Blogs and Wikis in Education

This week, my blog will be about how to use blogs and wikis in an educational setting, like in your classroom or as a way for students to communicate their opinions about a classroom topic online. When I searched "Educational Blogs" on Google, Yahoo, and MSN I was predented with a multitude of options and different choices I could make. One website I clicked on gave great examples of how to start a blog, where to go to start a blog, what should be included in the blog depending on your content area and grade level, and also a group of "Pioneer EdBloggers". Each slink I clicked on went to the teacher's blog site, each different and interesting in content while providing a common layout for other teachers to use. Another interesting site I was provided with was called TeachAde, which prides itself on going beyond simple education blogs. If you want something more in depth, this si the site to look for links that will teach you how to go more in depth with blogs. when I searched "Educational Wikis", I was provided was once again provided with a multitude of different choices. I found one link that led me to examples of educational wikis, with lists of different schools that have wikis and links to those schools. That was very interesting because the wikis were on a school wide level, not just a classroom level. Another site that I clicked on led me to a page called Wikiversity. It is a Wikipedia style search engine with examples and links to a Wikieducator, Wikihowto,Wikihow, Ask Dr. Wiki site and more. I thought that this site was an interesting way to teach people how to use Wikis and it had a helpful problem solving site link.
Upon looking through some of the examples my search came up with I decided that the three most useful ways a blog can be used in a k-12 classroom are for class discussion and posting on issues discussed in class, a class website/school website that parents can also access to see their children's grades and assignment as well as a meaningful way to communicate with parent, students and the teacher. Blogs can also be used for assignment postings and for teacher to teacher communication, not only in one school but in other districts.
When it comes to educational wikis, they seem like they are a little hard for new teachers to get the hang of because there is an Ask Dr Wiki page. That is not to say that, when gotten the hang of, it can't be very useful in a classroom. The wikis I found had links to other schools wiki pages, and this could be useful because it could be a tool for teachers and students at different schools to do the same project, then share their work on the wiki page with each other. Another way a wiki site could be useful in a k-12 classroom is for informational uses and links to other wiki pages that may have helpful information for students and parents. It could also be used in the classroom to teach students how to create their own wiki that they can share with the class and use in the class. A teacher could also use a wiki website to provide her students with database links for a project she had given out in class.
When I did a search for RSS readers, I was given a list of news feeds that all accumulate into one file and are put in the format that your computer needs to read the files so you don't have to mess with the program formating. A reader is when an article is put into a certain RSS reader format and it is put there through an aggregate news feed that collects all articles pertaining to the subject you have in the original reader. These could be used in the classroom when you are doing a project pertaining to one specific subject, and the computer will gather all articles relating to that subject. This would make it easy for the students to find certain articles and then explore the topic further on there own, like a starting point. Or you could use it for multiple ubjects at one and follow each simultaneously too see how many articles are written about each subject over the course of one school year.
Two pros of using blogs and wikis in your classroom is that if a student misses class, they can find their assignments on the class blog. Also, I could post grades online so that students can track their progress throughout the class, know what assignments are due, when they are due, and if they are not in the grade book yet or missing. One of the biggest cons of using blogs and wikis is that some of my students will not have computers at home because they can not afford a computer. By using blogs and wikis as a form of communication, I am losing face time with my students, which is very valuable to me. Though blogs and wikis are very innovative and can be used in so many different ways, we assume that all students will have access to the online information and that is simply wrong as some students are less privileged than others. We need to be able to accommodate all our students not matter their socio-economic status and not assume anything about our students as a collective whole.

Multiple Intelligences in the classroom

After answering the given questions I discovered that my strengths within multiple intelligence are naturalistic and existential. The few key points within the naturalist category that describe me the best are that I tend to be empathetic towards nature, I enjoy making collections of certain materials, and I usually impose a new meaning and sense of order to newly acquired information. When it comes to the existential aspect of my intelligence, the key points that describe me best are that I always seek meaningful learning, I have a very strong connection with my friends and family, I am very concerned with my health and well-being, and that I enjoy reading, literature and customs from other cultures.

The types of students that are naturalistic and existential like me learn best by being shown an outline for the lecture before a new lesson begins, they relate topics to global issues, themes and concepts, enjoy use of visual organization tools to help with classroom assignments, and enjoy building portfolios that contain their work in and out of the classroom.

The way that I intend on supporting these types of intelligences in my classroom are by giving the students a very specific syllabus pertaining to what assignments I will be giving out, when they are due and exactly what I want from the students when they turn their work in. I plan on outlining all their assignments for them, if I have the time, to make it easier for them to understand what is wanted from them. I also plan on holding classroom discussions about certain topics I have lectured on. I want to hear what the students think about a certain subject or concept they are learning. Students with these two intelligences would enjoy an activity where they can put all their work from the semester into a portfolio of some sort, not only to keep track of it throughout the year, but also to see what they have accomplished in the class.

The types of technologies that might stimulate these types of students in a history class environment might be using videos to get a point across and using interactive power points tied in with a lecture so that the students are not just sitting in class staring at a board full of words. It might also be helpful for students if I only lecture three days out of five with a power point of somesort so they can see the notes they will need to have for their tests and quizes. And on the other two days, lecture using more pictures than normal or using a video or audio recording to get a point across. I also plan on having discussion time in class for the students to reflect on what they have learned or discuss a subject given to them by me. It would be helpful for naturalistic and existential students to have discussion time because they can hear others opinions about something, share theirs, and may have an easier time relating the topic to a world issue that they know about and their classmates don't. Discussion, not guided discussion, is a great way to get students to interact and come up with conclusions about an event or anything else on their own, share their ideas then relate the ideas to each others.

As a teacher, it is very important foe me to understand each type of intelligence because each of my students will have different learning styles. By understanding each intelligence, I will be able to help my students succeed in the classroom and retain information better. By knowing how each student learns and how to accommodate the learning styles, my students will be able to achieve more than they thought they could in a classroom.