Update 8/03/07: It’s been almost a year since this post. I’ve just written a review of two different Wiki’s that you can use in education. Read it here Which Wiki to Use after you finish reading this post.
Posted: September ‘06
A teacher asked me the other day about starting a blog within her grade level. She also mentioned Wiki’s, but from her email I could tell that she did not understand what each one was. She had a blog confused as a Wiki, but her intent is what is important.
With all the testing, new mandated reading blocks, use of the computer labs for one complete hour and the practice testing during some of that lab time, I don’t see how the teachers can do anything that’s cutting edge Web 2.0. But here we have a grade level of teachers that wants to use these technologies to help their students learn. I totally agree that these strategies can fit into a curriculum that strives to have our children pass a standardized test. What we need to do is to show the people at the decision making level that it works within the framework they have set up.
How do we do that you ask? Well, it takes hours of effort after classes end and seeding of a blog or Wiki. I started this blog as an example of what you can do with a blog, and I’ve recently created a Wiki to show how easy it is to do. I also write another blog off the education topic called Anything Goes Discussion that I’ve been writing in frequently to see what people like to read and how different styles bring greater responses. It has been going quite well, so much so that I am going to start blogging here on a much more regular basis to increase it’s exposure. I’m also going to seek out other educational blogging folks to learn from in the education field and maybe this seed will grow a big tree in our school district.
As I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve gotten many ideas, so many in fact that I’ve had to stop and write down so that I can go back and brainstorm on them. One of the ideas I’ve gotten is from Will Richardson’s excellent blog Weblogg-ed and the particular recent entry about Elementary School Publishing and Kids Teaching. I hope to push this idea with the principal and see if we can get the 4th grade team to take up the mantle and run with it for the school.
That’s what I think….How about you?
Filed under: Education, Educational News, Educational Technology, Elementary School Information, K-12 Ed Tech, K-12 Education, K-12 Schools, Web 2.0, Wikis
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