Cool Site - TodaysMeet

Last week Stephanie and I attended iPod training from Apple.  This was set up by the district for the recipients of the classroom sets of iPods.  We learned about a website called TodaysMeet.  It is a really neat site.  It acts somewhat like a Twitter account, but it is less binding -  to add comments, you don't need to create an account, and you don't need an email account.  But, you are limited to what you can post - you can only include so many characters.  A teacher can create a TodaysMeet address, and can open it for a day, week, month, whatever.  Students can access it during class time, and it can act as a way to post as a ticket in/out the door, as a way to post questions, comments during class, as a way for teachers and students to provide feedback and a way for teachers to adjust instruction based on student posts.  Teachers don't even need to have iPods or iPads...if you are in the computer lab for the day or whatever, create a TodaysMeet site for that day.  One drawback is that you can't delete posts once they are posted, and therefore, if you post without spell checking, you can't change it.  It is a free site...I think it has been up for about 2 years now.  We have been using it for a week now, and almost daily.  Students love it, we love it.  Feel free to check our posts out - be warned though that we use it in a variety of ways.  It's a constant feed, and jumps from topic to topic depending on our prompts, but the thinking is good.  http://todaysmeet.com/falk-gallegos

Noel

Suggestions?

Anyone out there have experience with Voice Thread?  What have been your successes and failures?  I have had great success with blogging and wikis and my class is about to start their photo essay product.  So I am not sure if adding voice threads would be a burden or add to the curriculum...voice threading would not happen until spring...  Any thoughts out there?

Reflections on Management Strategies for Teachers and Learners (Chapt. 5)

The idea of using a "project calendar" as suggested in Chapter 5 of Reinventing Project Based Learning seems like a simple suggestion...but it is a MAJOR element to a successful project and therefore, a suggestion that is worth its weight in gold!  Our 6th grade team has a website that we maintain together.  Each content teacher has their own "page" with a calendar of due dates.  So students and parents can access homework and due date information whenever they need it.  It has been successful, and having this website truly allows us (the teachers) to mold our students into becoming more responsible for their learning.  This chapter discusses using a web based calendar, or a paper calendar, or magnetic calendar...but I suggest you use them all.  Not all students have access to the internet at home, and all students should have equal access to important due dates.