Web+2.0

Web 2.0 Tools Ustream is a website that consists of a network of channels providing a place for lifecasting and live video streaming of events online. According to Wikipedia, the founders of Ustream.tv wanted a way for their friends in the army, who were deployed overseas during the war, to be able to communicate with their families back home. The neat thing about familiarizing your students with this website is that it can be used as a medium for communication or as a way to view different broadcasts of current events happening in the world today. Not to mention, it is completely free and only takes a camera and internet connection. One cool way to use this in the classroom, would be to communicate with a classroom from a foreign country. For example, if your class was studying Japan, you could set aside time once a week for 2-3 weeks, where the class can chat with the class in Japan and ask any questions that they’ve come up while learning about the country. By providing the students with an interactive real-life learning experience, they will be actively engaged and excited about the topic at hand. [|Ustream]
 * Ustream**

This website was designed specifically for schools, students, teachers and parents. At this site you will find educator approved videos that make learning on the internet safe and comfortable. This site provides students with help on homework or any given subject. The videos and animations can also be used for teachers to capture students attention and enrich any classroom lesson. This site provides pages for elementary school, middle school, secondary school, educators, student projects, and sponsor videos. As educators it can be a very difficult task differentiating instruction and finding the time during any given lesson to assist every single student. By providing students access to this website during a lesson, they can seek out the help they need by watching the videos and doing the practice problems that the website provides. To use this website quick and successfully during class time, the teacher can compile a list of the exact links that are pertinent to the lesson at hand and give that to the students while they are working on it in the classroom or at home. [|SchoolWax TV]
 * SchoolWAX TV**

At this free website you can create your own timeline or explore timelines about history, biographies and more. At the site there is a list of timeline categories to explore or you are given the option to create your own timeline. When creating your own timeline you can use pictures and videos to enhance the topic at hand. In the classroom, students could use this website when researching a historical event, or they could use it to create a timeline about their own life. If they were using it to create a timeline about their own life, they would be learning about sequencing, integrated with writing and uploading photos and videos. [|Xtimeline]
 * Xtimeline**

At tikatok.com parents and their children can write, illustrate and publish their own books. Tikatok is free to join and you only need to pay when you order a hardcover, paperback or eBook of your child’s story. Tikatok also offers a classroom program to help teachers create a unique reading and writing program for their students. The Tikatok teacher account is free and you can use your existing classroom lesson plans or story topics they have to offer. Through the teacher account you can also view and edit students’ work online and track their writing progress. This a perfect tool to use in the classroom for a reading and writing lesson. You could also integrate science or social studies by assigning the students a specific content area to write about. For example, if your students were studying Lewis and Clark, you could have them create their own story about an expedition that would include some of the information they have learned. This is a great way reinforce what the students have already learned and inspire creative writing skills. [|Tikatok]
 * Tikatok**

Twiducate is social networking for schools. By joining this network teachers can create an online community for their classroom and share ideas, reading, thoughts, post discussions, deadlines, and homework. Students can collaborate with other students, keep track of deadlines and homework, share and record their thoughts, and improve writing and punctuation. As a teacher you create an online classroom for you and your students and the students log in with the code developed by you. Depending on the socioeconomics of the school that you’re working in, you could use this as an in-class tool, or a tool at home. If any of your students do not have access to a computer or the internet outside of school, you would want to use this as an in class tool. One way to specifically use this in the classroom, would be blogging thoughts about a story you are reading as a class. During computer lab time, the students could log into the online classroom and post their thoughts on a story that is being read during read aloud. This will promote comprehension of the story and give the students an opportunity to record their thoughts and read the thoughts of their peers. [|Twiducate]
 * Twiducate**