This week I have decided to use glogster with my elective group. I am teaching Speaking Out which focuses on teaching students to work on their public speaking skills, and fortunately, this quarter I only have 5 students in my elective. Because I have such a small group, four desktop computers, and 1 laptop I have decided I wanted to focus on teaching this group to effectively do research using the world wide web, use Web 2.0 tools as visuals for their presentations, and then present them to other classes. This group is all 3rd graders so we decided that each student would choose one planet (this hits on common core standards for next year) to rasearch. After conducting research the kids and I decided we would use glogster to display our information. I spent about 20 minutes teaching the group how to use glogster and they caught on very quickly. Although I have had a couple of questions I have really tried hard not to go over to the computer and do it for the students. I have focused on using questions to direct students in the right directions (ie. What word do you see on the page that means to make changes? Edit!). In the end, I hope this helps them to problem solve through things by themselves rather than having someone else do it for them.
I would love to hear of any new websites and/or web 2.0 tools you use in your classroom.
Sounds like a great idea. I like how you guide them, but do not do it for them. This should help them foster some more independent work skills. It will also help with their self confidence along with problem solving skills like you mentioned.
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