Tool #6 - Wikis

Even though "wiki wiki" means "quickly" in Hawaiian, I didn't move as quickly as I should have through this webpage. I spent alot of quality time reading and taking notes from other wiki's, such has my fellow bloggers. In addition, the following link is a good resource for teachers seeking innovative ideas on how they can use wikis in their classrooms:

http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikideas2.cfm

These activities prompted me to share an interactive activity that I've utilized in my 4th grade writing classroom. It's called "Writing Roulette" which derives from the New Jersey Writing Project. The teacher posts a writing prompt for students to write and complete a story in collaborative groups. For example, the following writing prompt could be posted on wikispaces: It was the first day of school when all of a sudden . . . . Then each student formats ideas to add two or three sentences to build a story. Some to the stories end up to be on the wild side but it encourages humor and creativity.

As for posting of a wiki, I added a checklist for the first week of school to share with teachers. I'm also working on a list of science vocabulary words in Spanish since fourth grade bilingual teachers will be teaching science in Spanish this year. Stay tuned!

Tool #5 - Tagging and Social Bookmarking

This tool was by far the most time consuming to complete. I had alot of difficulty comprehending the terminology with setting up "bookmarks" and "tagging." I also found Delicious much more computer friendly than Diigo. I added the following tags on Delicious:
1) http://www.starfall.com/
2) http://kidblog.org/home.php
3) www.edheads.org/activities/weather/
4) http://www.hotchalk.com/mydesk/index.php/blog-by-shannon-cde-bac/746-tracking-the-sun
Starfall.com is very useful for English Language Learners and students learning to read using phonics. I plan to use kidblog.org to set up blogs for my fourth grade students. They will begin to experience firsthand how to communicate and collaborate with their peers on selected content material. The edheads.org has been a great resource for science instruction and reinforcement of science skills. Lastly, I took some time to browse through some of the other bookmarks and found this awesome lesson on tracking the sun during the school year. Be sure to check it out! Also, the attached video about Harvard graduates who don't know how to light a bulb with a wire and a battery is quite interesting.
http://www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=76

Tool #4 - Cool Google Tools

1. I have created a document in www.docs.google.com entitled "Newsletter_0810" and sent it to our 4th grade team leader to share and collaborate with other team members. At Hollibrook, every grade level is responsible for writing a monthly newsletter to parents. In our grade level we work together to write it in English and Spanish. Each teacher can add, edit or revise the newsletter before we send it to the person who's responsible for publishing our monthly newsletter.
2. Five blogs that I've subcribed to in www.google.com/reader , are www.atomiclearning.com, www.brainpop.com , www.wordle.net, Fun Image Generators and Skype 4.2 for Windows. Since I just completed a Love and Logic training, I also subscribed to www.loveandlogic.com.
3. There are numerous ways to utilize the Google Docs tool in the classroom. Since the documents are saved online, students can work collaboratively on research projects or writing compositions, stories or poems they've written. Students can receive comments or suggestions from their peers, teachers or parents to improve their piece before publishing it. Once it's published, the document will also be read by other people such as professional writers and authors with many possiblities for publication. The Google Reader allows teachers to share what's new or useful information and strategies to help our students in their learning process.

Tool #3 - Mashups & Generators (Wordle)

Teachers and students can use this wordle for content area vocabulary. In this instance, students can develop their own wordle to identify the vocabulary associated with a food chain. They can practice and add to their word banks. This site can also be used as a reading and writing tool to create a main idea with supporting details and/or use descriptive words to analyze a character in a story.

Tool #3 - I'm a BLOGGER!

Here's a great tool for setting up images for students to add comments about what important concept or idea was learned after a lesson. It's also a great pre-writing tool to unveil their creativity prior to writing a story.

Tool #2 - Collaborating with peers

I liked the analogy that "we are not the engine that makes education run, rather we are the mechanic who fixes and tweaks the engine as it runs itself. We support this monumental shift by making education transparent." As teachers, we are managing a classroom of "mechanics", who will eventually be building an education highway filled with automobiles built for a continually changing cyperspace.

Another point that impressed me was that "We must encourage collaboration and observation. Educators are not competitors, nor should we be. It does take a village to raise a child, but it also takes someone to show the village ways of doing things it had never thought of." During the past two years, our fourth grade teachers at Hollibrook have worked collaboratively, and observing each others' teaching skills while respecting our teaching styles. Although there was a dose of competitiveness, it was good because we were fueled and energized to keep the momentum going throughout our teaching despite many obstacles. It was very obvious that when we worked collaborately our students were also motivated or driven to do the best they could do; whether it was academic or being a good citizen. In the end, all fourth grade teachers were proud of our students who tried their best in having a successful year in fourth grade. HATS OFF TO MY PEERS IN FOURTH GRADE!

Tool #1

We set up our BLOG and VOKI together and we're doing such a great job! Thank you FABULOUS FOURTH GRADE TEAM! Eat your heart out Alfonso and Alfredo!

Blogging

I just wanted to add that as of today, 6/21, I've already spent over 40 hours setting up (and reading!) blogs, avatar and tools and I'm only on Tool #5! Am I the only one who's spending so much time on these tools?