Evidence+for+Tool+Integration

===**Web-based tools are just that...tools. Today's session will allow you to add some interesting tools to your educator's toolbox. But it is important to know more than what tools are available. Obviously, in order to use tools the user must know several things:**=== 1. The purpose of the tool. 2. The reason for using (or not using) each tool. 3. The appropriate time to use (and when NOT to use) the tool. 4. The best tool to select from the toolbox for the task at hand.

We will also go in search of the "best" tools for your particular situation. We will have to define "best" in terms of web-based tools so we are all on the same page. **Click on the Discussion tab at the top of this page and respond to the prompt, "What qualities make a particular web-based tool really great?"** You will need to click on the discussion topic in order to respond. Be sure to refresh your page every few moments after you respond so you can view what others have to say on this topic. Feel free to respond more than once. We'll use your comments to make a list below: 1. To use in your classroom. 2.Needs to be user friendly and safe for kids. 3.Should be age appropriate and fun! 4.Easy to use. 5.

I will strongly advise you again and again, not to use these tools just because you feel that you "should be using technology" in your classroom. Use them because they have the power to get kids to develop the skills needed to survive in our world. Go here and scroll to the bottom of the page to get some FANTASTIC reproducibles that will help you incorporate Web 2.0 tools to enhance your teaching: [|Teaching the iGeneration: Online Reproducibles]

As teachers, we also need to be concerned with matching the use of these tools in concert with sound educational pedagogy. Follow the links to examine the new Bloom's Taxonomy, Robert Marzano's Dimensions of Learning Model, or Costa and Kallick's 16 Habits of Mind., You may use any of these sources, plus the list above, as evidence for choosing a particular tool.

Here's a link to Tony Ferlazzo's Best Websites for Teachers blog on web resources to help teachers integrate Bloom's into their teaching:

Here's a really neat graphic that will help you select student activities and projects based on Bloom's Taxonomy: