Please visit my first wiki - literarytoolsstudysheet
I created this because students have a hard time differentiating between the various literary tools that authors use. I want them to implement these tools as well, but they have to be able to recognize and identify them first. I find that when students teach their peers, things become clearer. Hopefully, this will bring some clarity.
How can I use this with my classes? - I hope to expand this format according to the grade level. For K and 1 children, we can list words that begin with a certain letter, 2nd grade, a certain digraph or blend. Fifth grade studies the American colonies. We can brainstorm the differences between the various regional colonies, New England, Mid-Atlantic and Southern.
Wiki/Blog - I may be wrong, but I think that a blog is more discussion oriented, a more narrative form. I found that my wiki was more list or item centered. Of course, as I learn more about how to use them, I may find that this is not the case.
I found that they both are interactive, but again, the blog was more of a discussion whereas, the wiki was a good way of adding to, deleting and correcting someone else's ideas.
Excited - What a great way for interaction between students! This is a way for the student to feel valued.
Scared - It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. As I become more comfortable, I will use wikis more frequently and more diversely.
Confused - Not exactly confused, but as a Reading teacher, it did bother me that the title was written in all lower case!
Learn more about - I would like to learn more ways to implement this format.
I love your ideas for use of wikis with young students. I hope all elementary students become expert at the web2.0 tools. When they arrive in high school, our job becomes so much easier. I wonder what your students will think when and if they have a teacher who does not use wikis or blogs. We need our students to create and become critical thinkers. I believe this will only happen if we promote 21st century tools.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of strategies for the kids! You know kids will use it over the summer to talk to friends they don't see again until school. I think that would keep them coming back for more and you could extend their learning over the summer!
ReplyDeleteI think both blogs and wikis have their place in education equally. The blog would help with things like the writing process so students can see the steps they took. But they could practice together with a wiki applying the writing process in a live version.
I also love the ideas and can now see how wikis could be extended over multiple grade levels and multiple subjects. I had only been thinking about using wikis in my math classroom, but after reading your post, I am now considering how we could set up a wiki on our team and create cross-curricular activities and projects using a wiki. All of the teacher would be able to access the site individually, which would be a benefit since time is tight. Moreover, I think that a wiki would be a good way for teams of teachers to collaborate without having to spend every minute of our planning time in meetings. We could use a wiki and collaborate at times convenient to each teacher. It is amazing to me how reading your ideas for reading classes has led me to these new ideas. I think this is what a wiki is designed for!
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