Web+2.0

To be honest, when I was doing some research for this assignment, I didn’t know what “Web 2.0” was. Clearly there had to have been a “Web 1.0” for there to be a “Web 2.0” so I did some research to find out the difference. When the World Wide Web or “Web 1.0” first came out, it was mostly information that was given to us, the “audience”. We could do vast amount of researching, but there was still an author giving us that information. However, when “Web 2.0” came out, it dramatically changed everything. Websites contents were now written by its users, like Wikipedia, thus creating more of a conversation instead of the traditional “feeding” of information.
 * Just what is Web 2.0 and how can I use it in the Classroom?! **

For educators, this means that we can have more relationships outside of the classroom with colleagues, by being able to get perhaps, some strategies that can help us in the classroom through forums. “Web 2.0” will also be able to help educators by giving them some great resources to better facilitate learning for the different levels of learning in the classroom. Below I will give 5 tools that I hope to specifically use one day, in my own classroom.

I have to admit when I opened the link to the Web 2.0 Wikispaces page I was completely overwhelmed. There was so much information on there I didn’t know where to begin! I did some digging around in the Teachers Resources area and found many great resources. The first Wiki that I thought would really help me as a teacher was the LearnBoost, which is a free online gradebook. However in looking closely at the website, it has many more resources, including lesson planning, attendance keeping, reporting and calendaring. I was pretty fascinated by this so I did more research and in the tests and assessments tab, found an online grading system at [|www.engrade.com]. I must admit, I’m in love! After watching the video about the Blackboard system at Forest Lake Elementary, I think Engrade can mirror it. Engrade has a messaging center where I can privately message students AND parents if I need to. They also have a discussions center where I can chat with students who are online and answer homework questions immediately, instead of them having to wait to see me the next day, thus making their homework late. One of the biggest complaints I had as a student was never truly knowing where I stood with my grades. We usually had to wait until mid-terms or even finals to know what our grades were and usually it was too late to bring it up. With Engrade, I don’t have to worry about that and neither will my students or parents. With their 24/7 module, both students and parents have 24/7 access to see their “up-to-the-minute” grades and missing assignments. This way, students will always know what they need to do to pick up their grades instead of learning too late, thus putting the responsibility on the student and not always on my desk!

Another fantastic tool was the “GameClassroom”. This resource helps teachers, students and parents “with the best interactive homework help the web has to offer.” It helps students in grades K-6th with a variety of subjects. Sometimes parents can have a hard time helping their child with homework due to methods being different from when they were in school. With “GameClassroom” students engage in games that are educational to help them understand concepts. I tried a game for kindergartners’ called Animal Alphabet, which then took me to another website called [|www.abcya.com]. This game promotes phonemic awareness by matching letter sounds to beginning word sounds through matching cards. I think this is a fantastic way to integrate education and technology. Both children and parents can sit at the computer, learn how to navigate the web and at the same time, learn the alphabet. It’s genius!

Let’s face it: children have a hard time reading. Their attention spans aren’t very long so we as teachers need to do whatever we can to encourage reading, especially for our younger children like pre-school through first grade. I found [] to be a great resource that parents and children can use to promote literacy. Parents need to create a user account and then their children can download stories that have games. Just to be sure it was easy to use, I downloaded a sample story. The voice read me the story, while it was my job to “turn” the virtual pages. This will help young children with hand-eye coordination, following directions and give them a good sense of how to use a computer. At the end of the story was a game in which I had to rhyme words by moving blue birds. It was very user-friendly to use and quite fun!

Math doesn’t come easy for me. I heard about Khan Academy through a friend in college who knew I was struggling. After personally using their resources, I most certainly plan to use this in my classroom as an additional tool for students who are struggling with math. I admire the labor of love Salman Khan has given to educators, students and parents. Through Khan Academy’s website [|www.khanacademy.org] students can watch videos on a variety of math concepts and then are able to practice what they just watched at no cost to them. Khan is an invaluable tool that will foster success in math.

The last resource that I was intrigued by was [|www.tenmarks.com]. I was specifically interested in their Special Education curriculum that allows teachers to customize learning for inclusive classrooms. It’s very important to me to make any special needs child feel like they are a productive part of the classroom. It’s equally important that I educate them to the best of my ability and not just give them coloring pages. Tenmarks can give me the tools to be able to truly teach all children, regardless of disabilities.

After my research about “web 2.0” I am extremely excited! Gone is the apprehension and fear I first had when I started this research. There are so many tools out there to help me be a highly qualified teacher and that gives me so much hope! I am getting excited about integrating technology in my classroom! I am sure there is much more for me to learn, but these 5 websites alone will help not only myself better educate children, but will help the parents feel like a true part of their children’s education as well!