Class: The finale... 11/10

Well, we have reached the end.  I won't lie and say I'm not relieved... I am .  It's hard to lose a night each week to a class.  But, I really will miss this class.  It's been such a great resource for me and I've really enjoyed each week.  Even I, who uses so much technology in class already, got a ton out of this class... it really shows how much there is out there.  I hope that I can continue to explore the tools out there for use in the classroom.

Tonight's class featured:

• Diane Ready: Really great lesson about bringing the non-living to life... through characterizations and stories.  Great use of screencasts, youtube, a wiki, Photopeach, podcasts, and Wordles.  Really interesting and looks like a lot of fun to work with!

• Annette Kahn-Arcangeli: Really nice use of Web 2.0 tools in smaller lesson components.  Use of Prezis, Photopeach, Today's Meet, Voki, and creating an interactive Word template.  Really cool ideas!

• Cindy Karalekas: Cindy had a great presentation that discussed the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.  For the lesson/unit, she used Screenr, Voki, youtube, Prezi, and Slide Share (one of my favorite tools!).  Great work, Cindy!

• Mitzi Bramble: Mitzi had some great ideas about teaching her students about digital citizenship and functioning within an online community.  She used Voki, Animoto, Photopeach, youtube, Glogster, video links, and use of a blog.  I love how connected Mitzi is to her blogging!  :)

• Shannon Wasilewski: Ok, so I was next.  My "lesson" was actually the creation of a resource for my students while writing their secondary source critical analysis papers.  I primarily used Screen-Cast-O-Matic and I also used (and loved!!) Slide Share.  Love it!

• Abbie Grant: Abbie's lesson was a wonderful resource for her students!  It was a resource for her Civil Rights unit and used Prezi, youtube, Flickr, Glogster, Scrapblog, and a discussion section on the wiki.  Great tools and a great resource!

• Ann Marie Piscitelli:  Great lesson on Fraction and Decimal Equivalents.  So many great Web 2.0 tools in this lesson, including youtube, Screenr, Toondoo, Mathtrain.tv, Wordle, and a discussion section on the wiki for text/worksheet questions.  Really great ideas here!

• Alicia Campellone:  Alicia redesigned a lesson on earthquakes- and what a fabulous lesson!  So many wonderful tools that students could get very excited about using... all while learning about earthquakes.  I especially liked that there was so much "local" and "real world" data about earthquakes- really cool!  Alicia used Wallwisher, RSS feeds for local earthquakes, links to the USGS site, youtube, Glogster, video, and Xtranormal.  Very, very cool stuff here!

• Cathy Robbins:  I loved Cathy's presentation, because you could just tell that she was thrilled with everything that she had learned in the class... and was excited by everything that she put together.  And deservedly so... there were so many great tools here!  Her lesson was on the novel Where the Red Fern Grows.  She used Photopeach, videos, Prezi, youtube, Pixton, Voki, Glogster, Storybird (so cool!), and a discussion section on the wiki.  Great work!

• Julie Grant:  Julie had a challenge as she is a technology teacher... how does one create a lesson about technology using technology?  But she did just that... and beautifully.  She created a resource which showed examples of all of the Web 2.0 tools and the assignment was for students to experience the examples and then choose one with which to work.  Great stuff here, including Blabberize, Voki, Capzles, Xtranormal, Photopeach, Pixton, Creaza, podcasts, Prezi, Jing, and Screenr.  Cool!

• Sue Forrest: Great lesson on Literal vs Figurative Language, specifically focusing on similes and metaphors.  There were great tools here, such as Prezi, Screenr (my favorite of all of her tools!), Storybird, Quia, and acrostic poems.  I really enjoyed the use of MS Word to create the screencasts- being able to see the poem analysis being modeled before attempting it would be so helpful for students!  Great job!

So... that's all.  Again, I will miss this class, although I am happy to have my Thursday nights back!  ;)  Thanks Keri!

Class Presentations: The First Half (11/3)

Today we saw:

Alan Scharman

• Very cool math lesson about perfect squares utilizing all different Web 2.0 tools, including: screencasts, comics, videos, a wiki, etc

Jackie Buckner

• Lesson about Expected v Unexpected Behavior using MS Movie Maker, Voki, etc

Sarah Sykes

• A comprehensive lesson about the different features of nonfiction vs fiction books.  Uses Voki, Wordles, and Voice Thread. I wasn't aware of Voice Thread, so it was cool to see it in action.  I'll definitely check it out further.

Linda Lorman 

• A lesson about Chinese culture, especially about how to make a Chinese coil pot.  This lesson used a very cool Powerpoint, which was automated and narrated using Jing.  So very cool.

Janette Witschel

•  An intriguing Spanish lesson about Hispanic Heritage Month, utilizing Youtube, Voki, Vocaroo, Screenr, Photopeach, TeacherTube, and Zooburst.  Very neat activities for the students!

Maureen Brawley

• Another Spanish lesson- this time about verbs.  This lesson features Flickr, Prezi, and Audioboo.  I wasn't aware of Audioboo, so this was an introduction for me- I like it.

Leigh Ricci-Williams

•  A French lesson about favorite meals (hard to sit through this close to dinner!).  :)  This used many tools, including Prezi, Pixton, Flickr, Photopeach, Audioboo, and Youtube.  I loved that the annotation feature of Flickr was used!

Gloria Lehan

• A lesson about the novel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.  This lesson was very comprehensive and included a wiki that was full of different resources that students could use as they explore the book.  Some of the resources utilized Prezi, Wordle, Audioboo, a screencast, Glogster, and Youtube.

All in all, such a great night of presentations.  The way that some of my classmates have utilized the different tools we have learned (and some that we haven't!) is quite mind blowing.  I'm looking forward to next week's class... although not my presentation so much.  ;)