Web+2.0



For this assignment i was asked to research and select five Web 2.0 tools that i may use in the classroom. I was asked to describe the tools and give examples of how I would implement them into a classroom.

I didn’t realize that there are so many tools on the internet that could be integrated into the classroom. There were many I discovered that I could use in the classroom. It was rather complicated to narrow it down to five, but here are the five I picked.

Create a graph ([] I thought this was a great tool for the classroom (depending on what grade) because graphs and charts communicate information visually. They are used in newspapers, magazines, and schools around the world. Sometimes complicated information can be difficult to understand and may need illustration and these tools can help people understand information by getting the point across quickly and visually. On this website there are five different graphs and charts (bar, line, pie, xy, and area) students can use to visually convey their information. If the student is unsure of which type of graph to use they can select the “How do I choose which graph to use.” There is also a help menu, which will give the student tips about making a graph. Once the student has compiled the graph they can print, save, or email the graph. When making a graph or chart the student can choose the direction, shape, style, and font type among many other things. They can also label and title the graphs as well. There is also a tutorial that can help the student if they get confused. I think this tool will be very useful for students during projects for the science fair. We can also do a project during the year where we use a bar graph to measure the growth of plants. For instance we can document the height of the plant during week one and every week after showing the growth of the plant throughout the year.

Hot Potatoes ([] This site includes six applications, enabling a teacher to create interactive multiple choice, short answers, jumbled sentences, crosswords, matching/ordering, and fill in the blank exercises. Hot Potatoes is free, and anyone can use it for any purpose or project. I think this website is more for educators to organize tests or to make fun activities like crossword/projects using vocabulary words or educational games. I think I would use this site quite a bit for my class, I can use it to make tests, either fill in the blank or multiple choice. I think I would also use the crosswords for activities in history or science for example the hint for the crossword may be something like this Across 1. The first president of the United States, and they would out the correct answer in the corresponding boxes. This site would also work to make a sheet where the students have to put things in order in history.

Tux Paint ([] this is a free, award winning drawing program for kids ages 3-12 (pre-K-6). It combines an easy to use interface, fun sound effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who guides children as they use the program. The students are presented with a blank canvas and a variety of drawing tools to help them to be creative. Some of the drawing tools include various paintbrushes, rubber stamps, a line tool, a shape tool, text label tools, and “magic tools.” An example of a magic tool is “blur,” which blurs the picture. And the cartoon magic tool can make parts of the picture look like a cartoon. Tux Paint is also able to be translated into many different languages. I think that this site can be used as a center in a classroom or we could use this program to create art for a portfolio that the students can show their parents at the end of the year.

Community Walk ([] On this site you can create a personal community, and professional maps. After you make the creation you can upload the map on a website or blog. You can also add videos and photos to them as well. This website also has a tutorial for students having difficulty making their own map. This site brings up an actual map of the location that you can add paths and markers to. When you add a marker you can fill in why you marked that place. This website would be handy at the beginning of the year when the students and the teachers are getting to know each other. I could have the students pull up the website and fill in their address to pull up the map of their area and community. Then on the community map they could use the markers to show everywhere they have been in their neighborhood. I can also have them use the path markers to show trails or places they have walked in their neighborhood. We can even make a year long project out of it having the children put new markers and trails in the new places they have gone throughout the year.

Comic Brush ([] On this website you can create your own comic strip, or comic brush lets you mix stock artwork from their collection of comic backgrounds and characters. On this site you can even upload personal pictures to be used. You can even add speech balloons and text you own artwork. Then you can publish your finished product to social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. I think this site could have many functions in the classroom. It could be used as a center and for art assignments. I think I would love to use this site for a creative history lesson. For example, on president’s day I could assign each child a president and have the child create a comic strip with their president in particular. The students can use real events in history for their comic strip or they can be humorous with their strip but still pertaining the strip to that president’s history. They would need to make sure to use speech balloons so that there is no misunderstanding of what the comic strip is trying to say. Then when everyone has created their comic strip they will be asked to share with the whole class.

There were many more websites that I thought would work great in the classroom that I will look to in the future. I found quite a lot of tools used for writing, organizing, and presentations. I think the presentation tools will also come in handy to teach the children how to create a slide show to do a presentation. This would work for any subject including an introductory slide show of what I did during the summer. Needless to say I learned about many tools for education that I didn’t even know about and look forward to utilizing them in my classroom.