What are some recent technologies that educators are using is their classroom? Likes and dislikes? Thanks

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Five other teachers in my school and I just received technology grants that have allowed us to receive Tablet PCs and either Interwrite or Mimeo boards. My Mimeoboard hasn't been installed yet.

The Tablet PC allows me to walk around the room and take anecdotal records while the children are working. It has a stylus where I can simply write down everything, but not have to worry about misplacing the paper. I can organize everything into notebooks about each student so I can easily access it when I need it. I also use it to project lessons and work problems with students, and I do all of my running records for Guided Reading on it too.

I've seen one of the other teachers use her Mimeoboard, and she loves it. It basically turns the white board into a computer screen. You project your web page onto the white board (it has to be a hard surface) and then there's this special pen tool that goes with the Mimeoboard that acts as a mouse, so you can get students up there actually clicking on links and making the sofware interact.
Check out Fiddlehead... www.myfiddlehead.com. Allows tech coordinators to do updates and clones much easier. Allows more users to share one PC. Allows multiple operating systems to be loaded at the same time. Allows you to use open source, free applications from within your Windows desktop. Can be used to lock down the student stations, monitor the student stations, make virtual CD's, and several other cool things.
I am using Jing alot this year to make tutorials for my students to follow in my Technology & Career Exploration classes. We like the fact that students can go at their own pace watching the video and stopping to complete their own assignments going back and forth between video and classwork. It also provides access to students who are absent to work on assignments anywhere if the Jings are posted to a webpage or sent to student via email.

http://www.jingproject.com/
I second the motion for Jing! Terrific tool for presentation.
I have been using the web site host, Weebly, to keep students and parents up-to-date on assignments and up-coming events. Additionally, by creating an account through Weebly's Weebly for Education I was able to establish student accounts that students use as online portfolios. Weebly's integration of a blog enables students to reflect on goals and/or assignments as well as work through the steps of the writing process; this allows me to check students' progress from home when needed. The students have really enjoyed putting together they portfolios and frequently access their own and their classmates' from home.
I also like Weebly a lot. I have a class website, and blog with them. If you are interested in starting your own Weebly website, then read this article for a guide on how to start your own classroom website.
I heard that the folks from Fiddlehead also have a single head version that will work on regular PC's. That is, it is designed to be loaded on a PC without the multiuser splitting technology. That allows all of the extra free open source software to be used, virtual CD's to be built, teacher control software to be used, and images to be easily cloned. It doesn't take any extra hardware (from what I hear) and will be really cheap. I hear it is just like a BIOS update... We only wish it worked on our MAC's. We have loaded MAC OSX on our Fiddlehead cluster, but it has been only as an experiment, because Apple wont't let you load OSX on no Apple equipment.
I used wikispaces with my kids this year. Instead of the typcial in-class literature circles, I created an on-line version of this using a wiki space. Teachers can have FREE protected wikis so all you need is an email address for a student (or a parent email). I had a few students who did not have an email so I was able to add them to the wiki myself. Permission slips were sent home to parents and we were off. I had 4 groups of 5 or 6 students in each group. They created calendars that showed what they needed to read each week and what their role/job was. For example, the Discussion Director was responsible for coming up with higher level thinking questions, but instead of discussing the book in class, they posted their questions to the wiki space. Fellow group members were required to respond to these questions and had the opportunity to respond to other posts as well. Students loved the role of Artful Artist, becasue they could download a picture and insert it into the wikispace. They then had to explain why that picture characterized the assigned weekly reading. Most of my students loved the wiki, but some students had difficulty using the computer at home (I worked with these students in the computer lab). For my next round of literature circles, I plan to use the wiki as a challenge/enrichment opportunity.
I have used quia for Spanish classes as a reinforcement and assessment. This site fives you the ability to create lessons for the students. I also have used Conjugemos were you can create your class and create test and drills for them.
For the past year, I have been using Coveritlive.com. It is a great source for backchanneling.
I've been using a web app called QuickieQ that works like a web-based classroom response system. Since my classroom is 1-1 it works really well. Alot cheaper than buying clickers and easier for the kids to type text. I've even assigned problems for homework since most of my students have web access at home. For the ones who don't I let them come in before class and submit their answers.

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