Creator's Note
I chose to create a wiki because I could really see myself using either a wiki or a blog in my classroom next year. Though Jodie doesn't love the system that her school provides for blogging purposes, the examples of student discussion posts she showed us were very motivating for me. Discussions were passionate and insightful; if they weren't, she was able to take care of it. This is definitely a work in progress. I plan to include my syllabus, classroom procedures, and many more materials and resources I find as I plan my year for my students. Also, a wiki is always a work in progress. My kids will add to it, as well. This is just a great place to organize information for my students and get discussions going.
I will use this wiki as a source for resources and information for students and parents. The home page features a short introduction and a link to my first technological feat, a Prezi I created to tell students and parents about me. I have included a webquest with information about the Holocaust as an introduction to "The Diary of Anne Frank" on the wiki. On the Animal Farm page, I posted chapter summaries, an introduction, and a section on why students should care. The To Kill a Mockingbird page features a section on why students should care, as well as a link to a current event that relates to a major theme of the novel. These pages will only grow as I find more resources to help students evaluate these novels. I'd also really like to use the wiki as a discussion platform for class. I could use these discussions to formatively assess students, build on class discussion, keep kids thinking about material even outside of class, and contribute to class discussion on days following online discussion boards.
This wiki supports my belief that communication is ESSENTIAL for a collaborative and successful environment. Parents and students have my contact information, my expectations, information about me, and a framework for where the class is going. This wiki also showcases my belief in the benefits of 21st-century teaching and learning. I want to use the wiki as an engaging tool, which researchers believe to be more effective than a simple digital presentation of knowledge. The webquest, inspired by a journal article I recently read, is a way to use this wiki and technology in an engaging and interactive fashion, "shifting from a passive use of a tool to an active engagement by constructing and designing virtual tours linking educational content (e.g., virtual tours of art museums)" (Tillander, 2011, p. 45).
Research has also found that there are steps to successfully implementing technology in the classroom: "Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow project identified stages (entry, adoption, adaptation, appropriation, and invention) though which teachers progressively engage technology" (Tillander, 2011, p. 45). With this wiki, I could perhaps take students from adoption to invention, eventually having them create wikis for their own use.
A low-tech adaptation might be having hard copies of classroom information prepared, such as articles on the websites listed and syllabi. Also, live discussion, either on paper or verbally, is always a viable classroom option.
Works Cited:
Tillander, M. (2011). Creativity, Technology, Art, and Pedagogical Practices. Art Education, 64(1), 40- 46.
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