Wiki, Wiki, Wiki

A wiki can be a great educational tool.  Wiki is short for Wiki Wiki, which is the Hawaiian word for quick.  Will Richardson's chapter in Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classroom on Wikis is aptly titled "Wikis: Easy Collaboration for All".  From the previous two sentences, one can see that a Wiki is quick, easy, and collaborative.  If you are unaware of what a Wiki is, please watch the video below.



Uses in Education
Wikis can be used for a variety of things in education.  Teachers can use them for classroom websites.  Students can use them as a way to keep track of their online work.  Students can also use a wiki as a collaboration project.

Example of wiki used as a classroom page: Raymo's Sociology Class

Example of wiki used as a collaborative project: Mayflower Wiki

Wiki Creation Sites
It really doesn't matter what website you go with to create your wiki, each has their own perks and are all relatively the same to use.
Wikispaces
Wetpaint
PBworks
Wikidot
dooWikis

My Thoughts
I often forget about Wikis.  I think it is because of my bias toward Google, and the ability to create sites using Google and the collaborative nature of some of the Google tools.  Wikis are very easy to use and they are easily customizable.  I would like to use them more and will make it a point this semester to use it in my classroom in one way or another.

Almost forgot to place a link to the worlds most famous wiki...Wikipedia.

Doodle

I've known about and used Doodle for a couple of years now.  Doodle is a website that helps groups of people schedule meetings.  If you are the person that is creating the Doodle, you select the days in which you think the group can meet.  You then send out a link to everyone in your group.  Your group members then select which dates they can attend the meeting.  Everyone will then be able to see which date works best for everyone involved.

Great Math Help

Where does the time go...It's already Wednesday and I haven't posted since Friday!!!  Sorry!

Sometimes I run across things that I wish existed when I was in school.  This is one of those sites!  I was never (am still not) very good at math.  Math Live is a site that offers very easy to understand math help.  They do it with visuals and audio, which is what many kids need to understand some of the concepts.  I hope this site is still around when my daughter goes through school!

Samsung Galaxy Tablet Leaked

Here is a link to an interesting story from Mashable.

HP also has a tablet release as well.

What makes this so exciting is that the iPad version 2 is supposedly in production as we speak.  Can you say PRICE WAR!!!  I have iPad version 1, and love it.

P.S. Sorry for missing a couple days of blogging...been another crazy week!

NBC Learn

NBC Learn is a neat site that offers some cool videos and resources for mostly science.  Many of the videos are from NBC news shows.  If you don't use it as a classroom resource, it might be useful to just share the site with students.

Sketchfu

When I first saw Sketchfu, I thought it wasn't anything great.  Then I browsed the gallery and quickly figured out what makes this special.  You can watch the drawing take place before your eyes in fast forward.  This would be a cool project for any art class.  I plan to show my students this tomorrow and maybe offer some extra credit if someone wants to create something.  Even if you don't plan to use this, check out the gallery.

Google Art Project

I have to admit that I am a Google nut, and have been ever impressed by the things they have come out with in the last couple of years.  I came across Google Art Project while reading one of the Google blogs the other day, and I must say, WOW!  I was totally impressed at what you can do with this.  You can now navigate through some of the most famous art museums in the world.  You navigate your way through much like you would with Google street view.  I shared this with our Spanish teacher as she takes students on a trip through some of these art museums, and she was impressed.  It is really fun to show on an interactive board.  Check out Google's video showing Art Project.

Groundhog Day Resource

It's Groundhog Day and the groundhog did not see his shadow, so Spring is near...or is it!  Here is a great resource for teaching about Groundhog Day.  I hope the groundhog is right, we are on day 3 of no school because of snow and cold.

Doodle 4 Google

Doodle 4 Google is a contest that is hosted by Google.  Google is asking K-12 students to create the next Google homepage logo.  The theme is "What I'd like to do someday".  This could be something you could have your students do for an art project, or a creative thinking project.  Top prize is a $15,000 scholarship and $25,000 technology grant for their school.

10X10

10X10 is a cool news site that takes the top 100 words every hour from an RSS feed from major news sites.  It then puts a picture with those words.  They use sites like CNN, ABC, and BBC to name a few.  It is a great site to direct your students to if you do current events.  You could also do a quick current event assignment from this site.  Check it out!

Shmoop-a-Loop

Shmoop is...well...I really have a hard time explaining what Shmoop is.  If you are a literature arts or social studies teacher, this site is a must.  There are so many different cool 21st century resources on this site, it is crazy!  Check it out, and see if you can describe to me what it is!

Pretty Cool Medical Animation Library

Penn Medicine has a really neat site that shows 100's of medical animations.  There are very short videos to show anything from pink eye to an interactive ultrasound.  I found myself just browsing through the videos for fun.  This would be a great tool to introduce or supplement your lessons.  Again, I am jealous of all the cool science resources!

Goodreads

Goodreads is social networking for the book lover.  It is super easy to join and learn how to use.  The premise is simple, choose the books you have read, review them, and put them on your shelf.  You can set reading goals for yourself, and track how your friends are coming on their goals.  This would be a good tool for your classes to share book reviews.  Have your students sign up, go through the books they have read, review their books, friend up with their classmates, and you have created a reading social network for your students.  Next year, have your students friend last years students, and they will be able to see the reviews of the books you have in your library.

Show Document

When I see something like this, it only makes me want a classroom set of computers even more!  ShowDocument is a web meeting collaborative website.  There are many of these sites out there, and each has their own advantages and disadvantages.  ShowDocument really has some potential.  It is very easy to use, and I loved the interface.  The disadvantage to the free version is only 3 participants are allowed in the room you set up.  I don't think I can justify spending $30 a month, but can really see the potential of this.  You could use this for small group work within your classroom.  I think students would get a kick out of using it!

Science Has the Coolest Sites EVER!!

Chemical Education Digital Library is an awesome site for science teachers.  If I told you everything this site offers, I would have to write a couple chapter book!  There is everything from tutorials to 3D molecule models.  Of course, the periodic table is on here as well.  If you teach science, and you don't use this site or at least let your students know about it, you are doing a disservice to them!  Share this site with any science teacher you see!  I've always said science has the coolest websites, and this just reiterates this statement!!!

Poll Everywhere

Poll Everywhere is a super-easy tool to quickly polling students in your classroom.  Most kids today have unlimited texting plans, so it is virtually a free tool to use.  All you do is go to their site, create a new poll, and that's it.  The kids then use their cell phones to send responses in, and within seconds their responses are on the screen.  It literally is THAT easy!  The video goes through the sign up process, which is optional.  I usually use this as a way to start a class discussion, or to quickly poll for understanding.  Make sure you have parent consent, as you do not want a kids racking up a huge bill on their parents.  This is a GREAT tool!

iPad Blog

I got an email the other day from Beth telling me about a teacher in a neighboring school district that is using iPads in her classroom.  She has created a great blog to follow her iPad journey.  It is always fun to read about what she is doing in her classroom with the iPads, and to hear her successes and failures.  If you don't follow it every day, check in every so often to see what she is doing!  Thanks Beth and Lisa for sharing this with me!

Google Lit Trips is...Trippy :)

Google Lit Trips is in conjunction with Google Earth.  Google Lit Trips takes famous pieces of literature and maps them out in Google Earth.  You download the Google Lit Trip file, open it in Google Earth, and that's it!  Pretty easy to use.  A quick YouTube search came up with a couple tutorials, as well as ways in which other teachers have used it in their classrooms.

If you are reading a certain book, you can actually have your students create their own Google Lit Trip.  Wouldn't that be a trip...

Google Science Fair

Google launched their Google Science Fair Site the other day.  This would be a great opportunity to turn your science fair into a Google Science Fair.  Most schools already do a science fair, and it really does not look too difficult to submit projects.  The prizes are phenomenal.  Grand Prize is a trip to the Galapagos Islands!  Here is an example project.

Khan Academy

The Khan Academy is a great resource to tell your students about.  The focus of the Khan Academy is to provide a free education (mostly in math) to all with internet access.  There are lessons for very easy math to very complex math.  This would be a great tool to send your kids home with as there are MANY parents that struggle with math as well.  If a student has a question that mom or dad can't answer, they can hop on here and watch a short video of how to do it.  This is not a full replacement but rather a supplement to lessons.  It would be good for any student trying independent study in math.

Even if you don't teach math or science check this one out.  It is a world renowned resource.

PBS Video

This is a great story on how technology is wiring our brains. How can we apply this to the classroom?

Toot Toot

I suppose I could toot my own horn a little bit here. I have recently updated my Cool Classroom Tools page.  Please bookmark this site as it is full of many resources you can use for your classroom.  If you run across a link that does not work, please let me know so I can remove it.  Also, if you have a resource you think should be on the list, please email me @ braymo@isd2190.org.

Scribble Maps

I LOVE this program.  Scribble Maps is an online program that allows you to mark-up a map.  The really cool part about Scribble Maps is that you can share your maps in so many different ways.  There are also sooooo many different tools to use with the maps.  Here is an example of a map I created in 5 minutes.

Kerpoof!

Thanks to Karen for the information about this great online tool!  Kerpoof is a place for kids to be creative. It is geared toward the K-8 classroom, but can be used by high school staff too.  Here is a list of the things you can do on Kerpoof, straight from their website.

• Make artwork
• Make an animated movie
• Earn Koins which you can trade for fun things in the Kerpoof Store
• Make a printed card, t-shirt, or mug
• Tell a story
• Make a drawing
• Vote on the movies, stories, and drawings that other people have made

I have not tried this with my kids, but I have put this in my Diigo to try out later.

I'm Back

YouTube has an education site.  It is obviously called YouTube EDU.  I haven't found much that I have actually shown in class, but I have directed students here to supplement something we went over in class.  It is somewhat on the same line as iTunes U.  Browse through and see if there is something you like.

P.S.  Sorry for the long break over the holiday, seems my holiday break was much more busy than I had anticipated :)  Anyway, Happy New Year