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=Web 2.0 Tools for Language Arts Instruction= [|Are you preparing your students for their world?] @http://tinyurl.com/24jo5tv

Moodle
Moodle is a one-stop shopping tool that enables teachers to manage their classrooms while allowing for collaboration. All interactions are time-stamped and dated for easy tracking by teachers.


 * How To Videos**: These Two-Minute Moodle screencasts give step-by-step instructions on how to do just about anything in Moodle. Check them out!

Website for more ideas on using Moodle in the classroom


 * **Moodle Journal**: The journal feature on Moodle is for student/teacher interaction. This feature allows students to submit written work to the teacher. Teachers can comment on student work. Students can use comments in order to create a more effective product.
 * Example: The student submits his homework, which is a summary of the text he has read.


 * **Moodle Forum**: This journal feature is for students and the teacher to interact on a set topic. A student posts his/her response to the forum topic. Other students can comment on the post that is already there or start a new post. The teacher is able to moderate the forum. Email updates are sent each time a student posts.
 * Example: The student responds to the teacher's post elaborating on a character trait of Maniac Magee.


 * **Moodle Quiz**: The quiz feature in Moodle allows the teacher to create a question bank of various types of questions (multiple choice, essay, matching, etc.). Questions are categorized and can be pulled to create quizzes. There are many features to the quiz, some of which are:
 * Shuffling questions within a quiz
 * Shuffling answers within a question
 * Allowing students one or more attempts when taking the quiz
 * Instant feedback to students
 * Stores student results and item analysis
 * Allows teacher to choose dates to start and end quiz




 * **Moodle Glossary**: The glossary is a teacher-created online dictionary. Words are organized alphabetically and by category. New words can be added at any time.


 * **Moodle Organization Tool**: Moodle can be used as a place to house documents and curriculum resources.



**Google App****s** Google Apps For Education is FREE for districts. This allows students to have Google Accounts without their own email. They are assigned a user name and password when they sign in.The power of Google lies in it's simplicity and ability for people to COLLABORATE!


 * Click the picture of the log-in screen below to watch and listen to a third grader explain how they sign into their Google account, open up and name a document, and share a document with others.**



Google Documents
Google continually makes services more user-friendly. Click here to see what the latest changes and upgrades are.

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**http://tinyurl.com/2438o9x** __Writing Process__
 * **Pre-Writing**: Organizers can be uploaded into a Google Document for students to complete. The ideas they generate are at their fingertips as they go through the writing process.
 * If I create the organizer, how do the students get it? It's just like passing out papers, but digitally. After you create the organizer, click "File" and "Make A Copy." Name it and share it with the student by clicking "Share" and "Invite People."

> > > Click here to watch a student start a new Google Document. Click here to watch a student change the color and font in a Google Document. This is particularly helpful when students are collaborating and during the revising and edit portion of the writing process.
 * **Draft**: Students write their draft on the Google Document. Students tend to produce more since typing isn't as cumbersome as writing by hand. Erasers are a thing of the past as students easily make changes as they are typing.
 * Want to see what students have done? Click on "File" and scroll down to "See Revision History."
 * Dislike the web page lay-out and want the document to look like a page? Click on "View" and "Fixed Width Page." This makes it handy when printing files too!
 * Want students to collaborate as they are writing? Share the document. (See picture below)
 * **Revise/Edit**: As students collaborate they can revise and edit the piece as they are writing the draft.
 * Wish you could conference more with students? Along with peer review, teacher feedback is essential. Unfortunately, with traditional conferencing techniques it is time consuming and impossible to reach every student every step of the way. Commenting on student writing allows you to electronically conference with students by giving them constructive feedback throughout the writing process.

Google Forms:
Google Forms is a tool that can be used to collect and analyze data. Students can be quizzed, data can be collected (reading logs, book reviews, etc.), opinions can be surveyed, and so on. It's easy to link a form from or embed into a web page. Data can be seen in spreadsheet form or via "Summary of Responses."


 * Summary of Responses (Example of how data from a question is displayed):
 * Summary of Responses (Example of response history):

Click here to see an example of a Google Form students completed for a project that integrated Language Arts, Social Studies, and Math curriculum.

Google Drawing
Google Drawings allow teachers to customize graphic organizers for reading and writing instruction. They can be uploaded into other Google Documents, Forms, and Presentations or downloaded to be printed off.

Click here to view an example of a Google Drawing. The drawing was used as a pre-reading and during reading vocabulary activity.

Google Presentations
Google Presentations are easy-to-make slideshows that can be created by students and/or teachers to showcase student understanding. Presentations can also be used during direct instruction. The tool allows for on-line collaboration. Presentations can be also be linked from or embedded into a web page or downloaded.

The presentation example was used as a pre-reading and writing activity. Students looked at the pictures on each slide and shared what they noticed or wondered about it. They found that some of their observations were accurate and some ideas changed. media type="custom" key="6373929" align="center"

Google Wave
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@http://tinyurl.com/37vu9jf

// Applications for Education Google Wave could be a great way to have a backchannel discussion in a course. In Wave you can play back the entire course of a conversation. This option could be useful for students who were absent from a class meeting to see how a conversation developed. Being able to add images, maps, and videos into a Wave makes Wave more than just a chat or email service. Online conversations could take on a new depth when more media is introduced.// Source: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/05/google-wave-opens-to-everyone-now-its.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freetech4teachers%2FcGEY+(Free+Technology+for+Teachers)&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Google Literature Trips
Literature trips provide students with a map outlining the geographical path of storybook characters. Some offer questions about the text along the route. Check out //The Watsons Go To Birmingham// as an example.

Wikispaces
Wikispaces is another collaborative workboard. You can work with other members of the wiki to organize, create, and edit ideas and projects.

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@http://tinyurl.com/y9fjvba

Click here to see how a Wikispace is used as a professional development resource for Central York School District.

Fireflies was created collaboratively by third and fifth grade students from different schools. It was used for before, during, and after reading strategies, to explore poetry, fiction, and non-fiction text about fireflies, to showcase writing, and to reflect upon the learning that occurred during the project.

5th Grader Explorer Project uses a Wiki to organize a cross-curriculur unit that integrates many Web 2.0 tools.


 * Pros To Using Wikispaces
 * Collaborative by nature
 * Intuitive, easy to navigate
 * Can change and grow with the owners
 * Complete revision history, able to revert to older versions
 * Student Accounts (Safe)
 * Cons To Using Wikispaces
 * Multiple people working on site at same time can be tricky and some work may not be included on the "latest" version (although it will show up in revision history).
 * Formatting tends to be a bit glitchy when adding pictures, widgets, tables, etc.

Skype
Skype is a free application for computers and phones for videoconferencing. Classroom ideas: SHARE VIDEO OF US WORKING TOGETHER ON SKYPE

50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom
 * Reading Fluency- reading to classrooms in other buildings in the district or across the world, reading to family members across the country
 * Extended Absences- students who are receiving homebound instruction can still participate in book discussions
 * Author Talks- getting a chance to chat with a favorite author or expert that would otherwise not be able to come to the classroom

Authors Who Skype

Below is an example of how Skype was used to practice reading fluency. media type="youtube" key="1mXsfPsHOmk" height="229" width="288" align="center" @http://tinyurl.com/2w397gd