Sara Ross's List: Least Favorite Educational Websites

Audience:  Teachers
Cost:  A basic subscription is $19.99.
Purpose:  Worksheets for students - from Pre-K to High School, including Special Education and foreign languages.
Why I have a love/hate relationship with it:  While these worksheets can be helpful for students who need practice, I have found that some teacher rely on them far too often.  With so many great interactive, engaging methods of instruction, I find worksheets to be outdated (and students tell me they are "SO boring!"

Audience:  anyone who likes to read!
Cost:  Free
Purpose: This site is a collaboration between UNC-CH and the Center for Literacy and Disability studies.  It provides a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics for beginning readers of all ages.
Why I have a love/hate relationship with it:  It book can be speech enables and accessed using multiple interfaces and languages.  However, teachers of young children shouldn't allow student to have "free reign" on the site - supervision is a necessity.  There are some books which would be disturbing to young children (a recent search of "Elmo" produced a book with color photos of Elmo being killed with a bloody knife).  Tarheel reader has the potential to be a great resource - but use with caution.

Audience:  Teachers and school counselors
Cost:  Free
Purpose:  Provide resources and guides for teaching career development to young children
Why I have a love/hate relationship with it:  The site provides great resources, but every time I access it, I feel like I need a magnifying glass just to read the text.  Information is single-spaced and small, and there are no images!

Audience: Anyone looking for information
Cost:  Free
Purpose: Provide information on just about every topic
Why I have a love/hate relationship with it:  Whenever I do a Google search to try to find information, about.com always comes up.  And while it provides excellent information at times, I detest the advertisements.  I was thinking about using a page on character education at a meeting to encourage teachers to incorporate these lessons in the classroom, but several times when I have accessed the page, the ads are a bit scandalous!  Great information, terrible sponsorship.

Audience:  School counselors, students, and other individuals involved in career exploration
Cost:  Free
Purpose:  Provide information on career assessments, resume creations, and information about career training
Why I have a love/hate relationship with it:  While it provides good information, there is a statement that I cannot get past.  The homepage says that their career test "will help you find your perfect career".  As a counselor, I know that assessments can be very helpful in the decision-making process, but they are only a piece of the puzzle.  They are not infallable, and therefore, taking one will not solve all the dilemmas of individuals who are making career decisions.