Starting School with Technology

About this time every year when I was a teacher in the classroom I began to think about what that first week was going to look like.  How was I going to grab the attention of those students?  How was I going to make sure they understood what was accepted of them as a student in my class? Through the years of teaching, I grew to understand that every set of students that came through my portal was going to be different.  I had to be changing every year.  So if I was still in the classroom today, what might I be  planning for that first week of school?  I would probably want to make "brownie points" by using technology.  Here are some ideas:

1. 1.     .   Creating an avatar through Voki.com to introduce yourself to the students or to introduce the class.
2. 2.         PowToon.com would grab their attention to present your expectations of your class.
3. 3.   .       Create a movie with Movie Maker or another movie Web 2.0 to introduce yourself, give students an introduction to your class and to explain your classroom expectations.  Upload it to YouTube.  Show at the beginning of class.  Encourage your students to share with their parents.  You can then use it to show new students that come after the first day of school.
4. 4.       Polleverywhere.com is a great tool for icebreaker questions.  Your students can text in answers to questions either about how much they know about your subject or their interest.
5. 5.      Kidblog.org to create open communication. What does the student expect to learn from your class?  What do they fear the most about being in your class?

Ideas are endless.  Remember to check out your Symbaloo account or just get out there and search for ideas for Web 2.0 for that first.  Hook them fast and keep them hooked for the school year.