Wonderful World of Wikis and Web Blogs

Wikis and blogs give infinite possibilities for ways to use them in a classroom but collaboration is the biggest benefit to using them in the classroom.  The sharing of information and building of knowledge that occurs in them is unbelievable.   Another benefit is the organizational aspect of them: less paper clutter because everything can be posted virtually, no wasted time on announcements, no student deniability of assignment due dates and requirements, all permission slips/forms in one place, useful websites can be stored in one place etc.  They are perfect tools for project-based learning and fostering creativity.

http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/50-ways-to-use-wikis-for-a-more-collaborative-and-interactive-classroom/

http://www.techlearning.com/curriculum/0035/eight-ways-to-use-school-wikis/46216

After reading the articles listed above I got a few more ideas on specifics I would like to use in my classroom.  One idea I liked was the "Fan Club".  I think students would get very creative and they would learn alot from other classmates as well.  The lesson could be interdisciplinary, including an English lesson on biographies/autobiographies since students would have to learn about their historical figure to know what is interesting and unique about that person.  You could also have students pretending to be the actual historical figures on the fan club site,  and they could blog back and forth with other historical figures from that time period (the other person must be over the age of...let's use 15 and alive at the same time the other figure was also over age 15 in order for the two to "converse" on the blog).  This would give students a greater understanding of who were contemporaries and help them visualize what different times in history were like.  I'm sure I am just scratching the surface here brainstorming some uses for this one particular use of a wiki.

Another idea to use in the classroom from one of the articles was the idea of virtual field trips.  While this idea is very, very, very broad I think it explores how teachers can use the web to bring the outside world virtually to the students since we cannot bring the students to the outside world literally.  I also love the idea of being able to access students from other countries, and even from different parts of our own country to share ideas about a topic in school.  One specific idea I thought of immediately, as a beginning lesson with peers that live hundreds of miles away, would be to do the beginning lesson on something as simple as climate and the math concept of the metric system.  Students could write on a blog about what the climate was like at their school that day, take pictures of what it looks like outside or what kinds of creatures are out in the native climate to post, take temperature readings and convert them to between F and C, etc.  Or even the whole learning of the metric system may be easier when conversing with peer groups who live outside the US and use the metric system everyday.

In summary, almost every simple lesson can be enriched by incorporating the use of a blog or wiki because of the educational value of information sharing and seeing other viewpoints that would not have been seen otherwise. 

Job Openings Anyone?

After talking to a classmate, another idea I thought that we could all benefit from was the sharing of any open teaching jobs we know of.  He told me that he is a new teacher at a brand new charter school opening in Zanesville for children with Autism and that the school is looking for more teachers.  I don't have specifics, but anyone interested should check into it.

My favorite quote on teaching

“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.” 
― Haim G. Ginott, Teacher and Child: A Book for Parents and Teachers

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Welcome fellow Muskingum county educators of tomorrow (and today)!

The purpose of this blog is to start a resource database for all students at Muskingum University enrolled in MAT or MAE programs.  We have all heard the saying, "Teachers are the best thieves" which is why I am starting this blog; so we can steal ideas from each other.  I hope to compile a database full of great websites, lesson plan ideas, recommended literature, interesting things learned in field experience, and any other useful information we can use in our classrooms.  Please view the tabs on the top of the page for a few ideas I have shared.   I hope to keep posting things throughout my time as a student, and eventually this blog can split and become specialized as other students take over blogs in their area of study.  I ask each of you in the educational technology class to please send me at least one idea in the next week to start off with by either sharing a lesson plan idea, another website, the newest book series that your students or own children are reading right now, something that worked well that you saw out in the field in one of our local schools, or any other information we can use as a resource and I will add it.  Thank you and I hope you will grow with me in the future!