Ramblings et al

Wiki, Wiki, on the web, who’s the biggest tech celeb? Ok, weak but I had to start writing somewhere! Hee, hee! I keep seeing Vicki Davis (Westwood Schools, Flat Classroom – both brought me back to her) pop up everywhere and I must say that I can see a wiki in my future but I have a great deal of work to do in order to get it right. I find myself fluctuating between hot and lukewarm on the wiki front. I love the ideas of collaboration, publishing, and hands on learning but I had a difficult time with some of the sites I visited. I found format to be a problem in many of the wikis some have so much information that it is overwhelming like Jennifer Barnett’s FHS Wolves Den and 1001 Flat World Tales, however, they have such great ideas that it is worth going back later. In some I found the format distracting or I couldn’t find information that I accessed early. I went to Room 15, which wasn’t laid out in format that was appealing to me and found a wonderful exercise called Masterpiece Sentences. Unfortunately it took me a bit to find this again but using the search feature I got it. It can get complicated.

I really can’t wait to get started on a wiki of my own. It seems to take a good deal of planning so starting small will have to be the key. Big question: where? Maybe at the beginning with our summer reading book and just add as we go. The wiki from Woodward Academy’s 5th grade class Turn Homeward, Hannalee could be a good example to follow. I’m sure the students will be more than happy to show me how it’s done <grin>! I’m a firm believer in the best way to learn is to teach. I guess by posting what they are working on in class on a wiki the students will internalize at least some of what I am trying to teach. Will see!