Web+2.0

1) The five Web 2.0 tools that I choose to focus on are RSS Feeds, Prezi, Slide, Google Docs and Podcasting. RSS Feeds are a way for people to organize content such as articles, photos, audio files, PDF and blog posts. When someone is interested in a particular website then RSS Feeds sends the user notices like a subscriber would get from that specific website. The second Web 2.0 tool that I will focus on is Prezi. Prezi is a really neat tool that is now available to people that gives them the ability to create creative presentations that go beyond the more commonly used PowerPoint presentation platform. When you use Prezi you can include texts, images, videos and drawings. This tool can be very useful for multiple layered presentations. The third Web 2.0 tool that I will talk about is Slide. Slide is also another presentation tool, but this tool gives the user a more focused platform for photo presentations. Slide also can aid with creating special effects and transitions during a presentation that can make the presentation a little more exciting for the students. The fourth Web 2.0 tool that I will focus on is Google Docs. Google Docs is a collaboration tool that allows people to create and share documents on the web. With Google Docs the user can edit documents anywhere and at anytime. The fifth and final Web 2.0 tool that I will talk about is Podcasting. Podcasting is a new tool that gives people a way of creating or editing audio recordings. Many people know of Podcasts and they are very popular to subscribe to like RSS Feeds, the user subscribes to a particular person, show or artist and it automatically downloads onto your computer. The program “Audacity” is a podcasting tool that is very useful and gives people the ability create and edit any audio recordings.

2) The way that I will incorporate RSS Feeds into my classroom is by assigning research assignments that require current event themes. In order for students to complete these current event assignments they must be on top of their RSS Feeds and give me individual reports to the pertaining topics. I will incorporate Prezi into my curriculum by creating presentations using pictures, videos and texts on a variety of topics. To use a specific example I would create a Prezi presentation on the Civil War in an American History class. Since the Civil War is such a large topic and can bore many students I could use Prezi to give the students a variety of sources to stimulate their interest in the subject. From videos, or movies, to pictures of battle scenes and important people. The sky is really the limit with Prezi and I am excited to be able to incorporate it into my classroom. Slide is a presentation tool that focuses on photo presentations. Creating a photo presentation can be a very valuable tool for a social studies teacher because it is my job to make history come alive for the students. I will create Slide presentations that give students pictures of people, places and events that will make the lecture be much more interesting to the students. To be specific I could create a Slide presentation on the WW2 showing appropriate images of the horrors of the war and the devastation that it caused. Google Docs is a tool I can see myself using very frequently in my classroom because I can make research assignments that students can find the information that they are looking for and use to write papers on. For example, I could assign a paper that students use Google Docs to write about a variety of topics on the American Revolution. Podcasting is the final tool that I could see myself using in the classroom because I think that there is a very valuable opportunity for students to be creative beyond writing a paper on a subject. I could create an assignment where my students pick a famous founding father of the United States and then do research and create an audio research paper where they could compile music of the times or anything, the sky is the limit.

I really thought that this artifact was very interesting because it showed just how many free tools there are out there for teachers to use. I will use Google Docs a lot in my classrooms for research papers and probably use a lot of blog posts to keep the students informed and on task.