1. Critical Thinking & Problem Solving Tools
1.1. http://www.wordle.net - Wordle is a tool to use in the classroom for students to use their critical thinking skills to create the Wordle with a purpose. Students will put in words that they use in their project. Along with the words students become creative in creating the Wordle but they still have to think about the words and why they are in the Wordle.
1.1.1. Wordle can be used to introduce your weekly Language Arts unit. Our unit starts with a question and rhyme. Introducing these with the web cloud could be a different and fun way to have students use their critical thinking skills with the introduction of your lesson.
1.1.1.1. You can also use this web 2.0 tool to have students describe something. All words can be to describe themselves with their name as the main word. For deeper thinking you can create a lesson for students to pick a topic and use Wordle to create a picture lesson by investigating this topic and picking out main words that would be used to describe the topic and gives details on it.
1.1.2. Worlde can also be associated with Creativity
1.2. http://educate.intel.com/en/ThinkingTools/VisualRanking - Intel is a web 2.0 tool for students to create mind maps and use Visual Ranking Tools in their projects
1.2.1. Intel has a great free unit for teachers to use for Critical Thinking Skills and Creativity. Students will come up with a business plan to sell flowers for Mother's Day. Students will need to determine how much money they will need and what they want to use it for. Students will figure out pricing of flowers, ways to sell, profit, etc. All this will be done with technology and mind mapping that will allow students to brain storm, analyze and think critically.
1.2.1.1. This tool can also be used with Collaboration among students
1.2.2. This tool can also be used with Collaboration among students
1.3. http://docsteach.org/ - Allows the teacher to create interactive learning tools for her students to develop their critical thinking skills
1.3.1. Students will use the activity created by the teacher to reason through cause and effect scenarios or to comprehend historical events and timelines. The teacher can create activities for almost any subject using docsteach.
1.4. http://quadblogging.net/ - Most blogging sites can be used in the classroom for communication skills or critical thinking skills.
1.4.1. To use blogging for communication skills the teacher will set up a lesson that has students come up with a unique and new idea. Students will need to come up with this idea and develop a question answer forum to bring in others to participate. This lesson will need to have a time span of a week or more and an end result.
1.5. http://www.quizrevolution.com/ is a ways fro teachers have student use critical thinking skills and for the teacher to assess.
1.5.1. A teacher can create their own quiz according to the needs of the classroom. This site allows teachers to make the quiz more than just multiple choice and allows them to use various manipulates in the quiz. The quiz will have a higher order thinking for the students to use their critical thinking skills.
1.6. https://cramberry.net/ - online tool for creating flashcards
1.6.1. This tool can work for math or reading or almost any subject that requires studying. Students do not like to study, it's not fun but put studying on the computer and they are more likely to study more. Students and teachers can build flash cards for math facts, vocabulary review, or use to memorize a short term or idea.
2. Communication Tools
2.1. http://www.clpgh.org/kids/storymaker/embed.cfm - StoryMaker is a fun way for students to create a story and them be able to share their story with more than just their classmates.
2.1.1. Students can create a story to share with the public or with their family. StoryMaker allows students to use their creativity to be able to communicate with others than just their teacher. Students can also use Story Maker to communicate any issues they are having by freely communicating through the story. After creating their story students are prompted to share with specific people they chose to share with.
2.2. http://www.slideshare.net/= - Slideshare is a web 2.o tool for students and teachers to share their projects with others. This is used as a communication tool to communicate with others what has been learned or ways of teaching.
2.2.1. Slideshare can be used as an assessment tool. Students can use Slideshare to communicate their understanding of the lesson/topic the teacher chooses. This gives students a more interesting way to show what they know without the pencil paper stress. The student will create their Slideshare for grading but they can also communicate to classmates their understanding of the learning. Finally it allows students to share with others that they specify like family that might be in another state.
2.3. http://www.skype.com/en/ -is a good tool to help students with communication development.
2.3.1. In today's world kids are getting away from interpersonal communication which is hurting them. With students using Skype they don't have that person right there but they have a video to look at while they are talking about a project or lesson to help them develop communication skills. When creating Skype time the teacher will develop a reason/activity why the students are communicating and complete that goal.
2.4. http://quadblogging.net/ - Most blogging sites can be used in the classroom for communication skills or critical thinking skills.
2.4.1. When a student blogs for an assignment there is a reason and an end result. Students will learn to communicate clearly and appropriately with other peers.
2.5. http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/ - is another great tool for students to express themselves.
2.5.1. Students can create their own comic strip to communicate with others. This is a great way for them to develop communication skills and creativity. Students will create a comic strip based on the lesson and key points the teacher wants them to hit upon.
2.6. http://museumbox.e2bn.org/ allows students to communicate visually.
2.6.1. With Museum Box students will create a visual argument or discussion on the topic. After creating the visual students will present to the class and use their communication skills to clearly get their point across.
3. By: Mary Schmitz & Candy Carter
4. Collaboration Tools
4.1. https://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/education/ - Google Apps for Education is a way for students and educators to collaborate using e-mail, calendar, and documents.
4.1.1. Google Apps can be used to allow students or educators to collaborate on the same document at the same time. Everyone can see the changes being made in real time and always have access to the most current version. Teachers can give ongoing feedback as well as see the quality and quantity of each student's contribution to the project.
4.2. http://www.collaborizeclassroom.com/ - CollaborizeClassroom is a free collaborative online learning environment.
4.2.1. CollaborizeClassroom can be used to pose questions to your class. Students can then respond and begin an online discussion. Students can also comment on their classmates work, offering suggestions for improvement and praise for good ideas. This can give even the most shy student an opportunity to comfortably participate.
4.3. https://searchteam.com/ - SearchTeam is a collaborative search engine.
4.3.1. SearchTeam can be used to allow students to search the web together. They can discuss results and quickly weed out irrelevant information. This can be a starting point for online collaborative research projects.
4.4. https://bubbl.us/ - bubble.us is a simple to use brainstorming tool.
4.4.1. bubble.us can be used to start discussions among teams leading to collaborative thinking. For example, students could begin with a guiding question and start a brainstorming map on bubbl.us to organize and record their discussion.
4.4.1.1. It can also be used by teachers as a pre- or post- topic assessment tool. Students could list what they know or what they have learned about a specific topic.
4.5. http://www.wikispaces.com/ - Wikispaces Classroom - is a social writing website.
4.5.1. Wikispaces Classroom can be used for many collaborative writing projects. One example might be a team research project. Students could add and change research as they found more information. Teachers can see who is contributing and students can comment on their classmates work.
4.6. http://www.epals.com/#!/global-community/ - ePals Global Community is a safe social learning network connecting classrooms from all over the world.
4.6.1. Teachers can use ePals Global Community to connect their classrooms with other classrooms from all over the world. Students can then participate in collaborative projects with those classrooms. For example, you might start a project comparing holidays or celebrations from your culture and your partnering classroom's culture.
5. Information & Technology Literacy Tools
5.1. http://www.factmonster.com/ - Fact Monster is a reference site for children.
5.1.1. Fact Monster can be used especially for younger students as a research site. It can be used to begin teaching about searching for information at a young age.
5.2. http://www.noodletools.com/ - NoodleTools is a website that facilitates the research process online for students and teachers.
5.2.1. NoodleTools is not only a platform for students and teachers to organize their research process but also has a teaching module to walk students through the research process. This module helps educators teach students about responsible information use and source credibility.
5.3. https://www.diigo.com/ - Diigo is a social bookmarking website that allows users to bookmark and tag webpages.
5.3.1. Students and teachers can use Diigo to organize the information they find on the web. Students can highlight, add sticky notes and annotations to their bookmarks. This can help them when it comes time to cite their sources in their work. It will also help with students' research skills, as they can use the sticky notes to summarize the important information from a particular webpage.
5.4. http://www.grammarly.com/ - Grammarly is a proofreading a plagiarism-detection tool.
5.4.1. Grammarly can help students check their work before turning it in to the teacher. It will promote academic integrity and help teach students to cite their work properly.
5.5. http://www.pebblego.com/ - PeebleGo is a research resource containing only non-fiction texts for students in grade K-3. It provides both a search box and a visual search.
5.5.1. PebbleGo can be used to facilitate research for younger students. By providing non-fiction text at an appropriate reading level, teachers in K-3 classrooms can use this site to teach research skills to their students. There is also an educator's resource page that includes lesson plans linked to national literacy standards.
5.6. http://www.livebinders.com/welcome/education - LiveBinders for Education is a virtual 3-ring binder.
5.6.1. Students and educators can organize many types of information in their LiveBinder and then share it with others. For example, a teacher could organize a unit binder for the current topic of study. The binder could be shared with students so they could access the information anywhere, anytime.
5.6.1.1. Could also be used as a collaboration tool