After playing with several widgets and gadgets, I selected a weather gadget from Widgetbox. I thought I would try it out, and maybe use it during our calendar activities each morning. When I chose the location for the weather, the Anna Reynolds weather station was an option. I am not sure how accurate it is, but I think my students will be excited to get an updated report each day from their school. The weather at the bottom of the widget is set for San Francisco, CA. I tried to change the location and save it, but was not successful. I even tried signing up for an account, but that didn't work either. For now, we will compare our weather to the weather in CA or at a later date I will try to find a different weather gadget. Embedding the code doesn't seem to be a problem when adding it to the blog. I am wondering if widgets and gadgets can be embedded into Notebook slide as easily or at all. I will have to experiment with that later.
The addition of a "live" weather report will enhance our daily weather reporting and will give the students accurate information when collecting, recording and comparing weather data. The excitement and motivation of getting a chance to be the day's weather reporter will have all students engaged and on task as never before. This adds such a fun element to our daily calendar activities because the students are working with something that they see on t.v all the time.
I know there are several other widgets on the web that will enhance my instruction and look forward to exploring them in the future.
Looks good to me! And, as you have already realized, you are making connections with students with all of your Web 2.0 tools - and, isn't that what it is really all about!
ReplyDeleteJoan