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=ENGAGING BOYS IN LITERACY WIKISPACE=

To contact me: christinarzazewski@gmail.com rzazewskic@fc.hwcdsb.ca Twitter: @ChrisRRodney

Click here for a link to our google doc from today's collaboration:
@http://bit.ly/JCQxt4

ECOO collaboration archive: @http://bit.ly/ecooliteracy

Click here for a link to my presentation:
@http://prezi.com/r6gwjbcjmwc1/copy-of-engaging-boys-in-literacy-critical-thinking-through-technology/ I used prezi.com to create the presentation.

Here is a list of the tools shown in my presentation at ECOO 2011. I will add others as I come across them.
Gmail's host of tools: igoogle.com Simply sign up for an account and you can have access to all of these tools for free.
 * Google Docs (document, spreadsheet, presentation maker (like Power Point, survey maker)
 * Email
 * Blogger (a free blogging tool provided by Google)

Also check out Google Reader once you've signed up. It will automatically send you RSS feeds for articles to your inbox on any topic you are interested in. It does the work for you. You just sit back and read what you like.

Bitstrips (comic maker): www.bitstripsforschools.com
 * free for all Ontario educators (you can create your own classroom and add all of your students, see their work, retrieve passwords if they forget)

Prezi: prezi.com This would be a really neat way to present your projects or culminating activity material in any course. I have yet to try it out but I am really looking forward to using it.

Glogster: www.edu.glogster.com This tool allows you to make a virtual poster. It's got a lot of neat applications for presentations as it is a giant interactive poster that you create. Check out some samples on the home page. It's easy to create.

Surveys for embedding: www.surveytool.com Easy to create and easy to analyze. Embeds easily on to blogs and wikis.

Vocaroo: www.vocaroo.com Free audiclip recording software which does not require any downloads. Easy way to embed sound into wikis and blogs.

Audioboo: www.audioboo.com Similar to vocaroo (see above)

Fotobabble: www.fotobabble.com Combines audio and photos to create a virtual note-taking tool.

Voicethread (putting voice to your slideshows): www.voicethread.com
 * allows you to share slides/pictures with students and have them leave comments (either through a mic or written)
 * would be great for critical thinking (have them analyze a picture as a class)

Wordles (word clouds): www.wordle.net

Tagxedo (word clouds): www.tagxedo.com

Audacity (free sound recorder and editor): @http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Google Scholar: googlescholar.com At Google Scholar you can search for journal articles and skip having to look through the useless articles that a general Google search would bring you to.

Easy Bib: easybib.com Can't remember how to do that works cited page? Fear not! Easy bib can help you out in your most desperate hour - or let's say the night before the essay's due.

Twitter: twitter.com Not really a place for posting your up-to-date status (but many people do), but a place to connect with people across the world who have the same questions and interests, including tons of resources on anything you can think of. Start a network now and see how quickly you can be connecting with people across the globe. Just try searching for tweets on Hamlet and I bet you could get a link to actual pictures of the Globe theatre and much more. The possibilities are endless.

Delicious account: delicious.com Here's an amazing resource that allows you to save any article or any'thing' you find interesting on the net in one place. You will need to sign up for a yahoo account first.

Evernote: Evernote.com Another cool tool that allows you to save everything in one place, including a photo of a note that you take or even a scrap of paper you've written on. It will store it and you can file it. It's like Delicious for everything you do.

Symbaloo: Symbaloo.com It's your own web browser in a window. Set up an account and save all your favourites. Search from the middle window to see your results and have access to all your favourites at once...a really nice tool.

Wallwisher: www.wallwisher.com A virtual Sticky note wall where you can post a question and have people leave virtual messages. This would be a great way to survey people and get them talking without them feeling pressured to answer. Post a link to your wall a few days before a presentation and use it as a starting point...could be interesting.