Thing #11: Web 2.0 Tools

Now that I'm a 4th grade writing teacher, I'm excited about putting some of the story publishing Web 2.0 tools to use. I love how Story Bird gives you an option of using already created illustrations to use for your stories. This will make a great independent learning station and allow for creative writing from my students. I like the idea of using the backward process of creating illustrations first, and then writing the story to match the pictures. We focus on writing so many personal narratives in Fourth Grade that I think this will allow my students an opportunity to use their imagination and challenge their creative sides.

http://storybird.com/storymaker/?storefront_slug=art-of-shishir

Last week our principal sent us an email about a new way to organize parent conferences. The website is www.signupgenius.com. It is very user friendly and makes scheduling parent conferences easy to do. I created a free account then followed all the steps to set up a sign up sheet for my parents. I listed the possible days/times that I am available and then emailed them the sign up genius website information. Each time a parent signs up, I get an email letting me know and it tells me who has signed up. Parents have the ability to swap days with someone through the website if they need to, and it sends both me and the parent a reminder email a day before the conference. This website helps alleviate the emails I send asking when parents are available and then trying to coordinate that with my own schedule.  I highly recommend this Web 2.0 tool. I have pasted a picture of what I see when I log into the website.