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PARKER'S
CORNER
HELPFUL RESOURCES
The resources on this page are meant to make your life in my classroom, and maybe others, easier. I've included links to websites we will frequently use in the classroom as well as common templates and graphic organizers. All you will need to do is click on the corresponding button, and it should navigate you to your desired "destination." Please note: When you click on the buttons for templates/graphic organizers, you will be directed to a separate page with those particular documents.
Google Classroom is our hub. You all will access this site on a near-daily basis. Here you guys can access a calendar of your assignments for every teacher who utilizes Google Classroom, see posted assignments and instructions, collaborate with students, submit assignments, receive written feedback, and find important announcements.
Classroom Library
Classroom BookSource is the website/app I plan to use to organize my ever-growing classroom library. Each hour will have a "student librarian" who will handle checkout procedures when I'm busy. However, before any of you are allowed to check out from my library, I must have a signed library contract in my records.
Communication Tool
Remind is the communication tool I plan to use most often, with the exception of email, throughout the school year. However, if I do not have enough students/parents use this, then I will remove it from my communication tools. If this is used, users may ask questions, and I will post reminders of big projects and/or events.
Improving Writing
I cannot say enough positive comments about this tool. Grammarly will check your grammar, including spelling and punctuation, provide you with multiple suggestions on how to fix it, and explain the reason for the errors. It will also assess if you plagiarized, whether accidentally or intentionally (if you have premium), and provide suggestions on how to cite information. There is a free version you can use, but it does limit some capabilities. If you desire, I will allow you to run your writing through my premium version if time permits.
With No Red Ink, you will practice grammar and improve your skills. I particularly love the fact that I can personalize it to your individual needs. That means if some of you are struggling with a particular concept, I can assign you guys additional practice, or if one of you is more advanced, I can assign you tasks that are ahead of where the rest of the class is.
Vocabulary.com is a new website to me, but I have heard positive things about it. This will serve as vocabulary practice for you, and the site allows me to cater lists to specific needs. It will help you build content vocabulary, and if you need to prep for ACT/SAT, I can assign words to them as well. I prefer to shape what I can in English to fit my your guys' needs, so I frequently look for resources that will allow me to accomplish this easily.
Accessing/Annotating Documents
CommonLit is a resource that will provide you with an online version of texts we use in class. You can do simple annotating, and some selections come with an audio version as well. Sometimes we will complete the assignments using this site, and others I will print the resources out for you to annotate.
Kami is a new tool that will provide online annotating capabilities to you. In attempts to curb paper use, I have tried to find tools that will enable you all to interact with your texts. I can upload pdf versions of texts to this site, which is what makes this particular tool different from CommonLit.
Google Drive is where most of your work will be saved/located. I prefer you all to use Google because it is with you wherever you are, as long as you have access to the internet (and really there are offline capabilities as well, but I won't get into that until later in the school year).
EdPuzzle is a new site I plan to use this year that enables me to embed questions into videos that I assign in class.
Help with Formatting and Citation
These three resources will provide valuable help with formatting and/or citing sources. OWL (Purdue University Online Writing Lab) is an excellent tool that will walk you through the many elements in various formatting styles. It will provide examples as well as sample essays so you can see what all of the elements look like once they're put together. EasyBib and Citation Machine are both citation generators. A word of caution: Both citation generator sites have been known to leave out information or carry over incorrect formatting. I always suggest that you double check before you submit something to me because using the excuse "Well, I copied it straight from EasyBib" doesn't hold water with me. I provide numerous templates in class that you may use to double check your work.