KL+Web+2.0+Tools+Review

[|Rubistar - Rubric Creator] This is a useful tool in creating rubrics for classroom assessments. It makes recommendations as to the levels for your grading scale, but also allows you to make your own changes. It is great to use as a starting point in creating your rubric, while you can tweak it to your personal assignment and class. Rubrics are great tools for students of all ages to know what is expected of them.

[|Classtools.net] This site allows to create a variety of tools for classes. There are many templates to create numerous types of tools. Examples include timelines, fishbone diagrams, post its, etc. These tools are appropriate for students of all ages.

[|Toondoo.com] This site lets you create cartoons. It is very fun and easy to use. You can easily add your own pictures and text and make whatever type of cartoon you would like. Cartoons can be used for educational purposes- you can create them to say whatever you would like them to. Cartoons can be useful in classrooms with students of all ages- everybody loves cartoons.

[|Animoto.com] This site allows for you to make quick and easy video clips from your pictures. You can add short pieces of text and music to jazz it up. All you have to do is insert pictures or video and text and it will create the video for you. It's very easy to work with and make great videos with just a few minutes of your time. The downside is that it takes a long time for you to get a free educational account and you have to renew that every so often. This can be a good thing to assign for students to complete, it doesn't take much technological skill that all of your students can complete a video.

[|Blabberize.com] This is a site that allows you to take a picture and make it talk. It's an interesting site to use to get kids attention for a quick little message, but may not be the most practical tool to use within the classroom. This might be more interesting to students in elementary or middle schools over high schools.

[|Puzzlemaker.com] This is a site through the Discovery Channel that allows you to make free puzzles: word search, math square, criss-cross, mazes, hidden messages, etc. Puzzles can at times be considered busy work for students, but can also be fun for younger students. These activities should be used sparingly, but this site gives teachers a quick and easy way to create these tools.

[|Notestar.com] This is a website that helps students organize notes for research papers. It helps students to track their resources and their research progress. It also has a way for teachers to track their students progress and help them organize their thoughts to make a better paper. This is a useful site when both the student and the teacher have easy access to the internet. It would be most beneficial to students of higher grade levels who are working on research papers.

[|AssignADay.com] This site is an interactive assignment calendar for teachers to share with their students. It is a great tool for students to be able to see upcoming assignments, due dates and to aid students who might be absent from class. This can be used with any age student and for any class.

[|Classroom Architect] This is a tool for teachers to easily make classroom floor plans and seating assignments. Teachers can easily set the dimensions of the classroom and design the layout of where desks, shelves and other classroom item can best be set up. It isn't something that necessarily will be for students use, but can allow students to easily see where their assigned seat is. This is useful for all ages.

[|teAchnology] This is a website that offers tools to make interactive games, lesson plan outlines, worksheets, rubrics, graphic organizers, message boards, etc. This tool does require a small fee of $29.99/year, but offers a wide variety of classroom tools. This is definitely a site I want to remember when I have my own classroom.