Tool 6

Again, I had used most of the Tools listed, so I tried a new one. I think the Poll Everywhere would give students an opportunity to use the cell phones they always want to bring out in class and get students understanding they hold a powerful tool that can be used in many different ways. I want to be able to integrate appropriate cell phone usage into the classroom, and this looks like one way to get it started in the right direction. This is a sample question that would be used as a comprehension check for a point that is important in developing documents with technology to be printed. (If you don't know the answer, check the last line of this post. We use one number for any student documents in Middle School to prevent confusion, even if it is overkill in some instances.)

I also played with Wallwisher. I think something simple like this could be good for students to check homework assignments, due dates, and leave questions about things they don't understand. My wall can be found at: http://wallwisher.com/wall/NMSDunn.

The more tools provided to students, the more I think they will be anxious to attend class and actually pay attention. In Middle School where students are so easily bored, the challenge to teaching is more about keeping them engaged in the content than actually sharing the content with them. Interactive tools like these should promote discussion, participation, and may even drag those reluctant learners out of the corners and into active participants in the classroom.

One minor warning for those of you using Skype. It is a wonderful tool, but keep up with your password. If you lose it and ask them to remind you, the message goes to your spam filter and by the time you find the message, the temporary password they send will have expired. (Something I obviously found out the hard way.)

For those of you who might be wondering, the answer to photo resolution for a color print is 300 pixels/inch.