A Word About Wordle....

Wordle is an online application that lets you create word clouds. You provide the text and Wordle does this rest. This could be a great tool for teachers by creating clouds associated with frontloading for a new topic, book discussions, poetry, analyzing a speech...the possibilities are endless. Give wordle a try today! http://www.wordle.net/

Back to School With Office 2007

Our school district recently upgraded to Office 2007. There are alot of differences between old and new...so to help you and your students transition, you may consider viewing the tutorials available at the Microsoft website:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/default.aspx

Still in Need of T.L.C.... NECC '09 Presentation

Still in Need of TLC...NECC '09 Session

As promised, here are the links to websites that were used in my Web2.0 presentations:

http://www.animoto.com/
http://www.blabberize.com/
http://www.blogger.com/
http://classblogmeister.com/
https://www.gaggle.net/signup.html
http://www.glogster.com/edu/?
http://edublogs.org/
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/
http://pbworks.com/
http://www.showbeyond.com/
http://www.slideroll.com/
http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/en-us/
http://www.tikatok.com/
http://www.xtranormal.com/
http://www.mywebspiration.com/

NECC 2009

NECC is celebrating its 30th anniversary in Washington, D.C. I am looking forward to learning how educators around the world are using technology to enhance student learning. Visit the NECC website for this year's conference as well as NECC 2010. http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2009/

Here's HSTI...

Hot Springs Technology Institute (HSTI) 2009 is a 4 day conference which includes hands-on training workshops as well as breakout sessions. HSTI's focus has always been on providing learning and sharing opportunities for educators throughout the state of Arkansas. Keynote speakers this year are Mamie McCullough and David Hunter. HSTI 2009 is June 15-18th. For more information visit their website... http://hssd.net/hsti/welcome2009.html

Tik Tok

Students love to tell stories. Tikatok gives students a chance to write, illustrate, share and even publish their story as a book. Do you have a story to tell?
http://www.tikatok.com/view/book/heart-flower

A is for Animoto

Want a new way to take student images and create quick and awesome videos? Then give Animoto a try. This online tool can be used to share photos of school events, field trips, student projects...you name it. Give it a try. The Animoto video below recaps Park Pajama Day '09 which raised over $4,500 for Arkansas Childrens Hospital.

Be a Twit....Try Twitter

What are you doing? It's a simple question asked daily by millions of people when conversing with family, friends, or coworkers. Twitter is a Web2.0 tool that allows you to answer that question with a "twit" or post of 140 characters or less. You can follow others who are on Twitter as well as be followed. Why not give it a try...www.twitter.com

2009...Not the Same Old Blog and Dance!

Even though the first basic attempts of blogging actually began in the early 1990’s, blogging in the world of education is a fairly new technology trend. Blogging can give students a way to publish their writing for a real-world audience, not just those within their classroom walls. Still, does the thought of organizing such a task sound intimidating, time-consuming, and just plain overwhelming? Well at first, I would have agreed. But, if you break it down into small steps, blogging with students can be a rewarding task.

Here are some thoughts to get you started:
Maybe consider whole class blogging in your initial attempts. Teachers can create a classroom blog, where only you make the entries, but those entries are created as a result of student discussion and participation. These entries can be about whatever you would like: math, science, history, book discussions, etc. Or you may choose to dive straight in and create a classroom home page with additional blog pages for each student. You can still lead the topic discussion on the main classroom page, but the students have their own page for individual entries.

Whichever route you choose, be sure to keep a hard copy of your blogging account username and password along with student usernames and passwords. Inevitably your students will forget their information and you will too. (I speak from experience!) Also, don’t be afraid to create accounts from more than one blogging website. If you find that one source does not fit your needs or isn’t user friendly, by all means move on to another. If you would like to see examples of how other educators are using blogs in the classroom before beginning your own, I have provided a list below. I have also included website resources for blog servers that are specifically geared toward education and can help you begin your journey. If you are a blogging veteran, please respond to this post and share your resources and tips. Just remember, start small and build from that foundation. Happy blogging!


Classroom Blogging Examples:

http://www.classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1337 – 1st grade blog

http://duckdiaries.edublogs.org/ - 2nd grade classroom blog

http://kootmansclass.blogspot.com/ - 4th grade classroom blog

http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=35989 – 6th grade blog

http://harringtonlibrary.blogspot.com/ - Middle School Library Blog


Website Servers for Educational Blogging:

http://classblogmeister.com/

http://www.21classes.com/

http://edublogs.org/