Be the Curator of Knowlege

Have you been thinking of new ideas for your classroom for the upcoming school year? I have and I have been wondering what new tools are worth adding to my 'carry-on" to teach faculty to use for this year.

One tool I really like is Scoop.it. But just because I like a technology doesn't mean it's worthy of going into my teaching "carry-on"; its got to enhance student learning or improve the way students do things to be included in my "carry-on".

I noticed everywhere on Twitter people publishing Scoop.it newspapers. Now that's one good idea, since Scoop.it is easy enough to use with even Middle Schoolers. But recently I heard a conversation on Twitter about how teachers would use Scoop.it for other purposes to enhance learning that makes Scoop.it worthy of going into my "carry-on".

Here's the scoop. Teachers can use Scoop.it:

• as a research tool in English Classes
• to gather ideas for writing in subject areas such as social studies, history, or science
  
• to gather ideas for a specific topic such as World War II or Climate Change

It's easy to teach students to use Scoop.it; probably as easy to learn, if not easier to learn, than the Dewey Decimal System. So while students are learning to do research add in Scoop.it. It's a tool students can use to curate- to gather and keep all similar or related topics together. It will help keep their research organized for writing. It can replace the rubber band and index cards we all used to use.