What I Know About Blogs and Wikis

Blogs	Wikis
One author Diary entries Thoughts and emotions Add comments Daily use Blogspot Wordpress Chronological Tumblr Wordpress Blogger Blogosphere	Multiple authors Informational Used for a specific project Collaboration Wikipedia Community Internet Database Non-Linear Wikispaces

Social Bookmarking

The bookmarking website I use is Pinterest.

Many people use Pinterest for recipes and crafts. However, there are tons of amazing teaching resources available on Pinterest. You can also “pin” anything on a website that you find to your Pinterest. You can keep different boards to organize your pins. I keep two separate pinterest accounts: one personal account for recipes and such, and one for teaching resources. Here is the link to my Teaching Pinterest:

 https://pinterest.com/canarychristie/

Analyzing Blogs and Wikis

Blogs and Wikis have become exceedingly popular in secondary and elementary classrooms. Seeing this technology move into schools is really helpful for educators to creating critical thinkers and 21^st Century Learners. There are a lot of factors to consider when a teacher is deciding to implement this technology in their classroom.

There are many great reasons to use blogs in the classroom. The biggest reason to incorporate blogs is that they create real audience and purpose in the students’ writing. It gives the kids a real life reason to write. Knowing that other people, maybe even all over the world, are reading their writing is very motivating. Blogs also promote discussion between students in a “low-risk” environment. They have time to think about their comments and students who are shy and rarely speak up in class can participate in a class activity in this way.

There are also several disadvantages to consider regarding blogs in the classroom. Using this kind of technology might be beneficial in the long run, but teaching kids to use this technology and have proper “netiquette” is a time consuming process. Internet safety is always a concern. Many systems will need to be in place for blogging to be successful. And the biggest disadvantage to blogging in the classroom is the required access to technology. If a school does not have devices for students to use, then blogging will not be possible.

Some of the ways I have seen blogs integrated into the classroom include students having their own individual blogs for posting their writing and their classwork. There have also been blogs created by teachers to foster parent/teacher communication. I have also seen many blogs created by teachers for teachers listing lesson ideas, worksheets, and classroom décor. Or there could be blogs created by teachers to give information to students, like assignments information, but the students do not post their work on the blog.

My students are in third grade with minimal student access to technology capable of blogging. So after much analysis I have come to the conclusion that blogspot would be the most appropriate blog host for the situation. Having a teacher created blog to communicate with parents, or other teachers would be the most reasonable.

There are many advantages to using wikis in the classroom. Collaboration is the biggest advantage. Because wikis allow multiple authors, students can work together on a project even if they are not in the same place. Wikis are also good for delivering information about a specific topic. This could be a good resource for students to access online at school or at home. Creating and editing wikis is a 21^st Century Skill that students need to possess to be technology literate. It also gives students the opportunity to judge the reliability of information they find upon researching. So the hard work of training students to use a wiki would be well worth it in the long run. Parents would also be able to see what students are working on at school. Anything to create better home/school communication is a good resource to invest time in.

One of the biggest disadvantages to using wikis in the classroom is Internet safety. This is an issue with both blogs and wikis, but there are programs that make blogging safer for students to do online. Wikis are still pretty susceptible to outside forces. Managing students on the World Wide Web is always a challenge. However, technology and Internet are ever-present and becoming more prevalent in education, so it is just something we are going to have to learn to deal with. There will be quite a character test in the students, because everything on the wiki is editable. If a student writes a paragraph on the wiki, another student could remove the author student’s name and write their own if they so desired. Teachers would need to constantly be on the watch for this type of behavior, and also for consistency and continuity of information being posted on the wiki.

Some ways teachers are using wikis in the classroom include for specific content projects. A teacher might post a wiki about astronomy for their students to reference, or have the students compile a wiki of information about astronomy. Another way I have seen wikis used is in a storytelling format. Because wikis are more non-linear in nature, you could create a Choose Your Own Adventure story with many different links that lead you to different sections of the story.

The wiki host that would be best for my educational setting is wikispaces. It is very user-friendly with many users and tutorials that would allow me to successfully create a wiki to use with my students. I would not have student created content on my wikispace, but rather student resource information.

I am currently planning on integrating blogs into my classroom in the fall. I do not have access to enough devices to have my students have their own blogs, but I will have a class blog to help create purpose and audience in my students writing. I will upload their writing to the blog and students will feel more obliged to write knowing that people will actually be viewing their work. I will also put a cluster map on the page so whenever somebody views the blog, a red dot will pop up on the map.

There are lots of ways I could use wikis in my classroom. Most likely, I could create a content wiki that my students could access from home to do research or help them with their homework. I also like the idea of the Choose Your Own Adventure wiki. So my students would start writing a story as a class, and then decide independently on where they would like that story to go. We could create the wiki as a class and input their stories. This kind of writing creates real audience and purpose and motivates the students to do better writing.

Blog Bibliography

Blogging in the classroom. (2012, October 14). Retrieved July 2, 2013, from Ladybug's Teacher Files website: http://www.ladybugsteacherfiles.com/2012/10/blogging-in-classroom.html?m=1 

Curran, K. (2011). Blogs in education. Eixir. Retrieved from http://www.scis.ulster.ac.uk/~kevin/Elixir-blogs.pdf

Todras-Whitehill, E. (2005, August 3). New tools: Blogs, podcasts and virtual classrooms. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.bobsprankle.com/banners/nytimesarticle.pdf 

Zeiger, S. (2012, February 24). Using tech in the classroom: Turning students into bloggers. Retrieved July 2, 2013, from The Smart Learning Guide website: http://www.smatoos.com/?p=7849 

Wiki Bibliography

Ferris, S. P. (2006). Uses and potentials of wikis in the classroom. Innovate. Retrieved from http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/AcademicStudentAffairs/CentreforEducationalDevelopment/e-Learning/E-LearningFileStore/Filetoupload,134940,en.pdf 

Smith, W. (2012, January 5). Have you tried using wikis in your classroom? (A. Grove, Ed.). Retrieved July 2, 2013, from Bright Hub Education website: http://www.brighthubeducation.com/high-school-teaching-tips/112203-teachers-technology-guide-to-the-educational-uses-of-a-wiki/ 

Tomaszewsk, J. (2012). Fresh ideas: Using wikis in the classroom. Retrieved July 2, 2013, from Education World website: http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/using-wikis-in-the-classroom.shtml

Educational Blogs and Wikis Chart

Site	How is it Being Used?	Features	Content Area(s)	Student Friendliness
Blog- East Dragon Den http://eastdragonden. blogspot.com/	-Resources for all content areas -A place for all students to have a blog -Online collaboration -This blog makes their classroom almost paperless. Assignments are given on the class blog and students respond on their own personal blogs.	Like: -Clustr map- Creates audience and purpose in student work -Writing conferencing form for teachers	-Resources for all content areas -Science and Social Studies projects -Math games for practice -Language Arts- Read aloud CoverItLive -Lang Arts book projects	Like: Tabs across the top make for easy navigation All students have their own personal blogs linked along the right side of the main blog
		Dislike: There is nothing that I dislike about this site. I want to be this classroom ;-)		Dislike: There is nothing that I dislike about this site. I want to be this classroom ;-) It is definitely something that would take quite a bit of training for my students to be able to do though.
Blog- QSIS 10 http://globallearners. weebly.com/	This is a blog for the QSI International School of Sarajevo. All of the students post their work on this blog.	Like: -Included Wordle word clouds -Tabs across the top for easy navigation -Lots of features down the right side of the page	-All content areas -Individual writing and poetry projects featured -Current events at the school	Like: -Kids do some posting in groups and some individually
		Dislike: -I don’t dislike anything, they have a lot of great features		Dislike: -Different writing portfolios and blogs. I think they could be combined
Blog- Comments 4 Kids http://comments4kids. blogspot.com/	-It features student blogs from all over the world so that they can get comments and students can feel audience and purpose in their writing	Like: -Bring the world together to get kids writing	-Writing primarily -Can include other topics in the writing	Like: -Makes classrooms “flat” -Easy to make connections with other students around the world
		Dislike: -Never enough time to spotlight everyone!		Dislike: -Besides main page, not as easy to navigate
Wiki- Terry the Tennis Ball http://terrythetennisball. wikispaces.com/home	-Students collaborated to write a choose your own adventure story in a wiki	Like: -I LOVE this idea and I am definitely doing this with my kids in the fall	-Writing fiction stories	Like: - Kids can see their writing online in an authentic place
		Dislike: -The one story is the only thing on this wiki -Could include more writing		Dislike: - Stories are too short. Much more could have been done with this idea
Wiki- 3rd Grade Wiki http://3rdgrade.pbworks.com /w/page/928803/FrontPage	-A wiki for a teacher to share resources with her students -Very minimal and not used to it’s full potential	Like: -Lots of navigation tabs	Resources are placed in folders online for students to access	Like: -Lots of tabs
		Dislike: -I don’t like the PBWorks format as much -Kind of boring layout		Dislike: -Not very much content on this wiki
Wiki- Stanley Yelnats A wiki for the book Holes http://stanleyyelnats. wikispaces.com/home	-Information on their book club book, Holes. -Looks like a final projet	Like: -Good layout -Easy to navigate -Includes pictures	-Reading: Holes	Like: -Lots of student created content
		Dislike: -Could do more reading projects on the one wiki		Dislike: -I don’t know which student wrote which part. I would like to see author names

I like how in the instructions it said “As teachers, we rely on sharing and borrowing information from colleagues in the field.” I always say that there is no such thing as stealing in the education field, only borrowing. Two heads are always better than one and using the Internet, thousands of heads are much better than one. I get so many of my teaching ideas from perusing teaching blogs, wikis, and websites online.

The East Dragon Den blog is absolutely amazing. I saw the teachers in charge of it present at the Technology In Education Conference a few weeks ago.  They gave a three-hour presentation and I wanted to keep hearing more from them. The technology they use in their classrooms is incredible.

I love the idea of the Terry the Tennis Ball wiki, but I don’t think it was implemented very well. My students love the choose your own adventure books and I’m sure they would love a project like this.