Group items tagged

Authors: Group 1 (Bulfer, Sennett, Gourley, Carl) Category: Word clouds Grade level use: All levels Topic/discipline: Any subject Tutorial information: FAQ section Possible uses: Presentations, to analyze, projects Basic explanation: Wordle develops word clouds based on the frequency of use of each word; words that are used more often are bigger. Users can copy and paste data from different sources to create a word cloud. Positives: Do not have to register to use, not copyrighted, can use your wordles however you want. Negatives: Wordle is not moderated or filtered, students might find obscene language.

Costello, Regilio, Saal, Stroh; Group 5 Tool name: Wordle http://www.wordle.net/ Category: "word cloud" generator Tags: word cloud, vocabulary Grade level use: All grade levels Topic/discipline: Most areas involving vocabulary Tutorial information: There is not tutorial on how to use Wordle though it is pretty simple. There is a significant section of FAQ. Possible uses for students, teachers, and/or administrators: Can be used to create word banks as well as show students which vocabulary words may be more significant about a certain topic. Basics: Enter a group of words you want to appear in your Wordle. Click "go" and the site generates your "word cloud." Then you can change the format, language, font and colors. You can also print your Wordle or save it in a public gallery. Positives: It's very simple and takes very little time at all. You can also put in a URL and Wordle.net will create your word cloud using the words on the site. Negatives: The only thing you can do on this wed site is create word clouds.

Costello, Regilio, Saal, Stroh; Group 5 Tool name: Book Builder http://bookbuilder.cast.org/ Category: digital books Tags: diverse learners, individual needs, Universal Design for Learning UDL, digital books Grade level use: All Grade Levels Topic/discipline: Literacy, special education Tutorial information: On the home page there is a button labeled "Learn About Universal Design for Learning." After clicking on this link you have the choice to watch videos or read about the site. Possible uses for students, teachers, and/or administrators: Teachers can use this tool to create books for their students to read and listen to online. They also have a large library of "model" books for students to view and read. Basics: This website provides tools for teachers to create books their students can listen to and read. Teachers are able to attach images, text and sound to create their book. Teacher can also search the model books for topics that are relevant to the class. Positives: Struggling reads can use the listening option to help them with unfamiliar words when the teacher is unavailable. Because the teacher can create books they can be on any topic and at whatever level students need. You can also access books created by other who are willing to share them. Negatives: Some of the books already on the site where being read word by word. It was very choppy reading and could have a negative effect for a student who struggles with fluency.

Group Members' Names (Group Number 4: Belcher, Kaufman, Knowles, Duffy) Category- Online Story Telling, Games, Grade level- PreK-1 Topic/discipline - Reading, Writing, Literacy Tutorial information - Instructions and information on how to operate the activities can be found on the main webpage. When children click to play an activity directions are given orally. Possible uses- Young children can use the tools on this website during reading workshop to build their reading skills. Teachers can use the tools in a small group to reinforce difficult concepts. Basics - There are several activities available in this site related to reading. There are word study games, e-books, poetry, printable worksheets, ESL activities and pre-reading activities. All the activities are broken down by discipline and level. Positives - The wealth of activities and tools available is wonderful. There are activities that can meet the needs of almost all the young readers. Negatives - The site is free but you have to create and account to use it. Therefore, if you want young children to use it independently you will have to log on ahead of time or teach them how to log on. Another downfall is that the site cannot track the progress of each student. So the teacher cannot see how well they have done on their activities nor can it keep track of where they left off.

Costello, Regilio, Saal, Stroh; Group 5 Tool name: ReadWriteThink Note takers http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/readwritethink-notetaker-30055.html Category: organizing, summarizing Tags: Outline, Notes, Summary, Graphic Organizer, Research Grade level use: 3-12 Topic/discipline: Literacy, writing Tutorial information: One the main page students click "Get Started" to begin a new outline. Before beginning the outline there is an option for a tutorial on how to use the outline. Possible uses for students, teachers, and/or administrators: Students can use to take organized notes while reading. It can also be used to help students develop ideas as a prewriting activity. Teacher could use to quickly create notes for students. There is also an option to have an HTML assigned to your outline for Internet access so teacher can make it available to students anywhere. Basics: You begin by entering your name and the topic of you outline. The first time using it watch the tutorial. There are only a few buttons to use while creating your outline so it is very simple. Positives: It would be helpful to a student who gets bogged down by handwriting and outline format when trying to take notes. It is easier to use than formatting bullets on Word. Can be accessed on any computer with Internet connection. Negatives: The help section within the actual outline is not very helpful. It only explained what the tutorial demonstrated.