If All of my Classes Did This

“If All of my Classes Did This” by Wendy Wolfe

In this podcast presentation were ideas and examples of how various internet tools could be applied to the classroom and learning. Some of the programs Ms. Wolfe discussed were ToonZoon, ReadWriteThink cartoon creator, Gliffy, Zoho, Gcast, Scrapebook and VoiceThread.

A few of these programs would be exciting to use with some of the upper elementary students. I’m looking forward to experimenting with some of these. Our school has begun using Professional Learning Teams, I’m on the Technology team. Some of the suggested online programs discussed here would be great to bring to these meetings. Because I’m not clear on what to use these with, bringing them into this small group who is excited about learning and using new technology. Then collaborating with them on project might be a good avenue for me to travel.

As always, student privacy and safety is a concern. Some of the sites mentioned would need to accessed through a classroom account. Some sites were more flexible than others having numerous ways to publish. Multiple student collaboration on Gliffy or Google docs site could be monitored.

The programs that I am most interested in experimenting with are ToonZoo and ReadWriteThink Cartoon Creator. Everyone has a story to tell and I think using the cartoon creators would be a fun and creative way of doing this. With the thought bubble feature this could also be incorporated into an illustrator study and his use with thought bubbles.

Using these online resources opens the world to our students and teachers. Web 2.0 gives us learning a lot of new tools to use in the classroom.