Q: Hey Amy, if you could only use THREE Web 2.0 tools to start the school year, what would they be and why?
A: Man, that's a tough question, fake audience, but I'll give it a try!
Tool 1: Google Docs Demo here
Reason: Google Docs provides a platform for learning any other collaborative tool and a way to understand fundamentally how collaborative documents work. Now also a part of Google Docs, real time collaboration. Seriously, it's time to try it out.
Beginning of the Year Collaborative Assignment Ideas: Have students write biographies of each other or do Q&As using a document, have them interview peers and type in data on a spreadsheet, or even easier, have them create team presentations of their biographies, summer events, or hopes and dreams for the school year and beyond.
Tool 2: Prezi, Prezi, Prezi. I can't say it enough times. Sign up for your free extended teacher/student account here.
Reason: Prezi is a non-linear presentation tool that is utterly elegant in its function and design. It requires deep thought to use, especially if you start now and have students develop their own organizational structures for their presentations throughout the year. You'll be able to see the evolution of their thinking processes.
Beginning of the Year Collaborative Assignment Ideas: Start your first unit with Prezi and then build from there. Have students create their first presentation then find a way to connect each of their other presentations throughout the year. Allow students to create a Prezi to teach their peers a part of the content for Unit 1 this school year. Bring in photos, videos, links, and those great ideas. Let them do the work AND get all the rewards that come with being invested in one's own learning.
Here's a Prezi we made with lots of Web 2.0 and free tools we love!
Be FREE 2010 on Prezi
Tool 3: Oh THANKS! You came back! How kind of you. The third tool I can't start the school year without is Voicethread. This fantastic tool lets us upload photos and videos then use our voice to talk about those objects.
Reason: Whether you pay to have a subscription for your classes or not (if you're in my school district, don't buy it! We just bought subscriptions for EVERYONE! YIPEEE!), you will have privacy settings galore and a way to bring sound, video, and pictures into your classroom. Don't underestimate the power of sound to teach. Have you heard of Educational Rap? Word to your mother. You'll see your kids rapping to themselves all the time, and it won't just be Eminem. Message: Sound is POWERFUL.
Beginning of the Year Collaborative Assignment Ideas: Have your students put pictures that represent their scholarly selves into their Voicethreads and then narrate the photos. Who are they? What are their hopes and dreams? What do they want to get out of that education of theirs? These are important questions that need to be answered as a first order of business, and if you don't agree, you can STILL use these awesome tools to get your students to show what they know. Send them out with cell phone cameras (inside school or out as your policy allows) to capture pictures of those acute angles, have them figure out why we still read Beowulf (survey campus police officers, don't know why, but they LOVE this tome), or let them photograph themselves while they perform an experiment then use their voices to narrate and explain the results.
However you use Voicethread, Prezi, or Google Docs, I guarantee your students will be more engaged and will learn MORE than if you do things the old fashioned way.
