Educational Critique of Four Websites

I am studying to become a secondary education social studies teacher. Therefore, when I analyze websites it’s from a teacher’s prospective. I focus on how useful the site would be in a classroom, for both a teacher and a student. To analyze a website this way I evaluate not only its content, but also its visual appeal and interactivity on the website.
Through this type of analysis, the best website from a specific chosen four would be The History Channel site. Even though this website’s main goal is to promote its TV shows and sell their collection of videos, DVDs and audio tapes on many different historical events, this website can be useful to a teacher in many other ways. For example, the abundance of two minutes or less media clips could easily be shown to students in the classroom while not taking up too much time. Additionally, this website is highly interactive so a teacher can have students use the website on their own and learn during either free class time or for homework. Lastly, this site includes a wide range of historical topics and would be useful at any point in the school year.
Meanwhile, while the other websites that were specifically chosen are good, although, their major downfall is that they are too narrow in either content, interactive features or both. For example, http://www.dohistory.com/ is very interactive and useful for students, which normally would be great to use in a classroom, but this website revolves around one specific case study. Therefore, the only time this website is relevant would be at the beginning of the school year in order to have a fun, interactive lesson plan which would introduce to students how to interpret primary documents. A second example is “The Valley of the Shadows: Two Communities in the American Civil War” website, this website deals specifically with two communities during the Civil War, therefore, while it gives plenty of detail including primary documents, facts, images and more, in a classroom it can only be used while learning about the Civil War. Additionally, this website is not very interactive or visually appealing for students. Therefore, in a classroom I could only see this website useful for two reasons. The first would be for a student doing a project on that specific subject and, the other, for a teacher to explore and find specific documents and/or pictures to use during a lesson.
The last website, The National Museum of American History, is not too specific in content, for it has a wide variety of historical topics. Instead, it is too specifically focused on drawing people to come to the museum. Unlike the History Channel website which wanted to sell items or promote its shows, but did have a lot of information on the Internet of the topics, The National Museum of American History has very minimal information and pictures on the Internet. This site is most beneficial to teachers so that they can learn when a useful exhibit will be on display and how to plan this class trip. Additionally, like the Civil War website, teachers can also use images and documents from this site within a classroom lesson.
Overall, every website on the Internet has its own strengths and weaknesses; its usefulness depends on what the user is looking to take away from the website. The History Channel site is great overall, but it will not teach a student how to interpret primary source documents like http://www.dohistory.com/ will. Also, the History Channel website cannot aid a teacher in planning a class trip, like The National Museum of American History site, and if the teacher is focusing on a specific a specific topic, like the Civil War, s/he will probably find more in-depth information from a site that is specific to that topic, like the Valley of the Shadows website.