Edmodo

This past year I had my first encounter with an awesome FREE collaboration tool called Edmodo. Edmodo is a great, secure website, where teachers and students can create connections with their peers across the United States, or even within their very own building. There are two ways that I use Edmodo-as an educator, and as a teacher.

As an educator: For me, especially working in the technology field, a PLN (Personal Learning Network) is very important. It gives me the chance to connect with others who do what I do. It gives me a chance to see how others teach and incorporate technology in their classrooms, which I can, then, bring into my own lessons. Edmodo is a HUGE part of my PLN. You can join virtual communities focused on your forte and collaborate and discuss with other educators about it! The communities are a great way to get new ideas or go to for help when you are having an issue with something. Our district also recently joined Edmodo. Slowly but surely, all of our teachers across the county are joining and sharing with one another. I believe that this brings us closer together as a community. While we may not be able to drive across the county to get a copy or share something, we can always upload it to Edmodo!

As a teacher: My fifth graders were the first to try out Edmodo this year and they LOVED it! We worked with a group in Baltimore, Maryland. As a teacher on the site, you can place your students in groups. We created groups of about 8, 4 NC kids and 4 MD kids. By logging into the secure site and the kids were automatically connected with kids their age from another state! They started out by uploading All About Me PowerPoint slides to learn about one anther. From there...it was ON! They were constantly getting on Edmodo to start discussions of their own with their new buddies! As a teacher, whenever I or the teacher in Maryland, logged into the site, we could see each and every aspect of the discussions, so it was easily monitored. This is a great way to connect my kids to others around them. It can also be used as a communication tool in the classroom as well. Teachers can upload and assign assignments and then grade them right inside Edmodo! The can also create cool badges for the kids to collect when they complete a certain project or action! These badges are placed on their profile to show off to others! PS....Parents can create an account as well so they can keep up with what their students are talking about!

This year I feel much more comfortable with Edmodo and plan to use it with many more grade levels! Do you use this great web tool in your classroom?