The Utah Education Network (UEN) is a very useful resource for not just teachers but parents and teachers as well. The first useful tool that UEN provides is called Pioneer Library. This database has a wealth of information for students of all ages and teachers as well. I especially like using EBSCO and SIRS Knowledge source. Both of these search tools contain thousands of peer reviewed journals and books. The tool that I found particularly useful for my future math classroom is eMedia. eMedia is easy to use and has fun movies and audio clips on hundreds of subjects. If I have a student who isn’t understanding how to find the area of a circle, there is a movie clip that demonstrates finding the area of a circle. There are also movies that show how math is used in different jobs. This tool is useful in differentiating my lessons according to student interests. Some other useful collections that the Pioneer database has are newspaper archives, World Book Encyclopedia, Spanish Resources, Library of Congress and many more.
Another tool that UEN provides is called Interactives. This is one of my favorite tools on UEN. Interactives are fun games that students can use and play on the computer. There are tons of games in each level of math ranging from factoring to adding and subtracting integers and even solving the Pythagorean theorem. These interactive games take subjects that may otherwise be difficult and make them fun. One game teaches students about ratios by applying them to recipes. When students understand how to apply the topics they are learning about in real life they will understand them much easier. Another game simulates a 4 week-long road trip and students must plan financially to have enough money for their entire journey. I will use Interactives as fun concepts review and post links to them on my classroom website so students can access them as they please.
My favorite UEN resource as a future teacher is the Lesson Plans. I love looking through each level and math and seeing all the wonderful lesson plan ideas. They have great suggestions on how to differentiate your lesson plans and engage all types of learners. I know that I probably won’t ever just teach the lesson that is provided but I know that I will take ideas from them and adjust them to make them fit my classroom. I am very glad that I have access to experienced teachers lesson plans especially for my first couple years of teaching.
The last resource on UEN that I want to talk about is the core curriculum. UEN provides links to Utah’s Core Curriculum in each of the levels of math. It also provides a link to the new Common Core Curriculum for math. This is very useful as I begin to develop my own teaching style and plan my year out as a new teacher. Some of the other useful things that UEN offers are research tools and homework help for students, and many great links and websites for parents. I am excited to utilize this great network more in the future as I begin to teach my own classroom!
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