home

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 * Three Educational Wikis:**

**1.** **Wiki:** [|2nd Grade Class Wiki]
(starting Feb. 14, 2011). You can also see how I used tools like voki, wordle, tagxedo and voicethread with my students. This site is a work in progress..always changing. I started learning about wikis in Dec./10. It's been quite the journey.
 * Teacher:** D. Anderson
 * Country**: Canada.[[image:educationalwikis/ca.gif caption="ca.gif"]]
 * School:** Elementary School on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
 * Description:** A site originally developed to share our Grade 2 classroom (videos, electronic student portfolios, slideshows, projects etc.) with parents and store student and professional sites. However, it has become so much more! It is now a place used to inspire students and provide information they need to become engaged learners. I am trying an experiment aimed at a professional learning community. I thought how amazing it would be to connect teachers and students as they work together learning about resilience and transformation of thinking. I will be posting background information (resilience, transformation of thinking, summarizing), teaching strategies, BLM, and examples of student work as we (my class) use an amazing story of an unexpected friendship (Owen and Mzee) to teach reading strategies and the importance of resilience and friendship. Join in as an observer or a participant.


 * Mrs. Ibrahim's New School-Wide Wiki for 2010-2011**

This teacher is using the wiki to show examples and write about what the students are learning in all different subject areas. This wiki also keeps the students and families informed about what is going on in the areas. She added pictures to go along with the information of things that they worked on in class. Each child also has their own page that they work on. It is in their own language and their own spelling. The students are able to write about themselves and what is going on in their lives.
 * __Summary:__**

Something that I would like to try is having my students have their own page on the wiki. The students would be so proud to put their thoughts on the computer so that everyone could see them. I feel that the students would have a sense of ownership on their work. This is also a great way to have students open up and talk about themselves without worrying about being too shy to talk in front of the class.

This wiki meets some of the criteria of the Networked Classroom (Rochelle, Penuel, & Abrahamson, 2004) because this wiki facilitates a learner-centered classroom and a community-centered classroom. This wiki is learner-centered because it takes the ideas and work of the individual student and they post it on their page. Each student is participating and the teacher is observing. This wiki is also community-centered because it connects the individual students' work to what the whole group is learning.

**2. Wiki:** Kids Book Club

 * Teacher/Librarian**: Julee Murphy
 * Country:** U.S.A.[[image:educationalwikis/us.gif caption="us.gif"]]
 * Description:** Collaborative digital book club that assists teachers/librarians in introducing books and reading activities to students while providing a venue for students to express their thoughts and opinions on books read. Wiki provides teaching activities, printables, book trailers, historical videos, and links to sites to extend learning opportunities.
 * Other Wikis**: Jbugmath


 * 2011 Bluebonnet Book Club**

__**Summary:**__ This teacher is using the wiki as a way for children to talk about the books that they love. They have separate pages for many different books. The pages have videos, summaries, questions to think about, and pictures that support the book.

One thing that this teacher is doing that I think is great and would like to try is that she is having the students create their own digital book talk. It would be nice to have the children discuss their favorite books digitally with other students from all around the United States. They do not have to be in the same room to discuss a book that they love!

This wiki meets some of the criteria of the Networked Classroom (Rochelle, Penuel, & Abrahamson, 2004) because it enhances an interaction loop between teachers and students, and it uses Peer Instruction. The teachers are able to interact with the students using the same wiki. The students and teachers will work together to add information to the pages. The students also work together to come up with answers and to discuss their favorite books.

**3.** **Wiki**: [|Digital Media in Teaching and Learning]

 * Teacher**: Tony Whittngham
 * School**: Randwick Campus, TAFE, Sydney, Australia
 * Description**: A wiki to support workshops for teachers on the use of digital media tools to add value to teaching and learning. Sections for audio, video and images with exercises at three levels for each media. Lots of examples from students and a link to the current workshop with exercise solutions. Extensive use of widgets and a "What's New" section to keep teachers up-to-date.


 * Teaching and Learning with Digital Media**

__**Summary:**__ This teacher is using this wiki to inform teachers how to use digital media in their classrooms. He goes though how you can use photos, audio, and video to enhance student learning. He uses photos, videos, presentations, text, and audio to teach the teachers how to use different mediums.

Something that I would like to try is using photos in a variety of different ways so that my students are inspired to learn. Pictures are often just put out there to look at and no one talks about them. He uses the images in ways that will help students learn.

This wiki meets some of the criteria of the Networked Classroom (Rochelle, Penuel, & Abrahamson, 2004) because it shows how technology can facilitate the students work by using a variety of different mediums. Teachers can use images, video, and audio to enhance the students learning. This also shows that this wiki is knowledge-centered.

=__The Iris Center Website__=

I chose a module about behavior modifications.

 * **Module:** || **Who's in Charge? Developing a Comprehensive Behavior Management System**  ||

a.) Your Initial Thoughts
When I first went on this website I thought that it was a little bit overwhelming. There was a lot of different choices to make. At the same time, I thought that the website was very thorough. I have never seen a website like this before. After I went through the module, I felt that it can be very beneficial to teachers. This is a great way to explore topics that will affect your classroom.

1. Why is it important to have a classroom management plan? What are the most important elements that your plan should include?
It is important to have a classroom management plan because it will create an environment in which the students can learn to the best of their ability. If there are students who are always interrupting class, then the teacher may not be effective in teaching. A classroom management plan will help the classroom run smoother. The most important elements that the plan should include are the statement of purpose, rules and expectations, consequences, procedures, and the action plan.

===2. At the beginning of this module, you learned about six key assumptions that are critical for a comprehensive classroom management system. Pick two that you think a beginning teacher like Ms. Rollison might have difficulty following and develop some strategies to help her to determine whether she is following these guidelines:===

Six Key Assumptions

 * ===Invest time at the front end===
 * ===Focus on positive behaviors===
 * ===Teach well===
 * ===Provide supports===
 * ===Be educative, not vindictive===
 * ===Be persistent and consistent===

The first thing that I think that a beginning teacher would have difficulty with is focusing on positive behaviors. New teachers are so worried that they will not be a good teacher so they tend to focus on the negative behaviors because that is what sticks out more. Teachers worry about what will happen of the negative behaviors continue so they dwell on them. In order for a new teacher to determine whether they are following this guideline they could keep a tally chart of how many times they give positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement during a day. If they have more negative reinforcement they know that they are not following this guideline.

The second thing that a beginning teacher would have trouble with is being persistent and consistent. I feel that beginning teachers may worry that what they are doing is not helping so they will change their approach too quickly instead of sticking with it. In order for a teacher to make sure that they are being persistent and consistent is to make a note of when they started an approach and write it on the calendar. They should also give themselves a time line with how long they will stick with it. Also, other teachers can help them stay on track.

3. What should teachers keep in mind when delivering positive and negative consequences?
When delivering positive and negative consequences teachers should keep in mind that students do not all view consequences in the same way. Consequences should be applied consistently. The teacher should use the power of proximity, may direct eye contact, use a soft voice, be firm and anger free, link the consequence to the expected behaviors, never accept excuses, bargaining, or whining, and be educative, not vindictive.

4. How can procedures that are well developed and specifically taught reduce behavior problems?
Procedures that are well developed and taught can reduce behavior problems because the students know what is expected of them. There is no question about why the procedure is needed, where it is needed, when it is needed, or how it should be implemented. There is no gray line. It is a very specific plan. When the students know all of the details about it, they have no reason to not follow the procedure, so behavior problems will reduce.