Hitting the Ground Running

As a Social Studies teacher that like to focus on integrating technology into my classrooms and lessons I thought it might be a nice idea to share my experiences in implementing different tools/methods in my classroom.  Many of them I've used before, but it's a new year and a new group of students they probably have never been in a 1:1 environment before. 

The first tool I utilized this year was Edmodo.  This is an excellent microblogging tool designed for schools that I've used for the last three-four years.  It is great because it puts students in a familiar "facebook" like environment but adds and educational twist.  Everything is under the control of the teacher and even has options to include parents.  It would be safe to say that Edmodo is the command center for everything I do in my classroom.  I used Edmodo to embed a Google Form survey for the students to take about their learning experiences. 

So far the students have been enjoying using Edmodo.  It's not something we use everyday but at least every other day.  I'm also getting more questions about using it, "Can we use Edmodo for this project?" "Can you set us up in small groups for that project?"  All questions I happily say, "yes" to. 

Hopefully the year continues to go positive and the students continue to be receptive of what I do and how I do it.  Here's to a great start!