Gather.com

Gather.com is a great website!  I stumbled across it a few weeks ago and it is great for teachers as well as students.  It is a site where one can create groups and discuss specific topics or current events.  There are already teacher groups created as well as really interesting debate groups: "How important is higher education?" "The Effects of Smoking Pot".  It is very interesting and I could see a lot of healthy, educated classroom discussions stem from this sight.

Flickr

Flickr is a great service to use for creative English assignments and/or art assignments.  I personally have not used it yet, but I have heard wonderful things about it from teachers who have used it.

Shelfari Discussion Groups

Shelfari also has a great online discussion forum where anyone who is a member can sign up to a group discussion that follow various themes, subjects, and authors.

The following is a link to a Shelfari discussion group entitled History Non-Fiction with an explanation of the group.  I would definitely direct my students to join this discussion group and could even make an assignment out of it.

History Non-Fiction

This group is for anyone who loves History. We can discuss the truth or otherwise of the past and the evidence that historical events are recorded accurately. Lively discussion is encouraged but members are requested to debate respectfully. Lurkers are fine if you're just interested in the site to get book ideas and do not desire to participate further but if you haven't logged on to Shelfari in over a year, you will be removed from the group  

Glogster

I used Glogster to post assingment expectations for students in a format where they can constantly check on it and not fear that they will lose the assignment.  By making an online assignment site it eliminates students who might lose their assignment, or not properly check the expectations of the assignment. 




After Aman introduced me to Glogster I used previous units I had done during my practicum to create thematic GLOGS around them.  These glogs are perfect for teachers and students alike to access.  The glogs form a cluster of photos, videos, notes, and other media sources as well as links to various lesson plans and ideas.



History 12
Unit: Human Rights
GLOGHUMANRIGHTS

Social Studies 9

Unit: Napoleon

GLOGNAPOLEON