BlogWalker

Muddling through the blogosphere

Favs from DEN Nat’l Institute

| 1 Comment

One of the highlights of my DEN week was the Ameri-Den Idol event. Of the great range of Web 2.0 ideas, tools, and classroom snippets shared, here are a few favorites:

  • Fantastic Contraption: Be sure to use this link to bring up the ad-free version shared by Debbi Wrobel. I’m imagining the thinking possibilities required to basically move one pink ‘thing’ to another pink ‘thing.’ Would be a great intro to physics and STEM!
  • Reading A-Z: I love the innovative way Karie Huttner is using this program of free online books, combined with podcasting, to create a powerful school-to-home connection that builds literacy skills in her ELL population. Karie downloads the free book versions – both English and Spanish – from an ample library of titles. Her students record their reading of the books (using Audacity) onto an mp3 player that they may take home. Parents – and younger siblings – can then follow along via the printed version of the story.
  • Glogster: I’m linking you to the education version. Scroll to the bottom to see lots of classroom samples.  Really enjoyed elementary teacher Traci Blazosky‘s DEN poster session! A ‘glog’ is basically an online poster into which you can upload text, images, audio, and video – and then embed into a blog or wiki. Looks as though you can upload unlimited students accounts. Glogster education manager Jim Dachos joined us for our Thursday session, emphasizing the company’s commitment to teachers and students.  Very cool!
  • Blabberize: Oh my, what a fun tool! Listen to their intro video and you’ll get the idea. Sarah Johangiry led the DEN poster session, inviting participants to start a Blabberize conversation with Mt. Rushmore’s presidents. Tell your district/site tech person to not even think about blocking this site!
  • Voki: Ok, I’ve seen lots of vokis on different blogs, but always in the sidebar. Loved the idea shared of embedding voki directly into a blog post, for instance, allowing a teacher to ‘talk’ directly to her students. Could certainly enhance learning on days you’ve left your classes with a substitute;-)

One Comment

Leave a Reply to hazza0004 Cancel reply

Required fields are marked *.


Skip to toolbar