During the Blog module, you watched a vodcast by Ewan McIntosh titled: Web 2.0 in the Classroom in which he showed how the nine essential instructional strategies are employed using blogs and podcasts.
Now please read this article from ASCD about the nine essential instructional strategies. You will recognize some of the applications, as you already use them in your classroom.
Your assignment is to apply what you have learned about the educational uses of wikis to the nine essentials.
Pick two instructional strategies, provide an example and explain how you could use a wiki to address that essential.
As you contribute to this wiki, please identify the essential instructional strategy you are addressing. Use these headings:
1. Identifying similarities and differences
2. Summarizing and note taking
3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition
4. Homework and practice
5. Nonlinguistic representations
6. Cooperative learning
7. Setting objectives and providing feedback
8. Generating and testing hypotheses
9. Cues, questions, and advance organizers
Yikes! Am I just blocking, or did we actually work with wikis during the class? I am feeling like I do not really know or understand yet how they are used. For example: who has access to what I am writing right now, and to my first response about Twenty First Century learning? (Ithink it is just the class. PK invited us to join this wiki.) Is this different from a blog? In what ways? (Did you see the youtube video about wikis? Wikis in Plain English. It was great!) If students can see one anothers' responses, I can see wonderful applications in cooperative learning activities, where students work on a project jointly, even when in separate environments and contribute their ideas, opinions, agreements and disagreements about an issues within a classroom assignment. How does a wiki differ from a webpage? Could it be used to present asignments, homework, provide practice, and providing cues, questions and advance organizational strategies to approach an assignment? There would be no doubt as to what the assignment was, and al the material needed to complete the project/task could be integrated into the wiki page, as you have done here with the video and the article.
I am not sure I am responding correctly, as I am not sure I truly understand the concept of a wiki or how it is used. I look forward to getting your feedback. boy- I'm right there with you on that... none of the examples of wikis drew me in at all... the teacher link one was all over the place and so full of apostrophes for plurals I could feel my blood pressure rise!. The professional development one was confusing. it was the least cluttered page, but it felt as if I was just reading another website, so I didn't really "get it" I'm using a different color type because someone else did and I thought it made it easeir to see the flow of the conversation, but I'm not seeing that on other wikispaces.
5. Nonlinguistic Representations- The use of both linguistic and visual learning is something you can see on many of the wiki spaces I have accessed. Knowing that this type of learning stimulates the brain activity, it is no wonder that today's students absorb this type of learning environment.
7. Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback- the wiki can have set objects and guide through a concept or theme that allows the students to provide the direction.
I looked at a wiki site called Mrs. Cassidy's Grade 1/2 Dinosaur Wiki: http://room2-wiki6.wikispaces.com/
This site meets both of these instructional strategies.
—Wow, before I read the above response I was also thinking of linking these two strategies and with dinosaurs! Using the suggestions below that the article gave for 7 and 5, I thought we could try making a wiki for our K-W-L chart about dinosaurs in January and use symbols to make it more Kindergarten friendly.
7.Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback
Set a core goal for a unit, and then encourage students to personalize that goal by identifying areas of interest to them. Questions like "I want to know" and "I want to know more about . . ." get students thinking about their interests and actively involved in the goal-setting process.
I wonder if a writing or poetry wiki would work for "providing feedback" students could post their poems or the opening paragraphs for compositions and others could comment- though, now that I'm writing this, it might get messy if other students change the writing in a way that the author doesn't like... students could learn to appreciate suggestions from other writers, and incorporate them or not as they choose.
5. Nonlinguistic Representations
* Incorporate words and images using symbols to represent relationships.
This wiki would be typed by the teacher because the students are kindergartners. But the students would provide the facts for what they Know, the questions for what they Want to know and then what they Learned. An example of using a symbol for the Learned column might be;
Some dinosaurs are herbivores.(OK - new questions about wikis. I don't know if this is the place but after working on this for the past hour or so I have several:
Can any one else edit this page while I am editing it?
Where is the spell check?
Where is "undo"? It is not under edit.
I'm looking for a "word type" editor for images. One that has "in front of text" I had real trouble adding the fern. This isn't the one I wanted but the only one that I could get to sort of work.
---Thanks---
#6 Cooperative Learning
(I got here first so I picked the easy one).
I have to say that I am having a hard time thinking of how I would use wikis with first and second graders so if anyone has ideas I'd be curious.
With older students, maybe grade 5 or above I could see them using wikis on cooperative group projects. Here's an example- Last year when my son was in the sixth grade he had to write a script for a movie. He was supposed to work with two other kids but he ended up doing a lot of the work himself. He worked at home alone and brought the script to school. He showed the script to the other kids, then he came home and made changes. This happened several times. Finally they agreed on the script and my son made a final copy to pass in. If they had used a wiki and typed the script there, then all three of them could have worked on it and edited together. Then they could have had equal ownership in the project.
#5 &6 In the spring, our 3rd graders participate in a web of life unit. The specific investigation around owls leads to individual investigations and reports on a specific bird of prey. Having looked at Mrs. Cassidy's reference, it seemed ideal to have the students summarize their findings on a wiki page that included a picture of their raptor. This could become a resource for peers as well. A rubric could be created to guide the students in their research and publication. In terms of #1, I am wondering if it's possible to create a wiki page with a Venn diagram that students could edit. I was also considering a creative writing activity(#6) that was introduced to me in a graduate class. Wouldn't it be wonderful to start a piece on a wiki page that each student could add to? So much better than passing the sheet around the classroom.
For #6 cooperative learning and #7 setting objectives: Third graders study Massachusetts. Class could be divided into groups and adding information on a wiki page about favorite places to visit, or planning a hypothetical trip around the state. Maybe they could be sharing a wiki page with another third grade class in the school- or even in another school in Acton? I think there are lots of possibilities- but there's a lot of teacher set-up, too. I'm not sure how all of this would be monitored- or even how you would know who was contributing. On a different note, I got a chuckle in the reading (can't remember which article) about someone who had deleted a wiki by mistake. That happened to me, too. My band won't let me get near ours!
#8- Generating and testing hypotheses: ( can anyone figure out how to generate a hanging indent so these paragraphs would read a bit more clearly? I thought the bullet might do it, but it just generates an asterisk with no indent, so it's useless.)
This is certainly something we have been talking about, not only in science, but in math and literature as well. We walk the line between knowing where we want to students to go in an investigation or math lesson, and giving them a chance to direct some of their own learning. I wonder if we might try to get some wikis going for particular units such as Energy sources or Ecosystems. As classes begin the study, I wonder if they could pose some of their questions/hypotheses to a wiki and other classes could pose results as they happen. Right now, that would probably need to happen using the teacher's computer and a whole-class discussion, but in the future, groups of students could pose their own investigation questions.
1. Identifying similarities and differences: This is so much of our focus in first grade. I can see using a wiki in this way to communicate our ideas with parents and to involve families in our conversation. We could type up our answers and check back for thoughts that families add from home as the unit progresses.
3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition: I actually find that this is my struggle with wikis! We are not recognizing our individual ideas and contributions, since we are not writing our names and we can change each other's work! But reinforcing effort might work because kids can post ideas and teachers can add comments and positive feedback to their wiki.
3 and 4. IF students can write and read they can contribute to a wikki on a subject like Acton Long Ago and work on it for homework. The feedback is immediate because others are also contributing so it makes a conversation. Students get feedback form other students and then the teacher can share information with the class during a group discussion. I still think it is pretty tricky to be effective if kids are not reading.
Now please read this article from ASCD about the nine essential instructional strategies. You will recognize some of the applications, as you already use them in your classroom.
Your assignment is to apply what you have learned about the educational uses of wikis to the nine essentials.
Pick two instructional strategies, provide an example and explain how you could use a wiki to address that essential.
As you contribute to this wiki, please identify the essential instructional strategy you are addressing. Use these headings:
1. Identifying similarities and differences
2. Summarizing and note taking
3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition
4. Homework and practice
5. Nonlinguistic representations
6. Cooperative learning
7. Setting objectives and providing feedback
8. Generating and testing hypotheses
9. Cues, questions, and advance organizers
Yikes! Am I just blocking, or did we actually work with wikis during the class? I am feeling like I do not really know or understand yet how they are used. For example: who has access to what I am writing right now, and to my first response about Twenty First Century learning? (I think it is just the class. PK invited us to join this wiki.) Is this different from a blog? In what ways? (Did you see the youtube video about wikis? Wikis in Plain English. It was great!) If students can see one anothers' responses, I can see wonderful applications in cooperative learning activities, where students work on a project jointly, even when in separate environments and contribute their ideas, opinions, agreements and disagreements about an issues within a classroom assignment. How does a wiki differ from a webpage? Could it be used to present asignments, homework, provide practice, and providing cues, questions and advance organizational strategies to approach an assignment? There would be no doubt as to what the assignment was, and al the material needed to complete the project/task could be integrated into the wiki page, as you have done here with the video and the article.
I am not sure I am responding correctly, as I am not sure I truly understand the concept of a wiki or how it is used. I look forward to getting your feedback.
boy- I'm right there with you on that... none of the examples of wikis drew me in at all... the teacher link one was all over the place and so full of apostrophes for plurals I could feel my blood pressure rise!. The professional development one was confusing. it was the least cluttered page, but it felt as if I was just reading another website, so I didn't really "get it" I'm using a different color type because someone else did and I thought it made it easeir to see the flow of the conversation, but I'm not seeing that on other wikispaces.
5. Nonlinguistic Representations- The use of both linguistic and visual learning is something you can see on many of the wiki spaces I have accessed. Knowing that this type of learning stimulates the brain activity, it is no wonder that today's students absorb this type of learning environment.
7. Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback- the wiki can have set objects and guide through a concept or theme that allows the students to provide the direction.
I looked at a wiki site called Mrs. Cassidy's Grade 1/2 Dinosaur Wiki: http://room2-wiki6.wikispaces.com/
This site meets both of these instructional strategies.
— Wow, before I read the above response I was also thinking of linking these two strategies and with dinosaurs! Using the suggestions below that the article gave for 7 and 5, I thought we could try making a wiki for our K-W-L chart about dinosaurs in January and use symbols to make it more Kindergarten friendly.
7.Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback
- Set a core goal for a unit, and then encourage students to personalize that goal by identifying areas of interest to them. Questions like "I want to know" and "I want to know more about . . ." get students thinking about their interests and actively involved in the goal-setting process.
I wonder if a writing or poetry wiki would work for "providing feedback" students could post their poems or the opening paragraphs for compositions and others could comment- though, now that I'm writing this, it might get messy if other students change the writing in a way that the author doesn't like... students could learn to appreciate suggestions from other writers, and incorporate them or not as they choose.5. Nonlinguistic Representations
- * Incorporate words and images using symbols to represent relationships.
This wiki would be typed by the teacher because the students are kindergartners. But the students would provide the facts for what they Know, the questions for what they Want to know and then what they Learned. An example of using a symbol for the Learned column might be;Some dinosaurs are herbivores.
- Can any one else edit this page while I am editing it?
- Where is the spell check?
- Where is "undo"? It is not under edit.
- I'm looking for a "word type" editor for images. One that has "in front of text" I had real trouble adding the fern. This isn't the one I wanted but the only one that I could get to sort of work.
---Thanks---#6 Cooperative Learning
(I got here first so I picked the easy one).
I have to say that I am having a hard time thinking of how I would use wikis with first and second graders so if anyone has ideas I'd be curious.
With older students, maybe grade 5 or above I could see them using wikis on cooperative group projects. Here's an example- Last year when my son was in the sixth grade he had to write a script for a movie. He was supposed to work with two other kids but he ended up doing a lot of the work himself. He worked at home alone and brought the script to school. He showed the script to the other kids, then he came home and made changes. This happened several times. Finally they agreed on the script and my son made a final copy to pass in. If they had used a wiki and typed the script there, then all three of them could have worked on it and edited together. Then they could have had equal ownership in the project.
#5 &6 In the spring, our 3rd graders participate in a web of life unit. The specific investigation around owls leads to individual investigations and reports on a specific bird of prey. Having looked at Mrs. Cassidy's reference, it seemed ideal to have the students summarize their findings on a wiki page that included a picture of their raptor. This could become a resource for peers as well. A rubric could be created to guide the students in their research and publication. In terms of #1, I am wondering if it's possible to create a wiki page with a Venn diagram that students could edit. I was also considering a creative writing activity(#6) that was introduced to me in a graduate class. Wouldn't it be wonderful to start a piece on a wiki page that each student could add to? So much better than passing the sheet around the classroom.
For #6 cooperative learning and #7 setting objectives: Third graders study Massachusetts. Class could be divided into groups and adding information on a wiki page about favorite places to visit, or planning a hypothetical trip around the state. Maybe they could be sharing a wiki page with another third grade class in the school- or even in another school in Acton? I think there are lots of possibilities- but there's a lot of teacher set-up, too. I'm not sure how all of this would be monitored- or even how you would know who was contributing. On a different note, I got a chuckle in the reading (can't remember which article) about someone who had deleted a wiki by mistake. That happened to me, too. My band won't let me get near ours!
#8- Generating and testing hypotheses: ( can anyone figure out how to generate a hanging indent so these paragraphs would read a bit more clearly? I thought the bullet might do it, but it just generates an asterisk with no indent, so it's useless.)
This is certainly something we have been talking about, not only in science, but in math and literature as well. We walk the line between knowing where we want to students to go in an investigation or math lesson, and giving them a chance to direct some of their own learning. I wonder if we might try to get some wikis going for particular units such as Energy sources or Ecosystems. As classes begin the study, I wonder if they could pose some of their questions/hypotheses to a wiki and other classes could pose results as they happen. Right now, that would probably need to happen using the teacher's computer and a whole-class discussion, but in the future, groups of students could pose their own investigation questions.
1. Identifying similarities and differences: This is so much of our focus in first grade. I can see using a wiki in this way to communicate our ideas with parents and to involve families in our conversation. We could type up our answers and check back for thoughts that families add from home as the unit progresses.
3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition: I actually find that this is my struggle with wikis! We are not recognizing our individual ideas and contributions, since we are not writing our names and we can change each other's work! But reinforcing effort might work because kids can post ideas and teachers can add comments and positive feedback to their wiki.
3 and 4. IF students can write and read they can contribute to a wikki on a subject like Acton Long Ago and work on it for homework. The feedback is immediate because others are also contributing so it makes a conversation. Students get feedback form other students and then the teacher can share information with the class during a group discussion. I still think it is pretty tricky to be effective if kids are not reading.