Posted Comments

Here you will find links to all* of the blogs on which I have commented:

 Ashley's Blog: Classtools - Online timer with music (1/19/13)
 Sarah's Blog: McGraw-Hill Virtual Manipulatives (1/22/13)
 Natalie's Blog: Bitstrips Demonstrated (1/24/13)
 Jesse's Blog: Animoto (1/29/13)
 Teresa's Blog: Google Earth (1/29/13)
 Cheryl's Blog: Timetoast (1/29/13)
 Mandy's Blog: F-U-N with Spelling (1/29/13)
 Natalie's Blog: Google Apps for Educators (GAFE) (1/29/13)
 Sam's Blog: GAFE aka Google Apps for Education (1/29/13)
 Jess' Blog: Little Bird Tales (2/1/13)
 Mandy's Blog: F-U-N with Spelling (2/1/13)
 Ashley's Blog: Class Dojo (2/3/13)
 Mandy's Blog: Raz-Kids (2/6/13)
 Teresa's Blog: Sign-Up Genius (2/6/13)
 Lisa's Blog: Storybird (2/6/13)
 Stephanie's Blog: Using bubbl.us in the classroom (2/17/13)
 Matt's Blog: Youtube addicts (2/17/13)

*Please note that this does not include responses to comments on my own blog. 

Wallwisher...now Padlet?

I received the following email today:

Upon going to the former Wallwisher blog, now Padlet's blog I discovered the name change is to reflect the new virtual surface Wallwisher is trying to create.  To go beyond sticky notes and become more reminiscent of a notepad.  (Padlet is a play on notepad and tablet.)  Of course the blog has already received numerous ill-willed comments comparing the new name to bathroom supplies, I hope this is not foreshadowing Padlet's future.

However, I fear these new privacy settings will function poorly in the classroom setting.  Already, the blog advises teachers to contact their IT Administrator to allow Internet access to Padlet.  And public walls on Wallwisher do not require a password, so I hope this new website does not eliminate public walls in which students can easily access the material.

Hooda Math

During a recent staff meeting, our technology teacher presented a research article entitled, Engage Me or Enrage Me: What Today's Learners Demand (Prensky, 2005).  From this article, she prompted a discussion about using high-tech and low-tech games in our classrooms.  One such high-tech game she explored was Hooda Math.  Hooda Math is a "free online site for teachers, parents, and kids featuring math games, math apps, math movies, and math tutorials" (Hoodamath, 2013).

Hooda Math uses game theory to encourage students to practice math skills.  Competitive games (similar to Acrademic) allow students to use separate computers and compete against each other.  This particular aspect of Hooda Math is incredibly motivating for students.

Hooda Math also features tutorials with costumed teachers on a range of math topics. 

The Hooda Math movies include songs, raps, and cartoons.  Like Panda Fractions:

Hooda Math is also a publisher on Edmodo, in which Edmodo users can track, follow, and publish questions to the Hooda Math community.

It's a rapping Panda!

As you see here, the students were utterly enthralled by the Hooda Math tutorials.  The students chose the topic, and continued to replay the song until they could sing the words.  Clearly, the rapping panda was motivational, but more than that, the students grasped the vocabulary (numerator, denominator) and were able to repeat the process.

Here you can see the students chose the competitive Hooda Math game and were eager to play against each other.  The students played a variety of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division games all in a matter of minutes.

The final component of Hooda Math is personalization.  Students can choose and create their own characters and themes.  As seen in this video, the students all chose a different game and level, as well as individualizing the characters.

Tizzy for Tizmos

As my students encountered numerous difficulties during their animal research projects, I have begun to evaluate how to provide research links to students in an easy to use format.  First, I provided the websites on my classroom webpage, but my students quickly announced that they were overwhelmed and the websites lacked organization.  Next, I embedded the websites in a word document, but alas students still complained that the websites were hard to find day to day, especially if they had been using a specific website the day before and couldn't remember the title the next day.  Therefore, I have been searching the web for a social bookmarking site and I have come across Tizmos.

"Each tizmo contains a screenshot and link to the online resource and allows you to customize the title & other options" (Tizmos, 2013).   Tizmos is a visual bookmarking site and is student friendly by incorporating an image, title, and even a description.  You can mark numerous webpages on Tizmos and organize the bookmarks by grade level, class, subject, etc.  As seen on the Tizmos blog, Tizmos encourages teachers to use the images in conjunction with their website links.

Technical features of Tizmos include creating a free account or paying up to $9.99 for a premium account which includes adding videos and creating lessons.

Doodle

When trying to organize meetings, conferences, and student activities, usually a flurry of emails are sent back and forth trying to arrange a time and place that fits everyone's schedule.  This tool, Doodle is an online event scheduling tool created to visually display availabilities.  Doodle opens the educational door by allowing communication to be transparent amongst teachers, parents, and students.

Doodle would be a great tool during the telecollaborative project when arranging webinar times, face-to-face meetings, and scheduling student due dates.

Doodle is expanding their features to include calendar syncing with Google, Facebook, and iCal.  Featured on CNN Money, Doodle is an up and coming web 2.0 tool.

Popplet

Popplet is a mindmapping tool to create visual representations incorporating words and pictures.  Accounts are free and after creating an email address login, users can create a new Popplet.  This Popplet tutorial shows how to create a Popplet diagram:

Popplet is great for brainstorming, assessing comprehension by having students connect ideas, and for creating diagrams to express new concepts.  This Popplet for Education page shows the many ways teachers have incorporated this tool into their classrooms.  Popplet would be a great tool for our telecollaborative project by accessing prior knowledge of a concept, illustrating knowledge gained and sharing Popplet diagrams with other classes or schools, and for creating a culminating project.