The most effective web-tool in my classroom is...

The most effective web-tool in my classroom is Edmodo.com and it is much more effeceint than other platforms such as EdLine.  I pretty much eliminated the use of EdLine except to post grades via GradeQuick.  Edmodo is much more efficient due to the fact that you can make changes at the level you are working at rather than five levels deep.  Edmodo is formatted like Facebook and the students recognize this.  The students are able to communicate with one another but the teacher can adjust settings to allow full communications between students or to read-only.  I tell my students that they have many other platforms to communicate with one another in regards to aspects of life outside of class.


On the first couple days of school I get my students on the laptop lab and have them log onto Edmodo. As a teacher, you create classes and in turn it give you are group code for specific classes that you give to your students.  Initially the students will sign up by creating a username and password and they would submit the group code at this time.  There is no need for the teacher to create a roster.  If the students follow the steps correctly, the roster creates itself.  Also, as a teacher you have access to the members of the class and their usernames, but you do not have access to passwords.  It gives students the responsibility to know their password.  The teacher also has the option to change a password and tell the student that this is temporary password and they need to change it on their own.  Once a student has an account on Edmodo, they can use a group code from another teacher to use on the same account.

How do I use Edmodo:

• Post documents, photos, web links, and other files to students as a whole class, group, or individual students
• If a student is absent, I can send a note to the student about what they had missed in class that day.  The student can check at home in the evening and be ready the next day.
• Add website and documents to the library to keep as safekeeping
• Create assignments for students to complete online and submit via Edmodo
• Assign activities and notices for specific groups of students
• Create multiple choice or short answer quizzes that is graded by Edmodo
• Create small groups
• Network with other teachers from other parts of the nation and even the world
• Join communities of educators that have similar interests as you 
• Observe recent activity to see which specific students have opened certain assignments
• Create and assign badges to students as incentives to complete tasks
• Encourage parents to get involved by giving them a link to see what their child sees on Edmodo
• Add grades and effectively use it as a gradebook
• Use the Planner (calendar) to post future tasks and assignments for entire classes, groups, or individual students
• Use the Planner daily to post prompts for Question of the Day (example:  bellringers) for those students who are absent or neglect to complete the task

In recent months, Edmodo has added apps.  Some of the apps are free and many cost money.  I would tell you to do a search and find ones you think would be effective for your instruction, but otherwise save your money.

As a teacher, I use Edmodo on a daily basis, even many times a day.  I use this as a communication tool for my students and as a way to distribute content.  I try to post PowerPoints, notes, video links, or photos that were part of the day's instruction on a daily basis so students have access to it.

The students do not use Edmodo on a daily basis, but when I do make a post, the students' account will by default alert them by email that something has been posted for them.  The students usually access Edmodo as part of instruction on average once a week.  There are some weeks they do not use it in class, and some weeks they use it every day.

Edmodo gives teachers the opportunity to customize the way they communicate to students at no cost.  Students need to be able to access specific information for their classes and this is the perfect platform as this.  There are other websites such as Edmodo, but this is a site that I have used for 2 years and it has evolved to serve my needs.

You can use this website on any web browser and check the Apple App Store for iOS app for iPad and iPhone and the Google Play Store for use on Android devices.  These apps are not as full-featured as the web browser version.

Are you tired of professional development that has no relevance to you?

You probably have asked this question many times in your professional life.  Today, there is a way to make professional development relavent to what you want to know more about  The tool to use is Twitter.  Many teachers see Twitter as a mechanism for students to make comments, but the educational  technology community has embraced Twitter as a resource to benefit teachers of all subject areas and specific subject areas.

First of all, what is Twitter?  Twitter is a web-based social media application that is limited to 140 characters.  You can create short comments abouta topic and even include links to websites.

I have a teacher friend that asked on Facebook who just opened a Twitter account and she asked if anyone over the age of 40 uses Twitter.  I automatically replied with "You can use it for Professional Development."

How can we use Twitter for professional development?  By the use of pound signs (#) we can create hashtags to signify a specific topic or a specific community that the comments or discussion is geared towards.  In the educational community there are many hashtags that are used.  There is #SSChat for Social Studies teachers, #EngChat for English teachers, and so forth.  Most of the educational community have specific chat times each week.  The community for Social Studies teachers is Monday evenings at 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern time each week.  There is also a Social Studies Chat Ning website that you can see a log of past discussions.

I have found many resources by using Twitter.  There are many educators that I have followed that are nationally respected in their field of study or in their schools.  They will post research, their experiences in the classroom, new discoveries, or even a joke every once in a while.

By following these people, you are creating your own personal professional development plan based around what you are interested in.

If you would like to follow me on Twitter, search for @richzukowski and add me as a follower and I will add you back.

This is a link from a website from Jerry Blumgarten who is known on the internet and Twitter community as "Cybraryman" due to his extensive website cataloging many aspects of education and techonology.   He is a retired librarian in the New York Public School system and has retired to Florida, but has continued to make great contributions to education into his retirement.  This link refers to using Twitter as professional development and in the classroom.
http://cybraryman.com/twitter.html

Search on Twitter for #SSChat:  https://twitter.com/search?q=%23sschat&src=typd
Twitter Chats for Education and the Moderators that Make Them Rock

I have been Tweeting from this conference using the hashtag #WVCofH

22 Effective Ways To Use Twitter In The Classroom

When you do find a technology that you would like to try, use it on a small sample class like a resource/reteach class.  If you find it useful, share with another teacher in your building or your district and hopefully you and your colleagues can share the resources by word of mouth.

Introduction to Richard Zukowski

Richard Zukowski is a Social Studies teacher at Grafton High School in Grafton, West Virginia.  He just finished his fourth year teaching World History, Media Productions, and AP American Government and Politics at GHS.  Prior to Grafton High School, he had taught West Virginia Studies at Taylor County Middle School and was a Special Education teacher at Taylor County Middle School and various elementary schools in Marion and Taylor counties.  He has also taught college level American History classes for Pierpont Community and Technical College as an adjunct professor.

Mr. Zukowski has Bachelor's and Master's degree from West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia.  He has endorsements in West Virginia in Social Studies (5-12), Specific Learning Disabilities, Behavior Disorders, Mental Impairments, Autism, as well as Principal endorsement.

Mr. Zukowski has incorpated many web-based applications into his classroom at Grafton High School.  He has the belief that students are not expected to know every bit of material, but they need to know how to access information and utilize it to create a product.  The following chart is how technology should be utilized in our classroom and our world:

This is the foundation of this blog.  Mr. Zukowski is going to sample some web-based applications on this blog and explain how he used it in his classroom.  Viewers of this blog are welcome to take his ideas and use them in their own classrooms and feel free to make comments about each topic.

You can contact Mr. Zukowski by email  at rzukowsk@access.k12.wv.us, richzukowski@gmail.com, Google+, and Twitter @richzukowski.