Web+2.0+Tools+Rated+Best+by+Teachers


 * Great Source iWrite:**
 * Everything a student needs to know about writing is on this iWrite source online from Great Source! There are categories for students, parents, and teachers. Not only are there PowerPoints with instructions for all types of writing, there is a Six Traits section, a grammar section, mini-lessons, templates, tutorials and graphic organizers for you to use with your students. Educators can choose between elementary and secondary for instructions for different types of writing. The grammar section would best be aimed towards upper elementary, middle, and high school students and includes videos for the students to watch about mechanics, spelling, commonly confused words, sentence structure, and anything else you can think of that involves writing. Finally! A great, free online text for all to use!


 * TeachersFirst: For the Sake of Argument**
 * The Common Core standards shift our thinking and our daily teaching. Reading and writing receive //equal// emphasis, unlike previous reforms focused solely on reading and its foundations. Reading and writing are closely and intentionally related in the new CCSS, and writing is the vehicle by which students reveal their thinking and understanding. The expectation is that students will //routinely// write, sometimes producing finished work in one sitting and sometimes sustaining a piece of writing over several weeks.While all three text types are important, (narrative, informational/explanatory, and opinion/argument) the Standards put particular emphasis on students’ ability to write sound arguments on substantive topics and issues.
 * Wallwisher **
 * A blank page (wall) on which you and others can write and post, very much like electronic post-it notes. ** "How-To" Help **
 * Todaysmeet **
 * A microblogging backchannel, which helps teachers conduct online discussions, while channeling the results onto one web page or an Interactive White Board. Teachers can easily create a room, link the URL to a blog or wiki for students and generate a discussion.
 * Penzu, the Anti-Blog **
 * Keep a journal in private
 * Wordle **
 * A word cloud that helps to interpret the meaning of the words by assigning font size according to how frequently the word appears in the targeted text. This popular online tool has many unique classroom uses for teachers and students that focus on language learning and analysis.
 * Tagxedo **
 * **S** ame as the above with a little more flexibility
 * MixedInk **
 * A free tool for collaborative writing
 * Mural.ly**
 * A free program that allows users to drag and drop images, document or Web links onto a big flexible canvas which appear as thumnails; Text or speech bubbles can be added to these. A great collaborative too**l.**
 * Prezi, the Zooming Presentation Editor **
 * An online presentation tool that helps students create and share their ideas. Two helpful sites: **Videos and Cheat Sheets** ** Help and Tutorials **
 * Animoto **
 * A Web 2.0 tool that allows teachers and students to create impressive and unique digital stories and presentations (incorporating images, video clips, music and text) quickly and easily. Animoto is a wonderful tool for students because it allows them to focus on content creation rather than trying to learn an editing or manipulation tool. In the school context, Animoto For Education is ideal tool for students to create their own booktrailers, digital stories or music videos. The free version allows only a thirty second presentation.
 * Glogster **l
 * **GlogsterEDU** (the Basic, Free version) is a Web 2.0 tool that allows students, or yourself, to create an online interactive poster/presentation/research on any topic that combines graphics, backgrounds, videos, images, sound, text and hyperlinks. A digital poster! (Please note: adding data (for example, Powerpoint, Word, PDF) to glogs is only available on the Premium, paid version of GlogsterEDU). **Help and Tutorials Frequently Asked Questions**
 * Slide.ly**
 * Wikispaces: **
 * A wikspace is a online page (or pages) with it’s own address to which you can add text, images, links to documents or web sites and widgets. It is collaborative in the sense that you can invite others to share and edit; it is safe because of the privacy settings. **Help for creating a wiki**