Classroom Collaboration Series: 5 Reasons to LOVE Edmodo!

I kind of let the Classroom Collaboration Series go by the wayside over the summer, so it's time to start it up again! I have known about Edmodo for a while, but have always had so many other "techKNOW toys" to play with that I never truly implemented it. Now that I'm using it to have my students collaborate and to keep connected to other teachers, I don't know why I've waited so long! If you haven't jumped on the Edmodo wagon, here are five reasons why you need to set up an account and get your students connected!
1. First and foremost, it teaches your students proper social networking! When you set up your Edmodo account, the first word that will come to mind is "Facebook." It surely resembles it, right down to the color sceme. However, Edmodo is a means for students to communicate and collaborate online within the parameters of the classroom. As the teacher, you can monitor what students post on your group wall (the only way students can communicate with one another, no "chatting") as they discuss posted topics and complete assignments. Only the teacher, students, and parents have access to your Edmodo space (via password) unless you choose to set it to public. You set rules and guidelines for what students can put online, and can set their status to "read only" until they can post properly. Students have to create their own username and password in order to access the classroom space you have created, so they learn the additional responsibility of keeping track of their personal information.
2. It streamlines your online resources to one place.  Links and Google Docs can be posted to your Edmodo library. Your students, when logged into Edmodo, can access these resources for the assignments you post. You can also post links and videos to your group page for the student to view as well. For example, I love, love love, the awesomeness that it Animoto. I or the students can post their Animoto slideshows for us to view securely.
3. Assignments, Quizzes...AND Polls!!! No, really! You can post directions for an assinment to your group page and include the necessary files and links to complete it.  When students complete it, they just post their assignment and attach their completed files...completely paperless! There's also a way to create quizzes for students to complete right on Edmodo. The quizzes can take a variety of forms, from multiple choice to short answer. You can even set it so students automatically see how they scored for instant feedback. I also like how you can create a quick opinion poll to gauge how your class feels about a topic - and the students like it, too!
4. You can connect to other teachers. As a teacher you can make connections to other educators through using your Edmodo profile. Although your students and classes can't "see" each other, you can keep in touch professionally with your colleagues within your school or around the country (or world, for that matter). You can also join communities, such as ones on technology, to learn from and assist other teachers. Another feature is that you can "follow" publishers such as Sheppard Software or Spelling City to keep up with the resources they provide.
5. It's FREE, and so is the APP!!! All of this fantastic online collaboration costs you nothing. That being the case, it is pretty impressive all that you can do with this "free version," when so many online resources limit your capabilities (or at least cause you to find creative ways to work around buying them). You and your students can also download the free app for iPhone/iPad/iPod or Android so Edmodo can be accessed anywhere!
Edmodo is pretty much an ideal virtual classroom. While nothing can replace being together in the classroom to work and learn from each other, Edmodo can keep you connected to your students when weather, illness, or distance are in the way. I can't wait to see where using this resource leads me this school year!
http://www.edmodo.com

Classroom Collaboration Series: VoiceThread

Looking for a cool way this summer to keep your students engaged with technology? Here's a way you can make a virtual field trip, an online lesson, a display of student work, or a virtual discussion with your class - VoiceThread.
This is, in a nutshell, what you can do with VoiceThread. Add images or pictures (which could be screen shots of math problems worked out in class, pictures from a field trip, student illustrations, you name it) to create a slideshow. Then, for each slide, you as the teacher may choose to add your voice or type descriptions to each of the slides. You can also write on the images as you record your voice to reference points of interest.
Once you complete your VoiceThread, you can have your students find it online. As they view your VoiceThread, they can make comments on each slide! For example, you may want your students to respond to an image about a science experiment to show what they remember, or it could be as simple as having them leave their memories on a picture from a school field trip. They can comment by typing a response or leaving a recorded message. If you have a webcam available, your students can respond using that as well. What happens after your students comment on the VoiceThread is that you create an online conversation. You and the class can go back and view the show together to view each other's feedback - a great way to review information. Your students can go back and view the VoiceThreads on their own as well to reinforce content or take a virtual field trip of sorts over and over again. You can also download the VoiceThread app to your iPad so you students can access it there as well.
This resource is free...to an extent. Creating a VoiceThread Educator account is free, and the app for iPad is a free download as well. You get 250 MB of space (or 50 VoiceThreads) using your account on the computer, and you can make up to five VoiceThreads using the app. Each VoiceThread you create can have up to 50 slides on your free account (which I think is plenty). You can make it work for you as a free resource if you are willing to delete the VoiceThreads that you aren't using so you don't run out of space. And if you really like it, you can consider getting a classroom license so you can go further with this resource.
If you search on VoiceThread, you will find caboodles of examples of how you can use it in your classroom. Take a look and see the possibilities you could use this for in the fall!
https://voicethread.com/
http://voicethread.com/products/k12/educator/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/voicethread/id465159110?mt=8

Classroom Collaboration Series: ClassChatter

Got that Portaportal page set up yet? Even if you don't, I'm moving on. I had a fabulous (or at least I thought so) series of posts a few months ago all about grant writing. My next "series" of posts which I will feature this summer will have to do with online collaboration for the classroom. I can't guarantee what day of the week I am going to post them like I did for my grant writing series because I'm on "island time" for the next 10 weeks and  four days (whatever - you counted, too) but they will appear weekly.
One of the wonderful things about using web tools for classroom collaboration is that it often makes your life a tiny bit less paperless AND it plays into your students' growing interest and understanding of how to use the Internet to communicate. We all know that  outside of school many of our kiddos chat online, e-mail, and social network, whether they are of age to do so or not. And although there are steps you can take to make sure parents and students know what's safe and appropriate, there's no stopping the access  your students have once they leave your classroom. That's why it's good - almost necessary - to give students web tools to display and communicate what they know and what they need to say so they learn the proper way to communicate online - for learning and social purposes.
The first item to add to your virtual toolbox (which is hopefully housed on your PORTAPORTAL page) is ClassChatter. I have used ClassChatter for several years and have found it to be teacher friendly and student adored. This is a way for you to create FREE, password protected blogs for your classroom. Your students can learn to blog in a safe environment that cannot be accessed by anyone else except the teacher and classmates. You create student accounts under your teacher account so that you see whatever the students write. There is also a "cMail" teacher account where the students can send messages to you without the entire class reading it.
As the teacher you can create topic blog posts for students to respond to - I usually make these anything from introducing yourself to the class to current events - and then (my favorite) you can create assignment blogs! This is where you create an assignment for students to respond to under your original post. Students can work on it and come back to it, checking the finished assignment button when they have completed their post. As the teacher you can see who is still working, who has finished, and who hasn't even started yet (Grrr!). I've made my assignment blogs anything from listing the factors of a selected number, to researching a volcano, to creative writing prompts. Each student automatically gets their own blog page when you create their accounts as well. You can set the purpose for this or encourage your students to create their own blogs about things that interest them - a great way to get your cherubs to WANT to write! You also get your own teacher blog page as well to keep the class informed about whatever you'd like.
What ClassChatter lacks in "pretty" - there's no changing the colors, theme, or overall look - it makes up 110% in functionality. In a way, it's good the students (and the teacher for that matter) can't really mess with the appearance because it makes you focus on the content over the bells and whistles. My class has always been so into "we have a blog" that they've never brought up what it looks like. Oh, you will see some advertisements to upgrade to ClassChatterLive, but the free version provides you with plenty to get your class blogging safely and purposefully. Check it out and consider setting up your account for next year!
http://www.classchatter.com/

Pinterest

Well, I wasn't planning on making a post on this...but if you don't have a Pinterest account by now, you should. My apologies to all the people reading this that are already "Pinterested," but since I have been on Pinterest for the last hour I just want to make sure you all know, from an education stand point, what the big deal is about this web tool!

What's Pinterest? I said the same thing at first. Between social networking, blogging, e-mailing, etc., I don't need another online distraction from my school homework and literally my home work - helloooo, laundry pile! But someone sent me an invite...and the rest is history - and a lot of repins.

Pinterest allows you to easily search for ideas and projects for just about everything, and then "repin" it on pages you create on your board. It's taking surfing the web to the next level. Instead of just bookmarking the websites on your personal computer, you can log onto your Pinterest account anywhere to access all your awesome online finds.

Yes, you can keep "Googling" away for teaching ideas - I'm not knocking that one bit! But Pinterest allows you to collect your favorite crafts, ideas, and projects in a way that is visual (each "board" you create has a picture of each site you pin) and collaborative. You can see boards other people have collected - and if you LOVE what someone else is choosing to pin, you can follow them. It's a great way for teachers to learn from each other and organize the projects and ideas for their classroom. Seriously, how many times have you come across a great idea online, only to forget about it a day later? Pinterest lets you make a virtual bulletin board of your favorite stuff for your life in and out of the classroom.

A Pinterest account is free, although if you request an account you may have to wait a while for it to go through. The best thing to do is to have someone who already has an account to send you an invite (much, much faster). Try it out, and I'm sure you'll quickly be inspired by all the ideas on there! Who knows? Pretty soon I may be following your board!

http://pinterest.com/

Shutterfly Share Sites

I hope you are enjoying your Monday off from school, teachers! I decided that for today's post, I would share a "share" site. The popular photo web service, Shutterfly, isn't just for uploading and ordering prints. As an educational tool, Shutterfly's share site feature is an easy-to-use, FREE way to create a classroom website that parents and students can access to review their school year.

Let me stress that it is incredibly easy to create a Shutterfly share site for your classroom. Absolutely no knowledge in "html" mumbo jumbo is necessary. You can upload an unlimited amount of pictures to your share site to feature your students engaging in classroom activities or field trips. Up to 10 videos can be uploaded to your site, however...remember my previous post on Animoto? On your Shutterfly share site, you are able to add different features to personalize your site (more on that in a minute). One of the things you can add is a "widget," which means you can embed code from other websites...such as the Animoto videos you create for your class! So, if you are using Animoto, you can technically add as many videos as you want as well!

Back to the other features Shutterfly lets you add on your share site. You can add a calendar to post classroom events and messages for upcoming events. In addition to Animoto videos, there are countless other widgets you can include to give your students access to things you may have viewed online in class - just copy and paste the code from another website. You can add the weather and a Google Map to post locations to places you have "visited" in your classroom. In addition to pictures and video, you can also upload files. I have found this to be very helpful in giving my students access to organizers and documents we use routinely in class. I've also been able to upload games created in PowerPoint so that students can review with them at home.

Last but not least...you have to create a Shuterfly account in order to upload pictures and create a site (which is free). You have the capability to password protect your site, so only students, parents, and their families are able to view the content you post. If you have your parent's e-mail addresses, you can add them as members of the site and directly send them the link and password. They can receive weekly (or monthly) updates that you make to your site to keep updated.

It takes a little time to play around with the features and layouts, but I have found my Shutterfly share site to be a fun and functional way to keep my students and their families connected to the classroom. Take a little time on this holiday weekend to check it out!

http://www.shutterfly.com/sites/create/welcome.sfly;jsessionid=14FC5F4A566C719493ECA31A61AF4B5B?fid=4d40f90688ac21fa