2012+Tools+and+Resources

=**2012 Tools and Resources**=

=Web Professional Development 2.0 Tools=


 * [|Twitter]**
 * [|Educational Hashtags]**


 * [|Pinterest]**

= = =Web 2.0 Tools= A Web Whiteboard (AWW) is a very easy whiteboard tool that can be used on a computer, Ipad, or Smartphone to easily draw sketches, collaborate with others and share. No sign-up or installation needed. AWW sandbox: []
 * [|A Web Whiteboard AWW]**

[|Board800] Board800 is an interactive multi-user whiteboard application. Use it for tutorting, collaborative live training, and brainstorming. A nice feature of Board 800 is that multiple people can be working on multiple boards at the same time. Board 800 Sandbox: 50c1f0eba0008

[|Stixy] Stixy is a Web-based bulletin board. Stixy allows users to post virtual sticky notes with links and photos. Users can also post documents that have been uploaded from their computer. Click on this [|link] to access a quick Stixy tutorial. Stixy Sandbox: [] [|Stixy: How can this be used in the classroom?]

[|Wallwisher] Wallwisher is an online collaboration tool to share ideasm, resources, and thoughts on a particular topic. Wallwisher Sandbox: [] [|How to set up a Wallwisher board] [|Wallwisher-105 Ideas] media type="custom" key="21688804"

[|Thinglink] Thinglink helps you create and discover rich images. Make your images come alive with music, video, interactive polls, and text. Every image contains a story and Thinglink helps you tell your stories. [|Common Core Example] [|Bullying Example] [|Bullying Example] [|True Story of the Three Little Pigs] [|Gettysburg Address Example]

[|Lingro] A very cool dictionary!

[|Wordsift] WordSift helps anyone easily sift through texts -- just cut and paste any text into WordSift and you can engage in a verbal quick-capture! The program helps to quickly identify important words that appear in the text. This function is widely available in various Tag Cloud programs on the web, but we have added the ability to mark and sort different lists of words important to educators. We have also integrated it with a few other functions, such as visualization of word thesaurus relationships (incorporating the amazing Visual Thesaurus® that we highly recommend in its own right) and Google® searches of images and videos. With just a click on any word in the Tag Cloud, the program displays instances of sentences in which that word is used in the text.

Creative teachers will find an endless variety of uses for WordSift, but here are some ways:
 * Lesson preparation:** A teacher can use WordSift to review assigned text to identify challenging words or concepts prior to a lesson, and identify images and videos to use in class. The videos (hidden but displayed by hitting “>Video”) can be especially useful in the preview function since many schools do not allow access to YouTube, but a teacher can download useful videos (such as a science lab demonstration) onto his or her laptop computer from home.
 * Previewing text:** In whole class or individually, students can preview text. Reading comprehension research suggests that previewing text is a useful strategy for improving comprehension. Using WordSift to identify the key vocabulary, and playing with the images and to use the example source sentence feature to “skim” the text can help students who might otherwise struggle with the complexity of the text.
 * Group activities:** Teachers have found simple activities using small portions of WordSift useful. For example, one teacher has developed a simple routine in which she gives students the TagCloud, and has them working in small groups to write or draw a page using the words in the cloud. Another possibility would be to take the Visual Thesaurus® display of a word web and have students identify and discuss related words.
 * Literacy support:** Individual students can use WordSift as they read text, or as they write a response or summary. Adult users of WordSift have reported using WordSift for their own purposes to skim text (as one teacher said, “I don’t skim, I sift”) and also to review their own writing drafts. The creator of WordSift, Kenji Hakuta, uses it to preview and scout around documents that promise to be boring, such as long education policy documents, clicking on key words.
 * Assessment:** Whole-class vocabulary assessment can be done on-the-fly by showing the images from selected words, having them identify unfamiliar words, and having students talk about which picture is the best representation of a given word. Teachers can also tailor their own assessments by copying and pasting the images, words, and sentences identified by WordSift into a separate file (such as in Word or Powerpoint) and printing it out for student work.

So, think of a word much like a soccer ball or hackeysack. Think of a classroom as a kind of playground in which words can be kicked around for fun and for learning - not drill and kill, nor list and define. WordSift enables teachers to create an environment where language is "talked about" as richly as possible. Much of language cannot be taught directly, but much of language is learned through active talk, so why not have a way of talking about language? Try pasting some text into WordSift, display it to your class, and talk about what you see. Be spontaneous and generative -- that is the stuff that forms the basis of strong language acquisition.

[|Print What you Like] PrintWhatYouLike lets you print the good parts of any web page while skipping ads and other junk. Sandboax Article Example: []

=Web 2.0 Resource Pages=

Edutecher currently provides links to thousands of web tools and provides concise information on how these tools may be useful in an education environment. Besides the wealth of links to Web Tools, users can also find self-produced webisodes of eduTecherTV with walkthroughs and demonstrations on how to use specific Web Tools for educational purposes.
 * [|Edutecher]**

[|School Counseling Resources-Livebinder]

[|Counseling Resources]

[|Elementary School Counselor Resources]

[|The Teachers Tech Lounge-Common Core]

[|Guidance Lessons K-5]

[|WIU Curriculum Resource Center]

[|Common Core Resources]