Thanks to an amazing list of "The Best Web 2.0 Applications for Education-2007" from Larry Ferlazzo's Website, I decided to create my own list of the applications that have been the most useful or promising in the Elementary School scene.
Maybe I even make a meme out of it to encourage other elementary school techies to create their own lists and publish them on their blog. The list does not have to be in any particular order. Great if you write a short sentence about what the tool does.
As soon as the lunch bell rings at his elementary school in Medford, Oregon, teacher David Cosand takes a few minutes to scan his mobile phone screen for messages that have accumulated throughout the morning in his Twitter account. In a few well-chosen words, the people Cosand follows via this free online service share their latest news, resources, questions, and (sometimes) trivia about education, technology, and related topics.
Cosand became a Twitterer about a year ago, and he now considers Twitter one of his best sources of real-time professional development. "I'm able to get information and find opportunities I wouldn't have been able to gather on my own," he says.
"Writing appropriate emails is part of being a good digital citizen! Students (even digital natives) are not born with knowing the rules and responsibilities. Just as they need to learn to answer and talk on the phone, they need to learn about e-mail writing in an academic setting (to their teachers, Skype partners, project collaborators, administration or their classmates regarding school business)."