Just the beginning- Thing 23

Wohoo! Finally!
Wow, what an experience. My mind is racing as to the ways I can use this information in my classroom.
I can see a huge resource for me as a teacher. From writing in my blogs, embedding videos and pictures, I have found a new way to reach students as I teach.

There is a larger question that looms over me however.

This is not about me. It is about my students.

How can I take what I have learned and help my students to use this technology? What can I do in the classroom that will require them to use this technology? Can my district support me with this technology?

I HAVE to find ways to make my STUDENTS use this.

This program has showed me that there is so much more out there than I knew before. As my dad said in a recent email, "Nine years ago when I got a computer I got on the internet and thought I was "cool" and "with it". Now all of a sudden I feel left in the dust." I was feeling out in the dust as well. I am still a little dusty, but I hope I am a little more in tune with a few things going out on the web. I am still amazed by it all and I wonder how people keep up. I guess it comes down to what life is about. You pick what is important to you.

I plan to use most of what I learned in this class in my classroom. It is my hope to have some after-school workshops for parents and students on creating delicious accounts, how to use the wiki and the like. I plan to use my blog and hope to put in videos and pictures and links. I plan to have a few students run the wiki. I will definately be using Flikr in my classroom, and hope to engage my students into using it as well. I can't wait to find out how to make my own podcast. I would love for my science students to be able to pod the daily weather or my drama students to pod small skits that they have written. I also plan to look at each unit I teach and figure out a way to utlize technology so that my students are creating and responding.

In response as to how to keep up with Web 2.0, it may just come down to classes like this. I will keep my eyes open for new adventures. I plan to keep looking for good RSS feeds and podcasts.

My biggest "take-away" from all of this is that I am aware that there are programs out there that will guide me to create wonderful things. I do not have to be a know-it-all in programming. These Web tools are pretty simple to use and utilize and you can get big responses. My confidence has been boosted. I plan on keeping up with this blog- only changing it a bit to reflect a larger audience.

Technology changes daily. This constant evolution is hard to keep up with. I do not think that we have to. You can go crazy doing this. There is an analogy between new technologies and new recipes. Just like a good recipe- I will use the one I like until I see something different come along. I will try that out. If I like it, I will add it to my recipe book. If I do not, I will get rid of it and not worry about it. The same can be said of all of this technology.

Thank you for the opportunity to explore!

What the Wiki? Thing 22

I set up my classroom wiki. http://room214science.wikispaces.com/

I figured out how to make different pages. Most importantly, I figured out how to finally work that Spelling with Flikr correctly! When I made the heading to this page, I did it the old-fashioned way- by getting the pictures individually; putting them into a Paint program and saving. I felt like saying "DUH!" when I realized all I had to do is type in my word and the program brings it up for you. Wow- that is A LOT of time I can save now!

I have my wiki connected to my classroom blog. http://wehnerscience.blogspot.com/ I have the wiki listed on the blog. I am hoping to get the two to work together. Here is what I envision:

-The blog will mainly be mine. I will update it weekly or whenever I feel the need to write parents. I hope to post homework and things.
-The wiki will mainly be the space of the students. I hope to use this space for students to write about what we are doing in class; and to practice how to use one of these applications. I already have a page for our 1st unit of study, as well as a questions/answers page for my incoming 6th grade students.

I do wonder if I should keep with our district's Moodle site. To me, I may use this to just upload any papers and similar things. I do not find it as attractive and easy to use as I have the wiki and blog- although I think that I will work with it a bit more as time goes on to see how I could use this. I just wish the district had given us some instruction and help with how to use Moodle. I feel a little bit of a rebel still, going out and creating sites and such that are not part of the district umbrella. Hope I do not get rained on for doing this.

Wiki vs Blog... well, how I have broken it down is how I see the difference. A blog is more personal to me- something that I can write and control. A wiki is the space where my students can upkeep. Of course, this could be reversed, but this is how I am setting it up. The whole purpose of a wiki is to collaborate and work on something with others.

For now, I am just using this year as practice. I have no clue how I would ever monitor student use; and use it for grades. This is going to be a work in progress.

Home Stretch- Thing 21

Wikis.
To tell the truth, I didn't find any wikis for the classroom that really inspired me. Some of it just looked like so much work and I was wondering how it is all managed. How are the students trained on the wiki? Do all students have access? When do they do this? Does it take from classtime? I have SO many questions about it.

Here are a few hurdles for me in designing my own class wiki:
-Student privacy. I have to be careful to make sure no last names are posted and no pictures are posted if a child does not have permission. I also have to make sure students have permission to publish things on the web. Doing all of this will just take a little bit of time near the end of September. If I do have any students unable to do things, I would have to figure out alternatives.
-Time. The end of all things creative. I just do not see myself taking time out of instruction to go over how to use a wiki. Perhaps this 1st year I will get a few students in each class to play around with it and post things about their class.
Figuring in how to update it each week is a big time issue. It should be incorporated into the week. This will be something I will have to plan.
-My district. They are picky about "outside" websites and will not support me if something were to come of it. I have had my own website for years without issue; but it has always been in the back of my mind. To me, the positives outweigh the negatives. I have had so many positive comments from parents about the website and updates.

There are a few hurdles to jump. I am not going to bite off more than I can chew this 1st year. I would like to see how the blog and wiki can work together. Right now I have my classroom blog connected to my wiki and vice versa. I will update the blog; I will have students update the wiki. With the wiki, I can upload documents which will be helpful.

Last year I had an email list of parents. I would then send out a weekly email to all of them at the same time. I guess this year, I will have the blog with the same information- and it will be up to them to look at it. They could probably do an RSS feed to their email if they wanted to.

I am all for moving on and trying new things. I am excited about this. It is worth the time and effort- provided I do not overload myself the 1st year!

http://room214science.wikispaces.com/
http://wehnerscience.blogspot.com/