Robin+Eineichner

Eight Ways to Use School Wikis - //very helpful//
 * This sounds perfect for most of the faculty at my school. We are always emailing back and forth about something that should really be discussed as a group. This is our answer. Instead of a few teachers emailing the same comments, we could have a common meeting place to add to our discussion without repeating ourselves.
 * __Problem__: We have some teachers who are NOT tech-savy at all. They only use their computers to enter grades (because they must) and may check their email.
 * Many times I hear the comment, "Did you get my email?" We could now use a wiki for announcements or reminders. We often have sign-up notes from our Salt & Light moms to schedule classroom visits. This way we wouldn't need to worry about losing the note in the teachers' lounge.
 * The secretary just emailed me that two of my students who will be not be going home on the bus. If another teacher has outside duty that day, she may not know about this. Another teacher and I are often asking if one of our student's siblings is a school - students are sometimes late. A wiki would be a place where student absences or messages about students could be posted for every staff member to see.
 * Staff/level meeting notes could be posted for missing staff to see. We often have level meetings (5-8) and discuss topics that other teachers should know about.
 * This would be a great collaboration tool for when we need to work on special projects or events: Red Ribbon Week, Catholic Schools Week, Grandparents' Day, etc.
 * Although email has helped us to be slightly greener, wikis would seem to help even more. Since this is really my first day typing on a wiki, //__I don't know how to post documents__//. (I'm NOW working on this!)

What is 21st Century Education?
 * maintain student interest
 * prepare them for life in the real world
 * instill curiosity
 * excite learners
 * become more resourceful
 * learn outside formal school day
 * 21st Century Education needs to include multiple forms of media for learning and assessment. Our students are living in a computer & video game world with 3-D graphics and surround sound.


 * My students love to use technological and multimedia tools to create. My 6th/7th grade English class is creating commercials for a persuasive writing project. My 5th/6th Religion class is creating psa's for a Catholic Social Teachings project. We used a video camera and Windows Movie Maker.
 * We worked on creating newscasts for the first time this year. It is always interesting when you try something new. We tried making digital stories this year. Unfortunately we had problems with our NEW computer lab and were not able to complete them.
 * Our 5th-8th graders have netbooks this year. They love them! They use them for every project possible. Because the cost was too high to install Office on all of the netbooks, we use OpenOffice instead.

Creating a new Culture of Teaching & Learning
 * If it's on the internet it is true - this is what our students believe.
 * I still believe we need to plan for future technology. Our school is many years behind its students when it comes to technology. Our plan should include not only what technology, but how it is to be used.
 * Some people use their computer as a glorified typewriter.

The ABC's of Website Evaluation
 * I like the actual webpage picture showing where the information is found.
 * I also like the handouts and examples/activities for students.
 * This is something our computer teacher should be using. She is the one who should have given me this information for my research projects.

Wikipedia and the Classroom
 * Wikipedia can be used to introduce pupils to the critical examination of all forms of media.

Wikipedia in the Classroom: Consensus Among Educators, Learning Now/PBS Teachers
 * to teach information literacy
 * as part of preliminary research, starting point (like google)
 * it can be edited by anyone

Wikipedia: Ban It? or Boost It?
 * comparatively accurate to Encyclopedia Brittanica
 * many more articles (million vs 120,000)
 * should be used to get an overview of a topic
 * need to teach students strategies for evaluation