Create a Fake Profile (or Have Your Students Create One)

Fakebook - Hernan Cortes 

Tired of the same old products from your students at the end of a project or lesson? If you are looking for a way to move past the written report or the poster board, consider using Fakebook.

It's a website where students can create a profile page for any character or person using a Facebook-style template. In its advertisement, Fakebook suggests using the site "to chart the plot of a book, the development of a character, a series of historical events, the debates and relationships between people."

Using a Facebook-like template is a fun way to engage even your most apathetic student. Just mention this idea to your class and see how quickly they start brainstorming ideas. Even if you don't have time for each student to create one individually, consider having the class create one together. It would be a unique way to review before a history test or discuss the class novel.

Thanks to Librarian_Tiff for the inspiration!

Web 2.0 for Teachers

Does the term Web 2.0 have you scratching your head? Still pondering a Personal Learning Network (PLN)? Watch this Prezi to get answers about both.

(Isn't Prezi a fun, updated way to do presentations?)

Web 2.0 for Teachers on Prezi

Thanks to Paul Hill for his excellent Prezi and to Steven W. Anderson for bringing it to my attention.

More on Twitter for Teachers

Wesley Fryer on Flickr

After posting yesterday about using Twitter as an educator, I found Joe Bower's post on this topic -- Twitter for Teachers. If you were strongly considering using Twitter but needed just a tiny bit of encouragement to try it, listening to these two guys share how they use Twitter is all you'll need to take that final step.