Huggins Happenings

Well, now I’m on to the part I’ve been waiting for all along!  I’m thrilled to have to opportunity to create, maintain, and share a wikipage.  I have a small web-based business and have designed and managed my own website for years, but wasn’t sure how I could transfer that style of website into something that would be useful in my classroom.  I was looking for something a bit more interactive, but not much.  After browsing several sites, I got a few ideas of what I’m looking for, but also what I’m not.  On the initial list, there weren’t many early elementary wikis to view, but they gave me enough information to get going on this post.

Going into this wiki project, my intention is to make my wiki mostly informative.  I want it to be a place that the parents of my students can go to when they need information about project assigments, upcoming tests, special dates, etc.  The wiki titled “Go West” ( http://gowest.wikispaces.com/) showed me how I can also use this site as a place for students to “show off” their knowledge of a particular subject.  We have a wonderful computer lab and I would like to use it at the end of our social studies units as a “wrap up” activity.  It’s also a great assessment tool for me.  Kubler Reading (http://kublerreading.wikispaces.com/) was also of interest to me.  Our third graders participate in literature circles like the ones on this site and I found it interesting that they extended the literature discussions onto the internet.  During our literature circles, it is impossible for me to be in each group for the entire duration of the discussion.  Using the wiki page as a tool for the students to write what was discussed in the groups not only allows me to assess each group, but allows the students to see what the other groups may have done differently.

All in all, I think that I’ll walk away with a few ideas from these wikis.  Our school science teacher uses her wiki and blog for her students to write and respond to each other.  I don’t think I’ll go that far because time management is an issue for me right now.  I hope that, in the future, I have the opportunity to make my wiki as interactive as possible.

Well, I’m feeling it now – that overwhelming feeling of being behind.  Obviously I signed up for this course, in part, because I needed to get PLU credits. However, after being out of the classroom for 8 years, this course was of great interest to me.  I wanted to see how education had evolved in response to advances in technology in the classroom.  I have been excited to learn about the Smartboard and am anxious to arrive at the part of this course that helps me design a wikipage for my classroom.  What has been overwhelming to me is the amount of information I’ve had to absorb through blog posts.  I feel that the readers have been a huge help to me as far as organizing the data that is constantly changing, but I hope that, in the future, I’ll have the time to return to these sites and use the information that is out there, just beyond my fingertips.  While completing Thing 7a, I subscribed to the BrainPop feeds.  I use this site in my classroom to introduce concepts to the children before conducting my lessons.  I had no idea there were feeds on the site- of course, until a month ago, I had no idea what a feed even was.  Today, I came across an article about a tool called “Activexpression”. http://www.google.com/reader/view/?tab=my#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpop.com%2Feducators%2Fblog%2F%3Ffeed%3Drss2  This article sparked my interest because I had taken a course earlier in the year on our new Senteo system.  My children use the Senteo in Science and I am hoping to integrate it more into my room.  As it becomes a more popular classroom tool, and as the children become more advanced in their typing skills, I’ll be anxious to see how this similar system can be used in my classroom.  I’ve found that anything that I can put in their hands, other than a pencil, gets them more engaged in the learning process.  I can’t wait to see what other technological tools are out there for use in my classroom.