This week we started working on our classroom websites. How fun! And, Google Sites is amazing. The program is, mostly, very easy to use. I love how you can personalize the background color on everything. The main problem I had was realing myself in; I ended up using a light gray background for the main font instead of aqua like I wanted to (sob, sob). I kept telling myself,"It may be pretty, but they can't read it." Other than that, I'm very pleased.

I'm especially pleased with the overall functionality of the site. It's so helpful for both parents and students to have access to important, upcoming dates and be able to comment on the classroom in general. Overall, this makes the teacher more accessible and the class more interactive.

Get Inspired!

So far, between the Wiki, Voice Thread, iMovie, and Inspiration my favorite would have to be the latter. Inspiration, unlike all the rest, is intuitive. You just drag things around. Even if you get confused, less than two minutes later you'll figure it out. If not, your neighbor will know what to do. This time-friendliness is priceless in a classroom. Teenagers have far less patience than we do. I could only imagine the chaos that would ensue if iMovie were used. Half the class would be spent on entering subtitles for slides.

In iMovies defense, the program is probably easy once you use it more often. So, as a teacher with technology charging forward everyday, should I force myself to become a proficient user? The answer of course is yes. Students do not respond to a lecture you rehearsed over the weekend nearly as well as an iMovie you created (or VoiceThread for that matter). The Inspiration software is amazing, but I feel I'm going to have to mix it up to keep their attention. After begging and pleading with iMovie for hours, I've learned that iMovie is best left to teacher creation and hopefully student enjoyment.

Finding the World in Your Wiki

I have been using the web for sometime now, and honestly, I've always viewed it as a very two-dimensional entity. Most of the sites I have been using just look like a newspaper/magazine on a screen. Even sites boasting unbelievable, exotic images have always appeared just like that, a photo on a screen. Then, this past week when searching for Geography sites for the Social Studies wiki, I found a site that honestly made me feel like I was going somewhere. It is called the Degree of Confluence Project.

The Degree of Confluence Project's goal is to have every latitude and longitude intersection in the world documented. And, it isn't the site's founders who are doing it. It's pretty much anyone with a love of geography. These contributors/adventurers take pictures from the point and submit a journal entry documenting the experience. All of this, honestly, makes you feel connected to more than just a keyboard. With almost 6,000 successful primary confluences and over 81,000 photographs in 181 countries, this site is a sure way of connecting not only yourself but your students with the world. Just think how amazing it would be to add another point with your class.