The Hidden Gems of Web 2.0

Who knew that there was so many resources out there for using Web 2.0 in the classroom?! When I previously thought about it I only considered the really popular tools that are out there and did not even know about most of the ones on this list.  This week I really took my time to go through this list and familiarize myself with these tools. We are only suppose to blog about five new tools but I could have written about most of them!

Poll Everywhere- This tool can so easily be implemented into a classroom and used all the time. Teachers are all about informal assessments but sometimes it can be tricky to do it and get accurate information. Tickets out the door can sometimes be time consuming when you need to move students onto the next lesson or a special. Poll Everywhere is a great tool to solve that problem. When ever you wanted to get your students feed back you can create a poll and students can respond. The teacher would get the results instantly. There are some downfalls to this tool for a classroom. Not all students are going to have cellphones to use especially in younger grades. You could always use computers but getting every student a computer may not be available in your school or even more time consuming. If a teacher has the resources like a class set of iPads then this tool would work really well!

Edmodo- This is a great site for teachers that are nervous about using Facebook in their classroom. Set up very similarly to Facebook but is geared to education. I signed up for an account so that I could get the inside scoop. It is really cool that educators can post to each other asking for advice and ideas. You can also create a classroom for your students. You are given a code that you hand out to your students. Once they join the group you lock it so no one else can see it or join. This privacy is one of the great things about Edmodo. Unlike Facebook you can really control the privacy so you know that students are safely interacting in your group. Once in the group you can share files, create assignments for your students, give students quizzes, and poll students. This is a great tool but again the lack of resources like computers in your school or availability of computers to students outside of school come into play.

Wordle- This is a great Web 2.0 tool to have some fun in the classroom. This would be a great beginning of the school year project for students to get to know each other.  Students would write words that have to do with themselves then put it in Wordle and have a cool image to show to the class. This would also be a great way to do character studies, vocab words, and a variety of things in the classroom.

Typing Adventure- With classroom time getting limited and keyboarding now included in Common Core this is a great way for teachers to have students practice their keyboarding. After they finish work, during computer time, when they have free time students can go on Typing Adventure and practice. Making sure that all students are getting on this tool and actually doing the practice is what teachers would have to monitor.

ClassDojo- This is a great tool for teacher, parents and students. It is a way for teachers to manage their students right during class. As students are working or a teacher is teaching a lesson, the teacher can reward the students with points based on their behavior. The teacher can take attendance, they can give points for a variety of things as well as take away points. Although I am not the biggest fan of point systems in the classroom but this is a great way for teachers to communicate with parents about student behavior. Parents can have an account and log on to check their son or daughters behavior. I think ClassDojo could be a great addition to a teacher's classroom management plan, maybe not the only part of it but it could be a great asset.


I could go on for days about all the different tools on this list. I emailed it to most of my teacher friends so that they know about all the great tools that are out there on the Internet.