Clever Photo Prompts for Writing

The Photo Prompts blog is a clever concept, containing a collection of photo prompts to inspire students' writing across a variety of subjects.  Prompts are organized by subject, including language arts, math, science, social studies, and technology.   Many of the prompts ask students to consider social issues or describe how their lives are affected by an issue.  The screenshot below provides an example.  What a great way to incorporate writing across the curriculum. 

Symbaloo: an easy way to organize and share website with your students

Symbaloo offers a unique way to share websites with your students. Simply create your own webmix, add the sites that you love, and share.  I love the graphic format and how easy it is to view the webmixes that have been previously created by others.  I made the example below in less than a minute. Each webmix can be shared publicly or kept private and embedded into personal webpages.

Skype in the Classroom

I know that I have written about this before, but it's worth repeating.  Skype in the Classroom has become one of my absolute favorite 21st century tools.  To ensure success in today's world, our students not only need to be critical thinkers, innovators, and excellent communicators, but they also need to know how to do these things working with a diverse group of people who are possibly located in other areas of the world.  It is so easy to search for and post a project on Skype in the Classroom.  This year alone, I have posted one project and found another just through a quick search.  Our 8th graders used Skype to talk to a class in Canada about The Outsiders,  I have connected with authors to conduct Q&A sessions with our book club, and we expanded our book club to a include a group in a Michigan school.  Just a few days ago my 5th graders mentioned that they wanted to learn how to use Skype.  That led me to create a new project that I have posted below to prove just how easy it is to use.  If you are not ready to post a project yet, just browse around to get examples of projects that others have already posted.  I think that you will be surprised at just how many projects can fit your classroom.

Publish ebooks with your Students

Our students write some great things.  How exciting would it be for them to actually publish their writing online for others to view?  What if they could create their own ebooks to share with the world?  This is actually very easy to do using Simple Booklet.  While there are other ebook publishing tools on the web, Simple Booklet allows users to include audio, video, text, links, and images all in one place.  Once published, students will have created an actual ebook that can be embedded into websites or shared with family and friends.  While accounts are free, educators can upgrade to a free educator account, which gives them access to all of the extras that are included with premium accounts.  I love how easy this tool is to use and how professional the finished version appears. 

Wikis- Great Tools for Teaching and Learning

I love wikis. I love having a classroom space where I can post resources, links, tools, student projects, and have a conversation with my students. I love that my students have access to this space 24/7 and, if I give them the power to do so, they can edit and add to this workspace as well. All of this happens with a free wiki account. Wikispaces and PB Works are two of my favorites. They offer safe secure work spaces for educators.  Each is as easy to use as familiar word processing programs.

There are also many wikis out there created to share resources with fellow educators.  The two examples below were awarded best educational wiki and runner-up, respectively, at the 2011 Edublog Awards. 
ICT Magic- This is a great resource for tips and tools related to educational technology.
Resources for History Teachers- Maintained by teachers and students who are part of the History Teacher Education Program in the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, this wiki hosts a plethora of resources related to teaching history at all levels.

Here are a few other noteable wikis that I love:
Cool Tools for Schools- If you are searching for the latest Web 2.0 tools to use with students, this is the place to browse.  A comprehensive list of tools is arranged by type.
Educational Origami Wiki- A great wiki about teaching in the 21st century with tools, tips, and strategies galore.
WebTools4u2use-  Another great list of Web 2.0 tools and applications for the 21st century classroom.