Tool #6

Web Tools that Promote Discussion:

• I set up an Edmodo account this summer. I am looking forward to using the program this school year. I was worried that students would not check into their accounts regularly unless several of their teachers were using the program, but students can set the program to send emails or text messages to notify them of activity. I had thought I would set up a teacher Facebook page for this year, but I like the security features of Edmodo better. 

• Last week I went to a large GT training that used TodaysMeet as a backchannel. Instead of sharing out ideas by raising our hands we had discussions at our table and then one person would post our ideas to TodaysMeet. There were 300 people at the training. Without the technology of the web site only a very small percentage of the audience would have been able to participate. I think I could do something similar in my classroom. I set up a practice "room" today. This is a warm up example using vocabulary words. Setting up the room was extremely easy.  

• I've also set up a teacher account with Poll Everywhere. Since I have a set of ActivExpressions I didn't think I would have a reason to use Poll Everywhere, but I think it would be a good option for the computer lab or another situation where I'm not in my own classroom.  In this example students have to respond to a warm up question about their previous assignment.