Web Site critiques

I must say last class was pretty cool with the web site critiques. I thought all of the sites critiqued had at least a few things that could be extremely valuable to a teacher. I was also a little sad about my newadvent.org site. I knew it was a boring site, but after seeing everyone elses, I realized how dull it really is. But I do stick by my presentation. It is an extremely valuable site for any religion teacher (at high school level) or to anyone searching for articles on ANYTHING related to the Catholic faith (in particular). This site is a tremendous resource and has been for me for many years. I think if the site's creator spent the time to add visuals, it could get distracting. I guess each site has to be taken for what it is. This site is a Catholic reference site, that is it basically.
I am glad I wrote down the other sites that were presented. I plan on book marking them and trying to use them when and if possible in future classes. Granted I doubt I will use the sites geared at younger people at the high school level.
One thing that did strike me was the fact that (I think) many people, when asked how they found their website, replied by random searching. I realize this is many times a fun and entertaining aspect of the web, but are there education sites that are like a hub for these sites? I know there are sites like this for many topics, but is finding them another case of googling them?
Another point: Obviously, technology and the web is the way to go with education among many things, but what about over reliance on technology. Today, at the high school where I teach, the power went out for most of the town in the middle of the day. The school was actually dismissed early because of it. My issue is with my perception of an overload of technology via powerpoint presentations (to name one). What ever happened to a good old fashioned lecture where students have to listen and pay close attention to what the teacher is saying. I have found so far this year many students have been belly aching that I have not done a power point presentation, that I have not explained things clearly, blah blah blah. My perception is that most of these complaints are made without the students even giving any given lecture a chance. I have been tuned out, I think, at times solely on that basis. The truly aggravating factor is that I pride myself in the ability to explain concepts in many different ways. First I usually try straight lecture, then try to tie in previous concepts (flashback with the class and then bring them back to current concept), and give some type of contemporary example that is similar. To me all strategies used by many teachers. Do not get me wrong, I am not against the technology aspect at all. It is just frustrating being tuned out at times simply because I am not some colorful display on a screen or smart board.