BP5_2010042_Web2.0Tool2_Wordle

www.wordle.net

According to Jonathan Feinberg, the creator of the Web 2.0 tool Wordle, “Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text” (Feinbert, 2009).

Using Wordle: This tool is very user friendly. The home page has a navigation menu that looks like this:

To create your wordle, you click on “create” and it brings you to a page that looks like this:

All you have to do is type your words into the text box, or copy and paste text into the box. There is also an option to enter a URL of any blog or RSS feed, or a del.icio.us user name to see tags. I typed in my del.icio.us name and this is what was automatically created:

Once the wordle has been created, there are ways to edit it. Using the tools, you can change the language, font, layout and color. You also have the option to open in window, print, randomize and save to public gallery.

During my exploration with the tool, I created a quick wordle using a few of the terms that my students need to include in their science outlines during their study of animals. After I finish the animal unit, I plan to use Wordle as an assessment tool. I plan to give my students a blank outline with blanks where the animal terms need to be added. Then if I give them a Wordle that I create using all of the words that need to be included in the outline, students will need to organize their outlines based on the vocabulary we learned throughout the unit.

While doing additional research on Wordle, I found myself on a site titled Why Wordle-By Steven. W. Anderson. His blog is categorized as Tech & Learning. On his blog he explains why and how teachers use Wordle. His ideas are great. I really think you will also enjoy them. Visit his site to read them all: http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/24518

Resources

Anderson, S. (2010, October 9). Why Wordle. Message posted to Tech& Learn: http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/24518

Feinberg, J. (2009). Wordle. Retrieved April 15, 2010, from http://www.wordle.net/

BP4_2010041_Web2.0Tool1_StoryJumper

The Web 2.0 tool I chose to learn more about is Story Jumper. Story Jumper is a place where you can create and publish your own stories. I will discuss further using the 5 W’s

WHO: Anyone can access this site. It is kid friendly and very inviting. It is free to use.

WHAT: According to the creators of Story Jumper, they wrote on the website “ Story Jumper is a site that gives parents, kids, and authors a fun set of intuitive tools for writing and illustrating kids stories. Our goal is to inspire anyone that's ever wanted to write a kids story to get started!” Using Story Jumper, I was able to create a book to help my students learn about rocks and minerals. Click on the link to view the complete story. http://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/145512/Rocks-and-Minerals

WHEN: 24 access online. Students can access class books with the use of a student code that the teacher creates. They can also create their own books to add to the class library (print or online). A teacher can create a story to use online, or publish a printed copy for only $24.95.

WHERE: http://www.storyjumper.com

WHY: This is a great tool for teachers to use to create books on the units they teach, or to inspire their children to write creatively. I think that it would motivate students to write more stories if they could see them come to life on Story Jumper.

HOW: Watch my ScreenFlow video to see how to access a book you have created. I also show you how to create a story of your own.

BP3_2010041_RSS_Feeds

Retrieved from www.flickr.com creative commons

http://www.edutopia.org/crss

Improving Public Schools & Public Education is a blog from the Edutopia website. I am a frequent visitor of this website, so I figured it would be wise to have Google Reader locate the blogs for me. Teachers, administrators, and parents who have a hand in the educating children who attend public schools write these blogs. The blogs focus on things like improvements on teacher development, classroom management and new technologies. They send a lot, but I can filter through the ones that are meaningful for me.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/feeds/posts/default

I subscribe to Free Technology For Teachers because I am always looking for new ideas about implementing technology into my classroom. Since I have been subscribed, I have found many useful links and videos. The subscription sends out about 22 posts a week, which is very manageable.

http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/rss.asp

K-12 learning is a place where teachers blog about things that they have done in the classroom. They post ideas for other teachers to try. I really love teacher feedback, and teacher sharing. My motto for teaching is “beg, borrow, and steal”. There is no need to reinvent the wheel over and over each year when so many great teachers do things that work well.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/SLJAFuse8Production

School Library Journal is another subscription of mine because I love introducing my students to new books. The Library journal writes useful reviews of new books, and these can be used as book talks.

http://rss.suite101.com/classroom-management-tips.xml

Suite101 Classroom Management is subscription that I value a lot this year. I have a difficult class, and I have to change my classroom management styles all of the time. I have to always find new ideas to manage my class. This subscription includes some wonderful ideas on what to try, and how to do it. Blogs are not posted frequently, but the archived posts are useful all year.

BP2_2010041_EduUses4Blogs

Picture taken by Jennifer Scioscio

While researching educational uses for blogging, I came across an interesting article on the website Edutopia.com. In the article, Digital Discussions: Take Your Class to the Internet, written by Helena Echlin, Echlin discusses ideas for using blogging in the classroom. She describes blogging as “ an electronic notebook -- one students can't lose (or claim the dog ate). For others, it's a forum where a class discussion can unfold 24/7” (Echlin, 2007). The idea of 24-hour access to class material is very innovative for a district like the one I teach in. Technology is slowly entering the school and classroom, and in turn, as teachers, we are slowly teaching our students about learning with the use of technology.

After reading Echlin’s article, my eyes become open to all of the possibilities to use blogging in my class-and out of the classroom (if students have access to the internet at home). An idea I found intriguing is using blogging for a classroom discussion. For example, if students were reading a chapter in the book Shiloh, students could use a blog to answer discussion questions based on their reading. In addition, I could invite the principal, or other guest staff to make a guest appearance and respond to a few blogs.

A second possible use for blogging in my classroom could be using it for classroom management. Echlin wrote about using it to post notices, homework assignments, and daily summaries. This would be useful for an absent student, or parents who wanted to feel more connected.

A third way that I could see myself using blogging as part of my teaching is using it for students to create personal portfolios of their work. Students could publish their writing for peer or teacher review. Comments could then be posted for the author to review and edit their work. Art could also be loaded to this personal portfolio. The portfolio would be accessed from anyplace with the Internet. This means that the students could share them with their families at the same time that I am reading and reviewing. This also means less hauling papers back and forth to my house and school.

Of all of the ideas that I listed, I think the most difficult part of using blogging in the classroom is going to be finding blog sites that are not blocked by my school district’s internet filter. However, I could definitely see myself implementing blogging into my classroom and possibly even my AR project.

Here are some blog links that people recommend for educators:

http://www.blogger.com/home

http://edublogs.org/

http://wordpress.org/

Reference

Echlin, H. (2007). Digital discussions: take your class to the internet. Retrieved March 30, 2010, from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-discussion-take-your-class-to-internet

BP1_2010041_iGoogleScreenShots