Over the past week, those of us in the elementary education program in our class section created a resource wiki. We were all responsible for the front page, the layout, font, and ordering of the resources in the wiki; furthermore, we individually had to find five educational student websites to annotate for the content pages in the wiki.
I believe this experience was useful. We were able to collaborate to create an easily accessible consortium of resources in various content areas that we can use when we are teachers.
It was also a good experience because I was able to get a better idea of the resources that are out there that I would not have not considered before. These websites could potentially help my students in great ways, and it's important that I give my students all the help that is available.
This project could be used in my classroom one day for a group research project. The wiki makes collaboration easier. But instead of finding educational websites for children like we did for our assignment, my students could use this to find articles or other resources they can reference for whatever their group projects are.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Reviewing a Wiki
For this blog post, we were supposed to review a wiki. I enjoyed this activity because I found a great wiki. Mrs. Ibrahim's second grade wiki contains the topics covered over the whole year as well as a compilation students' writings. I love this idea because it's important to let students practice writing as much as possible, and I've already decided that in my own classroom I want my students keep daily journals. But after seeing this, I may just make it a daily wiki journal. Having the daily journals online can make it more interesting for the students and allows the parents to have easier access to their children's works.
The home page explains what a reader will find in the site in a concise paragraph. This is important for individuals visiting the site for the first time. The home page also contains a picture to add interest, but in my opinion, the picture is too busy and cluttered. It is somewhat distracting.
There are also links to the various pages in the wiki on the home page. The first group of links are organized by student's first names. These will take you to individual student's pages where there is a self-portrait of the student and some information the student has written about himself or herself. From the student's individual pages, visitors can go to the student's personal narrative to read more of the student's writings.
The wiki also contains a navigation bar on the left side of the page. There are links to various subject pages found here. These lead to the various topics the class has covered over the year.
Seeing how wikis can be used in a second grade class has been a great experience.
The home page explains what a reader will find in the site in a concise paragraph. This is important for individuals visiting the site for the first time. The home page also contains a picture to add interest, but in my opinion, the picture is too busy and cluttered. It is somewhat distracting.
There are also links to the various pages in the wiki on the home page. The first group of links are organized by student's first names. These will take you to individual student's pages where there is a self-portrait of the student and some information the student has written about himself or herself. From the student's individual pages, visitors can go to the student's personal narrative to read more of the student's writings.
The wiki also contains a navigation bar on the left side of the page. There are links to various subject pages found here. These lead to the various topics the class has covered over the year.
Seeing how wikis can be used in a second grade class has been a great experience.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Inquiry-Based Project
This week I created a science inquiry project for first graders in a wiki. In this project, we were to find websites that match up with Tennessee State Standards and NETS-S Standards. Then we were to create questions that the students should be able to answer after researching in the sites. This project was very fun for me because I was able to work with content that I might one day teach.
To search for an appropriate topic, I found a first grade science textbook and the teacher book that are used in Tennessee. I learned a lot by looking through the teacher book. Each lesson states what Tennessee State Standards it meets. This was very helpful. Each lesson was also linked to another content area which will be very useful when I'm teaching my own class.
Another thing I learned about from this activity is the NETS-S Standards. Before this activity, I had never heard of them before, so it was nice to get to look them over. I could see how my inquiry activity fit different standards and how to change or improve my inquiry activity to include more of these standards.
One thing I realized from this lesson is how hard it is to create directions and activities for students who can only read at a first grade level. It was a challenge to make the directions simple enough so that my students could understand it. To make it a little easier on them, I designed it so the students could work in partners. I also put reminders throughout the directions to ask for help if they get lost or confused. So hopefully this will help too.
I could easily see me using this in my classroom. It gives the students a chance to be curious and research topics on their own instead of just reading a textbook or listening to the teacher talk all the time. I would probably use an inquiry project in either science or social studies because there is more research involved in those subjects than in reading or math. Hopefully, the use of technology can help spark an interest in learning.
To search for an appropriate topic, I found a first grade science textbook and the teacher book that are used in Tennessee. I learned a lot by looking through the teacher book. Each lesson states what Tennessee State Standards it meets. This was very helpful. Each lesson was also linked to another content area which will be very useful when I'm teaching my own class.
Another thing I learned about from this activity is the NETS-S Standards. Before this activity, I had never heard of them before, so it was nice to get to look them over. I could see how my inquiry activity fit different standards and how to change or improve my inquiry activity to include more of these standards.
One thing I realized from this lesson is how hard it is to create directions and activities for students who can only read at a first grade level. It was a challenge to make the directions simple enough so that my students could understand it. To make it a little easier on them, I designed it so the students could work in partners. I also put reminders throughout the directions to ask for help if they get lost or confused. So hopefully this will help too.
I could easily see me using this in my classroom. It gives the students a chance to be curious and research topics on their own instead of just reading a textbook or listening to the teacher talk all the time. I would probably use an inquiry project in either science or social studies because there is more research involved in those subjects than in reading or math. Hopefully, the use of technology can help spark an interest in learning.
Friday, February 8, 2013
WebQuest
This week in class we learned about WebQuests. We looked at five different WebQuests to decide which one was the best based on efficiency, group work, higher order thinking, and the quality of the websites' technology aspects, e.g., the background color, the font color, layout, and working links.
This task was very helpful. I learned what to look for when searching for good quality WebQuests for students. This is very important because there are many WebQuests that are poorly made and a waste of time. And being able to pick out the good ones is a much quicker task than creating one from scratch.
Also from this task I have gained a great resource. WebQuest.org contains thousands of searchable WebQuests that I can choose from.
WebQuests can be a great tool used in the classroom. I will just be very picky about the ones I assign my students because from the few I have looked at this week, many contain spelling errors. And a lot of WebQuests don't teach students enough for the amount of work they have to put into it. But if I am to find one or even make one that I think is worth my students' time, then I will definitely work it into the schedule because I love the fact that it is inquiry based. It draws the students' interest and gets them questioning, and this is exactly what we want them to be doing in subjects like science. Students will be more motivated to learn if they are interested in the topic.
This task was very helpful. I learned what to look for when searching for good quality WebQuests for students. This is very important because there are many WebQuests that are poorly made and a waste of time. And being able to pick out the good ones is a much quicker task than creating one from scratch.
Also from this task I have gained a great resource. WebQuest.org contains thousands of searchable WebQuests that I can choose from.
WebQuests can be a great tool used in the classroom. I will just be very picky about the ones I assign my students because from the few I have looked at this week, many contain spelling errors. And a lot of WebQuests don't teach students enough for the amount of work they have to put into it. But if I am to find one or even make one that I think is worth my students' time, then I will definitely work it into the schedule because I love the fact that it is inquiry based. It draws the students' interest and gets them questioning, and this is exactly what we want them to be doing in subjects like science. Students will be more motivated to learn if they are interested in the topic.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Educational Website Evaluation
For our website evaluation assignment, we were to look at one educational website in the age range that we will be teaching, so I evaluated a website that targeted Elementary School students. We were supposed to evaluate the site based on its author, publishing body, biases, accuracy, currency, design, and accessibility.
I had very little experience evaluating websites before this assignment. I would chose websites for my own study or entertainment based on a length of the text, and whether the graphics were modern and up to date. I also tended to stay away from sites that had a lot of clutter. I never paid much attention to the author or the publishing body unless an instructor made that part of the assignment in researching for a paper or project.
After completing this assignment, I feel much better equipped to evaluate a website. I now know what I should look for when deciding whether or not to recommend a website to my peers or my students.
One thing I definitely would have considered in evaluating a website before this assignment is accuracy. If I found a fact that was not true or found many spelling and grammar errors, I would immediately stop using it. If they did not get the information right on one part, then how do I know if any of it is correct?
From this assignment, I've realized that it's important to learn about the author. It's good to question if he or she is qualified or experienced in the field. I wouldn't want to recommend educational games designed by an someone who has never worked with children and doesn't know anything about what's developmentally appropriate for them. Also being affiliated with a university adds credibility to the author's qualifications.
Knowing who's publishing the website is also important to consider. This is something I probably wouldn't have ever looked at before this assignment. But a professional website is much more credible than someone's personal site. It also probably wouldn't hurt to do a little research about the publishing body to see if they publish a lot of educational sites.
Accessibility is another aspect that I wouldn't have considered without this assignment. And I cannot just consider how accessible the site is to me. What's easy for me to access might not be as easily found by a class of kindergartners or first graders.
Overall, this assignment has been a great help to me. I believe it will be a good skill to have when trying to find websites that I can suggest to my students.
I had very little experience evaluating websites before this assignment. I would chose websites for my own study or entertainment based on a length of the text, and whether the graphics were modern and up to date. I also tended to stay away from sites that had a lot of clutter. I never paid much attention to the author or the publishing body unless an instructor made that part of the assignment in researching for a paper or project.
After completing this assignment, I feel much better equipped to evaluate a website. I now know what I should look for when deciding whether or not to recommend a website to my peers or my students.
One thing I definitely would have considered in evaluating a website before this assignment is accuracy. If I found a fact that was not true or found many spelling and grammar errors, I would immediately stop using it. If they did not get the information right on one part, then how do I know if any of it is correct?
From this assignment, I've realized that it's important to learn about the author. It's good to question if he or she is qualified or experienced in the field. I wouldn't want to recommend educational games designed by an someone who has never worked with children and doesn't know anything about what's developmentally appropriate for them. Also being affiliated with a university adds credibility to the author's qualifications.
Knowing who's publishing the website is also important to consider. This is something I probably wouldn't have ever looked at before this assignment. But a professional website is much more credible than someone's personal site. It also probably wouldn't hurt to do a little research about the publishing body to see if they publish a lot of educational sites.
Accessibility is another aspect that I wouldn't have considered without this assignment. And I cannot just consider how accessible the site is to me. What's easy for me to access might not be as easily found by a class of kindergartners or first graders.
Overall, this assignment has been a great help to me. I believe it will be a good skill to have when trying to find websites that I can suggest to my students.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Wikis
Over the past couple of weeks, we have learned about Wikis in class by watching podcasts, watching videos in class, and becoming a member and editing our class Wiki. We've learned that Wikis are useful for collaborative work where each member of the Wiki can edit and save his or her work. After learning how to use a Wiki, our class started wondering how we will take what we have learned and use it when we have our own students. After searching for some ways to implement Wikis into my future classroom in the Wiki Walk-Through and 50 Ways to Use Wikis, here are some ways I would like to use Wikis in my classroom.
I would really like to use Wikis for literacy purposes. One idea from the 50 Ways to Use Wikis site that I would like to use for literacy is creating a "Wikibook," I'd have to provide a good amount of structure for an assignment like this. After brainstorming in class, we'd pick a main idea for our book. I would then give students an outline to follow and give them each different tasks to make the book come together. The good part about using a Wiki for this is that students can check each others work and make suggestions and changes to the different parts of the book.
Another way I would use a Wiki for literacy is by having an online book club. My students will all be able to comment on, discuss, and ask questions about an assigned book from the class.
These uses of Wikis would be better for older children who have better computer skills, and since I will only be certified to teach Kindergarten through sixth grade, I would probably only use them for fourth through sixth grade.
However I fit Wikis into my classroom, the two sites linked above will be great resources for me when I am actually teaching my own class.
I would really like to use Wikis for literacy purposes. One idea from the 50 Ways to Use Wikis site that I would like to use for literacy is creating a "Wikibook," I'd have to provide a good amount of structure for an assignment like this. After brainstorming in class, we'd pick a main idea for our book. I would then give students an outline to follow and give them each different tasks to make the book come together. The good part about using a Wiki for this is that students can check each others work and make suggestions and changes to the different parts of the book.
Another way I would use a Wiki for literacy is by having an online book club. My students will all be able to comment on, discuss, and ask questions about an assigned book from the class.
These uses of Wikis would be better for older children who have better computer skills, and since I will only be certified to teach Kindergarten through sixth grade, I would probably only use them for fourth through sixth grade.
However I fit Wikis into my classroom, the two sites linked above will be great resources for me when I am actually teaching my own class.
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