h app offers
various levels of permissions and protections
that permit districts to adjust the content for
each grade level. Teachers can create discussion
boards, blogs, surveys, forums, and activities for
each class or browse the greater community for
collaborators around the world.
3. GIVE STUDENTS A VOICE WITH VOICETHREAD.
Create a reading list on Voicethread for your
school library where students can record their
thoughts on books they’ve read or suggest books
to be added. World Language teachers can also
invite students to record responses to an image,
listen to their recordings, and respond to all the
4. BECOME PART OF HISTORY WITH TWITTER: WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE WORLD AROUND YOU?
Put a hashtag in front of a buzzword to
see what’s happening in the twittersphere. In
February 2012, Twitter played a key role in
the uprisings in the Middle East. Our students
searched hashtags such as #Egypt to identify
tweets with links to reliable sources. Many
students were able to retweet what they found
to news aggregation apps like Paper.li to create
a constantly updated newspaper. Students
knew what happened before it hit the evening
news. You can also encourage your students to
create a hashtag for your class to use Twitter as
a backchannel, chatroom, or discussion thread
where kids can post discoveries, reflections, and
questions. Another neat idea is to ask students
to tweet a novel. The 140-character limit forces
students to use concise thinking and succinct
5. CONNECT WITH GLOBAL CLASSROOMS THROUGH EPALS.
This global community is free and
accessible to students of all ages. Select a
language and a student age group to connect
with a class in one of 200 countries through
Skype, video, or email.
|Are you currently a member of, or have you ever joined, a social networking website for personal, educational, or professional reasons?
6. REVOLUTIONIZE RESEARCH WITH DIIGO SOCIAL BOOKMARKING.
Teams of students can collaborate as they
research, share bookmarks and resources, and add sticky notes and comments. Diigo
Educators’ Group connects members to a
worldwide network of professionals who share
the same interests.
7. BECOME A CRITIC WITH DESTINY.
This library management system allows
students to rate books, post reviews, share
resource lists, and upload videos. Our students
write, produce, and upload book trailers that all
visitors can see.
8. COLLABORATE TO PUBLISH ORIGINAL FICTION ON WIKIA NOVELAS.
Our Diaries of the Latin American
Revolutions, a role-playing simulation wiki,
was begun by students in the class of 2012.
This wiki was further revised and edited by
unique visitors and students in the class of
2013. The Revision History feature allows
teachers to see how each student contributed
to the wiki.
9. PUBLISH AND CRITIQUE ORIGINAL VIDEOS SAFELY ON YOUTUBE.
In a Google Apps domain, teachers and
students can create their own personal YouTube
channels. To maintain your privacy, you can
make them “unlisted.” When our music students,
poets, videographers, and debaters choose to
publish their work for the world, we can help
them decide what is appropriate. Students can
engage in peer critique using the comments
section below each video.
10. ENGAGE IN CLASS DISCUSSIONS WITH FACEBOOK GROUPS.
This familiar environment encourages long,
reflective writing. Working in Facebook with your
students helps them understand appropriate
social interactions. Student-posted surveys gather
hundreds of responses in a week. Facebook photo
albums let kids share photos from field trips and
post photos from school events. With younger
students, you can try Fakebook to help them learn
how to socialize in a virtual environment. (www.classtools.net/fb/home/page).
11. LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE ON LIVEMOCHA.
This worldwide community of language
learners lets students connect with people around the world. Students get feedback from native speakers
as they practice reading and writing skills and give
feedback to users who are learning English.
12. CREATE A FLEET OF IN-HOUSE REPORTERS WITH TWITTER, FACEBOOK, AND FLICKR.
Why have kids sit back and observe when the