Why Web 2.0

WOW is what I have to say to social networking. The Classroom 2.o Ning site is wonderful. I have had the opportunity to help other teacher and solicit help  on this site as well as gather new ideas. I will also use another site called EPALS this year as an effort to share media and project with other students throughout the world as a way of integrating technology into our social studies curriculum.

This editoral was written in Teacher Magazine. The editoral voiced concern about parents getting letters 1 month before school begins stating that your child has Mr. X with no intimate details about him. She felt parents should know personal details such as hobbies before entering the class.  I think this method helps students to feel a connection before meeting their teacher. I always send a postcard introducing myself and telling them how I enjoyed the summer break. I also let them know how anxious I am to meet them. This always help parents to feel a connection to you as well.

Pageflakes was quite overwhelming for me and I know it would be overwhelming for my students with ADD.  If I were to use Pageflakes I would use if for geography. I would have them do podcast and share links about their chosen continents.  We could also include some videos from discoverylearning or youtube.

Google Docs has  LOTS to offer. I have spent hours checking out different ways to use it. I think 3 good ways to use the docs and forms are as follows:

1. for creating graphs

2. students can write a story and help each other to edit as they go if they choose to share/collaborate by using the chat feature

3. the form feature can be used as a way for the students to reflect of reteach the lesson (a summarizing strategy)

You Tube and Teacher Tube have proven to be very useful resources in the classroom. As I explored I found several videos I would like to incorporate into my classroom wiki.  I most favored the old school ‘School House Rock’ multiplication video.

Podcasting seems to be fun, but It can also be time consuming.  I think recording vocabulary words, definitions, synonyms and antonyms for study purposes would be useful.  I think students would like to hear their teachers voice come through their ipods (well not really, but if they are going to use the ipod or computer why not). Continue reading ‘Thing 18′

I previewed Grammar Girl as well as subscribed to it.  I thought the podcast was very interesting yet informational. The enthusiasm used in Grammar Girl’s voice is sure to keep the attention of students. I think it is ideal to have students to tune in to Grammar Girl each day and maybe share something they learned from her at the end of the week. I search the itunes education directory to find this podcast. Which directories did you search and were you able to find podcasts of value? I currently use Grammar Girl and Learn Out Loud in my class on a frequent basis and my students look forward to the podcast time each day.

Library Thing did not seem like a tool I could actively engage my students in. i will have to research to find out more, I guess. I did like the ‘conversation’ section for each book. I think students would enjoy letting others know how they felt about particular parts of the book.  I like the site for teachers because it gives great information about the author. I would also share this portion with my students.

Delicious is something I will definitely use rather than storing all of my sites in “Favorites”

Now I can look at the title of the site and have my notes to refer to. I found a countless number of sites for multiplication using Delicious account.