
Pinterest, if you're not familiar, is a site on which you can--with the use of a free profile--create 'boards' and 'pin' things to them. Now, the quality, quantity, and variety of content available for viewing, download, sharing (etc.) via Pinterest is considerable. However, there is a board that I have visited on numerous occasions that has helped me to not only come up with great ideas for lessons, but also to discover new online communities or supports for English language Arts Teachers and classrooms.
Shmoop has a lot of teacher and student resources for many, many scholastic subjects. Particularly, however, the literature forum contains a lot of ideas for lessons and unit plans, class activities, and formative and summative assessments. Although I myself am not a registered member of the Shmoop community, I do avail myself of their open-forum, public content.
Cambridge English Teacher has great online (not always open) forums and teaching resources for English Language Arts. Some of its more contemporary material has been pivotal in my lesson planning and classroom instruction. Definitely worth a look!
Education and Teaching Practice Online Resources:
Edutopia.org is the cite that I chose this year to be my professional online community (a requirement of the M.A.T. program). The quality and quantity of teacher resources and supports are impressive, and I've really become savvy to many of my current teaching tricks and tips via this website and its many materials and tools. Great for parents, too!