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Here is my 1 minute video for ProProfs.com

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ProProfs.com

In my search for another amazing web 2.0 tool I came across proprofs.com. This site has so many components it took me a long time to explore the many items available. I originally went to this site to investigate the quiz maker aspect it offered. I initially created a quick weather quiz just to see how the site functioned. It is extremely easy to make a quiz, take a quiz and see the results of your students’ quizzes. Once you have published your quiz it is available for others see and use. You can also search through the quizzes that have already been created and use these as well. This site however goes far beyond quiz making. There is a link where you can create polls and see the results. Like with the quiz-making link, you can browse and take polls that were previously created. You can look at a flashcard link and create your own flashcards or use ones already created. ProProfs.com also has a link that provides a variety of games. There you can play games that have already been created or create your own games. For example, I created a crossword puzzle. There is so much more to this site. There is a link to forums, the site Blog, a Wiki link and even an amazing SAT prep link. All these services are free. This site is so easy to use and access. It took a simple sign-up and now I have complete access. The only huge downfall of this site is all the advertisements you have to try and ignore. There are advertisements virtually on every empty space of the page. During all my time spent on proprofs.com I didn’t see any advertisements that were offensive. That said, I think this is an amazing site with great benefits. I can’t wait to start creating polls, quizzes, and games for my students’ to use. I know that my higher students will benefit from the challenge of higher thinking games, my lower students will benefit from the flashcard review, and I can keep track of my students progress and retention of the subject with the easily made quizzes. I hope you take a minute to check out proprofs.com I truly believe this site is an asset to my classroom.

BP10_2010043_Comments4Classmates

The following link is my response to Paul's blog about Etherpad:

http://pauldevoto.blogspot.com/2010/04/bp32010041web20tools.html

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The following is a link to my comments on Laura's blog.

http://teachingtransformed-lms.blogspot.com/2010/04/bp52010042web20tool2-xtranormalcom.html

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Below is a link to my friends site where I commented on her blog:

http://jscioscio.blogspot.com/2010/04/bp32010041web20tool1storyjumper.html

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The following is my post on my classmates blog:

http://asheridan08.blogspot.com/2010/04/bp32010041web20tool1schoolwaxtv.html

BP5_2010042_DiscoveringWeb2.0Tools

I may have found the greatest web 2.0 tool ever for my students to use. The site is called Tikatok and can be found at tikatok.com. I used the site to create a weather book for my students to learn more about weather properties. In the past I have created these books using construction paper, printed words, and printed pictures. This site allows me to create a professional looking book to share with my students. Being able to create these engaging books is just one of the really great things about this site. The other fantastic thing about this site is that my students can create their own books as well. I have found my students take great pride in their work when they know it is going to be published and put on display. When we publish and display their writing, it usually involves my typing up their written work and the students then add an illustration. Finally, we put it up on the wall. With Tikatok they can type their writing, scan in a picture or create their own pictures and upload them to their pages. Finally, their parents can purchase a book of their work when it is completed. For $3, I was able to download a PDF version of my weather book. Parents have three choices for purchasing their child’s work. They can select the PDF version for $3, a hardcover for $18.30, or a soft cover for $15.26. I also believe that this would be a fantastic way for parents to have a collection of their child’s writing throughout the year. This site could provide the parent with a record of their child’s work that has been accumulated over the year. At the end of the school year I can provide the parents with a link to their child’s writing and they can decide if they would like to purchase a professionally bound book that includes all of their writing. I love the idea that kids can create and see their work printed for them in a professionally bound book. The site is easy to use, and definitely something that my first grade students could use with only a small amount of training involved. I loved this site and hope you will take a few minutes to check it out.

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The first RSS feed I am following is called Elementary Teacher Resources Blog. I choose to follow this blog because it is always extremely helpful for me if I have people to run my ideas past or other people I can ask questions of. As a first grade teacher I can never have too many resources. Immediately after clicking onto this feed I was drawn towards specific topics like “Running Records in Kindergarten” and “Guided Reading.” When I clicked on the guided reading one it has the question “How do I make sure I am effectively running my guided reading circles?” Well that is exactly the same question I have about ten times a year. Being able to click on this site and read the comments will only enhance my teaching or reinforce for me the idea that I am running my reading groups effectively. I am excited to continue to read and grow as a teacher with the help of fellow teachers through this feed.

I also subscribed to Videos related to “Writing Express works with a First Grade Class.” I explored this feed because I’m always looking for ways to make writing more exciting and entertaining for my students. The first video I watched was a man singing a song about expository writing. This is something I have to teach as part of my curriculum and my students love to sing and act. Keeping these two things in mind I think it would be exciting and fun for them to see this video, learn the song, and include these new skills into their writing. I’m looking for more ways to incorporate technology into my lessons and one more way is through the use of videos. This site will allow me to show them other videos that are already created. While not all the videos are not necessarily educational videos for the kids there are many videos on this feed that will allow me to continue to grow as a teacher.

I subscribed to “PBS Teachers. Learning. Now” because it provides teachers with resources in all subject areas. There are even tabs on the site that provide interactive tools, online professional development, and off line activities. One of these links takes to you classes or courses you can take to increase your professional development. There were a variety of classes offered on this link. This site also provided me with lesson plans, links to extra games for the students, and a variety of teaching tools.

I have also subscribed to “Lesson Planet Articles” because I love the idea of being able to find new and exciting lesson plans and ways to reach my students. This link provides me with a variety of lessons and numerous different subjects in which I can search for these lessons. I believe it is always very valuable to have many resources and a variety of ways to meet the needs of your students. One year something may work wonderfully however the next year I may need to find new lessons and ways to reach the new group of students.

Lastly I have subscribed to “Suite101: New Teacher Support Articles.” Although I’m not a new teacher I find that it is important to constantly remind myself of great teaching practices, to learn new ways to be organized and reach my students. This site has great articles for new and old teachers that remind us and reinforce many skills we may not think about anymore. I enjoyed reading about Classroom Management Strategies for Teachers. It reinforces what I already know however; it was a great review as well.

BP3_201041_Web2.0ToolsCarrotSticks

I discovered a fun web 2.0 tool that I believe my students would love using in the classroom and at home. The site is called CarrotSticks and you can visit it at: http://www.carrotsticks.com/play. I have been looking for something that my students can use to build on their math skills. This site is a great place for them to start. When you begin to play the math problems are simple and your level builds as you improve. I love how the students can choose if they need harder or easier problems to solve. It also provides you with choices for the type of math problems you want to solve. The students can choose from addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Since I teach first grade the addition and subtraction problems are perfect. There is another fun aspect to this site and that is that the students can challenge each other in a timed competition. Once the challenger has accepted a timer starts and you both solve the same problems. The person who solves the most problems correctly wins carrots. The carrot sticks are the student’s way of keeping track of their progress. Once they have reached certain levels, the parents are sent an email telling them about their child’s’ success. This is a wonderful way for the parents to stay connected and the children to feel successful and proud of their accomplishments. Lastly another fun thing about this program is that the children get to create their own character. So while this program is highly educational it also provides the students with a creative way to express who they are. This site is completely free for basic math review and practice. There are additional skills covered in a more in-depth manner if you sign up for the plans they have offered. Parents can sign their children up for as little as $29.95 for a year. I truly believe that for my teaching purpose and the grade level that I teach, the basic free program will provide my students with plenty of review and extra practice with their math facts. CarrotSticks is a fun educational program that I cannot wait to introduce to my students during our computer time.

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Photo by: Salvatore Vuono on FreeDigitalPhotos.net
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=659



I found that blogging can easily be used in high school and even in middle school to help the children express themselves, put their thoughts and ideas out to a larger audience, and even to create dialogue between a larger population of students. I went into this blog deciding I wanted to focus on how elementary students could successfully use a blog to improve their education. I found an article titled The Joy of Blogging. In it Anne P. Davis and Ewa McGrail discuss how one group of 5th graders used blogging to improve their reading, writing, and communication skills. For this project the authors of the article, Anne a teacher and Ewa a university researcher worked with 16 kids weekly on blogging. They essentially built what they called a blogging community. They taught the children the basics about blogging and what it is. The kids started by writing about current events, things they were learning about in school and things that interested them. Eventually the students were writing blogs and responding to each other’s blogs. The authors discussed the preplanning involved with this project and that included finding reliable people to help with responding to the students’ blogs. This taught the students proper ways to communicate with others and allowed them to think about whom their audience was when writing.
I love the idea that the kids were writing using the computer and sharing their writing with others through the ability to post it as a blog. I found though that this project took a lot of preplanning as they called it and time preparing the students for successful and safe blogging. Essentially what I learned from this article was that blogging can be very successful in teaching communication, improve writing skills, editing skills, and reading skills in elementary school with a great deal of planning, preparation, and student cooperation.
The ideas/possibilities for blogging in high schools and middle schools are endless. One website I found, http://www.slideshare.net/sqoolmaster/educational-uses-of-blogs-and-tags-234136, lists just some of the possibilities. The author talks about starting a book club, show casing student art, creating a portfolio, sharing classroom news letters, and provide students with a thought provoking question so that they can add their comments after reading, just to name a few ideas.
I found that for upper grades blogging would be an extremely useful and creative tool to introduce. For my students and me it will take some creative planning and instruction. I know I will continue to brainstorm ideas for incorporating blogging into my lesson plans.

Reference
Davis, A., & McGrail, E. (2009). The Joy of Blogging. Educational Leadership, 66(6), 74-77. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.