Prior to recent research, the only aspect of wikis that I was familiar with was the connection to the popular website, Wikipedia. I knew that the website was similar to an encyclopedia, but that anyone on the web could edit content. That led me to simply assuming that wikis are pages of information that are constantly updatable by Web 2.0 users. Upon researching the power of wikis, I realize I had a bit to learn. Wikis are simple yet complex. They allow diverse users to publish and share researched information on a variety of topics. With options to control who views content or has the ability publish, possibilities are endless.
Exploring various wikis proved to be an enjoyable task. Reading how “Wiki Wiki Teaching” is an art on the blog Cool Cat Teacher was eye opening. The blog author states how “Wiki Wiki” means quickly in Hawaiian, which directly relates to students using wikis to present knowledge. The teacher on this blog showed how the depth and dimension of teaching is evolving as she assigned a task utilizing wikis to her Computer Science students. Students went above and beyond expectations, creating and utilizing wikis relating to their educational courses that were high quality. I was literally amazed at the work that some students produced, such as this wiki on the novel The Scarlet Letter. This wiki provided a review of the popular novel, and has a ton of information for students reading the book. There are links to each chapter that contain questions and answers about the novel. It would be a great review for an assessment. I can only imagine the sense of ownership and community compiling a wiki gives high school students. From my findings, the author’s students published relevant information in wikis, collaborating and compiling information for particular courses. The students I teach are significantly younger than the students referred to in this post, but I was absolutely inspired by the results of this teacher’s assignment.
I am a little jealous of the capabilities and inspiration technology gives teachers of upper grades. I know that I can incorporate some meaningful educational uses for wikis in first grade, but six and seven year-old are not developmentally ready to create individualized, creative wikis to the caliber that high school aged students can. One wiki that proved to be a bit more relevant to my first grade classroom is Kindergarten Counting Book . I was a bit more familiar with the simple nature of this wiki, which presented photos of groups of objects to 100. It connects with what we are doing in first grade at the moment, for we are counting and representing numbers to 120. I noticed this site was organized with numbers and pictures to 100 but really didn’t contain much else. There was no standard listed or overall learning outcome. If I were compiling the wiki for my classroom I’d absolutely include opportunities for students to upload pictures and words like this wiki did, but I would provide some additional information like standards covered and the learning objective. I’d also present some information and pictures of my class/classroom. That makes the wiki a bit more meaningful at the primary level.
Another wiki I investigated was Primary Math, which is essentially a compilation of math learning resources and activities by various teachers. This site is organized by category such as “addition” or “graphing” and offers a few activities for each. I obtained a few new teaching strategies to use with my students while investigating the wiki. There are numerous photos of students learning math but no videos. I think that if more teachers would add information to this Wiki to make it more complete, it would be a better tool. Suggestions to make this wiki higher quality would be to add videos to the video section, and providing additional tabs. Under each category like “addition” it would be beneficial to have additional options for resources such as assessments or lesson reflections. Overall, however, this seems like a great resource. The more minds working together to increase student achievement, the better off our students are!
Dr. Seuss is an incredibly popular children’s author and the wiki Salute to Seuss is dedicated solely to teaching materials relating to Dr. Seuss. The wiki provides an overview on the main page, “Each classroom picked one (or several) of Dr. Seuss's BOOKS and created either a webpage, a wiki, a blog, a presentation, a bubble share, etc about their book. The project began in August of 2007 and concluded in December of 2007.” It clearly states the purpose and provides a thorough list of activities and resources for teachers to use while teaching with Dr. Seuss books. With the implementation of the Common Core Standards that our country has adopted, some of these activities may need to be adapted from the California standards it references.
I thought that wikis do not apply to primary grade levels, but after some research I can see them as a positive educational tool. I especially envision a class wiki showing our reading strategies that we learn in first grade. I can train parents on wikis and have a class page for how we are meeting our reading goals by using our strategies. I could see myself setting it up and typing in our CAFÉ strategies that help us become great first grade readers, and having children and parents work at home to update the wiki. They could write how students used specific strategies in certain books. I’m an advocate for connecting school and home learning and can envision parents learning a bit about new technologies as they help their child with their academics. I would most definitely have to have a clear plan in place to undertake this task, but it would definitely work.
The absolute most useful way that I can see myself and teachers in primary grades using Wikis is by sharing resources on the Common Core Standards. I have seen wikis that certain school districts have created involving unit plans, scope and sequences, etc and most of the resources I have found are unfortunately private. Teachers at schools or in districts can absolutely have their instruction positively impacted if resources were shared in a clear and cohesive way. Hopefully Cobb County can create a wiki for the Common Core standards and updated by district leaders/coaches as well as teachers. As technologies become more advanced and teachers become more familiar with the new standards, I’m sure there will be many resources available to share. I am keeping my fingers crossed that collaboration can be taken to a higher level with technology.
Exploring various wikis proved to be an enjoyable task. Reading how “Wiki Wiki Teaching” is an art on the blog Cool Cat Teacher was eye opening. The blog author states how “Wiki Wiki” means quickly in Hawaiian, which directly relates to students using wikis to present knowledge. The teacher on this blog showed how the depth and dimension of teaching is evolving as she assigned a task utilizing wikis to her Computer Science students. Students went above and beyond expectations, creating and utilizing wikis relating to their educational courses that were high quality. I was literally amazed at the work that some students produced, such as this wiki on the novel The Scarlet Letter. This wiki provided a review of the popular novel, and has a ton of information for students reading the book. There are links to each chapter that contain questions and answers about the novel. It would be a great review for an assessment. I can only imagine the sense of ownership and community compiling a wiki gives high school students. From my findings, the author’s students published relevant information in wikis, collaborating and compiling information for particular courses. The students I teach are significantly younger than the students referred to in this post, but I was absolutely inspired by the results of this teacher’s assignment.
I am a little jealous of the capabilities and inspiration technology gives teachers of upper grades. I know that I can incorporate some meaningful educational uses for wikis in first grade, but six and seven year-old are not developmentally ready to create individualized, creative wikis to the caliber that high school aged students can. One wiki that proved to be a bit more relevant to my first grade classroom is Kindergarten Counting Book . I was a bit more familiar with the simple nature of this wiki, which presented photos of groups of objects to 100. It connects with what we are doing in first grade at the moment, for we are counting and representing numbers to 120. I noticed this site was organized with numbers and pictures to 100 but really didn’t contain much else. There was no standard listed or overall learning outcome. If I were compiling the wiki for my classroom I’d absolutely include opportunities for students to upload pictures and words like this wiki did, but I would provide some additional information like standards covered and the learning objective. I’d also present some information and pictures of my class/classroom. That makes the wiki a bit more meaningful at the primary level.
Another wiki I investigated was Primary Math, which is essentially a compilation of math learning resources and activities by various teachers. This site is organized by category such as “addition” or “graphing” and offers a few activities for each. I obtained a few new teaching strategies to use with my students while investigating the wiki. There are numerous photos of students learning math but no videos. I think that if more teachers would add information to this Wiki to make it more complete, it would be a better tool. Suggestions to make this wiki higher quality would be to add videos to the video section, and providing additional tabs. Under each category like “addition” it would be beneficial to have additional options for resources such as assessments or lesson reflections. Overall, however, this seems like a great resource. The more minds working together to increase student achievement, the better off our students are!
Dr. Seuss is an incredibly popular children’s author and the wiki Salute to Seuss is dedicated solely to teaching materials relating to Dr. Seuss. The wiki provides an overview on the main page, “Each classroom picked one (or several) of Dr. Seuss's BOOKS and created either a webpage, a wiki, a blog, a presentation, a bubble share, etc about their book. The project began in August of 2007 and concluded in December of 2007.” It clearly states the purpose and provides a thorough list of activities and resources for teachers to use while teaching with Dr. Seuss books. With the implementation of the Common Core Standards that our country has adopted, some of these activities may need to be adapted from the California standards it references.
I thought that wikis do not apply to primary grade levels, but after some research I can see them as a positive educational tool. I especially envision a class wiki showing our reading strategies that we learn in first grade. I can train parents on wikis and have a class page for how we are meeting our reading goals by using our strategies. I could see myself setting it up and typing in our CAFÉ strategies that help us become great first grade readers, and having children and parents work at home to update the wiki. They could write how students used specific strategies in certain books. I’m an advocate for connecting school and home learning and can envision parents learning a bit about new technologies as they help their child with their academics. I would most definitely have to have a clear plan in place to undertake this task, but it would definitely work.
The absolute most useful way that I can see myself and teachers in primary grades using Wikis is by sharing resources on the Common Core Standards. I have seen wikis that certain school districts have created involving unit plans, scope and sequences, etc and most of the resources I have found are unfortunately private. Teachers at schools or in districts can absolutely have their instruction positively impacted if resources were shared in a clear and cohesive way. Hopefully Cobb County can create a wiki for the Common Core standards and updated by district leaders/coaches as well as teachers. As technologies become more advanced and teachers become more familiar with the new standards, I’m sure there will be many resources available to share. I am keeping my fingers crossed that collaboration can be taken to a higher level with technology.