To Hub or not to Hub...

So blogging is great and everything but what do you think about sites like hubpages and gather as tools to support writing? Can immediate positive reinforcement in the form of comments, page views, charts and graphs about written posts be a powerful motivation to encourage kids to write about a specialized topic they are passionate about? Cheat sheets for games? Why Kanye West's new album is the best? Is Club Penguin better than Webkinz? Will the traffic generated from these posts and 'scores' for well written articles motivate kids to continue writing? Can kids learn what constitutes 'good writing' by reading other well-researched and thought provoking posts?

What ethical issues do educators face when promoting sites like hubpages where many of the hubbers hub to eventually earn Google AdSense income?

...That is the Question.

Online Drawing Programs

Imagination Cubed - A 'cute' site, this is sort of an online white board - encourages you to draw with a friend and share your drawings.

mxGraph - a more sophisticated drawing and diagram program - very easy to use.

Graphic Organizer

Exploratree - You've got to try this one. They've got GREAT graphic organizers and the site is well designed. The functionality of some of the tools might be a little hard for early elementary but a tech savvy 3rd grader may be able to handle it. I'd love to hear how you've used it in your classroom.

Concept Mapping 2.0

Here are some cool web 2.0 alternatives to Kidspiration and Inspiration.

• Wise Mapping
• Mind42
• MindMeister
  

Got any others you've tried and liked? Let me know.

Creativity & Collaboration for Kids - 2.0

What a relief! I finally get to put all the cool links jotted down in my Outlook notes, yellow stickies and back of envelopes in ONE place! Here are two cool sites that could do wonders in the classroom!

Scratch - A visual programming tool, Scratch allows kids to develop their own art, games, stories and share them online. I really like how they allow kids to collaborate and even to download and modify the working files of others to build something completely new!

Kerpoof - Like nothing I've seen before. A sizzling interface and graphics will engage your students and introduce them to the basic concepts of animation.