Week 3

Engagement Activity 1: Creating a Blog - Reflection

Some creative ways of using blogs in the classroom:

• Create an online book club (Huette, 2006)
• Build a class newsletter, using student-written articles and photos they take (Huette, 2006)
• Post class-related information such as calendars, events, homework assignments and other pertinent class information (Huette, 2006)
• Link your class with another class somewhere else in the world (Huette, 2006)
• a class of older students can help a class of younger students develop more confidence in their writing skills (Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2006)
• Blogs present, organise, and protect student work as digital portfolios, knowing that their efforts will be published will encourage better writing (Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2006)

References

Huette, S. (2006). Blogs in Education. Retrieved from http://tep.uoregon.edu/shared/blogswikispodcasts/BlogsInEducation.pdf

Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Educational and Professional Publishing Group. (2006). Using Blogs to Integrate Technology in the Classroom. 18 March. Retrieved from  http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47

The following is a PMI on using Blogs in the classroom:

Engagement Activity 3: Creating a wiki - blog reflection

Some creative ways to use Wiki's in the classroom:

• Vocabulary lists and examples of the words in use, contributed by students (TeacherFirst.com, 2012)
• Creative projects, such as a script for a Shakespeare scene reset in the 21st century (TeacherFirst.com, 2012)
• A virtual art gallery with ongoing criticism and responses regarding artwork found online or originals from your art classroom (TeacherFirst.com, 2012)
• Collaborative book reviews or author studies (TeacherFirst.com, 2012)
• Collaborative storytelling (SmartTeaching.org, 2012)
• Post difficult math problems, so that the class can collaboratively solve them
• Correction competition: You can post a document riddled with mistakes, then have students compete to see who can fix the most errors fastest (SmartTeaching.org, 2012)
• Classroom scrapbook: Share news, photos, and current achievements in your classroom on a wiki page (SmartTeaching.org, 2012)

References

TeachersFirst.com. (2012). Wiki Ideas for the classroom. 18 March. Retrieved from http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikiideas1.cfm

SmartTeaching.org. (2012).
50 Ways to Use Wikis for a More Collaborative and Interactive Classroom. 18 March. Retrieved from http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/50-ways-to-use-wikis-for-a-more-collaborative-and-interactive-classroom/

The following is a PMI reflection on the use of wikis in the classroom:

Engagement Activity 5: Creating a website - blog reflection


Some ways to use class websites:

• Use it as the go to site- have links to blogs, wikis and educational sites/video etc.
• Post newsletters
• Have a contact page where parents and shy students can email questions to teacher
• Resource page where students can download worksheets and assignment criteria
• Display images from class camps and events