Thursday, September 17, 2009

Wallwisher.com: A Useful Tool for Creating Online Sticky-note Bulletin Boards

I was looking for a good way to communicate with parents in my classroom and came across a website called Wallwisher.com. It allows me to set up an online bulletin board with Sticky "Post-it" style notes. The page of notes can also be embedded on a blog. I am trying it out on my classroom blog. I find it useful to write quick notes about homework or other classroom activities this way as I can do it anytime and don't have to use up paper. I believe I have set the options so that I am the only one that can leave a note (I have seen what fifth graders can do with sticky notes and don't need my computer decorated that way!). I can edit the notes (not easy) and delete them, as well as arrange them on the desktop if I want to waste some time. You can include links with pictures, audio, or video. I hope that my parents find this tool useful. I have put up notes with additional help and hints for completing some extra credit assignments that make the work easier and more understandable for my students. I can also write silly notes to hopefully generate some fun and interest. If a student forgets to write the homework down or if parents want to check homework assignments then they can look for a homework note each day. A link to my classroom's full screen version is here. What I like is that I could embed my wall in my classroom blog and that way parents don't have to navigate to different pages. I can thinks of many additional uses for this website tool. The website is free to use and teachers and parents may want to try it out for their own purposes.

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