PodBean

PodBean seems like a really interesting way to introduce concepts or skills to students before they come to class. It also might be useful as an assessment tool, project presentations, introductions to a WebQuest, or differentiated instruction. Another thing that PodBean could be useful for includes having a story read aloud on a podcast that students could use to read along with or to post directions for students who are out sick. It seems like a pretty simple tool to use, especially having an iPhone that can record and upload the recording easily. I like that it can be as short or long as you want it to be and can be made private. I'd have to get used to using it as a tool for the classroom, but I think it could be very useful!

Scavenger Hunt!

Doing the scavenger hunt was so much fun! We found some interesting and creative things to use for our ABC slideshow. It also gave me some great ideas for things I could make into a slideshow for my classroom. Luckily, we didn't run into any problems with the photography, uploading, or making the slideshow with Google Presentations!

Fall In Tennessee

I picked Fall in Tennessee as the theme for my digital slideshow. I found pictures from Photobucket, a website with a screenshot, Google images, and a picture from my parents' house in Lenoir City. Making the slideshow and uploading it to Blogger was really easy and I can see how I could use similar things in my classroom in the future.

Picnik & Smilebox

Chelsie and I did Picnik for our Web 2.0 presentation. I've used it before, but hadn't thought of ways to use it in the classroom until doing this project. Letting students make post cards with images they find or providing the images they can use is a good way to use the site. I like that it is so easy to use and students could play around on it with ease.

Smilebox is one of my favorite presentations I've seen so far. I had never been on the site, so I was excited to see what it had to offer... I was not disappointed! There are so many cool layouts and templates to use for virtually everything. The fact that I can add photos and videos is also helpful, and the music is cute, too. I didn't like that some of the main words in the template can't be edited, but with so many options, I'm sure I could find something to fit into what I'm looking for.

Wordle & Timetoast- More Tools for Teachers

I really liked the presentation on Wordle. It was very informative and gave some good ideas I hadn't thought of to use it in a classroom. Pasting in the Constitution to see the common words or ideas from the form and printing it out to post in the classroom is a great way to use word clouds. Getting to know your students by letting them create one about themselves or creating one with the favorite colors or food in your classroom are also interesting ideas. It is unfortunate that you cannot create an account to save Wordles without sharing them publicly, and you won't be able to edit past Wordles. It is also a downside that you cannot pick the layout like you can on some more efficient sites like Tagxedo and WordSift. But all in all, the site is very easy to use, straightforward with instructions, and a good tool to have for some interesting word clouds in the classroom.

Timetoast seemed like a great Web 2.0 tool to use in the classroom. Chronological order is an important skill that students need to learn. Being able to insert pictures, links, and a description adds to the events that are being entered on the timeline. Social studies would obviously be a great way to use this tool. Some of the criticisms that were brought up included not being able to add video like other site can, not being able to enter 2 digit years, and more than one entry is made in a year, they will all show up when you scroll over that year. However, I feel like that pros outweigh the cons for this site and there are tons of uses in the classroom.

Delicious & Glogster - Tools for Teachers

There are some websites I've heard of but have never tried to mess around with. Delicious is one of them. I knew it had something to do with links, but that's where my knowledge ended. The presentation tonight was helpful, going a little more in depth and explaining what can be done with Delicious, for personal use as well as in the classroom. Saving links and making stacks seems like it would be a great way to organize the thousands of websites that are out there and make it easier to remember the ones I want to use in the classroom. Since I can search the links by tags, it's a quick and easy way to find what I'm looking for.
I think Delicious is something I will use in the future. There are always times when I wish I had my bookmarks with me from my personal computer, and Delicious keeps them all there for me.

Glogster was really interesting to me. I love the designs you can add to make a blog full of audio, video, and pictures that is more interesting than simple letters on a wiki page. I can see how letting students use this site could be time consuming because there are SO many options to go through and add. Then again, I can see myself spending more time than necessary on the site. However, I still think it's a great tool that would be useful in the classroom. I can't wait to play around with it some more and see how I can incorporate it in the classroom!