Web+2.0

After looking through the multiple features available for Web 2.0 tools, I found many that are not only very interesting, but that I believe will be very useful during my teaching career. The five Web 2.0 tools that I have chosen to persue for this page are Prezi, Google Docs, PBWorks, Questionaut, and Education Place.

__Prezi__ is a website that can be used for many different things. It takes the place of a simple power point presentation and makes sharing information interesting and fun for kids. It would be a great tool for me to use to teach Math, English, or any other subject really. For Math I could connect different equations to answers very easily without having to spend a lot of time setting up slides. The same would work for History and English, where I could connect people and places to dates and literature so that the children could easily see how they tie together. It would give me the ability to show and label pictures and then automatically scroll to a fact or section where I could continue to develop an idea. From what I have seen so far, it is much easier to use than Power Point (and I think it much more entertaining for children to watch). The program seems to be very user friendly and they have a great tutorial where they explain in detail the many functions available. I am really impressed that it gives me the ability to type anywhere on the screen and connect items or change the look of it with just a few clicks of the mouse.

__Google Docs __ is another amazing site that would be very helpful for me as a teacher. This would be very useful to collaborate with other teachers or even a parent. This site gives me the ability to communicate and share ideas in real time with whomever I give the link to. It is a great way to communicate when creating a lesson plan or even to discuss a project from a classroom. There is also a tab for excel spreadsheets which would give multiple individuals the ability to track and record information about events, projects, or even a field trip. There are obviously multiple uses for excel, but a field trip is one of the first things that I thought of. In the past I have needed to track students, parents information, and money paid through excel, but it was always either saved on my desktop or in our public network. When it was saved on the network, other people in the building were able to access the information, however if someone were off campus or unable to access the network they were out of luck. Google Docs would save us the hassle of emailing information each time something were updated or changed on the excel list. There is also a tab where I would be able to share drawings or charts. Again, the ability to communicate in real time with a teacher or parent is very convenient. I am aware that there is a program call “Go to my PC” (and by now there are probably numerous versions of this) where you can access different computers from the internet. If I were on vacation and needed to access my home computer, I would be able to do that through this “Go to my PC” program. The limitation with this is my computer at home would have to be turned on and already listed in “Go to my PC” address book for my account. Google Docs is better for a teacher to use, in that if I want to share documents with another teacher I don’t have to give them access to my entire computer. I can choose what I post and share with other individuals.

__PBWorks __ would be a fun program for students to use in a classroom. This allows children to create webpage’s, embed images and videos, and post documents. It allows children to connect to other students in the district and even overseas. When I watched the different videos for Technology Integration, I saw a video where students were connecting with different schools in Europe and around the globe in order to learn about different cultures outside of their own. PBWorks would give children this ability in my classroom. We could create projects that would involve students from not only their school, but in other classrooms in the district or around the globe. As a teacher, I could use this site to publish class notes and lectures and keep the parents involved and updated. Parents could even read through my lectures if the needed so they could better assist their children with any homework or questions they may have. The students could use this site to create portfolios they could share with grandparents who are in a different state, or even to collaborate with fellow students on activities. Teachers could set up volunteer sheets that would be easy to access and maintain. This is a website that would give the students or teachers to ability to link to places outside of their own school.

__Questionaut __ is another great program for students. It is on the BBC website and is an excellent example of how students are able to learn and have fun at the same time. This is the type of game that I would like my students to spend time playing in their free time, or I could use it to reward students. For example, if I have a student who won a contest or wrote a great paper, they could earn minutes on the computer playing this game. It is a unique game that is visually appealing, with fun characters and a creative use of education materials. I played the game for a bit and saw a few of the different levels. It tested my understanding of English composition, Math, Science, and other areas that are common in an Elementary classroom. The only downside to the game is that it is fairly advanced so it wouldn’t work for children who are young. However, there are many different education games that I found that would be appropriate for children in early Elementary classrooms. These types of games were around in my Elementary School, and I am glad to see that they are becoming more and more interesting and challenging for use in the classrooms.

__Education Place __ would be an excellent source for teachers as well as students. On this site I would be able to organize projects, help with problem solving, decision making, studying and brainstorming. The site gives me access to multiple charts that I could print out, of which I could make copies of so, each child could see a visual representation of the material I am teaching at the time. For example, there was a chart that was called “garden gate” that had multiple sections on a drawing (of a gate). There were blank spaces underneath the word “topic” so that children could use it to fill in an outline if they wanted to create or discuss a story. There are many different charts available that could easily be changed so they could be more class specific. The unfortunate thing about this site is that I had a hard time looking at it without registering for it. When I went to the main website I was given the impression that there was even more materials available for those teachers who register, more than I know about without registering. The website did allow me to preview some of the education books that are for 3rd grade, and I found those to be interesting and easy to navigate. Overall, I think this website would be very helpful to me; something I could use alongside a lesson plan in a classroom.