When reading Chapter 4 of Richardson's Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, I learned something brand new about wikis. I learned that the word wiki comes form the Hawaiian wiki-wiki, meaning "quick" (Richardson, p.55). I have used Wikispaces and Wikipedia, but did not know the origin of the word until now. A wiki provides a group of people access to contribute, collaborate, and edit work together in an easy to use format. In the future, I would love to incorporate the use of a class wiki with my 5th grade students. I think the experience of working collaboratively within an online environment is a skill that every student could benefit from. The ideas listed in this chapter on how to use a wiki in the classroom are numerous; such as students can write commentaries or summaries of books read in class, podcast's can be posted, discussions can take place, or students can document learning experiences for parents and community members to read and comment on. I loved the quote at the end of the chapter:
"Please grant me the serenity to accept the pages I cannot edit,
The courage to edit the pages I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference."
-The Wiki Prayer (tinyurl.com2t8fdf)
In Chapter 7 of Richardson's book, I read more about the use of Flickr.com in the classroom. I am already planning on using my wikispace Flickr assignment with my students on Monday. I love the idea of using photos to promote thought, writing, and for assessing students knowledge of a particular subject. I think it is also very important to teach my students early on the proper use of photos licensed through Creative Commons. One aspect of Flickr that I had not really thought about previously, is the ability to connect with the contributors of photos and have a conversation with them by leaving comments on their page.
The more I learn about the web tools that are available to use for free, the longer my list becomes of all the things that I would like to incorporate into my yearly lesson plans!
Will Richardson. Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Copyright 2010 by Corwin.
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