Using Web 2.0 Tools in the Classroom

There are several Web 2.0 activities that seem like they would be feasible with my third grade students, but creating a Tabblo with tabblo.com seems like it would be the most feasible.

I would have students write a personal narrative or a biography and liven it up with photos and/or images. This project ties in with the Language Arts Standard of writing a biography or a narrative. Given a biography, it could also be tied into other subject matter, such as art, social studies, science or math, depending on the figure students choose to write about.

The template on Tabblo would serve as a place where they would write up the final draft and illustrate it with images that they take or find on the internet.
I would set guidelines regarding the components, while leaving them creative space to include additional information and/or images:
1) Required information if doing a biography would include: Full name, country and date of birth, brief history, specific contributions to society or special feats.
2) Three images that would support the content: image of person, image of country, image of or representative of their special feat or contribution.

Skype could be useful to have people from the community, or the world at large, provide students in any classroom with contact with a greater part of the world. It could be used to supplement a lesson or provide contact with people of other ethnic backgrounds or countries.

Technology Course

I definitely have a better grasp of the wide array of applications and used technology can have in education. I plan to utilize a greater array of search tools and techniques to gather resources and materials for my class. I also feel that I am more in sync with what my previous middle school-level students were talking about when they referred to MySpace and blogging. If I end up working with middle-school or high school levels, which I sincerely hope, I plan on utilizing these tools with them for projects, along with Shutterfly to create books with images!
The StoryBoard was another awesome resource to make student-produced movies or bring in outside presenters, real-life situations, and more.
I think that StoryBoard was the most valuable application from this class. It is an excellent way for me to present my students with images of people, events and things outside of the classroom that have been difficult to present or share.