2010cp1b

Web 2.0 Freebies and the Like

Amy White

I have a few things I use with students. Some web 2.0 freebies, some iLife apps. We've used GarageBand, made Illuminated text from powerpoint, done ComicLife for summarizing, and xtranormal for the same thing. We are making photo montages for Night using PhotoShop.

Okay, the first two places I want to show you are these websites: []

[|http://www.edzone.net/~mwestern/stuff.html]

If you don’t like any of the sites or suggestions that I share today, check out the sites above and I’m sure you’ll find something!

For example: if I go to the e-learning tab on http://www.go2web20.net, click on TikaTok, children can make their own book. It’s $2.99 for an e-book or $15 for a soft cover book. So, not free but maybe for a classroom? Group work? I don’t know…

Okay, now some of my personal favorites! These are places I go for me.

This first one is for English teachers. It is a free community of English teachers. It is full of resources and offers support and suggestions for new or experienced English teachers. It was created by Jim Burke and is called the English Companion Ning or ECNing [] If it’s related to English, you can find it on here. You can ask questions, get answers and commiserate! Twitter is the next resource I want to suggest. It’s free. It’s great. I love it. I don’t tweet about what color underwear I’m wearing or any of that nonsense, I follow really great people who offer amazing resources that I use all the time. Check it out; try it for a month. Follow real people, teachers, designers, writers, etc., not Ashton Kutcher! J

If you don’t like Twitter, you might not like my next suggestion either, Facebook. I love Facebook; my kids love Facebook. I have my own personal page, but I also have a class page where I post information and videos and photos. It’s pretty cool. Parents like it too. Some classroom tools I’ve used are: XtraNormal Text to Movie: [] I like to use this site for presentations and summarization of reading/learning. Animoto: [] Is a similar concept with photos. A way cooler powerpoint. GoAnimate: [] students can make their own movies and characters. Prezi: [] You can create awesome presentations beyond powerpoints Kaleidocycle: [] Shows relationships between three ideas/symbols/pictures. Glogster:    [] These are applications, not free web tools, but I use them a ton and LOVE them!! ComicLife: great for paraphrasing and summarizing info Powerpoint: see illuminated text Keynote: [|www.apple.com/iwork/keynote] / part of the iWork suite. Can be exported to Powerpoint, etc. GarageBand: podcasts and music iMovie: digital storytelling VoiceThread: http://www.voicethread.com pictures with either text, voice. or video commenting capability

Other ideas mentioned during the conversation: Alternatives for ComicLife:[| http://toondoo.com/] [] Poll Everywhere: Use to discuss literature and other curriculum, students text answers: []

Okay, I lied. The Flip cameras are $150 for 2 not $125. Sorry. Here's the website: []