Twitter Resources and Activities

Twitter is just the best free resource for conservations and input into your classes. Students think in text today and this allows for quick and short responses. Students like it and it seems they will tweet things long after class is over.

I use it to find trends in my field and to share what I am doing in my classroom.

Tweet Deck--allows you to manage the information easily. It is a free download that organizes your tweets by hashtags. You can organize tweets by the people or hashtags. It is easy to use and allows you to tweet from the programs. It keeps things focused so keeping up is easy.

Twitter Poll--allows you to get immediate feedback from your students. I use it for back channeling and formative assessment at the end or start of a class.

Tweet Chat--This allows you to follow a specific hashtag and have a running conversation on a topic. A point to remember if you want to not overwhelm your followers when having a #hashtag chat, start any tweet you want to "hide" with @HideChat or @HideTag. I use this during lectures or videos--I can stop and answer questions or review things students are not understand immediately.

NOTE: This also works when live-tweeting events or shows.

Tweet Grid--allows you to manage tweets by hashtags. It's online so no download--it also allows you to follow 9 hashtags at once. It's quick and easy! It saves you time and can be accessed from anywhere because it's online. You can tweet from this site. I use it to monitor chats with in my classes--all seven of them at once.

Tweetree--Allows you to watch a specific hashtags but not reply--but it does give you a url to share with others. It allows me to let the students see the input from the day before. Doesn't allow them to reply at that time.

I have my students research their chosen field and what hashtags to follow. They can ask questions of professional in the field and find out what trends are in their field. Every profession has hashtags. They can follow professional organizations or specific topics of interest.

Titter in the Classroom Wiki This site is loaded with ideas for using Twitter in your classroom--check it out!

Hope this helps inspire you to jump in and start tweeting in your classes and professionally. All comments and suggestions are welcome! Email me at skeehner@crcsd.k12.ia.us

Web 2.0 Tools in the 1 to 1 Classroom & Business Education Classroom

What are Web 2.0 Tools?

• Usually free
• Web-based
• Available from anywhere there is an internet connection
• Unlimited possibilities
• Good for differentiating instruction
• OR Or my definition . . .
• World-wide Educational Based 2.0Tools
  

The best part is they are free!

Teacher Productivity Sites

Twitter Resources

Tweet Deck--allows you to manage the information easily. http://www.tweetdeck.com/

Twitter Poll--allows you to get immediate feedback from your students. http://twtpoll.com/

Teacher Resources

Quizlet--allows you to create online flashcards that turns them into games for the students to play and review the important information you want them to learn.
http://quizlet.com/

Make Use Of--http://www.makeuseof.com/ Free PDF Files about many computer programs and computer skills (ex. facebook, photoshop) Delicious--Online bookmarking--great site to find new resources http://www.delicious.com/

Financial Literacy Sites

Ed World--Financial Literacy http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/mathchat/ mathchat027.shtml

Power Pay-- https://powerpay.org/

Jump Start--Reality Check http://www.jumpstart.org/reality-check.html

Financial Football-- http://www.practicalmoneyskills.com/ games/trainingcamp/

Great Cyber Sites

Cyber Bullying-- http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/ cyberbullying-toolkit

50+ Effective Mobile Learning Tips and Resources [PDF]-- http://blog.simplek12.com/education/effective-mobile-learning/

Google Resources

Google Docs--good for collaboration projects and sharing your presentations with students to access for review at home.

Forms—surveys Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Presentations

Google Sketch--a CAD type program that is free and can be
used in many ways and has thousands of templates to get you started.

Google Sites--free websites that are easy to use and look great

Google Searches

Goofram Searches--http://www.goofram.com/

Google Squared-http://www.google.com/squared

Google related searches from Google Home Page:

• Google Wonder Wheel or
• Google Timeline or
• Google Reading level or
• Google Dictionary--To find these do a search and when you get your results look on the left hand side down below under more search tools

Wikis for the Classroom

PBWorks--http://pbworks.com/
Allows you and your students to create a free website which is easy to make and change

Wiki Spaces--http://www.wikispaces.com/
Allows you and your students to create a free website which is easy to make and change

Teaching Video Resources

• YouTube--Great videos but many schools block this site. You can download from home and bring in to show
• Teacher Tube--great site have to register or you get commercials.
• Learn it in 5--free resources for teaching many items that are quick five minutes or less
• WatchKnow--videos for students to learn from

Presentation Sites

Prezi--http://prezi.com/
This site allows you or students to make a presentation that is exciting.

Google Docs--Allows many people to share the presentation and allows people to collaborate when making them.

Free Image Resources

Google Images--maybe copywrite issues

Pics4Learning is a copyright-friendly image library for teachers and students
http://pics4learning.com/

Flicker storm -- this site has images that can be used professionally
http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/

My Favorites

Egg Timer--timer http://my.online-eggtimer.com/

Cool Text--logo generator http://cooltext.com/

Creates word play--Wordle http://www.wordle.net/ OR Tagxedo http://www.tagxedo.com/

Back channel resources for feedback

Wall Wisher-- http://www.wallwisher.com/ OR Lino It http://linoit.com/ OR Answer Garden--http://answergarden.ch/create/

Screen Casting http://www.screenr.com/

Animoto Make Free Videos http://animoto.com/

Voki Create a talking avatar http://www.voki.com/

Poll Everywhere allows feedback from cell phones http:// www.polleverywhere.com/

Make Use of has a how to book for almost any computer program or web program (ex--facebook) http://www.makeuseof.com/

Tiny URL shortens your long URLS so when you share them with your students it easier to share them http://tiny.cc/ OR Itsy Bisty http://bitsy.me/

Rubric Star http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php Resource of hundreds of rubrics or make your own

Go animate makes cartoons http://goanimate4schools.com/public_index

Zamzar Online Conversion of files like videos and audio http://www.zamzar.com/

Online Converter--http://www.online-convert.com/

Flixtime makes 60 sec. videos--http://flixtime.com/

Turdy Search-- Gives you a reading level for your search site results http://www.twurdy.com/index.php

WOW--I bet your head hurts! My advice is to pick one or two and to get started. Then add one as you see it would help you in your effective instruction. Have fun! Remember you do not have to be an expert to use any of these tools Or have a student teach you how to use it!
Questions? Contact me or follow me at twitter--CRBusiness Or my Blog at http://mrskeehnersblog.blogspot.com/ Or my website
https://sites.google.com/a/crcsd.k12.ia.us/crbusinessdept/home
Thank You!
10/2/11