Lebrato,+Alina+-+Cool+Tools+Review

By   Alina Lebrato In Monday’s session of Cool Tools there were number of the tools that were presented that I have used. This includes Symbaloo, Google Docs, Edmoto and Twitter. My favorite tool of the ones I have used is Symbaloo. Symbaloo allows you to save and organize links. I currently use Symbaloo to group the links as Math specific web sites, Web 2.0 web sites, Algebra websites, news websites, etc. I learned thru the Cool Tool session how to search the Symbaloo gallery.
 * Cool Tools Review**

New tools that I felt were relevant for my classroom were there following: a) Google Forms. I liked the ability of grading assignments using Google Forms. I plan on doing more research on the tool to see how it can apply. b) Tools to use your Smartphone for responding to questions via text such as Poll Everywhere and Socrative. Since most students in my classroom have cell phones and they love to text. Using their cell phone would likely engage the students in the lesson. c) QR Codes. Setting up stations where students will use their Smartphone to find “hidden” information would intrigue students and thus provide a fun activity for working thru Math problems. d) Sock puppets and Voki. These applications offer a great of presenting information to students in a different mode. e) Tricider website to help students collaborate on math problems.

There are two of the cool tools that I plan to implement in my classroom. The first tool is Sock puppets. Every day I have to present the same information to students in every class. I instruct them to come in the class room, get their notebooks out, sharpen their pencils and start the daily warm up exercise. I have recorded these instructions to play at the start of each class. The second tool that I plan to implement is QR Codes. I will create six different stations. Half of the stations will have an answer to a problem and ask the students to prove that the answer is correct. The other half of the stations will have a problem for students to complete.