On the Trails

When teaching content with a web resource, it is very important to link DIRECTLY to the web resource.  If you take your students to a page where they have to scroll, find words, click on words etc. you not only waste time, but you encourage mistakes.

How many of you remember those kids who could not find the proper page in their Social Studies books and we all had to wait for them?  That was a classroom management issue. 

• How did the teacher react to the child? 
• How did the kids react?

Not linking directly to the web site you want creates the same problem classroom management issue- but sometimes worse. 

Here are two screen shots to study. The Inefficient version takes students to a web page of links. If the teacher wants to get his/her students to create a bar graph, the kids will have to scroll down, look for the text Create a Graph, click on the link and then click on the word Bar.

The efficient version takes the kids right to the Bar Graph web page and teaching can start right away.

Inefficient	Efficient

Rule of thumb? Can I teach with the page I taking my kids to? If not, find the EXACT web page and link to that.