What follows are just some thoughts I'm having as I learn about wikis. Be patient with me, as I am starting from 0.1 (as opposed to zero) knowledge here.
So, I've learned what everybody else probably already knows: that "wiki" comes from the Hawaiian word for quick. And wikis are quick. They're quick to set up, quick to post to, and quick to search. Those all sound like good things.
The best thing about wikis is their potential for true collaboration among people with a shared goal. Wikis can be continuously evolving while at the same time preserving each generation of each page in an archive you can refer back to. That's powerful.
The worst thing about wikis is that people who have opposing or contradictory goals can post on the same wiki. Will they undo one another? From what I've gathered, there is a way to set up a wiki so that one person receives an e-mail alert each time the wiki is edited. That person can then review the edits and either leave them alone or edit over them. I need to know more about that.
This year, when we Union 28 librarians began blogging with our students about MCBA nominees, we realized partway through that it would have been nice if we could have organized the blog by book title. That way, all of the students writing about a particular book could have their posts grouped together, rather than having the posts organized by posting date. Would a wiki solve this problem? I plan to look into this for next winter. I also want to look into whether we can have a wiki that is restricted to registered users, those users being students, staff, and parents at our four schools.
There were two kinds of wikis mentioned in our course lesson for this week that particularly intrigued me: A townwide wiki and an "institutional memory" wiki. As our school has undergone many changes over the last year, I love the idea of a place for members of our school community to post what's important to them about that community. Similarly, I could envision the townwide wiki as a way for us to share vital information, something that's not always easy in a rural place with no central gathering spot. (Caveat: I was in love with the idea of the town wiki and then -- I clicked on one of the contributors' "about me" links and was taken directly to pictures of the citizen in her underwear. Not quite the civic-minded use I had envisioned.)
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Notes from Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts
For this course, we are reading Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson (Corwin Press 2006). In it, Richardson has a very nice, concise list of great reasons to use blogs with kids in school. I'm paraphrasing it here as a way of filing it for easy access so I can find it when pitching this idea to my colleagues at school come fall.
1 -- Blogs are truly constructivist. Students are creating content which adds to the world's body of knowledge.
2 -- A blog invites the world's participation in your students' learning.
3 -- A blog can serve as an archive of students' work. Progress over time is easily demonstrated.
4 -- Blogging supports children's differing learning styles. Someone who might not raise a hand in class might ponder and write in a blog.
5 -- Blogging encourages the development of expertise.
6 -- Blogging can help students learn how to research, organize their thoughts, and synthesize ideas.
1 -- Blogs are truly constructivist. Students are creating content which adds to the world's body of knowledge.
2 -- A blog invites the world's participation in your students' learning.
3 -- A blog can serve as an archive of students' work. Progress over time is easily demonstrated.
4 -- Blogging supports children's differing learning styles. Someone who might not raise a hand in class might ponder and write in a blog.
5 -- Blogging encourages the development of expertise.
6 -- Blogging can help students learn how to research, organize their thoughts, and synthesize ideas.
Blog as Study Aid
When I was in graduate school, I spent many hours typing over class notes. I didn't necessarily read those notes once I printed them out; the act of typing and organizing the notes helped cement the facts and concepts in my mind.
This may have some application for classrooms. Last year, when taking the Skillful Teacher course offered by RBT, a classroom log notebook was one of the strategies introduced. Kids would take turns being responsible for writing in a shared notebook what went on in each lesson. (Today in science we looked at rocks and how to identify them . . .the most fun part was . . .new science words we learned today . . .) This is easily transferable to a blog. It could remain a classroom tool with rotating contributors or, possibly, each child could have a learning journal in which he or she would have 5 - 10 minutes daily to reflect and remember what they learned that day. The teacher could easily correct any misunderstandings, and parents could really see what was being taught.
This may have some application for classrooms. Last year, when taking the Skillful Teacher course offered by RBT, a classroom log notebook was one of the strategies introduced. Kids would take turns being responsible for writing in a shared notebook what went on in each lesson. (Today in science we looked at rocks and how to identify them . . .the most fun part was . . .new science words we learned today . . .) This is easily transferable to a blog. It could remain a classroom tool with rotating contributors or, possibly, each child could have a learning journal in which he or she would have 5 - 10 minutes daily to reflect and remember what they learned that day. The teacher could easily correct any misunderstandings, and parents could really see what was being taught.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Really Great Wiki Ideas
Don't hate me for saying so, but I think I might be sorry that the school year is at an end. I just read some great ideas for creating wikis with students and I wish we had time to try them now!
First, I should come clean and say that I have been skeptical about wikis. I can get excited about most new technologies, but I have been prejudiced against wikis. As an elementary school librarian, I work hard to teach kids about authorship and authority, to learn about their sources of information. Wikipedia gets under my skin. However, I do have some classroom teacher colleagues who are quite excited about wikis. So, I'm getting up to speed!
I just finished reading Classroom Blogging: A Teacher's Guide to the Blogosphere by David F. Warlick (Landmark Project 2005). On pages 68 - 70, Warlick lists some great ideas for using wikis with kids in schools. I hope it's okay to write about them here.
The first one that got me feeling enthusiastic after dinner is the "Classroom Dictionary." I immediately see applications for this with our current first and sixth graders. In both classes, vocabulary building is prominent. Warlick's idea is that students could post new vocabulary words as they come up, throughout the year. This has great application in my library classes (all grades) as well. New words come up constantly in read-alouds; if we could have a laptop at the ready, the day's chosen student could type in the word, the meaning, and the context in which we learned it. It would be a great tool for reminding children of words they've encountered. Parents, too, could look in and see (and maybe drop some of those words into conversation at home!).
I also really liked Warlick's "Story Starters." Our school regularly participates in a school-wide writing prompt. In "story starters," each student has his or her own page on which he or she begins writing in response to a prompting sentence. After a defined period of time, students switch pages, read one another's work, and continue telling a story from a classmate's beginning! I can see this working at many grade levels. I can also see this being very fun for kids.
If anyone reading has other great wiki ideas to share, please do!
First, I should come clean and say that I have been skeptical about wikis. I can get excited about most new technologies, but I have been prejudiced against wikis. As an elementary school librarian, I work hard to teach kids about authorship and authority, to learn about their sources of information. Wikipedia gets under my skin. However, I do have some classroom teacher colleagues who are quite excited about wikis. So, I'm getting up to speed!
I just finished reading Classroom Blogging: A Teacher's Guide to the Blogosphere by David F. Warlick (Landmark Project 2005). On pages 68 - 70, Warlick lists some great ideas for using wikis with kids in schools. I hope it's okay to write about them here.
The first one that got me feeling enthusiastic after dinner is the "Classroom Dictionary." I immediately see applications for this with our current first and sixth graders. In both classes, vocabulary building is prominent. Warlick's idea is that students could post new vocabulary words as they come up, throughout the year. This has great application in my library classes (all grades) as well. New words come up constantly in read-alouds; if we could have a laptop at the ready, the day's chosen student could type in the word, the meaning, and the context in which we learned it. It would be a great tool for reminding children of words they've encountered. Parents, too, could look in and see (and maybe drop some of those words into conversation at home!).
I also really liked Warlick's "Story Starters." Our school regularly participates in a school-wide writing prompt. In "story starters," each student has his or her own page on which he or she begins writing in response to a prompting sentence. After a defined period of time, students switch pages, read one another's work, and continue telling a story from a classmate's beginning! I can see this working at many grade levels. I can also see this being very fun for kids.
If anyone reading has other great wiki ideas to share, please do!
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Summertime Strategies
How do you get your students to participate over the summer?
For those of you who have your students participate in summer reading discussions on your blog, how do you coordinate it? How do you get them to commit to reading and writing? How do you inspire them? Is blogging tied to their fall grades? How do you keep control of posts and comments (keeping them school-worthy)?
I am thrilled by the idea of kids engaging one another in literary discussions over the summer, but wonder about the details.
For those of you who have your students participate in summer reading discussions on your blog, how do you coordinate it? How do you get them to commit to reading and writing? How do you inspire them? Is blogging tied to their fall grades? How do you keep control of posts and comments (keeping them school-worthy)?
I am thrilled by the idea of kids engaging one another in literary discussions over the summer, but wonder about the details.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Great ideas wanted
If you have used blogs and wikis (or other new & exciting formats) in your teaching with elementary school children, please share your ideas! I would like to provide links to innovative or especially useful (to the students) projects.
Why this blog?
Hello!
This blog has been created as part of the course requirements for URI EDC 921 "Using Blogs and Wikis to Foster Literacy." What I really want to do is learn about ways to use these tools to truly help kids deepen their thinking and learning.
I have been lucky enough to blog before, with kids in my school:
http://blogallbooks.blogspot.com/
in collaboration with the four other school librarians in our school union:
http://union28.blogspot.com/
and in collaboration with a classroom teacher in my school:
http://ervingfirst.blogspot.com/
Each of these blogs has been successful as a means of sharing student successes with our wider community (especially parents). The Union 28 blog was especially exciting, as children from 4 very different schools began to communicate with one another about literature.
This blog has been created as part of the course requirements for URI EDC 921 "Using Blogs and Wikis to Foster Literacy." What I really want to do is learn about ways to use these tools to truly help kids deepen their thinking and learning.
I have been lucky enough to blog before, with kids in my school:
http://blogallbooks.blogspot.com/
in collaboration with the four other school librarians in our school union:
http://union28.blogspot.com/
and in collaboration with a classroom teacher in my school:
http://ervingfirst.blogspot.com/
Each of these blogs has been successful as a means of sharing student successes with our wider community (especially parents). The Union 28 blog was especially exciting, as children from 4 very different schools began to communicate with one another about literature.
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