10 Wikis Worth Checking Out

Last school year I would dedicate Wednesday's to sharing a Wiki or a few Wikis that I thought were of value.  Looking back, it has been almost 11 months since I did a Wiki Wednesday post, so I guess I have a lot of catching up to do.  So I present 10 Wikis that I have recently discovered that I think are worth sharing.

1.) First Day - We all have our First Day of School routines.  The question is how many have activities for the content area that they teach?  This wiki provides some interesting ideas for First Day of School Activities.  Worth looking at.

2.) Project Elite Wiki is specific for Librarians.  With the advances in technology there is a fear (and in some states a reality) that librarians will soon be removed or replaced in schools.  The purpose of this Wiki is to encourage technology use by Librarians.  It is important to be able to present yourself with additionally abilities, and this Wiki is a great starting point for Librarians. 

3.) iPods, iPhones, and iPads in Education is a great homepage for all you need to know about integrating iTechnology into the classroom.  Several resources as well as descriptions of apps for various subject matter. 

4.) Open Source Graphics and Visualization Tools is a wiki providing links to web based resources that provides ways to create, share, and edit graphics and visuals.  Very well organized. 

5.) Paperless Posters is a wiki all about Glogster.  You will find helpful tips, samples, and ideas for using Glogster in the classroom.  A helpful link for learning how to use the website and worth sharing with teachers who are interested in using the site. 

6.) Backchanneling Wiki is a one stop shop for all things backchanneling.  The idea of communicating with students through a backchannel is gaining a lot of steam.  This wiki provides links to web-based applications, ideas for use, and links to other resources about backchanneling.

7.) Educational Wikis is all about how to use Wikis in education and it provides various links to articles, tips, ideas, and other resources for using Wiki's in education.  You will also find 100's of examples of educational wikis being used by teachers across the world.  They are listed in alphabetical order.....wow!

8.) Cool Tools for Schools is a great starting point for finding Web 2.0 based resources to use in the classroom.  Each resource is linked by category and provides a short description for them all.

9.) Book Leads is a Wiki all about books.  There is information about authors, information for librarians, information about eBooks, as well as Young Authors.  A valuable resource for Librarians and English teachers.

10.) Student Innovation is a wiki that has the single purpose of sharing how students are using technology to create innovative projects and how as teachers, we need to be sharing what our students are doing with others.  Although this Wiki is still a work in progress; I believe with all the great things that teachers are doing out there, that this will grow rather fast. 

SENDtoREADER

I don't have a Kindle, but you might and so might your students.  SENDtoREADER is a bookmarklet that you can install on mostly all the main browsers out there: Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, Internet Explorer.  You must register for an account to use the service, so I suggest that you do that.  When you use the bookmarklet it will automatically remove all unnecessary content including: ads, polls and banners but leaves the main content intact.

SENDtoREADER "retains all images that are part of the text you send to your Kindle reader so you don’t miss out on seeing them when you have the time to read the material you have saved.   If you have long articles, items you don’t have time to read, or you don’t want to strain your eyes by reading from the computer screen, you can send articles to your Kindle for comfortable, stress-free reading from its legendary e-inc display at your leisure.  You can keep track of every single item you have sent to your Kindle from any other source and can always resend items if necessary. This means you don't have to keep the articles on your Kindle once you have finished with them. This also eliminates the concern that you may have deleted something important."

As textbooks become more mobile, software and applications such as SENDtoREADER will become a valuable addition to reading various sources. 

Tools for the 21st Century Teacher - Volume 2

This is volume 2 in what I will become a series of Tools for the 21st Century Teacher eBooks.  I have made this available through Issuu again and also made this document available for download.  So if you visit My Library where this is stored, you will see an icon to download it as a PDF at the bottom.

Happy Reading!

Open publication - Free publishing - More web 2.0

Copia - Digital Book Club

Copia is a site dedicated to creating a social network for people who read eBooks.  "If a book is worth reading, it is worth discussing."  With Copia you will be able to browse and buy eBooks, create an account (which will give you 7 free eBooks - a $42 value), get into groups of people who are reading the same eBook as you, and enjoy powerful desktop reading and/or iPad reading through their app. 

If your school has gone to eBook readers, or students are reading books via iPod Touches, you can download the free iPad app or desktop software and students will then be able to discuss the book with one another.  Same goes for teachers.  Think of Copia as taking the Book Club to the digital format.  To learn more about Copia, click here.  To take a tour and watch a video, click here.

I could really see this being a valuable asset to schools that are taking reading to a digital level.  Having access to classic books is becoming easier and easier as they become free for download on various sites.  If Copia would create an education aspect for adding school textbooks it could be a beneficial addition as well.