Some uses of technology after the first couple weeks

Two full weeks into school, we have two teachers using Drop.io in their classrooms:

• Communications is using Drop.io's voicemail recording feature to have students record podcasts to be shared with each other
• Vocal Music is using Drop.io as a repository of solo audition audio files for students to either stream or download

I used Bubbl.us in my classroom to mind-map the idea of being "too descriptive" with my Language Arts students. The next day, I had a student bring me a Bubbl.us mind-map she had created based on choosing a book: too easy, too hard, and just right. It may just be this age, but I'm convinced Bubbl.us is what got her to take the learning home. Even in the first two weeks, we've done plenty of mind-maps on the whiteboard. No one brought me evidence they replicated it with a different idea at home until I brought in technology.

Yesterday, my classes discussed our classroom blog. We also talked about the reasons for blogging, and we discussed commenting on blogs. We talked about safety and spending time with their parents on the Internet. I'm excited to see how many students follow through on this (long) weekend's assignment: show your parents around our blog and convince them it's worthwhile to sign up for email updates. I want to hear from those students who couldn't convince their parents to find out why. Lack of content? Don't want all the emails?

I've already seen a big bump in our visitors from yesterday to today!