Students love to click on images, and widgets posted on a classroom wiki grab their attention. Before they even know it, they are engaged in an interactive, educational experience where learning can take place. The widget below is an example that pertains to the subject I teach --English Language Arts. I will often use interactive activities such as these on the Smartboard in my classroom as either a way to introduce or culminate a lesson. I am always looking for interactive, online activities that will support writing and especially grammar and convention usage for the 5th-8th grade levels that I teach. I find that a lot of widgets on this subject area are geared toward lower elementary levels and would love to find more that are appropriate for the upper elementary/junior high levels.
The Clustr Map widget is a cool tool that allows my students and me to see who has visited our wiki. Students are always interested in seeing where visitors are coming from, especially when the Clustr Map shows activity outside our country. I will occasionally take a few minutes to view the map with my students (5th grade) and locate and name the countries of visitors to our wiki! My students always keep me updated, so I know that they are looking!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Thing 17
Wikis are different than blogs in that they are more collaborative with many people writing and editing, while blogs are more personal with usually one writer or author. Wikis are constantly changing with anyone having access to it and adding to it or making changes. Blogs are mainly written posts with opinions from the blogger and comments from others when approved by the blogger.
When thinking about classroom use and assignments, I think that the wiki is better suited for communication with parents and students. I like to use it to communicate assignments, projects, and important links. If students are working on a group project, they can work together to add links and resources, as well as create a project collaboratively on a page within the wiki. The wiki also offers a great place to showcase student work and classroom photos! The blog, on the other hand, seems to lend itself better to discussions. Creating a blog for students to discuss books/novels that are read is a great way to get them communicating about the literary elements and themes presented.
An initial problem with the wiki is teaching students how to edit and create on the wiki. Once they have had enough practice with adding links and images and embedding video, it is important for the teacher to monitor what is happening on the wiki so that students are using it appropriately. Rules for use need to be established and discussed, with consequences for misuse in place. The history tab is a great way for teachers to keep an eye on what each student is contributing to the wiki.
The classroom wikis that the teachers at our school have created have been a wonderful tool for all involved: teachers, students, and parents! What an awesome Web 2.0 Technology!
When thinking about classroom use and assignments, I think that the wiki is better suited for communication with parents and students. I like to use it to communicate assignments, projects, and important links. If students are working on a group project, they can work together to add links and resources, as well as create a project collaboratively on a page within the wiki. The wiki also offers a great place to showcase student work and classroom photos! The blog, on the other hand, seems to lend itself better to discussions. Creating a blog for students to discuss books/novels that are read is a great way to get them communicating about the literary elements and themes presented.
An initial problem with the wiki is teaching students how to edit and create on the wiki. Once they have had enough practice with adding links and images and embedding video, it is important for the teacher to monitor what is happening on the wiki so that students are using it appropriately. Rules for use need to be established and discussed, with consequences for misuse in place. The history tab is a great way for teachers to keep an eye on what each student is contributing to the wiki.
The classroom wikis that the teachers at our school have created have been a wonderful tool for all involved: teachers, students, and parents! What an awesome Web 2.0 Technology!
Thing 16
Here is a link to my classroom wiki: http://mrstillmanwiki.wikispaces.com
My colleagues and I have been using classroom wikis for two years now! Parents and students love it!
My colleagues and I have been using classroom wikis for two years now! Parents and students love it!
Thing 15
I added information about Michigan Lighthouses to the M!ch!gan page on the States wiki for "Thing 15". Check it out if you'd like! http://mcisd21.wikispaces.com/M%21ch%21gan
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Thing 14
http://booktalk.pbworks.com/w/page/14903944/FrontPage
Literacy in the Classroom “21st Century Style” – This wiki includes lists of books and podcasts from authors, as well as students. I would probably adapt this idea with my ELA 5-8 students by creating a page on my classroom wiki that would include author podcasts (if available) of books written, and then also allow my students to share books they have read through written review and also as a podcast. This list could grow and be a great resource for other students as they look for books that interest them!
http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/
Web 2.0 Cool Tools for Schools – This is a great wiki to help students and teachers of any subject or grade level to create presentations and webpages on a classroom wiki. It offers drawing, mapping, collaborative, video, slideshow, audio, music, graphing, and many more tools. I will be putting a link to this site on my classroom wiki as a resource for my students to use when creating their personal pages, as well as in creating media projects that I will assign.
http://mysideofthemountain.wikispaces.com/
My Side of the Mountain – Although this is a wiki dedicated to this particular novel, it could be adapted to suit any novel/book being read and studied in any of my 5-8 reading/literature classes. I notice that it is a wiki completely devoted to this one novel. I have a classroom wiki and wonder if I would have to create separate wikis for every book that I would do this for. Is it possible to have more than one wiki using the same email? Or, would I have to use another wiki tool such as PBworks or Wetpaint? Maybe it could be done with pages within my classroom wiki with a little planning and thought. I definitely need to get onboard with this collaboration amongst my students with what we are reading in class!
Literacy in the Classroom “21st Century Style” – This wiki includes lists of books and podcasts from authors, as well as students. I would probably adapt this idea with my ELA 5-8 students by creating a page on my classroom wiki that would include author podcasts (if available) of books written, and then also allow my students to share books they have read through written review and also as a podcast. This list could grow and be a great resource for other students as they look for books that interest them!
http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/
Web 2.0 Cool Tools for Schools – This is a great wiki to help students and teachers of any subject or grade level to create presentations and webpages on a classroom wiki. It offers drawing, mapping, collaborative, video, slideshow, audio, music, graphing, and many more tools. I will be putting a link to this site on my classroom wiki as a resource for my students to use when creating their personal pages, as well as in creating media projects that I will assign.
http://mysideofthemountain.wikispaces.com/
My Side of the Mountain – Although this is a wiki dedicated to this particular novel, it could be adapted to suit any novel/book being read and studied in any of my 5-8 reading/literature classes. I notice that it is a wiki completely devoted to this one novel. I have a classroom wiki and wonder if I would have to create separate wikis for every book that I would do this for. Is it possible to have more than one wiki using the same email? Or, would I have to use another wiki tool such as PBworks or Wetpaint? Maybe it could be done with pages within my classroom wiki with a little planning and thought. I definitely need to get onboard with this collaboration amongst my students with what we are reading in class!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Thing 13
I am impressed with the many things that can be done to a photo using the free tools out on the web! Of course Flickr offers Picnik as a way to edit and enhance photos as well as adding fun and unique effects. Students would love changing photos taken or found and adding effects and text to create images to be used in projects. I added a speech balloon with text to this photo using Picnik. Students can create comics/cartoons using this toolA project that I have had students do in the past is to create a "Wall of Fame" for Black History Month. I have students do reports on an African-American man or woman and then trace an image of that person's head to create a silhouette. The silhouette and report are then displayed down the hallway for a dramatic "African-American History Wall of Fame." Parents and students love this. After browsing the Picnik site, I ran across this YouTube video on making silhouettes from images/photos found. It might be a great way to implement this technology tool into this project!
Other photo editing apps:
I really liked BigHugeLabs. One of the tools allows the user to create a Movie Poster. I can see my students using this application to create posters for book reports, author studies (Students create a poster about an author.), during Women's History Month in March, students could create a poster about a famous woman in history. I created this image using the Movie Poster tool in BigHugeLabs.
Another tool from BigHugeLabs lets you create a Magazine Cover. Like the Movie Poster, this could be used by students to create covers for any subject being studied.Not only are photo editing tools great for classroom use, I believe photo editing can be easily used for personal use! Creating invitations for birthday parties, images to be used in scrapbooking, calendars, etc...again, so many possibilities!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Thing 12
I personally like the idea of having a place like Flickr where students and teachers can find photos to use in media projects and lessons. Having a "creative commons" area where students can search and download as well as upload and use photos or images either original or found offers many opportunities for creative projects.
Flickr could be utilized for projects such as collages. I will occasionally have a class create collages in groups to reflect a theme or idea being studied. Instead of using magazines to cut out pictures/images and then gluing to a posterboard, they can use Flickr.
I also like the Flickr tool that allows for the user to add text to an image. Being able to find photos related to a subject/theme being studied and adding text that analyzes what is viewed is a great way to make students think critically and share thoughts while doing it in a fun way.
Another project that I do with students to reinforce correct dialogue punctuation is to have them create comic strips with speech balloons or bubbles. Students could find photos to be used in a comic strip and add dialogue between characters using text right in the image.
The possibilities are endless!
Problems or obstacles that may arise might be the occasional photo found that may be questionable or inappropriate. Creating a "group" for a class to go to may help eliminate this issue. Reminding students of the "Acceptable Use Policy" signed also should discourage inappropriate use.
I am sure there are many more uses and tools that Flickr has to offer that could easily be utilized in the classroom. I look forward to exploring this site more!
Flickr could be utilized for projects such as collages. I will occasionally have a class create collages in groups to reflect a theme or idea being studied. Instead of using magazines to cut out pictures/images and then gluing to a posterboard, they can use Flickr.
I also like the Flickr tool that allows for the user to add text to an image. Being able to find photos related to a subject/theme being studied and adding text that analyzes what is viewed is a great way to make students think critically and share thoughts while doing it in a fun way.
Another project that I do with students to reinforce correct dialogue punctuation is to have them create comic strips with speech balloons or bubbles. Students could find photos to be used in a comic strip and add dialogue between characters using text right in the image.
The possibilities are endless!
Problems or obstacles that may arise might be the occasional photo found that may be questionable or inappropriate. Creating a "group" for a class to go to may help eliminate this issue. Reminding students of the "Acceptable Use Policy" signed also should discourage inappropriate use.
I am sure there are many more uses and tools that Flickr has to offer that could easily be utilized in the classroom. I look forward to exploring this site more!
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