Web 2.0 Tools

Well... this class is giving me a renewed interest in trying this with my students.  Because I teach ELL, I have smaller numbers.... so it may make it easier to get into the computer lab, or let my students use my computer on a rotating basis to do things online.  The problem comes if I want to get them all on at the same time to do something.  I introduced them to TweenTribune.com at the beginning of the year with hopes of doing   more with it... but unfortunately, it's so difficult to get computer time.  

The articles I've been reading for class gave me a few ideas on how to make it work as well.  I have a few students who really don't care how poor their writing is... but if I can get the principal or the vice-principal on a class blog site or forum, I think that would help.   Even if they don't really ever look at it, just knowing that they're members might encourage them to write.
I also found another site recently called pixton.com which is for making online comic strips and is all drag and drop.

Which reminds me, I keep meaning to make a google doc with my non-school account for all of the links that we all use. I think it would be great to get all of my classmates to post the links that they've actually used for something so with some comments instead of finding what we thing is a great site, bookmarking it and then forgetting it.  Plus,when this class is over, I (and anyone else) who used a different account to link to it will be able to access it.

My mind is on the holiday... so that may explain why I'm all over in this post.

Session 6 - Digital Therapy

Wow.... class went by quick. Being busy at school and home sure makes your head spin.  I look forward to having a little more time over winter break to play with some of the sites we used in class, as well as another site I found during class.  I was looking for a fun way to get kids to write.  Prezi is defiantly high up on the list in my eyes, but I also found Pixton.com, which is a really, really cool drag and drop comic strip website.  Best part is individual accounts are free, although you can sign up as a teacher and get a class in for about $50 if my memory is correct.

It is also interesting to listen to the reviews of all of the keen gadgets out there.  The one that I really thought was super cool was actually when Louie pulled up that printer that would scan an insane about of paper into PDF files in a short time.  I see this as being the future.  The only problem is, all of the digital book readers can't change the font size on PDFs like they can with digital books. You can zoom in, but then you have to scroll left to right in addition to up and down to read it. I want a hand held device that will allow me to zoom in and adjust the number of pages, just like a digital book does.  Then, I would be the first in line to buy one.  I've got a TON of PDFs.     Does anyone out there use a Kindle, Nook or other device that can comment on how PDFs look on them?

Class #5

I've been soo busy this week I forgot to blog.  So I apologize to those who were looking for a place to comment.

I really enjoyed seeing all of the differen Prezis.  I really like them and want to figure out a way to use them in class.   The only problem is that we don't have enough computers in our school to actually get it easily or frequently enough for a project like that.  I am also one of the few teachers w/out a Smart Board in my school.  Ironic since I'm such a nerd.

I have really enjoyed this class and there is a lot I will be taking away with me. Some will end up in the classroom and other stuff will just be for me.