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= = = Welcome to Our New Wiki! = =please read the directions below and leave them here for others to see, too.= then go to the categories below and add the links you want to share and a brief description about why you like it. and thanx Sue

Getting Started

 * Click on the edit button above to put your own content on this page.
 * To change your wiki's colors or theme, click on **Manage Wiki** and **Look and FeeL**
 * **You may add a page if you'd like to and perhaps move a whole category of links to its own page**
 * **Decorate with some images, too**
 * **We'll have access to this wiki even after the class is over**

Need Help?[[image:link2link/037-computer-crash.png width="86" height="69"]]

 * Click on the help link above to learn more about how to use your wiki.

=**Please add your links below the headings:**= = **Blogs and Microblogs** =

=http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences (added by Linda)= Many of the Education Week blogs are very much worth following. This one is written by Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier. Originally, when it was started, the intent was to share very different views on education and education reform. Recently, it seems that they are agreeing more than disagreeing, but it's still a very interesting read.

**http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet** (added by Linda)
This is another of my favorite blogs. The author, Valerie Strauss, reads widely and "gets it" about what's happening in education today. Well worth reading, I think!

=[|http://askatechteacher.com] (added by Mary P)= This is an educational blog of Jacqui Murray's. She has a wealth of information here on integrating technology, current trends in technology and so much more. Be sure to check out her tech tips, Monday freebies, and weekend websites.

=[|http://www.freetech4teachers.com] (added by Mary P)= This is another educational blog by Richard Byrne. He has free resources, tutorials, websites, and some great ideas to share.

=[] (added by Mary P)= David Andrade is an educational technology specialist who is worth checking out. He also has free resources, great tips and ideas, and interesting topics. This is a great online learning resource. I agree with Mary this is a site with lots of great resources - I found out about schoology and prezi from this blog. (Darren G.)

=[] (added by Sue B)= "We provide teachers and students with mathematics relevant to our world today …" Brian Marks and Leslie Lewis created this site to bring real world math into the classroom.

GREAT HISTORY WEBSITE ( added by Mary F)
This Wiki is great for anyone teaching history or social studies.It shows the standards of MA and over time people have added resources to __each__ standard. I believe it orignated from a class at UMASS. Some are primary sources, some websites, some film clips, etc.

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__** A FEW SITES FOR GLOBAL COLLABORATION **__ **( added by Mary F)** All of these sites could be used in a variety of global collaboration between classrooms. Most have an abundance of projects ranging from those that emphasize global issues to those as simple as describing one's country. Teachers can choose how to have their students participate. ======  This first Wiki is one that I have already signed up for my International Club. There are several countries involved. Students and teachers start projects and others can opt to communicate and share in these projects. Right now, it looks relatively small as well and not too overwhelming. It is closely monitored as I received an email right away from its creator asking how I would use the site and how many students might participate. **[|GLOBAL ONE]**

There are some great projects on this site. It will be used for my International Club, but also may be used for some social studies or ELA classes. ** [|GLOBAL TWO] ** One more global collaboration Wiki I found is called The Global Classroom. I haven't signed up for this one, but it does look similiar to the others.
 * GLOBAL THREE **

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**A great site to reference when covering Financial Literacy. The site includes financial articles, tips, and lesson plans. You are sure to find something related to money that you can share with your students.** ======

[|NEFE High School Financial Planning Program] (added by Rob Kane)
===Another one of my favorite financial planning sites. Once you signup for a free account you can request complimentary workbooks for your students. I use them and highly recommend ordering for your class. Don't wait until last minute to order. The workbooks are extremely helpful as students learn more about financial literacy. You can order a complimentary information kit by [|clicking here].===

[|Quad Blogging for Schools](Added by Brianne Killion)
Four schools that have a partnership/agreement that would mean that for a four week cycle, each school’s blog would be the focus for one week out of four. Each school in the Quad would spend some time visiting the blog of the school for that week, leave comments etc. After that week, another one of the four schools would be the focus and this would be repeated for the four week cycle and then repeated.

This website offers resources to help make curriculum accessible to all learners. I took a summer workshop with this blog author and feel that she offers a lot of great resources to teachers. I hope you'll find something suitable for you and your students.
 * [|EdTech Solutions: Teaching Every Student] (added by Laurie Lucas)**

[|Steve Spangler has a blog?!] If you are a science teacher you know Steve Spangler. This was a huge find for me, he does great short video segments and has lots of fun science ideas I also tried to insert one of his videos.....hope it works. media type="youtube" key="tjlYt3KX-rc?version=3" height="360" width="640"

**Web 2.0 Tools**


=**http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/** (added by Mary P)= There are so many web 2.0 tools that deserve checking out.

https://www.schoology.com/home.php (Added by Darren G.) This is a great classroom management site that I am using with one of my classes. The students like it as it is formatting similar to facebook, which they all use frequently.

prezi.com (Added by Darren G.) This site allows you to make classroom presentations that are more visually appealing and gives students more ability to use their creativity on projects.

=[] (added by Sue B)= Zunal is a webquest maker. It is very easy for teachers to create a webquest. It is also very easy for students to navigate through the webquest.

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This free site offers teachers a way to record and make audiocasts for the classroom. It would be necessary to set this up with restricitions though. As the audiocasts if not restricted, act as an audio blog of sorts. People can listen to and respond to others audio. I did read that this is an option not a a requirement of the tool. =====

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**[|KidRex] (added by Julie N.)** This is a tool for students to search through Google. It is safe and leads students to educational sites. I used this with my classes to make a pronoun studyguide and we found some amazing resources without getting unrelated information. =====

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 * [|Trap It] (added by Julie N.)** This is a site similar to MYahoo and Google Reader that can create an RSS feed for you. I found it be easier to use then others and it was very visually appealing. Each site you are subscribed to appears in box with a picture. I thought this would pique the students' interest.=====

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[|TeacherFirst] (added by Julie N.) This is a great resource for all teachers. It has links to Web 2.0 tools, yearly planning calendars, webquests, and other fun resources to use the classroom. One fun idea from this site are Supergrams, web based compliments from the teacher to the students. Another is Superlame. This is a site where you can make pictures with dialogue boxes. I used one this week as the students entered to introuduce the day's topic.=====

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http://monarchcenters.wikispaces.com/ (Added by Melissa Y.) This is a site I just discovered while looking through all the wiki possibilities. It is a wikispace full of activities for kids to explore. It is set up by grade level and includes such things as practice with the right click for grade 1, and typing games throughout all grades. Great fun way for kids to explore and learn using an array of different activities.

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PLN - Personal Learning Network

[|ThinkingStick] (added by Julie N.) This is a blog by Jeff Urtecht. On his blog he discusses the benefits of using Web 2.0 tools. One recent blog was "10 Reason to Trash Word for Google". I shared this with adminstration as we continue to make this transition at our school.

Differentiation (added by Julie N.) This is wiki space with lesson plans and ideas for differentiating in the classroom. There are some great resources here.



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[|Diigo - Web Highlighter and Sticky Notes, Online Bookmarking and Annotation, Personal Learning Network.] (Added by Melissa Y.) Probably you all know about this site, but I love this site and need to include it. I bookmark addresses (of videos, or sites of interest) that I need for classroom lessons so I can have the bookmarks at any computer. I then tag them so when I need to find something by category I just search my sites. I'm sure there are way more uses for this. If anyone uses this site differently, please let me know! =====

[|Live Binder] (Added by Brianne Killion)
LiveBinders is your 3-ring binder for the Web. You can collect your resources, organize them neatly and easily by using different tabs for subheadings, and share them with anyone with the link! It is free! I have mine organized in the subheadings, teachers, parents, students, blogs. You can also add a link to your menu bar called "live binder it" that when you come to a web site, blog etc that you like you just click on the link and it adds it to your binder. You just have to decide which tab you want if under.

[|TeachPaperless] (added by Laurie Lucas) This site follows a teacher sharing their experiences in a paperless classroom. I haven't had a chance to completely read through this blog but I love the idea and think that we can all do a better job at being GREEN !

[|Smithsonian Institution's History Explorer] This is a cool history site. For example, you can hear Liam Neeson read the Gettysburg Address, or get that speech translated into Spanish.

Teach with your iPad (added by Julie C) My principal just asked me to keep a running list of useful iPad apps for our teachers and students. This website will be very valuable I feel. The App store has a search feature, but this would have already been reviewed. The only things is they are presenting some apps that cost $10 or more along with free ones. I think most teachers are looking for freebies.