Where To Start?

My brain never has a shortage of awesome things that I want to implement into my teaching and/or classroom.  These ideas come from my own brain, through conversations with teammates and coworkers, through supplemental research, and now, from my Masters classes.

I have added a new component to my classroom blog by giving students another way of participating with it.  Since they still aren't ready to write entries that we will post to the blog, I have started putting up a "Question of the Day" several times throughout the week.  Students can go on the blog at home (which is encouraged) and can submit an answer for their peers and myself to see and possibly respond to.  If students don't have the ability to access the blog at home, they are able to go onto the blog during some of our computer time at school so that they can participate.

Since having my own experience with Skype this past week, I feel much more comfortable setting this up and using it in my classroom.  The simplicity of Skype makes it very easy to want to use because it doesn't take a lot of setup or time to learn how to facilitate.  During a recent committee meeting at our school that is focused around technology, a coworker suggested that we use Skype to broadcast our morning announcements.  This would bring a new and fresh way of delivering the announcements and add a new spark of excitement for the students.  I also feel that by allowing students to see those students who are participating in the announcements (ie: saying the Pledge of Allegiance, sharing Student Council information, and any other student participation opportunities) it will create a better sense of community throughout the school because students will be able to put a name with a face and feel a connection to each other.  I am excited to see if we can get this accomplished this year.

I would really like to find a way to use Google Docs with my students, but there are a few "privacy and privilege" concerns that need to be looked into carefully and then I will really look at how I want to use the tool (possibly for weekly spelling tests or spelling practice).