I'd like a little advice here

I have a projector hooked up to a computer my classroom and use it for notes, videos, looking up pictures of items the student's haven't seen before.  I incorporate slide show presentations made by the students into projects and presentations.  I use the visualizer to show off projects.  I post copies of projects and rubrics on my classroom web page in case a student loses the information.

I also have an entire play list of music that is appropriate for the students that plays during study hall.  My ipod also holds all the audio tracks for my text books.

I'm intrigued by your pod cast review.  

You could have a blog with the notes you gave in class, additional resources to look at for a project, and discussion points to consider before class.  In high school I had a teacher who had an AIM screen name and was on at certain times to answer questions with homework and projects.  He also setup chat rooms so the students could help each other.  

Here are some things I have done:

1. Rennovated old iMacs by downloading xubuntu and transforming them into fast machines.  I set up a whole computer lab for less than a hundred dollars by using old computers.  

2. Set up a blog on blogger and then set up a second author (I can show you how if you'd like) and then you can moderate, but students can post to the blog.  Our class blog is socialvoice.blogspot.com.  It works as an online magazine.  But we also created an online "museum" as a blog and we have a community service blog (impactprogram.blogspot.com).  The cool thing with a blog is that you can actually make it like a discussion board by posting pictures and letting students comment on them or by asking a thought-provoking question.  

3. If you can get your hands on a digital video camera, there are so many things: movies, documentaries, mock trials, etc.  This has worked well for us.  

4. Get the students to sign up for a google account and then they can use Google Documents.  This enables them to create shared documents, spreadsheets and presentations. The shared spreadsheets worked well when we did Needs Assessments for service learning projects and when we did budgets.  The shared documents work well for brainstorms and for shared projects.   One cool feature with the presentation is that students can embed them into their blogs.  

5. Mindomo (and sites like that) have online concept mapping software.  I find that concept maps can be a more accurate assessment of student knowledge than traditional multiple-choice, because the concept maps work from a more constructivist paradigm.  

I would suggest that you look at "23 Things" http://library2play.blogspot.com/ and check out all of the technology tools they are highlighting. There are so many free tools for you and the kids to use.

I am an undergraduate student, but with my teachers I think the best way for them to get in contact with me is through email. I love email because it is convienent and quick. I am majoring in elementary education and I do not think that blogging would be such a good idea with them because they are so young, but I do think that blogging is a good thing for highschool students. Blogging would be good with highschool students, because it allows them to blog with their classmates about the lesson that was taught in class. Also, i think that with the use of the internet, high school students are able to contact other students for questions that they might have about homework. I think that with the elementary students, you can use your class website so that they can practice their skills in a subject for their homework.

I am an undergraduate student, but with my teachers I think the best way for them to get in contact with me is through email. I love email because it is convienent and quick. I am majoring in elementary education and I do not think that blogging would be such a good idea with them because they are so young, but I do think that blogging is a good thing for highschool students. Blogging would be good with highschool students, because it allows them to blog with their classmates about the lesson that was taught in class. Also, i think that with the use of the internet, high school students are able to contact other students for questions that they might have about homework. I think that with the elementary students, you can use your class website so that they can practice their skills in a subject for their homework.

I think that using the podcast system with your students is a good idea.  I think that is fun how they can use their i-pod and be studying at the same time.  I am an undergraduate student in Elementary Education.  I do think that blogging would be useful in the classroom.  You could set up a blog with a certain topic for your class and have them respond to it and then you will get to see all of the different ideas and responses that your students have.  It will be a good way of understanding how they look and feel about different issues.  Another thing that might be useful since you are interested in adding more technology to your class you could set up a class website and then your students can access homework and other things from your website.  Another thing that has been useful to me is the use of e-mail.  It is so easy and efficient for me to e-mail my teachers.  This could be useful for the parents of your students to use incase they need to get in touch with you.  You might could also have your class make a movie with a video recorder or record some different things and use this as a lesson while teaching.  I hope that some of these suggestions for new technology will help you.  Good luck figuring it out!

Wikis are an option as well.  Give the students a story starter and let them add a sentence or two at a time.  For Geography, you could post information with key facts left out.  They can log on to the Wiki and fill in the information that they know.  If a student posts wrong information, other students can correct them.  A great collaboration tool--plus they learn while they post!

I think that your idea for using the ipod is wonderful, because kids love getting to do things like listen to their ipod in class, but this way you have made it educational. Another thing you could do is make different kind of quizzes to test their knowledge using powerpoint. I recently learned how to do this and it is really great especially for younger children because they can sit at the computer and take the quiz themselves. I think another neat software is inspiration, because you can make outlines and quizzes using this software but it makes it fun. I think that the internet in general is really good for students. You could find some really good educational sites that help in subject areas they may be having problems in, and they can play games and do activities to help them out in that subject.

Wow! already some fantastic ideas.  Did you know you can pod cast from your cell phone or classroom phone?  Yes, you can.  being careful of safety, gaggle.com has student safe blogs you can use.  Some are free (with advertisements) and some cost (without ads).  Don't forget using digital cameras, alphasmarts, and hooking your computer up to the tv.  Check out the web search sites for kids.  There is a lot out there.

Claroline maybe good thing for class

A poster on TeacherLingo ( rowlsintheclass ) has a thought-provoking question: What can you do in a classroom

I use the computers to run powerpoints with vocabulary (all subjects).  I also run Powerpoints that have science tools with their name and definitions.  I run another powerpoint with math terms and pictures of geometrical shapes. I also have science Powerpoints with land forms.  It really helps them learn the names for everything.