Tool # 6

We use Twitter. BlogSpot, WordPress and Diigo to share information within the Leadership Team as well as with the faculty.
Our weekly bulletin  is on WordPress [NMS Principal]
We have a book study that is on Blogspot [Kid Team Book Study]
We use Twitter as a way to get infoand celebrations out quickly wherever we are [Twitter] We are #nmsknights
We use Diigo as described in an earlier tool to share readings that are pertinint to our Leadership Team.

These Tools can easily become a daily part of any classroom. Questions about homework or just questions about the lesson of the day could be asked om twitter or a blog and either the teacher or a student could answer.Students could quickly share thoughts, etc on Twitter or even use TweetDeck to share on multiple tags. the possibilities oere endless. whatevera class can dream one of the tools can be used to help accomplish it.

Tool # 5

I have used both Animoto and Wordle to create different types of product that have been used with our students and teachers as well as in our Leadership team.

An example of Wordle used to motivate students and teachers can be seen every Friday on the backs of our teachers and some students. We designed a Wordle T-shirt that uses words to depict the culture of a Northbrook Knight.

Animoto is used almost daily. We take pictures of athletes, students colaborating, special events, etc and show them to our students as a motivational tool at lunches, faculty meetings etc. One of my favorite animoto projects was done by the Administrators for the faculty luncheon on the last day of school. I took the anomoto and inserted it into iDVD and burned copies for all our teacers as a 'thank you' for all they did during the year.

Tool # 4



Examples of Google Docs that have been sent and used during the school year.


We have used Google Docs to create, edit and share documents and different forms with Leadership in the past. Some of those documatns would include: NMS Handbook, Electronic form submission for receiving the handbook and our Pre Flight document used at the beginning of school with our faculty.

Google Apps can be used in a classroom setting for calendars that the teacher and students could add to. Documents could be worked on at home or any place that students and teachers were located. Collaboration would be just a cloud away so to speak.

Tool # 3

We have used You Tube, TED Talks and ABC News among a few to find videos to use at faculty meetings and Leadership. ABC News - several videos were used at our student leadershipsummer camp on bulllying.

My Kid Would Never Bully is the Dateline special that examines the national epidemic of bullying. Bullying has become a growing problem in schools, leading to bad grades, poor attendance, and even self-destructive behavior like suicide. Taken from NBCNews [Dateline]

We also used TED Talks in Leadership and at a faculty meeting to present Sir Ken Robinson.

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.Taken from TED Talks.

Copyright is not an easy thing to deal with in the classroo. Kids and adults often times think that just because they can download it, they own it. It is hard to get kids and adults to understand that they must give credit when usung a video or clip. Citing seems like a waste to people until they get questioned.

DropBox is an excellent way to facilitate a drop/pick up situation with students and adults who are members. It is also great for editing although only one person can work at a time. I like it much better than Google Docs.We use DropBox in Leadership to share docs and video, etc.

Tool #2

Kathy Green's Diigo

My Diigo account is listed above. We have used the Diigo in our Leadership Team meetings as a way of bringing current information to all the members and also bookmarking intersting readings etc.
Diigo was also used at the  November Learning Symphony last summer.I am following Val Johnson and Steve Barry both of which are members of the Leadership Team.
Posting publicly does not scare me at all. You just have to be very careful about how your word things that you direct to your teachers or staff since everyone can view the posts.

Educators PLN

I will probably visit this PLN from time to time just to see what other educators are up to around the globe.