Web+2.0

Since I intend to become a secondary social studies teacher I naturally gravitated towards some of the mapping tools I discovered on the cooltoolsforschool wikispace. One of my favorite Web 2.0 tools that I had never seen prior to this was the Umapper. It is an interactive mapping site, basic level is free. With that you can choose to use any already existing mapping site, ie. Google in order to create a customized map. In addition to the maps, you could also create different geography games and quizzes. I could see using this tool to incorporate individualized maps into lectures based on the specific topic areas that I am trying to cover. I think that an even more powerful way to utilize this tool would be to have the students create their own maps, games and quizzes based on whatever historical/geographical content we are covering. I think that if given some some direction but minimal restrictions on creativity they could come up with some very cool creations. TitanPad was another tool that I could see enhancing the classroom experience. This is a writing and analysis tool that helps students and teachers collaborate in real time. It allows the teacher to present a topic to the classroom and then have them create a document that is posted live. The other students and teachers are then able to edit in real time. The different contributors text shows up in different colors to distinguish the feedback. It will also allow students or teachers to store the different activities for future use or editing. This is again offered free of charge, entirely web based. I see this being used to help my students with the writing process and to help them develop skills in analysis in a fun and non-threatening way. It allows the students to collaborate and help each other develop their own critical analysis and editing skills. It will also open the door to discussing with the students how to give appropriate and respectful feedback. It emphasizes communication and the need for collaboration in order to successfully complete assignments. The Webspriration site was also very inspirational. It allows the user to brainstorm, create idea maps, flow charts, graphs etc. It seems particularly suited for visual learners. It would also be valuable way to chart progression or processes. This also has a tool for organizing information, storage capabilities, and it makes it easy to post or share with others. I could see this being used to show examples of voting and political processes or elections. I think that if the teacher had prepared enough in advance to know which of her students was more suited to visual processing then this site would be ideal. The site also provides the user with the ability to share the URL with friends or embed it into another site to share. Kubbu was another site that I found intriguing. It allows the user to set up a free account to have access to tools to help produce original quizzes, games and polls. It can also be examined and revised repeatedly online. It also will allow you to publish and print the polls you wish to keep. You can create a groups space for your class and even link it to email accounts, allowing a teacher to email an entire class. You can also generate your own results and track data for future use. The obvious way to use this would be to create customized quizzes on the history lessons. I can also see using this site to obtain direct feedback from my students on lessons, teaching styles and their retention. Teachers usually only get feedback at the end of the year. This tool could be used to obtain instantaneous, direct feedback from those who are most important, the student. Last, but certainly not least, was Teacher TV. This is probably my favorite site because it seems to be one stop shopping for just about anything a teacher may need. It is very user friendly and divides what seems to be an endless amount of content into manageable and understandable categories. I was most interested in the resources page that provided access to a great deal of free content that was available to anyone clear of copyright issues. I can see using any of these documentaries in enhancing any type of social studies lessons. I looked at many more sites, just chose five that stood out to me the most. It is hard to say exactly how I will use these tools in the classroom without the knowledge of exactly what lessons I will be teaching. However the possibilities seem endless and I can only imagine the additional content that will be available by the time I am actually in a classroom teaching. I think that the most profound thing about these resources is that they are available to the public, mostly free of cost. I don't think I would have realized the full impact of this had I not been in a lower income classroom for my field placement this past semester. I was attempting to help a middle school student with some science homework. When I asked him where his book was to look something up, he informed me that they were not issued science or math books. It became quickly evident that this was a sign of how very few resources were available to these kids. However, the school did have computers and most students seemed to have some way of accessing computers after school hours. This ability alone can help to begin to bridge some of the classroom resource gaps that have always existed between different school districts.