My first impressions of a Wiki were not overly positive. Like most other people my initial encounter with a wiki was through Wikipedia . When I saw the site I was puzzled as to why anyone would take it seriously as an information source. With the philosophy that anyone should be able to add or delete information I wondered about the reliability of this site as a resource. As time wikipedia has encountered difficulties in maintaining accurate and relevant entries. Any encyclopedia with Danny Bonaducci in it has credibility issues. I would hate to see a student cite wikipedia as a source for a paper. My attitude towards wikis as educational tools however is entirely different on the classroom level. My reasoning for this is the level of control that an instructor has. A teacher can monitor, edit, and even delete posts that are inappropriate or inaccurate. I think Wikis provide a wonderful opportunity for students to provide evidence of their knowledge and mastery of an assignment. We seem to be reading a great deal of Cool Cat Teacher and with good reason. I marvel at her ability to recognize the power of the wiki while remembering to keep its uses on a level that allows all of her students to participate and experience success. Cool Cat also utilizes the wiki in simple ways such as the study hall site. I think if I were a parent or student I would value her sites. I would love to be able to track assignments online as parents of her students can.
One of the Wiki experiences I thought students would enjoy the most was Jennifer Barnett's The Crucible wiki . On this wiki Ms. Barnett uses a site powered by VoiceThread that allows students to use photographs, text, and even their own voices to post information on a subject. I can think of several students who would be thrilled to be able to be hear worldwide. it could be an incredibly motivating feature. The students in this class seemed to take their work very seriously and their posts were, for the most part very insightful. I would love to see our science teachers use this as a method to review for tests. I though the contest cool cat had to see who could post the best review was marvelous.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Putting yourself out there in a nice way Thingy #7
My difficulty with writing responses to blog posts in the pasts is the lack of response. Unfortunately for me I am one of those people who is a conversation addict. You know who we are. We're the guy you drive by on the freeway who's shouting at his radio. The invention of the bluetooth has made us a little less obvious but we're out there. We're that person in the doctor's office who can't not talk to you. We have to fill the void. We'll ask you about the weather, your kids, your dog, what embarrassing procedure you are having done, the meaningless drivel written on your t-shirt, we can't let it rest. We just can't stand the silence. We take it as a personal affront to human dignity that you are not helping us fill the conversational void. Don't try to avoid us, we'll follow you. My experience with blogs has been maddeningly hit and miss. Sometimes you will hit the incredibly dedicated blogger who answers anyone. Harry Shearer on Huffington post is one of those. Post how you love New Orleans and hate what happened during Hurricane Katrina and he is your friend for life. He'll email you his favorite gumbo recipe and invite you to spend Mardi Gras week at his house. We love them.
The flip side of that is the drive by blogger, they post it and forget it. Most likely it was a late night venting experience for them that they have long since forgotten. It is a good possibility that they've forgotten they have a blog and will never even read your post. They drive us crazy. Unless you write something really snarky ( along the lines of "Dear Moron, did you write this post in crayon before transferring it to your pitiful excuse for a blog?") the author tends to just read and go on. You aren't that important to them and your comment is even less so. We hate them. They are the bane of our existence. I am convinced that this is the foundation for 95% of the incivility on the internet. Do not ignore us. We become quite pithy and have online access to all the best thesauruses ( or is it thesauri?). We will post comments so full of bile and anger it will melt your hard drive. When I say we I, of course, mean all of those other people. I am not snarky. Heaven forbid, this gets you banned from sites and that simply will not do.
Fortunately for all of us most blogs hit the middle ground. I haven't found many blogs where the authors have the time to respond meaningfully to all of the posted responses. It is very time consuming. If you write something thoughtful and well crafted you will generally get a response. Be civil and that ups your chances. I think you have to be especially dedicated when using blogging in the classroom in order to make sure no one feels left out of the conversation. I posted on articles that haven't gotten much in the way of response and I wonder what the response to my posts will be. Ah well, just have to wait and see if I'm deemed worthy. Not that I'm waiting by the computer or anything, that would be pitiful.
The flip side of that is the drive by blogger, they post it and forget it. Most likely it was a late night venting experience for them that they have long since forgotten. It is a good possibility that they've forgotten they have a blog and will never even read your post. They drive us crazy. Unless you write something really snarky ( along the lines of "Dear Moron, did you write this post in crayon before transferring it to your pitiful excuse for a blog?") the author tends to just read and go on. You aren't that important to them and your comment is even less so. We hate them. They are the bane of our existence. I am convinced that this is the foundation for 95% of the incivility on the internet. Do not ignore us. We become quite pithy and have online access to all the best thesauruses ( or is it thesauri?). We will post comments so full of bile and anger it will melt your hard drive. When I say we I, of course, mean all of those other people. I am not snarky. Heaven forbid, this gets you banned from sites and that simply will not do.
Fortunately for all of us most blogs hit the middle ground. I haven't found many blogs where the authors have the time to respond meaningfully to all of the posted responses. It is very time consuming. If you write something thoughtful and well crafted you will generally get a response. Be civil and that ups your chances. I think you have to be especially dedicated when using blogging in the classroom in order to make sure no one feels left out of the conversation. I posted on articles that haven't gotten much in the way of response and I wonder what the response to my posts will be. Ah well, just have to wait and see if I'm deemed worthy. Not that I'm waiting by the computer or anything, that would be pitiful.
Thing #6
I really enjoy the ability to quickly skim items that the reader gives you. I selected a piece from tech learning on using Wordle in the classroom. I know at West we are trying to focus on using academic language and i think wordle might help us bridge some of our gaps. When I listen to students using academic vocabulary that is on a higher level I often get the feeling they are just regurgitating what they have just heard from the teacher. I worry that they don't have a good grasp of the concept. I'd like to see our science teachers work with this in developing a deeper understanding of the terminology they are using. often when you ask students about a term they can spout the definition back at you but if you ask them what that means you get a very glassy stare. We're getting better but it has a ways to go.
my second article in thingy #6 was a post by Steven Hardon focusing on the use of gaming to improve instructional effectiveness. I posted a comment on this article and I'm curious to see if the author will respond. My praise for the concept is that it definitely piques students interest in material they might not otherwise engage in. My concern is twofold, first is the difficulty we have in getting a portion of our staff to take technological advancements into their regular instruction cycle. I worry that gaming will be seen by these teachers as trivializing the content. My second concern is that we have yet to develop effective ways of consistently transferring student success on these applications to success on traditional assessments. Maybe the answer is to ask TEA to develop an interactive shooter game that will supplant the TAKS test.
my second article in thingy #6 was a post by Steven Hardon focusing on the use of gaming to improve instructional effectiveness. I posted a comment on this article and I'm curious to see if the author will respond. My praise for the concept is that it definitely piques students interest in material they might not otherwise engage in. My concern is twofold, first is the difficulty we have in getting a portion of our staff to take technological advancements into their regular instruction cycle. I worry that gaming will be seen by these teachers as trivializing the content. My second concern is that we have yet to develop effective ways of consistently transferring student success on these applications to success on traditional assessments. Maybe the answer is to ask TEA to develop an interactive shooter game that will supplant the TAKS test.
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