Resources

[|Did you know 2.0] So why do we need to learn this stuff? Take at look at this video.

[|Shutesbury Elementary School website] Our website.

[|Mac Keyboard Shortcuts] [|Harness E-Mail] A guide for beginners

Cool Tools for School A comprehensive listing!

A few of my favorite web 2.0 applications
Spend a little time exploring. I'll bet you find a few you can't live without!

[|Goodreads] Organize and share your books. It's no surprise this is one of my favorite websites. Read a book, write a review and share it with your friends. It functions as a reading journal and social networking site and for those of us at a certain age-a way to remember what you read. This could be used in a classroom for book groups, too. [|Librarything]and [|Shelfari] are the other two most widely used in this category. Pick the one your friends use so you can stay connected. [|Skype] This is a //free// service which allows you to make calls from computer-to-computer. Really great if you have kids in college, family members scattered around the country or want to do a conference call with other educators. If you have a web cam (like the imacs) you can do video conferencing as well. Pat's class has used it to talk to another second grade class in North Carolina!

[|Voicethread] This is a very cool application that allows you to post a question, image or video and have others comment on it. This would be an engaging way to create discussion in the classroom around essential questions. Take a little time to browse, there are some amazing things on here.

[|Flickr] Flickr is an online storage solution for digital photos, and much more. Tag them, organize them, share them, annotate them---and take a look at other's work. Since it's web based, you can access them from any computer, not just the dusty box under the bed. Once you've uploaded a few, check out [|Big Huge Labs] and [|Dumpr]. These sites allow you to play with your photos. Create mosaics, comics, drawings, trading cards or posters. Imagine making trading cards for your biography project, or a mosaic of famous American Poets.

[|Voki] Set up a talking avatar. If just being a fun thing to do isn't reason enough, think about the possibilities in education: Your avatar could give the homework assignment from your blog, students could practice a second language, book talks, and classroom updates.

[|Animoto] This site allows you to create your own music video. It's very easy to upload your pictures, choose your music and share the finished design. I've seen them used for [|book trailers], [|school promotions], and to teach [|math].

[|Pandora] This is a nice one to know about for your persoanl use as well as in the classroom. Pandora is an internet radio servcie that allow you choose the music you love and create your own channels. Love Yo Yo Ma? It will suggest other cellists with a similar style. Coldplay? It will search for bands that share similar characteristics and suggest them. By giving the suggestions a thumbs up or down, Pandora will fine tune your offerings. It would be a great tool to use in the classroom during quiet times and transitions.

[|Twitter] If you have been anywhere near the media in the past couple of months, you have heard the phrase Twitter. Twitter is a microblogging service that allows you to send a message in 140 characters. You "follow" people that interest you. Because it can be accessed by phone or computer it's a great tool for staying close to friends and family and also useful for professional development. Perhaps you are heading into a meeting and need to know how many other teachers are using reading software in their classroom. If you send out a tweet, you will have answers in seconds. This week president Obama sent out a tweet asking for questions for his town hall economy talk.

[|Vocaroo] This is a quick and easy audio recorder. Add some spice to your blog! No registration required.