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Learning Tool: Communication
Backchannel Chat
I chose Backchannel Chat. I had never heard of this site. I was pleasantly surprised. It was designed to support teachers. I like that I have control over the comments being posted and when the discussion gets off-track I have the ability to lock the room. The profanity filter is a nice feature. I like that students can choose an Avatar and their own screen name. It does not have identifying information about the students. There is a free option and a relatively cheap $15 option. The discussion is in real time and allows the teacher to follow the discussion. The chat can be embedded I my Google Classroom. I am not sure how it would compare to the discussion forum on Google Classroom but I would like to give it a try.
Learning Tool: Collaboration
Debategraph
Debategraph is a site that allows for collaboration within communities in graph or mapping format. Various communities can be joined and follow or you have the option to create your own. Students like anything visual and this is very similar to concept maps they do individually; only now, it is with a larger group. I think this could be an interesting way to put thoughts and ideas together in a little different format than how it is traditionally done. I think could be useful differentiation tool.
Learning tool: Creativity
Tynker
Tynker is a site that teaches coding to kids. It is self-paced and allows students to pick from a variety of different levels and activities. We have a technology day that corresponds with Hour of Code. We have to come up with an activity for our assigned groups of multi-age kids. This site works with kids in grade K-12.
Learning tool: Critical Thinking
Create A Graph-KidZone
I love this site! The graphing is made so easy for kids to use. In Science, we make so many graphs and it can be time-consuming. These are perfect for my middle school classes where it is nice to have a good graph to represent data quickly but neatly so that relationships and cause-effects can be seen easily. It allows for a wide variety of different graph types and allows more than one data set to be placed on the same graph. Students can even add some personalization through color and choice of point markers. This is a great tool that I plan to use frequently.
Learning tool: Organization
Sort My Box
I think this could be a valuable tool especially for my upper level classes while working on research papers/projects. This allows one to organize information found in their cloud. It is similar to a file folder set up. The student is allowed to choose the parameters and sorting terms to make the information easier to find and use. It is so much more convenient than the old notecard method. The students can work more efficiently to put their information together logically.
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