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April 7, 2008

No Words Needed

On my first day back from vacation, I have to get ready for two presentations this week. Here's a tool I've just tried for digital storytelling -- ToonDoo.com

I think this tells the story!

Posted by Pat on 5:37 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

December 5, 2006

Bookmarks in Del.icio.us

I've been reading about the folksonomy and darting over to del.icio.us for more than a year now. I've tried shared bookmark spaces like ikeepbookmarks.com many times in the past, but this is something different. Using del.icio.us should enable me to take advantage of reorganizing using tagging and sharing the finds of people all over the world.

So, I've now really started my del.icio.us tagging in earnest and I've even added a tag cloud to my Resources page. Over time, I hope to replace all of the links that I've maintained over the years, but there is much still to be learned!

Posted by Pat on 2:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 22, 2006

Blogs as Tutors

I just got a note from one of my students from the summer. She's been using Edublogs to the scaffold her students in Spanish class. Her level 2 students write about different topics that she assigns. Then her level 4 and 5 students respond. This is a great way to do online tutoring that could be used for any subject area.

For me, the interesting thing is how much we can do now in education without spending more money. Back in the 90s, there was an awful lot of "build it and they will come" mentality. That really didn't pan out very quickly. I think we underestimated just how much hands-on time people needed to become comfortable with being online. Now that cell phones and e-mail are our regular way of doing business, everyone has an online persona or at least modus operandi.

In addition, the new tools like blogs and wikis enable us to have these new interactions with very little muss or fuss, and better yet NO COST! Every day I see something even more exciting than the day before. I'm hoping that people will take a look at this Edublog at senorawilson2.edublogs.org and see the future!

Posted by Pat on 11:41 AM

September 18, 2006

Faster Webpages

This weekend I uncovered a few shows that might make life a little easier for busy folks. One of the big things we’ve all been pushing for years is webpages for teachers. These are touted as a great way for teachers to stay in touch with parents and to keep parents informed about things going on in the school and individual classrooms. But many of our solutions have been hard or require more regular attention. I’m thinking here of true website development in something like Dreamweaver or even of making regular entries to a blog even when it’s well supported as in Edublogs.org.

Here’s something even easier.

Protopage – On this site, you can get your own page for free. The page looks like a selection of sticky notes and are just as easy to create and edit. You can include ready-made items or make an unlimited number of your own. A little warning, you can start right away on the sample page but it will expire quickly. Instead, go ahead and sign up. Then all you need to do is to give out your URL to all of your students and their parents.

Portaportal – This is like Protopage but just for bookmarks. Make sure to sign up for your account and then start adding links. Links can be organized by topic or by class or by project. Some can be permanent and others could come and go throughout the school year. This makes a great place to start your students.

So, no more waiting around for a webpage … Just do it!

Posted by Pat on 8:30 AM

September 6, 2006

An Oldie, but a Goodie

Over the past few months so many new sites have appeared on the Internet that it’s easy to forget about the earlier ones that were good then and are still good. The one I stumbled back across today was the National Library of Virtual Math Manipulatives.

This site contains online, Java applets to illustrate and allow exploration of just about any math concept at any grade level. The front page gives an easy access grid divided into five math strands and four grade levels.

Now, these were always useful for one-on-one work or small group work, but they take on a new life with the introduction of SmartBoards to so many classrooms.

So I guess that even though I got to www.wwwdotcom.com, I can still go back and see what I missed.

Posted by Pat on 8:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack