“Edmodo is a private microblogging platform that teachers and students can use to send notes, links, files,  alerts, assignments, and events to each other.”

Teachers can set up a group for their classroom and each student is given a code to access the group.  No email addresses are needed.  I’ve never used Edmodo before, but it definitely is worth looking into as an alternative to separate email accounts.

Wiki Walk Through – has a chart which compares the major free wiki sites

The Art and Technique of Wikis

Wiki Wisdom: Lessons for Educators

Wikis in Education

Some wiki examples:

Classroom Google Earth Wiki

Amistad

The novel Holes

• Want to activate schema before your students read All is Quiet on the Western Front – try this.
• Think of alternatives to written book report.
• Explore Google Lit Trips
• Discovery Streaming

So where do I go from here?  There were 3 of us from our district who attended the conference and we all came back home filled with new ideas along with stronger beliefs about the need for the read/write web in our curriculums.  So we first made a list of requests to our technology committee such as making sure that all computers have access to such programs as Google Earth and Sketch Up along with read/write tools such as blogs and wikis.  We are sharing alot with other staff, administration, and hopefully our school board.  One of our ways of doing this is by creating a wiki sharing the beliefs, tools, and resources from METC.  The world is changing and we can’t be left behind!

• As teachers, we must embrace and use these tools before we move them into our classrooms.  We have to show students by our use of them how important they are.
• Being able to connect to others is a basic skill like reading and math are.
• We assess our students on their information; we don’t teach them knowledge.
• Definition of network literacy:  The ability to create, grow and navigate personal learning networks in a safe, ethical and effective ways.

Besides lots of conversation on how education has to start moving towards helping students create and grow their own learning networks, I have been exposed to many new tools and ideas to use in the classroom.  More on those later!

The Internet Archive Wayback Machine is a service that allows people to visit archived versions of Web sites. Visitors to the Wayback Machine can type in a URL, select a date range, and then begin surfing on an archived version of the Web. Imagine surfing circa 1999 and looking at all the Y2K hype, or revisiting an older version of your favorite Web site. The Internet Archive Wayback Machine can make all of this possible.

I have had to use it a few times and except for one instance, it has retrieved my missing page.  They claim to have archived more material than what is held in the Library of Congress.  For a handy tool that might help you when the information you want again has moved, bookmark this website.