Erika DobsonFebruary 2011

I used Edmoto for my online classroom. It was very user friendly and I quickly learned how to manuever through it. I am hopeful it will remind my students of facebook and they will be successful using it.

http://www.edmodo.com/profile/1333890?language=en

I am a firm believer in “Why reinvent the wheel?” The Lesson Plans Page/ HotChalk offers fantastic free lesson plans. It is super easy to use and the only drawback is the advertisements.

I was successful in designing two lesson plans and shared them using google docs:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FyFNOgiotNDMJ6KeK-KDu15kONNzIv4JDT1lLTqwT1U/edit?hl=en#

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17gKku1KTJCEVxlQ-V2HMOUHmSoqlXuS8EC-4Jfrcpdw/edit?hl=en#

Rubrics will always be a teacher’s best friend. I found some sites better then others. iRubric and RubiStar seemed to work best for me. Because I use RubiStar most often it still remains my favorite. I successfully constructed three rubrics to share:

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&module=Rubistar&rubric_id=2015206&

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2015204&

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2015201&

After two dreadful nights without being able to make a single assessment, I tried Obsurvey which was recommended by a colleague. Obsurvey was awesome! It allows you to make quizzes or surveys in a flash. The site offered a two minute tutorial which was extremely helpful.

I successful created three quizzes in about an hour: http://obsurvey.com/Obsurvey.aspx?uid=77daed40-f108-46ca-96fd-443a72c41c8a#f=4viewSurvey_6981

http://obsurvey.com/Obsurvey.aspx?uid=77daed40-f108-46ca-96fd-443a72c41c8a#f=5editSurvey_6984

http://obsurvey.com/Obsurvey.aspx?uid=77daed40-f108-46ca-96fd-443a72c41c8a#f=8editSurvey_6983

Everyday as educators we differentiate instruction to meet the needs of the students we teach. Animoto and VoiceThread are two great resources.

Not only can these sites be used in the classroom, but you can use them with everyday life. I enjoyed using both sites for personal use.

Animoto turns photographs into videos in minutes. Adding music truly customizes the video.

An added plus is that Animoto promises to never make to videos alike.

http://animoto.com/play/FgjaqHVVz6Gf7HtYIXUBGQ

Voice Thread is a tremendous tool to share images, documents, and videos. I felt the tutorial for the program gave step-by-step directions. I enjoyed commentating for the first time. Please check out my debut at :

https://voicethread.com/#u1001380.b1239492

This is my fourth class with Rich. Each class has allowed me the opportunity to gain awesome resources I can take back to school. I also am grateful for the personal family keepsakes that I make!

As always, thanks Rich!