Many of our 2.0 workshops are focused on helping specific curricular areas find just the right tools for the projects teachers need to do for the Nebraska State Standards. Here is a list of basic tools that every teacher can use! All you need is an Internet connection, a computer, and in some cases a projector. Give one of them a try and share it with a colleague!
1. Everyone’s favorite is Wordle – http://wordle.net! Wordle is a tool that can be used by every teacher, all grade levels and all curricular areas. This site creates visuals using the words you type or paste into the web site. The more often you use a word, the larger the word will be in our image. You can change fonts, layouts, and colors. Give it a try! Here is an example of a Wordle using the text from the Declaration of Independence. What is the main idea? What are the keywords? How can this be used with students? Tom Barrett used Google Docs Presentation to gather ideas on how to use Wordle with students at http://clifmims.com/blog/archives/2626.
2. Online Bookmarking: If you are still using the Favorites/Bookmarks on your web browser, you are probably struggling with keeping them organized or you aren’t sure what you even have because you have them on several different computers. Check out Delicious – http://delicious.com or Diigo – http://diigo.com. Get an account! Once you have an account, you can add web sites to your bookmark list on any machine you are logged onto. They are organized by the keyword or “tag” that you assign each site. Once you start to develop a list of sites, they are easy to share by just giving out your address. For example, you can check out my education bookmarks at http://www.diigo.com/user/deannastall/education. How can you use this with your students? How can you use this with your colleagues? Imagine sharing bookmarks with your entire science department or music department or teachers from other schools!
3. Thinkfinity – http://thinkfinity.org is a site that has been around for quite awhile! You might remember it as the original Marco Polo web site. Thinkfinity partners with academic associations such as ARTSEDGE, ReadWriteThink, EconEdLink, Science NetLinks, EDSITEment, Smithsonian’s History Explorer, Illuminations, Literacy Network, Xpeditions, and Verizon Foundation. These partners have created a very user friendly database contains thousands of lesson plans and teacher resources for all levels and curricular areas! If you haven’t been on Thinkfinity, you need to do that today!
4. According to Marzano’s Classroom Instruction That Works, the fifth in order of most effective instructional strategies is using nonlinguistic representations. One of the most powerful tools for this strategy is using Google Earth (free downloadable program)– http://earth.google.com or Google Maps (similar online tool)– http://maps.google.com. Using maps with students isn’t just for the geography teachers! Every story, textbook, and lesson involves people, places, and things. Google has the free tools to put all three of those together! Use Google Earth for basic maps of Earth, sky, and Mars. Additionally, use it to create maps with your own content! Check out how this teacher has created maps to go with his literature classes! http://googlelittrips.com The hottest topic in education right now is global education. Using Google Earth or Google Maps is a great way to begin expanding the boundaries of your classroom. Talk to your LAN Manager about getting Google Earth downloaded on your machine!
5. Speaking of global education, have you heard about Skype? Skype – http://skype.com is a free program that allows you to do video, audio, or chat communications with anyone with a Skype account. There are lots of other tools out there that work similarly however, Skype is non-platform specific (so PC’s can talk to Mac’s, and Mac’s can talk to PC’s)! It has quickly become the tool of choice for quick, distance communications. Why would you want to use this tool? How would you use it with your students? Here are some ways you might use this http://tr.im/tdNV.
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