Web 2.0

Madison

Mindmaster- It is a way to make concept maps into PowerPoint. I like it because it is a different way to present a concept map to your students. The only problem with this website is that it is not free. The version she used is limited, but I feel like I would like this more than Inspiration. You can still post hyperlinks.

Spiderscribe- Free account. This is another concept map software. No slideshow aspect. You can do sub topics. You can insert images, word documents, locations, Calendars... ideal for businesses. Older audience, maybe for planning meetings or making lesson plans. The visual aspects are different.

Erika

bubbl.us- Concept map. Free. You can import pictures and simple to use. Would be beneficial for students to use because of its easy navigation.

***lino it- this is a big cork board for you to post notes and pictures and assignments. You can post a link to this on your website for your students to use. This is compatible with the iPhone and iPad and android. Useful to stay organized. Could be beneficial for students to do book work and stuff. I like this site.

Madeline

photobucket- upload photos and videos for people to like and comment on them. You can see what photos are trending. You can search for specific pictures. This would be good to find specific images for presentations. It is free for a certain amount. If you run out of storage then you have to pay for more.

quintura for kids- search engine for kids. Doesn't have enough information. Could be beneficial if you use certain facts and try to use this search engine before you give the kids this plan. It limits the kids from finding things they shouldn't.

Callie

duck duck go- Search engine. it shows that they do not track. it has a filter bubble so it filters out what is unreliable like Wikipedia. I don't really see how this is much different from Google besides having better privacy settings.

GoGooligans.com- academic and educational search engine for kids and teens. It does not work.

Rebecca

Padlet- A blank wall where you can type whatever you want. You can post questions and thoughts and post your name and topic. This could be used for your classroom for notes and questions during a lecture and stuff.

text2mindmap- concept map. Did not work.

Brittany-

Stormboard- share it with students. has different posts for different ideas. You can vote if you like the question. and you comment on it. You have to have the code to access it. The comments will show who posts what. There is not an option to see if there are new comments. I feel like this is too complicated for younger classes. 

Ally-

***Instagrok- Mixture of a concept map and search engine. It makes a concept map out of the things that it finds. There is a spot to comment so you can say if it the kids could use. there is a difficulty level so it narrows or broadens the search. There is a spot for a journal entry tab and a quiz tab where a quiz is generated by the searches. I like this a lot. It's free. 

Kidtopia- Search engine developed by a school library. You can search by category. such as presidents. the google search bar in this browser is a filtered and safer search tool for kids. There are too many ads that could be inappropriate.


Victoria-

Slime Kids- search engine. You can look at several other search engines for kids. She suggested KidsClick. She typed in George Washington and good information came up. There is a page about Authors and stuff. Its a directory of search engines.

***WikiSummarizer- Picks out the relevant information from the topic you search. You can edit the information. It all comes from Wikipedia so you can learn the relevant information from the subject.

Tommi-

PearlTrees- Pinterest/concept map. You can create a category or select a website. It is compatible with your phone. This could be a way to present a project. It could be a good way to brainstorm or could be a good way to present a project.

***Netvibes-  Combination of google and pearl trees. It gives you a blog search video search social search and website search. Everything is organized by category. Good search engine. I like this because it saves your searches and it makes things easier to see.

Mary Kathryn-

***Glogster- Online poster boards. You can make a time line or experiment. Good for projects. I like this.

Audacity- Online recorder. Free. You can record and edit and share your recordings. You can eliminate background noise.

Lauren-

Vimeo- create and share videos. like youtube. use to upload class videos.

Wordpress- Blogs. Looks more like twitter. You can reblog. Good for a classroom. More of a social blog.

Evernote- login to use a note taking document.

Compflight- Images sizes. copy and paste html. shows where the link to use the image.

Diigo- I was being bad and didnt pay attention to this.

Blabber- way to introduce a section to your class by recording your voice as a picture and presenting it to the class. You can make it any different way. Doesn't work too well though. Really cheesy.

***easel.ly- graphic organizer way to share and watch videos, memes, and other documents. i like this better than inspiration.

animoto- create account. kinda like a slide show but more of a video.

book builder- Use to create a book for students. can upload pictures. You can share and read them in class. Digital only. Can you order your book? Digital copy? share it? ebook? They have the option to read it to you.

weebly- make your own websites and make your own blogs. Free. Audio, Video, Images, slideslow, etc.

***storyboard generator- documentary videos for your classroom. I don't understand how to create your own website/storyboard.

tagul- like wurdle. create your own word thing but you can change the shapes and colors and sizes more fitting for your topic.

***edmodo- Facebook for school teachers. LOVE THIS ONE!


***socrative- Online classroom for quizzes and tests and stuff. It seems fun and interactive with the students.

***podbean- Like iTunes Podcasts. good for posting lessons or lectures for students. audio and video.

pixton- Site to make comic strips.

iCloud- You can create pages and other things in iCloud.com for free and print them off and use it that way or you can buy the app on the phone to do it on both. I love apple products.

***infofr.am- Create graphs and stuff that are pretty to present. you can change all the stuff. all free templates. I like this for chart presentations.  There is a pro

Mind Meister

It is a way to make concept maps into powerpoints. I like it because it is a different way to present a concept map to your students. The only problem with this website is that it is not free. The version she used is limitied, but I feel like I would like this more than Inspiration. You can still post hyperlinks.

Voki

Bullying

Bullying is becoming a major problem in schools, whether it be face to face or online. Many of these students don't have anyone to go to nor do they have any reasoning for bullying. If we as teachers took a stand to stop all bullying in schooling, then I think we could make a bigger impact than we could even fathom. If we could find out exactly WHY the children are wanting to bully eachother, then the problem can begin to be solved. Whether they are bullying other students because of jealousy, domestic violence, or insecurities, there is a reason behind their madness. But the question is HOW DO WE STOP IT? We can sit them down and tell them it is wrong, hold them out of sports, have them write letters, doing a parent teacher conference, get them involved in after school activities, or even get them counseling. Depending on the student bullying depends on what will work for them. I think assemblys work great for an end to bullying in middle school to high school seminars. It makes teachers and students become more aware of bullying, and everyone needs to be aware that there is an issue.

Augmented reality snags a coveted spot in classrooms

This article discusses Augmented reality apps. These apps show reality into still objects. A student was holding a tablet against a famous painting in a museum and the app brought information to the student and made the picture move so it basically told a story. She explains that this gives students and technology users a deeper understanding of what is going on with different figures in reality.

These apps are really cool because you can get instant information about certain things that will benefit you. If educators would use this more in their classroom, it will make technology more fun for the students and it will also make learning more fun. It helps them dig deeper into their own learning. Thumbs up to Augmented Reality!!

Five Essentials to Create Connected Students

The article "Five Essentials to Create Connected Students," was written by Vicki Davis, a full time teacher and IT administrator. She begins by talking about how connected students are with technology, but they do not understand what they are doing and how stuff works the way it works. She talks about how students know how to copy and paste links, but they do not hyperlink their stuff. She explains that students need a connected author, a connected publisher, a connected conversationalist, a strategic disconnector, and a curious, lifelong pursuer of ingenious solutions.

I liked that she talked about twitter. I did not realize until she said something about hyperlinks and hashtags that hashtags were actually hyperlinks. That is interesting to me because I never thought I used hyperlinks before our Inspiration assignment. I think students need to be more informed on exactly what they are doing online and they need to be skilled more on online behavior... what is appropriate and what is not.

21st Century Skills: Why They Matter, What they are, and How we got there

Ken Kay wrote the foreword for the book "21st Century Skills: Why they matter, What they are, and How we got there." Kay believes that there is about to be a turning point in education coming soon and in the foreword she describes what they are. Kay believes that the outcomes of the students should be the main focus of what educators focus on. She has the foreword broken into sections, and the first section is on why they need a new education model in the 21st century. She discusses that the world is changing, including technological changes, expectation changes, and personality changes. She believes that the U.S schools have not adapted to the changing world in that students are not encouraged to stay in school, there are more international students in classes who get left behind, and jobs are now requiring more degrees and students are not being prepared for that. She also thinks that the United States has no clear sense of purpose or direction for securing our future economic competitiveness. Basically, the US has the competitive mindset, but other countries such as Asia are educating  themselves and upgrading their country on skills they need to have to compete and staying with current technology. She thinks the 21st Century Education should have "sustained and enthusiastic support from leading education organizations, the business community, and policy makers, [and everyone should have big] reality checks." She thinks the new framework should be flexible in making students successful, competitive, and skilled in all areas.

I think this is a awesome and exciting foreword to the book. I think the 21st Century education needs to focus on having the children more skilled an prepared for the real world jobs. They need to focus on encouraging students to go to college, but they also need to really prepare them for it. I do not feel like my school prepared me for college because they were never too strict and did not have any guidelines for me to follow. The only time I felt competition with my peers was my senior year when the GPAs were showing us how we were ranked, and the first time we received I was ranked 21 out of 378. If I would have been encouraged more with rankings and GPAs, I, as well as other students, would have tried harder to be number one. I do not feel like my college education classes are teaching me how to be successful because each class is focused on creating lesson plans by the way the professor likes it, and in the real world, the department you will teach in will meet together and collaborate on lesson plans together. I do not feel like schools and educators focus on skills the students will actually need to prepare us to be competitive, skilled students in the 21st century.