Thing 9

Before today I had only associated Wikis with Wikipedia. I didn't have a clue that it could be a resource and/or tool to be used in the classroom. When I first read through the websites explaining what a wiki was, I thought there was no way I could use them as a classroom tool. That thought changed when I went to the following site:

http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikiideas1.cfm

What great ideas on how to use wikis in a lower elementary classroom. I can see myself putting my students into small groups and having each group write a paragraph when doing an author study or a book review. I would also like to try a classroom book. I was thinking that I could assign each group a section (such as beginning, middle, end). After one group finished the beginning, another group could add the middle and so on. The groups would work together to post sections and edit previous posts.

http://teachingeverystudent.wikispaces.com/

What another great resource. Todays classroom is full of students with all different learning styles, gifts and abilities. At times it is a challenge to meet all of their needs. This wiki had different ideas and strategies to use in the classroom.....in the form of videos and documents. I especially appreciated the different ideas on how to incorporate technology to meet students' needs. This site was very organized but not quickly informative. I had to click on the links in order to read and understand the strategy. It would have been helpful if there was a little statement next to each link that described what the strategy was and what style of learner it would best help. As a teacher I don't have time to click every link to find what I need. The more informative and quick reading a site is the more often I will use it.

http://kcountingbook.wetpaint.com/?t=anon

I originally visited a site called "Learning with Technology." This site listed various education wikis. Since I am looking for ideas on how to use wikis in a lower elementary classroom I scrolled down until I found this GREAT idea to use in a kindergarten room. This is a fun, collaborative, hands on project to incorporate math and technology. Each student took a picture of a certain number of object. Each student then posted it to the classroom wiki...in alphabetical order. This is the definitely the kind of project I would use.....its hands-on, students work together as a team, and its EASY!

After exploring different wikis I definitely like the ones that are easy to read and give actual lesson ideas.