Wikispaces

Wikispaces are something that I have begun to rely on A LOT!!!!

When I found out about wikispaces several years.  I was not interested in them and did not see the value of them.

After becoming a Technology Facilitator I have begun to view Wiki's in a different light.  There are numerous things that you can do with a Wiki account.

Here are some ways that you can use Wikispace with your students in class:
1. WebQuest: Have your class do a research project online for a specific topic that you are study. Have them search the web on predetermined websites to locate the answers to questions that you are looking for.

2. Glossary: Have your class to create a glossary of terms that are using and learning about in the various subjects in your class. Have them add definitions, images, and/or video. 

3. Class Story: Write a story together as a class or have the student do it with a peer or in a small group.

4. Use it as an e-portfolio to display all of their work that they would like to showcase from PowerPoint presentations, to various documents which could be stories, math problems, test, and more. They can even upload videos that they have created and store them on the WIkispace in order to share them with others.

5.Create ‘micro-blogging’ pages where students have to discuss a specific topic that you have picked for them and their peers have to respond.

6. Student autobiography- have the students start out on the first page with an autobiography that they have to keep up to date. They need to let us know what all is going on in their lives. If some thing has changed. If they have had a birthday, etc. 
Give them a criteria sheet to follow of specific information that you want covered in it. This covers a third grade NCSCOS objective.


7. Student Website- have the students create their own website with various links to things they feel are important. You may want to include Math, Science, Social Studies, Health, Eng. Language Arts, etc if you are wanting them to put student artifacts on the site to show work that they are doing in each subject or you just might want to be very simple if you are doing it for kindergarten or first graders. Things I like. What I want to do when I grow up... Make this an on growing project throughout the year.


8. Writing Portfolio- This could be a digital online writing portfolio of the students work. You could have a new tab for each writing piece that the student writes and have it made available for the parents to see. It could also be used in class for peer editing.

These are just a few ways to use a wikis in a classroom.  Please visit my WebQuest Wikispace site for SHES. Click here to visit the WebQuest Wiki.
 Please feel free to explore my WebQuest, link to them, edit them, or make comments on them.
 I would love some feed back.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BLOGGING IN A K-12 LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Blogging...Wikispaces...Websites...email...text...instant messaging...Edmodo and the list just goes on.

Have your ever really stopped and thought about how many different ways there are for students and teachers to communicate with each other and peers around the world today?  It is mind boggling!

I know that when I started teaching in 1996 there were no such words as blogging or posting your thoughts on Facebook or Twitter.  There was no such thing as wikispaces.  It was even a lot of work and encoding to create a webite.  There were not a lot of templates like there are today for people to use they just did not exsit.

Teachers often want to know what the point of students blogging in the class is for and why have them do it. They want to know what educational purpose it serves and how they can tie it into their daily instruction. If a teacher is in question have them watch this youtube video.  It states over 15 reasons why a teacher needs to have his or her students blog.

Communication, literacy, sharing, ownership, collaboration. discussion, interaction, motivation, participation, engagement, excitement, conversations, creativity, critical thinking, personal expression, reflection time, and more.

Why not start blogging in your classroom today.

Check out my next blog for more information about some best practices for blogging in the classroom.

Children of the 21st century...why are some teachers not on board with using technology?

Watch this video and tell me your thoughts...

There are teachers still not on board... they are standing on the sidelines and children of the 21st century are suffering! They are calling out, reaching out and want to be heard.  They want to learn and be actively involved.  We as Technology Facilitators need to encourage teachers and work with these teachers.  We need to get them on the fast train moving in the right direction which is teaching their students to be 21st century ready learners.
We need to show teachers how important it is for children today to learn their way not the way that the way that we as teachers learned years ago.  The old way is not the way to reach children today.  We are the ones who need to change to reach our students.  Not the other way around....
Share your thoughts with me, please.