I really like this site I found.
This sight was a big help to me in understanding how teachers could wiki in the classroom.
The podcast takes you step by step to create any page or to save and store information.
I teach spreadsheet design to my 5th graders and up and thought this would be a great lesson with a bit of tweaking.
I have always done a bookmarking lesson for my intermediate students (4th-6th grade) and so I have changed this around a bit to incorporate del.icio.us into the lesson. A major problem is that our district does not assign our student's emails and I would have to have them use some free email source in order for them to register and use the service. I am also a bit leary of some of the content that may cause some problems with our parents.
In crawling the site, I found a lesson that had the students create a powerpoint of the new features of Office 2007. They were to use del.icio.us to get information. I updated it by linking a tutorial by David Muir Simply del.icio.us. It is a good background and reference for new users of del.icio.us internet boookmarking.
Edited Lesson Plan
I had a tough time creating a lesson that integrates the social tagging aspect of flickr or del.icio.us. I created this:
Social Tagging Lesson Plan
I also have a del.icio.us account for my class so that all my students can have access to the same websites that I use as visual aids for my classroom presentations. The students seem to like the availability of the information at all times.
A wiki site that I liked was called Pbwiki.com. It is advertises that it is as easy as making a peanut butter sandwich to make a wiki. Actually, it was pretty easy. However, I think some of the features are confusing. If you want more features, you can pay a monthly fee for different levels.
I made a wiki to use with my lesson plan " A Wiki Story". I plan to try it with my students. The wiki is called mrstwiki and below is the web address:
Mrs. T Wiki
The address for A Wiki Story is:
A Wiki Story
I also made a wiki with Wikispaces for my Study Group. I wanted to see which one I thought would be easier to use with students and adults. It was very easy to use also. It was a little hard to get the writing in the format I wanted. I am going to share this wiki with my Study Group and see if we can put information on it to share with our faculty. I did not have to come up with a log-on or password. It will be interesting to see if my follow teachers want to use it.
Study Group 2 Wiki
Study Group 2
After reading our assignments, I feel I have a much better understanding of a wiki. I had heard about them about 3 years ago at a technology conference. I was not sure I like the fact that everyone could edit the page. I feel more comfortable with that concept today. I think wiki have a lot to offer education in the future.
Wiki seem to be free at the moment. However, blogs began that way and now their is a monthly cost depending on what feature you want.
Mary
I edited a lesson plan called City History, City Streets
The link to the edited lesson plan is:
City History, City Streets
Mary
My Lesson Plan
My lesson plan on WikiTeach is called A Wiki Story. Here is the link for the lesson plan:
A Wiki Story Lesson Plan
Mary
My lesson is on writing a descriptive paragraph using animal pictures. The lesson incorporates Wikispaces.
I created a lesson plan to go along with my spring animal book reports. I like to have the students obtain information not only from books, but also Internet resources. Using a social tagging account through Del.icio.us, the research experience will be greatly enhanced. Further, it will save time for both the students and me. I like the idea that I do not have to find all the sites students may need; students and their families can assist in the research process and sharing.
By the way, my WikiTeach screen name is "readingkh".
I chose to edit a lesson plan entitled Charlie and Chocolate Factory: The Chocolate Room. The lesson focuses on one chapter from this famous book. I simply added the last four extension ideas. Like someone else mentioned, I am disappointed to learn that I could not edit a link to a lesson plan. Originally, I wanted to edit a lesson plan on the Frog and Toadbook by Arnold Lobel because the lesson had been written in 1999 and the web links were outdated. I found several up-to-date links and also suggested using a Del.icio.us account to store the new links. But alas, I could not make changes or suggestions.
I chose to add to a lesson that asked students to research events leading up to the Revolutionary War. Here is what I contributed:
Students can also choose to make a newsletter using Microsoft Publisher. They will learn "newspaper writing" as a genre in language arts class so that this is a collaboration between SS and English. They will write about the events as if they are happening right then. The students can then add their own touch to the newsletters to make them unique.
It is almost ridiculous the amount of information that you come across when doing work for this class! The snowstorm last week has had me away from a computer connection for awhile, but I hope some of you could find this new wiki helpful. It is called Wiki for Kids and is being promoted as a safe place for students and teachers to use. Check it out and make some additions if you would like.
What a find! WikEd discusses topics in the realms of curriculum, technology, and education reform. This wiki has information that would be helpful to teachers of all experience levels. I stumbled across it when I was looking for educational wikis. The article that caught my eye was on Wiki in a K-12 Classroom. Many topics we have discussed or will discuss in this class are mentioned on this site. Educators coming together to improve their instruction is a powerful tool. There are tons of links that could have you surfing forever into the depths of any topic.
I edited a lesson for a Five Senses Introduction. It was a great lesson to start with, but I added an extension to broaden the age and use of the base lesson. The extension called for the teacher to allow students to use only one of their senses to determine what the object was. This could be hard with some objects, so specific objects may need to be used. In the end, students would see how hard it is for just one sense to do all of the work, or how important each and every one of our senses is.
I thought it was really neat how I could actually edit this lesson plan for all to see. This is my first experience with a Wiki and I was apprehensive at first. However, I now see how so much more information could be shared on a site like this. Collaboration is an important part of our society these days, and social computing is a great outlet for this to happen. In the social computing article, it mentioned that most of these tools are free. This should encourage schools to take advantage of the learning opportunities available because of the technology. There is no financial excuse here!
I created a lesson on Environmental Observations for my Ecology and Ecosystems unit. Observations are such an important part of science and are stressed in our lessons. Students get to observe various organisms in our classrooms, but I think they need to learn how to observe how they interact with organisms everyday. Using Flickr, students can post their photo observations and written analysis for others to read and comment on. Social computing is all about collaboration and the sharing of ideas. This lesson allows students to share ideas freely in a safe group environment created by the teacher online.
I have edited a lesson plan on Music and Other cultures. I changed 3 things:
1. Students would listen to 6 examples instead of 2
2. Students would travel to all different listening stations in the classroom instead of travelling to none.
3. tudents would create charts that would compare and contrast the different cultures
I feel that students should have the opportunity to be exposed to as much as possible. Hopefully this lesson plan will work for its original creator.
Please click on the above or below link to see my lesson plan about Jazz history and using Flickr to create a photo timeline.
http://www.wikiteach.org/index.php/wikiteach/action/lessonplan/iVar/222
WkikMusic
I was persuing Wikipedia and found some great information about Scott Joplin, famous Ragtime composer. This was a very useful link as my students study jazz over the course of their 3 years in Middle school. I think the information is of good quality and the students can gather a unique history of ragtime and jazz in general.
The lesson I chose to edit was on the five senses. Since the original lesson was linked to a different site I could not edit the lesson on WikiTeach. I have included the link to the original lesson,which is senses . To find the edited version you will need to click on the title Wiki_Edited_Lesson_Latanya.
Wiki: Sylvia
Wow, I could not believe all the wikis available! I knew about Wikipedia, but did not realize there were so many others. Being a practical type person, I began to wonder if there were wikis for kids that I could utilize in my classroom. Children’s wikis are little harder to come by, and, as I am learning, other countries are tapping into the newer technologies for children. Thus, I came across three well-known wikis that are written in foreign languages – therefore, not usable in my classroom. At last, I discovered a wiki that allows children to add to a story. It is called “Sylvia” and it is a “choose your own path” story. Children contribute to the story based on certain instructions provided that helps them write the story collaboratively with others. I really appreciate the “choose your own path” feature of this wiki as I can envision students enjoying the creative process of story writing. Further, I like the fictional aspect of this wiki for young children who tend to lack the “expertise” needed for non-fiction wikis like encyclopedias. (While young students could participate in non-fiction writing, I can envision them being hesitate to do so. Fictional story writing is often a natural skill for many young students.) The one concern I had about this particular site is that I did not see any posts or edits. I am not sure if you would have to “join” the site in order to see what others have written, or if the site is just not being utilized. I did test out editing without joining and no problems.
Wiki: Sylvia
Teacher: Sally Tippett (creator)
School: Staffordshire LEA (UK)
By the way, I found this wiki link at Educational Wikis
There are several other wikis that you may be interested in looking at.
One of my passions is medieval history so I was really excited to find this wiki. The down side is that its hosted by a gaming site called Shadowed Realm. Other than that its kind of nice to have a place to post facts and read and/or correct what others are posting on a subject near and dear to my heart.
I also discovered that I have to use Internet Explorer to edit or post and I cannot use my Mozilla to do so. That's a bummer.
The site Wetpaint is a wiki community where anyone can create a website. Anyone has the ability to edit a website. For the most part all the pages can be edited, but in the instance where one is not able to the person would have to email the owner to get permission to edit a page.
In my searching of information for this class I found this cool video shared on youtube.
I found it interesting to see the evolution of the media. I hope you like it.
My plan asks students to post some pictures as part of an interdisciplinary unit we are doing in the spring.
Amy
I enjoyed listening to this podcast on high school reading centers. Also I enjoyed the vocabulary #T15 and T14 in the elementary classroom. These podcast would be great for any Language Arts class.
For my lesson plan I chose to have my students go to del.icio.us and research Microsoft Office 2007 and then prepare a PowerPoint presentation that they will show to the class. This lesson can be viewed by following the link underneath my title.
The lesson I edited was on creating a pie chart in Excel
Hello Everyone
As I'm working on topic 3 action items I just signed up for del.icio.us and was then checking out flickr. As I'm contemplating a lesson that uses one or both of these websites I just had to know if obscene material was present and whether our school website blocking software would block these sites.
On the first question whether there is obscene material present, the answer would be yes. Since these sites are used by individuals from all walks of life it only stands to reason that you get the good, the bad and the ugly (sorry, I just watched that movie yesterday). A search in del.icio.us of porn came up with 52,209 people who bookmarked porn sites. A search of flickr of a few common body parts came up with photos of body parts, not hardcore but still the usual. For example, I ran into a 44 year old woman who took a series of suggestive photos of herself and then uploaded to flickr.
I'm not at school now and we're on winter break right now. Judging by how many sites are blocked now, I have to guess that flickr would be blocked. Not sure on delicious. Even if flickr wasn't blocked, I'm not sure I'd want my high school students in the site.
Comments?
I found only one site under the keyword Spanish in WikiTeach; it was on tapas and was quite interesting. That is the site I chose to edit.
My lesson plan is Spanish Surrealists: Miro and Dali. I used del.ic.ious by entering the necessary websites needed to complete the assignments. It was very easy and I found it useful. I plan to use it for additional assignments.
The "one laptop per child" inititive is one that seems very interesting. It is trying to get technology to the "developing" countries. The laptops themselves are around $100 and they are running a Linux operating system.
One Laptop Per Child Basic Information
This wiki is a great way to get the information on the project that you could assume is relatively reliable. I do know that the information is not right, just because everyone agrees about it, but you have to assume that the moderators will keep the infomation accurate.
I first saw this in the CES (consumer electronics show) this year and it interested me in its purpose. You can find a great deal of information on the site about the project and I think that the project has merit and I hope that it will work.
I was searching and serching for a physics blog that was on the level and in terms that a high school student could use, but I nearly failed. Until I found this blog:
Physics Blog-Science News and Commentary
The infomation may be above the student's head from time to time, but I could use it as a resource and a way to keep my students up to date with the changing world of physics. There is also a forum fo posting questions and gathering information. I also found an intersting posting on the state of Math in America and why students struggle with basic problems.
The travel site I visited would be great for language arts and social studies teachers. It is also a great site for my technology class since one of my interdisciplinary units requires students to gather information about a specific country. This site could be very helpful to students of all ages, even graduate students.
Using this site, students are able to access an abundance of information concerning any country. I will definitely reference this site for the unit plan I have developed titled Passport to the Eastern Hemisphere. It is a wonderful source of information!
To view my lesson plan created on Wikiteach.org, click the following link:
http://www.wikiteach.org/index.php/wikiteach/action/lessonplan/iVar/216
To view the lesson plan that I chose to edit, click the following link:
http://www.wikiteach.org/index.php/wikiteach/wikiteachmgr/action/historyitem/iVar/468
Thanks,
Tracy
Hello
I scrutinized this lesson to create a pie chart in Excel and was only able to find one thing that needed correcting. It was a grammar mistake on the last step. Oh, well, that's collaboration!
My lesson plan Scouting Locations for Film and Video uses Flickr for photo sharing. The project is intended for high school students or above, primarily because it requires that students travel to various places to take photographs. The general idea is to find suitable locations to be used in a feature length film shot entirely in New Hampshire. Students are given a list of nine descriptions and must find places to fit the need, and then take digital still photos of the sites. The students will work in groups of three, and will display their final photographs on Flickr, in a group designated for my class (to be established at a later time).
Karen
I have to admit that I am really struggling with this whole social computing thing. I am having a really hard time seeing its value in education and many of the articles I read support that feeling!
Anyway, I found this wiki that allows users to add of types of information from photos to blogs pertaining to pregnancy. Some of it seemed to be geared towards teens who were afraid they were pregnant, but as I looked deeper there was some useful information. I like the fact that there are many different types of information to choose from if you don't feel comfortable with just one, such as a blog.
Amy
My second link to a podcast is KidCast. Dan Schmit is the one who is doing the podcast and his interest is podcasting in the classroom. One of the KidCast podcasts that I enjoyed was # 25 Where in the World?. It talked about sharing information about your community and putting in on Wikipedia. The podcast also included ideas for using podcasting in science. Mr. Schmit also feels educators need to teach students how to live in a cyber world. Instead of banning some technology of web 2.0, we need to teach students how to use them correctly and successfully.
KidCast
They have changed their website so you will need to scroll down to see KidCast and then find the episode #25
Mary
I ran accross this site which is commercial in nature. It allow businesses to create "secure" wikis. I checked out some of background info provided and it appears that some businesses are creating wikis to cut down on the amount of email and for project teams to collaborate on projects.
It's interesting that they feel they have to go to commercial sites since there are free wikis that offer password protection? Perhaps the security is marginal on the free sites.
Hello Everyone
This post is to satisfy step 5 from week #2's requirements. This link takes you to a link that discusses how to create a blog for K-12 classrooms and also gives example links that can be followed to see other blogs in existence. I followed one about a teacher who set up a blog about World History and posted Big Questions for each day and had his students create posts about the questions.
I'd also like to comment about someone from our class who several days ago suggested using a blog called TILT (Teachers Improving Learning with Technology This is an excellent blog and in fact I used the feature lesson plan with my class on Friday Feb. 16th entitled Creating a Timeline with Excel. It was a good break for the students to express their creativity using graphics, colors etc. while working with a program that up until now I've only had them use for calcualtions.
