Thing #18

I wasn't aware that OpenOffice was already on our laptop. I wonder if it is on the students' computers/labs? Two main advantages to both OpenOffice and Google Doc. are it is free and accessible to anywhere, as long as there is Internet--- a disadvantage. I can see how it would be useful in the classroom where students need to collaborate on a project. I looked over the Native Language Confederation of OpenOffice and that was interesting. I have relatives in Iran who are learning English and I could help them edit their English projects using this tool, so students actually could work collaboratively around the world- cool!

Thing #16

Wikis look like a very useful and easy tool for the classroom. The process seems very simple. I can see it used for student electronic portfolios, book chats. topic discussions and explorations. I would also like to try setting up one for teacher collaboration where teachers within and out of the district share and create lessons, ideas, resources, and projects.

The link below is an example of a middle school esl wiki.

http://inspireenglish.pbworks.com/FrontPage