Web+2.0+Discussion

==Here you will discuss the web 2.0 tools others posted on the page titled Web 2.0 Tools. You must respond and reflect on two different web 2.0 tools posted by your classmates. Your blog (discussion) must demonstrate that you analyzed the tool and thought of ways in which to integrate this tool into the classroom and how it could enhance the teaching and learning process. Make sure you begin your blog with you name.==

Amy Hejlek: I love the blabberize tool! Last year my students spent a lot of time in the lab recording their voices for various projects that we had been working on. I would love to look into this some more and explore the possibility of having my students use this Web 2.0 tool when we do some recording this year. I am also eager to get back to school and share this with some of my colleagues! My building is full of techies!! I really think they would get a kick out of this.

The Storybird site is fantastic!! I have a had a lot of fun playing around with it over the last few days.This site is super user friendly and very bright and eye catching. I was also pleased with all the choices of artwork for the digital stories. I have used sites similar to this one, but they have never had many options to choose from. I teach third grade and it is a big year for the kiddos to do a lot of writing. They LOVE writing stories of their own and I love giving them the time to do this. They also LOVE sharing their writing with others. This is a great tool for the students to have fun with their story writing and allows them to share with others in a fun way! Thanks so much for sharing this!!

Kristen Arnold: John Parker created a wiki on Blabberize, which is an awesome tool to use in the classroom. As an elementary teacher I would definitely use this in the classroom. This will be a great tool to use when beginning a lesson in order to grab student’s attention. MeeGenius was the other tool that caught my interest. This would be great to use especially in lower grades. I really like how it highlighted the words as it read; this is great for lower level readers. I also loved how you can personalize the stories. Adding the name of students into the stories is a great way to gain interest and excite learners about reading. This would be especially great to use in classrooms with smartboards.

Joan Wallace: I also enjoyed John"s Blabberize. I believe that all ages could benefit from it. A sense of humor is very important at all age levels. I like the way it can help the shy kids get past being shy. I also liked the Wordle. I can just imagine all of Jackie's posters in her classroom. Wallwisher is one of my favorites because of all the different ways you can use it. Joan Wallace: I really like Trisha Campbell's Glogster. Anything that has to do with pictures is high on my list since I am a visual learner. I think the kids will like it also because they can bring a little of their home life to school.

Jill Sutton: Cara, I thought your Storybird was really cute. I think this would be a great project for students who get done early and need something to do. My first graders were all about making books at the end of the year. When they finished all their centers they would write and illustrate their own books to read to the class. It was awesome! I think it would be great to let them pick out their favorite story they wrote over the year and make a book on Storybird. I also thought wallwisher was a really neat idea for older students. Jill Sutton: I thought John's Blabberize was very entertaining. The Kindergarten class I taught over the summer loved puppets. I think Blabberize would be an even better idea. It would be neat to have a favorite book character introduce a story or lesson. I thouht John's idea about famous people reading documets was also a fabulous idea. I think this could be a huge hit with the younger student's!

Leslie Lindsey: I really enjoyed learning about wallwisher from Tori, Stephanie and Ilene. I think these pages would be a great informal-feeling place for students to share their ideas. I can see using this as a warm up or as like an exit slip strategy. I think the kids would get a kick out of the post-it like format and especially if you said there can be no repeats, they would really read each others comments. Last, I think it would be neat if after a while of using the tool, there could be student lead ones? Thanks for showing that to us, ladies!

Leslie Lindsey: Thanks for the laughs and the information about Blabberize, John. Your idea about having the famous person or object talk about itself would be a great way to engage students. I can imagine using like a picture of the author of a book to introduce the book rather than just me standing in front of the class telling the students. Last, I think the kids would enjoy using this goofy learning tool and posting video clips of their own into their PowerPoints or other presentations. Thanks!

Stephanie Headrick: I really like the storbird and wallwisher tools. Actually I like the storybird much better than the tikatok tool I used. Storybird seems easier to use and more inviting to kids. The wallwisher is a great tool, allowing for a great way to incorporate character education as someone mentioned.

There have been many great tools mentioned and I have enjoyed looking at what everyone has created!

Jackie Williams: I can’t wait to use Wordle in my classroom! I think I am going to start off the year with the students making a Wordle to describe them. I am also going to try it is an assessment tool. I can already see all the Wordle posters around my room J I love the idea behind Bladder as well. I see my fourth and fifth grades wanting to use this to present all their projects. Instead of all the students presenting their research material the traditional away I think Bladder will keep the students attention during all the presentations. Web 2.0 tools have given me a lot of ideas for the upcoming school year!

Leigh Ragsdale: I visited the Preceden web 2.0. I though it could be very helpful for American or World History classes. I am currently not teaching social studies or history, but hope to in the future. This would be an excellent tool for me to utilize. It would be great for the hands-on and visual learner as well. I like that it was colored coded and that you could view all of the event under the time line. I was wondering if you could incorporate pictures or videos into it? I am going to pass this site to the history teacher in my building.

Leigh Ragsdale- I loved Wallwisher. IIene that was an outstanding site. I actually created my own and posted on it! With my students character education is so important and this would be a great tool to incorporate in my classroom. I have them journal on a daily basis and I think this would keep their attention and they would really love using it! I was thinking it would be a great site for my dance girls too. I could share positive quotes and videos too! If you can't tell I am really excited about this site and can not wait to use it in my classroom!

Pamela Bruce- I think Storybird by Cara is a very useful tool for us working with young emergent readers. I have many different lesson plans and at each visit I am to read a book that goes with the lesson. It may sounds easier than it really is but it is tough to find a good book that is not too young or too old for the students. Storybird would allow me to create a book fo my students about what I need too and on the level I need it to be for my P.A.T. home visit. Thanks for sharing Cara I will be using this tool very soon.

Tamara Bennett I also liked Scott DeNoyer’s GeoGebra. It would have been nice to have this in physics or statistics! I can definitely see how it can be used in geometry, trigonometry, and physics. It is a lovely little tool that can be used for elementary through college. It was great to see how amplitude, frequency, vertical shift, and horizontal shift were related. In addition, you could see how each one affected the sine function. It was also nice that it was free and an open source tool for teachers. I was not surprised to see all the awards the site had won. I had already planned to use the website Illuminations.com for when I teach the mathematical part of chemistry and physics. However, I could see how this would come in handy as well. This would be a great tool for anytime I need to quickly sketch a graph for direct lecture or homework problems. It allows you to add a grid to the axis. You can also add a line with two points or choose from other options. Then you have a slider which allows you to specify position. You can choose between number and angle. Next, you may specify the interval, slider, and animation—such as oscillating, increasing, or decreasing. This would be great for demonstration velocity. GeoGebra allows you to choose from a variety of commands as well. The maps are very interactive. The teacher can explain how to make a graph for a velocity problem and then allow students to experiment on their own. It could also be used as an extension activity. There are also ready-made materials.I liked Vector Addition by Components and loved the Free Fall Experiment. The GeoGebra Tools for Applications in Chemistry was pretty awesome. It is great for writing chemical compounds’ formulas and writing oxidation numbers. There was also Comparing Two Simple Pendulums and The Simple Pendulum with Variable Length, Amplitude, and Height that I could use.

Tamara Bennett I like Sara Schweppe's bubble.us page and I love the bubbl.us tool. First, all students do not think the same way. For those students who do not think in a linear fashion, this is fantastic. It especially works great for those who are right-hemisphere dominant. With this mind-mapping tool you can show how all the ideas relate to each other. It also allows you to take your thought processes in different directions. In addition, Bubbl.us allows you to change the color of the word bubbles. A variety of colors are available to help the bubbles stand out. This only adds to the visual effect for visual learners. Because of this, it would be a great visual outline or aid for any presentation you give to the class. Second, I think it could be used for group work or projects. It will help generate ideas and topics for group work. The different ideas and topics of each student can be included by simply drawing a line to main idea being discussed. In addition, Bubbl.us allows students to move the thought bubbles around. If students decide they could be arranged a better or different way, they are free to do so. An example would be groups using it for taxonomy (classification). Another example would be students using it for an ethical debate on stem cell research or genetic engineering. Students could mind-map arguments for and against, advantages, and disadvantages. Bubbl.us allows students to share and collaborate online. In addition, you can email, print, or embed your mind map. This advantage would allow students to continue working at home by themselves or with their group.

Kelly Juliette I really enjoyed the Storybird tool. I am excited about using this in my classroom this coming year. The children will have so much fun creating stories and sharing them with the class. I do not have computers that all of my students have access to, but I could use this during centers or even as a whole group interactive writing lesson. I also thought about using it to model writing a story.

Kelly Juliette I also really enjoyed the Wallwisher tool. I thought this would come in really handy for homework. If the parents or students have questions about what to do on the homework they can post their questions and I can answer them. This would be good to use for general questions also. It would also be neat to use this for discussion topics during class meetings. If any students had concerns or questions that needed to be disucces they could post it and then everything would be right there for class discussion. I also like Eric's idea for using it as a web for brainstorming. There are many different ways this tool could be used in the classroom.

I really liked the wallwisher web 2.0 tool. I think that this could be used for lots of things. I think you can use it Ilene did and have students post different things that they are thankful for. This would be something great to use around thanksgiving especially. You could also use this when the students are writing a paper. You could have each of them post an idea and use it as a web for brainstorming. You could even have the students start the day off by writing something they wish to accomplish by the end of the day everyday. I liked the MeeGenius website a lot. I think this would really help students who don’t have a lot of books because most of the books they offer on the site are free. I think this would be really good to use with my special education students as well especially some of the ones that struggle a lot with reading or have lower abilities. I think students who are the lower scale would really love reading these books since you can personalize the book. I think they would really enjoy seeing their name in a book and reading about the story as if it was them in it.
 * __ Eric Summers __**
 * __ Eric Summers __**

Stephanie Headrick - I loved John's Blabberize site. This could be a great tool, not only for teachers but students as well. I looked through the blabberize site at what others had created and I came across some for math, poetry, reading, and more. I can really see this capturing the attention of young special education students and perhaps older as well. It could easily be used to introduce a new idea or concept, but in a MUCH more animated way. Not only can it be used as a teaching tool but it can aide in students remembering those concepts. Great tool!

Pamela Blair- Bruce- I thought John’s Blabberize site was hysterical and immediately thought of how neat the younger grades would find this web 2.0 tool! I think this would also be a wonderful tool to add into a Webquest if possible. The students would have so much fun learning animal facts straight from the animals’ mouth. For the younger students we all know how important it is to keep learning fun.

__Leslie Burgess:__ I really liked the Blabberize tool that was used. I know that humor is necessary to grab the students attention and keep stress levels down. I believe that this tool would be great for any age group. At our school we have an advisory group that meets once every two weeks and we discuss character, team building, any problems faced by students, etc. Well, I think I could incorporate this blabberize tool as a way to introduce themselves and "break" the ice.

__Lyndsey Critchell:__ I think Blabberize is awesome too! I think it is such a quick thing teachers can throw together to add humor to their lessons and presentations. As a high school math teacher, I'd like to use to to record formulas in a funny I'd like students to memorize. I am one of those math teachers who sings the quadratic formula song (it's on my delicious page if you're interested!) so something like this would come in handy too. I could keep all these silly clips on my desktop or delicious account so if a problem comes up during class and I need quick access to a formula it would be there waiting for me.

__Leslie Burgess:__ I also enjoyed the MeeGenius tool. It is an online library where students can click on a book and read it online. I believe that schools with small libraries could really utilize this tool. Also, teachers could project a book onto their smartboard so students can visually see better what the teacher is reading. I know at my school students are constantly losing books, or damaging them, so this is a good way to keep students from costing the school more money!


 * __John Parker__**-I have placed my page out here. I have included a second one with many many tools for your use. I have decided to showcase Blabberize.com. and Wordle.net.

1-Checkout Cara's Storybird. What a cool idea. I can see a class project centered around this. I will use this tool. I think I could even use a Wordle word cloud as art!

2-I also went to Ilene's WallWisher site. It is very easy to use and has a to of applications. Intro's, end of year clsoe out, holiday's, get well cards, just to name a few. Project ideas, brainstorming ideas...

3-Sarah Schweppe showed us a very nice site. A great organizational chart maker. A good way to out line the steps in a process, think group work, or a way to organize any topic.

4-I enjoyed Trisha Campbell's Glogster page. A great ides for classes, Posters for the room and information that is SUPER personalized for parents and others! Great site. Thanks, Trisha.

5-Pamela, I could not open your document. Can you save it as an older version, please? John thanks for letting me know I tried to upload an older version tonight but it will not let me upload anything to my site anymore...not sure why not but I will keep trying. Pamela B-B.

__Trisha Campbell__- I checked out John Parker's page. He used the blabberize tool. I think this tool is very neat and that the studens would really get a kick out of it. This could be used in the classroom by the students by having them create their own blabberize project as a group. They could be divied up and be assigned certain parts of the chapter, then instead of standing up and telling about it, they could use the blabberize tool and their pictures. This would definately keep their attention.

__Trisha Campbell-__ I checked out Sara Schweppe's page. She used bubbl.us. This tool is a neat way to brainstorm. I teach elementary and think that I could use this in my classroom. In third, I had to practice for the MAP teast. The students have to write a 5 paragraph essay. This tool would be a great way to brainstorm collaboratively as a class.

__Lyndsey Critchell:__ I checked out Sara's page too on bubbl.us. What a great way for teachers or students to make flow charts for understanding processes and steps. I've made flow charts for my students in the past, but this is easy enough I could have students make their own, which is probably more meaningful. I could definitely use this for my high school math classes. Off the top of my head, I would have my Geometry students make their own flowchart for properties and formulas of quadrilaterals (square, rectangle, kite, parallelogram, trapezoid). Also, it would be great for them to make a triangle flowchart also so they know how to solve for all side and angles and knowing when to use which formula like the Pythagorean theorem or trignometry. Thanks for sharing this great resource!

__Ilene Sanders__- I looked at John Parker's page and his Blabberize tool is very cool and funny. It's a great way to grasp students' attention. I could see myself using Blabberize as an anticipatory setup. I could have the student of the week balbberize about himself/herself using a picture of himself. Or I could use a blabberize to summarize important points throughout the week! I liked the idea of Wordle becuase every student in my elementary class could use their name and associate words that describe them. We could also make one as a whole class on whatever topic we are covering and each student could add a word or two to describe our topic. Great ideas!

__Ilene Sanders__- I enjoyed Trisha Campbell's Glogster page. I think this is a great way to do just as she stated to post pictures of class activities, field trips and award ceremonies. I know many parents would love to see their children on a Glogster site and I intend to use one in my clasroom. I can see myself making a cool page for field trips, a Christmas party and Valentine's Day! I can't wait. Great idea!

__Sarah Schweppe__- I liked Lyndsey Critchell's Twiducate page. I think that the site is a great way for students and teachers to interact and help one another. It seems to be a little safe than some of the social networking options out there. I especially like how the teacher can create links to other sites either for homework, or for enrichment. I think that this is something I could totally use in my future classroom. It is a site that is independent from the school's website and is accessible by the teacher and students (and parents) only which I really like. Great tool! __Sarah Schweppe__- I also enjoyed Trisha Campbell's Glogster page. I think that this type of tool is essential to working parents. There were so many class parties, and class events that my parents were unable to attend, and I was too young to take pictures. This is a great way to share these memories with parents. I plan on using this tool in my classroom. I think it gives a visual insight into the student's educational experience that some parents would have otherwise missed. Love this tool! __Amy Hejlek__ - Not sure if I am doing this right? This is my first post. I have been able to visit a few of the sites that were posted by others during the WEB 2.0 discussion. I am loving what I am finding! In just three short weeks I have learned so much about technology! More than I learned in all fours years of undergrad! I am looking forward to starting the new school year and introducing my students to all these great finds. I am also looking forward to introducing this info to my co-workers! I think collaboration is very importnat in our profession!

__ Pamela Blair- Bruce- __ I thought that Ilene’s web 2.0 tool Wallwisher was a neat way for a class of students to collaborate on assignments. Whether the students are brainstorming for a research assignment or studying together for a test the output from the student can be simple. The teacher can gain valuable insight in to whether or not the students understand the material being taught and add to the learning environment by posting too. I think P.A.T. could use something like this for parents to post their comments on ideas for group meetings or support for our day at the capital.

__Cara Vandiver__ - I liked Eric's Wiggio page. I had never heard of this tool, so I found the video tutorial ("claytorial") very informative. It seems pretty user friendly and kid friendly too, so I really see how kids would benefit from using this tool. The part that I think kids would really like is the mass text messaging capability. What I am assuming is that the instructor sends out a test message to a specified group in Wiggio and everyone in that group receives the message. How efficient!! I think teachers would find this useful as well. If an administrator or teacher needed to cancel a meeting or reschedule a meeting, he or she could use Wiggio to get the word out quickly. Many people are often commenting on how communicating with others efficiently and consistently can be a challenge, so I think this tool could solve that problem.

__Cara Vandiver__ - MeeGenius is an amazing tool! I am so happy someone posted that tool, because I haven't came across that one yet. In my classroom, I use books on CD in my centers so my students can listen to a fluent reader read a children's book to them. Even though books on CD aren't too expensive, when you are buying them for 20+ children, the cost can add up. However, with the MeeGenius tool, all you have to do is plug your headphones into a computer, choose a story on the MeeGenius site, and listen away! There was an option to register where you could save your customized books and share them with others, so that would be an option as well.

__Scott DeNoyer__ - I enjoyed exploring Wiggio (thanks Eric). I am trying to figure out what type of tool I am going to use to upload files, blog, and possibly wiki with my classes this year. It appears Wiggio meets many of my needs, but not all. I like the ability to upload any type of file with no space limitations (except 100M per file). I also like the ability to blast email, texts and voice messages to a large group of people easily. It does not appear that you can set up individual classes within one account (I guess because this was not necessarily designed for that purpose) which is a downside. However, the shared calendar and chatrooms are nice features. I could see myself possibly using this tool to upload homework, share messages (text and/or voice) and post a calendar IF I could figure out a way to separate classes.

__Scott DeNoyer__ - In the same manner, thanks, Lindsey, for the information on Twiducate. I like the blogging and bookmarking capabilities of this tool. I also think the students would like that they have some control such as setting up their avatar and being able to create their own posts to the class. I do miss the ability to upload files and to have individual classes. Just like I mention above, I am sure this tool was not designed to do some of the features I would miss. If you combine Wiggio and Twiducate with the ability to seperate classes (Moodle?) I think you have an ideal, all-encompassing tool for a teacher. However, this is a wonderful tool for blogging, providing links, and giving a snap-shot of upcoming due dates.

__Rachel Baker-__ I really liked twiducate and storybird. There are many kids in my class who already have cell phones! I am sure that they will be using twitter and facebook before long, and why not apply something similar to be used for education and in the classroom? Storybird is a fantastic application for helping kids write. There are many times that i have to pull teeth just to get many of my students to get a great thought on paper. Storybird helps kidsg dig deep into their imagination. I would definately implement this into my upcoming class

__**Amanda Alton**__ - I really enjoyed John's Blabberize example. I fell in love with this site when I saw it. I feel that this is a great way to get kids very excited about what they are learning. Any teacher can stand in front of the class and lecture or give instructions, but kids will be more motivated and take notice if it is done in this fashion. What student wouldn't want to hear their teacher's voice coming out of a talking cartoon or other silly picture. This would also be a great way to get the kids to present material to the rest of the class.

__**Amanda Alton**__ - I really like Ilene's Wallwisher site. This is a great tool for getting student input about absolutely anything! It would also be a great way for the students to share information about what they are doing at school with their parents. I think this could easily be used with any students from first grade on! The biggest selling point is how absolutely easy it is to use!

// Amanda Alton chose dvolver for her web 2.0 assignment. I really liked the idea of having a video to present information to students or students to do presentations using such a tool. I think it would be a great way (that has a variety of options) to get away from students doing the traditional PowerPoint to present their material. // // Greg Fisher used blogger for his web 2.0 tool which I thought would be great in the classroom. It is a great way to continue communication between students and the teacher. It keeps communication and learning going on outside the classroom as well. // // All the wallwisher’s had great ways of making each wall different and related to their class. Amy H and Ilene were both able to alter their walls to relate to their class and or season. Through wallwisher it is each to change and update your page to relate to whatever one needs. I think this is a great tool and I look forward to using it in my classroom next year! // // Jackie: At the beginning of the year I have my students write a letter to the teacher that explains them. I think using wordle would be another option I could give them. I could also use wordle at the beginning of each unit as a poster of key words would be available for my students to see. That way they are aware of what they are going to be learning. // // There have been some amazing tools used for this assignment. I have looked at many of them and am really looking forward to using various tools in my classroom for the future! //
 * // Stephanie Paul //**
 * Amber Duley **// - //I loved Blabberize! I'd like to do event reminders for my band students with this, or like a "Thought for the Day" or something quick and easy. I'm a sucker for physical humor.

 Wallwisher is another really great tool that is so simple to use. I could use it as an online sticky note board for students and parents for announcements about performances when their kids lose the three notes I sent home.

Wordle is really cool. I'm attracted to it for the visual aspect (being a graphic designer) and I do a student questionnaire as well. This would be a great tool for that.

Wiggio is another one I could use for my band students. I send texts to my section leaders at parades and this would be good to send a mass text to everyone to prevent all those seventh graders from asking me when we are leaving!

Eric Murphy I checked out the web 2.0 tool Glogster. I think Glogster would be a great tool for the classroom as a way to introduce yourself. The website easily allows you to upload pictures and create posters. I think this site can promote positive student interaction and creativity.

Another Web 2.0 site that I viewed was Blabberize. This site lets you add sound clips and other add-on’s. I think this site is another way to positively represent yourself and interests. These to Web 2.0 tools allow kids to positively interact and share ideas. This is very much needed in the public school system and should be embraced

Tori Endermuhle: I liked Leigh Ragsdale’s wallwisher, after looking at hers I decided to make my own. It believe wallwisher will benefit me in my classroom with my daily question. I tend to have student who don’t take me seriously when I tell them that I will collect them all (from day one) at the end of the semester for points, so I always end up with students who get zeros. It is very frustrating, with wallwisher, I can check it on my computer at the end of the day and give credit for it.

 Tori Endermuhle: I liked Stephanie Headrick’s tikatok photobook. This would be a great tool to use in our Business Technology I class. Toward the end of the year they do an about powerpoint but I believe using tikatok would be another great tool to incorporate.

Greg Fischer

Wallwisher is a site that I have implemented many times in my classroom. I was actually introduced by a colleague of mine in the English department that used it for building vocabulary. I used it mostly with my math classroom and connecting it to the real world bringing engagement to the classroom. I'll post the question like, "Where is integers used in real life situations?" My students will post their ideas while at the same time students are able to see what their classmates also said. It brings collaboration to the classroom and allows even the shy students to be in the forefront.

Wordle is also an engaging web 2.0 tool that takes an ordinary piece of text and makes tag clouds. Doing this he are able to see the key points that author was trying to convey by having the words that repeated the most emphasized the biggest. Check out the following article that I wordle about technology in the classroom. Noticed what words are the largest to see.

[|Technology in the Classroom]

Nathan Keller - The Blabberize tool was hypnotic--it was a treat to play around with, and would definitely capture a class's attention. The image that kept popping into my mind was of teachers having Conan O'Brien-style Q&A's with Abraham Lincoln and such (though hopefully a little more productive), though that would take some rehearsal to get the timing right. I can definitely envision kids having a lot of fun incorporating it into their own projects as well--there was a link on the frontpage to a class who used Blabberize to make raps (about photosynthesis, of all things), and you could tell the kids enjoyed putting them together.

My visit to MeeGenius was a delightful experience as well. Being able to present those stories interactively on the smart board or on each computer is great for flexibility in an eMINTS classroom, and being able to customize them is a great way to spike the involvement of students--you could either surprise a student by naming a character after him/her without warning, or engage the class in a quick sort of mad-libs activity before starting the story.