More resources and information
than you can imagine for using
blogs and wikis!
Judy Arzt's tagged blogs is a list of many interesting blogs that can be used to generate ideas for use in the classroom. The one by Room 121 (a group of 5th grade students) is an amazing example of how to use blogging in the classroom. Children can use what they have personally created to review material and reinforce new material. 30 Digital Classroom Blogs from Around the World is another wonderful resource to get ideas for of using a classroom blog. Mr. Salsich's 3rd graders is an example from here in CT! Also included Reasons, Tips, and even Steps to follow.
As a wiki virgin, I found navigating and using Wikispaces a challenge. I succeeded in making a wiki but I didn’t know Everything You Need to Know about using Wikispaces. The tutorial was very helpful in learning more about using wikis.
How do we have time to check it all out?
What would be best for my students?
Definitely allows me to relate to my students who are struggling- I'm
struggling trying to digest and evaluate all the resources available to us!!!
Kelly, the amount of resources now available overwhelms me as well. But I am learning every day and that is exciting. I love seeing all the examples that teachers make public to us via their blogs, wikis, and websites. This is an exciting time to be teaching in given all the resources. Sometimes, I just need to sit back and remember to concentrate on just a few tools. Still, l love exploring and seeing what other teachers are doing. And teaching this course has opened my eyes to all the good things many teachers are doing to promote literacy by making effective use of the technologies. I realize many schools have limited resources, which in a way is good because teachers don't have to feel overwhelmed and can concentrate on making good use of what is available to them.
ReplyDeleteMy other 584 class had a Skype session with Aviva. Two of her students also joined in. It was a productive exchange as we heard from the teacher and the students how they use the technology to promote both reading and math skills. The students participate in a math challenge conducted online with other schools. They were very excited about the start of this challenge. The tools today ease collaboration across classrooms, which I find exciting. There is also a quad blogging project going in which students from four schools blog together.
By the way, you are a gem with blogging. I see you already are using gadgets to set up a sidebar and are following other blogs. Your blog overall looks excellent given we just started this project.