I do not understand why certain teachers have yet to incorporate such a tool in their classroom. For such skillful students to be denied the option of blogging and creating posts on their own wikis is beyond me. I believe students of all grade levels can be introduced to wikis, if not taught to run one in the classroom. If students are long familiar with keyboards and can type a simple paragraph, I have no doubt that journal entries, poems, etc. can be typed and posted on a classroom wiki. In fact, I am sure that many of the students in my internship would find it more motivating to complete their writing or adhere to it if they knew they would be able to post it on the web. If I wasn't borrowing a class during my independent teaching, I would definitely incorporate the use of wikis into the curriculum. Unfortunately, even if I had permission to do so, I doubt my CF would keep up with the requirements of a wiki, thus upsetting the students and ultimately eliminating their passion for the concept. Rest assured, I am almost certain that I will use a class wiki when I have my own students.
Move over pencils, there's a new writing utensil in town.
Saira, your positive outlook on wikis in the classroom is inspiring! After our class discussion, I was trying to imagine what a working wiki for a classroom would look like. I, too, think it is a great idea to incorporate a blog or wiki for the class to communicate the information they have learned, to share their activities with their parents and communicate with classrooms in other parts of the world. But, I wonder if I could keep up with the management of the wiki or the blog. Careful consideration would have be to given to when the students would have access to computer labs for contributing to wikis. Would this time come out of language arts blocks or other content areas? How often would students contribute to the wiki? These are just some of the questions that I have asked myself about using a wiki or blog in the classroom. Have you thought about the management of using a wiki in class? Do you think that would be part of the reason why your CF would not likely continue using the wiki after you leave? I would love to hear some of your ideas for managing a wiki or blog within a classroom environment.
ReplyDeleteSaira, I must admit that I will probably be one of those teachers that does not readily adopt to new technologies and their uses. It's not because I do not see the value in them, it's because I don't easily adopt to new technology in general due to lack of comfort when dealing with technology.
ReplyDeleteHopefully I have someone like you in my school to keep me on my toes and to force me to keep up with the times.