Thing #11: Web 2.0 Tools

Okay, so, I could not find any of the Web 2.0 tools on Web 2.0 Awards. Luckily, I saved the link to Web 2.0: Cool Tools for Schools on my Delicious account this summer. I was hoping to find a graphing tool I liked more than Excel since my class is currently making graphs of their family members and classmates. Sadly, I found them more difficult to use and since I work with young children I have found that the technology I use needs to be straightforward and simple to use. I found a tool called Briangle that provides daily Brain Teasers. This would be great to use as a warm up in an elementary class. The teacher could post it on the SmartBoard to start class in an entertaining, light hearted manner. It would get students into their seats quietly and help start a discussion once the students finished solving the puzzle. Another useful tool is Shiddoni. Shiddoni allows students to create a pet, watch it come to life, and play with it. This would be a fun activity for my students during our "Community Helpers" unit. They could pretend to be veterinarians and create the type of animals they would want to help. For my example, I created a dog. The only down side is that I couldn't enter a username and password to watch the dog play for more than a few seconds. I will have to keep exploring to find a site that works perfectly before using it in class.