Wiki Project

I looked at two different wikis being used for literacy purposes in the classroom.


Wiki #1: River Trails School District 5th grade vocabulary wiki

This wiki is used for vocabulary only. There is a page for each letter of the alphabet that contains all the vocabulary words beginning with that letter. The students can edit the page and post real life situations where they came across the word. They include the quote with the source they found it in. The students edited the font style of the vocabulary word to make it stand out and shared their name under their post. The words could be found in books, tv, or anywhere else in real life. I think this is an excellent use of a wiki. This encourages students to listen for their vocabulary words in their day to day life. It also creates a resource for them to get several examples of the word being used in sentences. This definitely assists them in learning the words.

http://ig5thgrade.pbworks.com/w/page/4619994/FrontPage

Wiki #2: Super Second Graders in Mrs. Hopkins’ class

This wiki is really impressive. It seemed to be a pretty open wiki that was being used for multiple subjects and purposes in the classroom. It has a section that had an attachment with the schedule for taking home the class pet. There was a section with things you should know and rules for the wiki. The students were able to post their own rules that they came up with which I love. Everything was organized into sections. Students had shared poetry, endings to sentence prompts. There was a “book chat” section where they shared books they were reading and included a picture of the cover. There was also a section with voicethreads they can created. This wiki is similar to what I would love to utilize when I have my own classroom. It was different from the first in that it had much more to it as the other was only for vocabulary. I think both purposes can work well. I did like the more in depth instructions on the second grade page but they are also younger than the fifth graders and probably needed it more.

http://ig5thgrade.pbworks.com/w/page/4619994/FrontPage

Week 1

“Many teachers teach as they themselves were taught…(Frey, Fisher, and Gonzalez, pg. 5)”. After reading the Solution Tree book this quote was the statement that stuck out to me the most. I loved their section about the time traveler from 1895 feeling comfortable in today’s classroom. While maybe they did not give today’s classrooms enough credit- surely he would have been surprised by interactive white boards, digital cameras, and computers, I think there is some truth there. I think a lot of teachers have fallen into a cycle of modeling how they were taught and also teaching with the same style throughout their whole career no matter how long. Teachers need to be the ones to bring it upon themselves to get educated on technology and use it with their students. I also thought the section about focusing on the verbs instead of the nouns was well said. With technology constantly evolving, it is not possible for teachers to use every new tool in their classroom. They need to focus on their goals and pick the best tools to achieve them. When choosing tools they should evaluate their students’ needs as well as their own teaching preference.

After reading the first chapter of the Pearson book, I am excited to read the rest. Especially since I work with preschool students I strongly believe in using a social-constructivist style in the classroom. I loved how the first grade teacher paired her students with an older buddy so they got one-on-one instruction at the computer. I also liked how she mentioned her students being interested in their classmates writing after using the computer. I think it is so important for students to be actively involved in their learning. I want to alter my activities to incorporate student interests. I want them to explore, and use trial and error and problem solve. I think it is definitely possible to align these strategies with curriculum standards. It just might involve a little more work from the teacher. I found this article when looking into problem solving and young children. 

In this class I hope to learn new or better ways to use technology to teach literacy in the classroom. Literacy is huge with working with young students and I am always looking for ways to get them more interested and engaged. I think technology is an excellent way to accomplish this goal. I want to learn how to more effectively provide students with opportunities to be creative and motivated about what they are writing in the classroom.