2013

Ok, so we live in an area where less than half of the students have access to the web at home. This is a temporary thing and in the future it will be just as common as television is now, possibly included as a standard feature with the television service. As teachers we should at least be somewhat aware of what these students are or will be using. We should also be aware that a lot of resources are being produced and updated on a daily basis. It would be fantastic to be on the cutting edge, but that takes funding, time, and training. We don’t have to constantly incorporate technology into teaching. Teaching involves a lot of human feelings and interaction not just information gathering. Teaching involves using a lot of tools and the internet is just that, a constantly evolving set of tools. In college I had an AV class that explained how to use the mimeograph, filmstrip projector, and how to mount the reels on the movie projector. I don’t have those to use now, but there is the copy machine, dvd/vhs player, digital video projector, and streaming video. Things aren’t going to slow down, and we should try to keep an eye on what is available for our use, and then we can decide if this would be of benefit to our children.

My class recently completed working on their State Report wiki. Since pbwiki changed to a wysiwyg interface it is extremely easy to use. Each of the students was assigned a page on the wiki and that way they could all be working at the same time in the computer lab. Rubrics, lesson plans, websites, and so on were able to be placed in the sidbar for students to quickly access. Being able to check their report from any computer allowed for easy monitoring of the project and the comment feature let me leave them notes. Some people on the McREL staff in Colorado left some comments and one even did her own page. Since we’re in rural Nevada it gave the kids a feel that they really could communicate with the outside world. Anyone wishing to try a wiki should take a look at the pbwiki site. As a teacher I think that it is great that all the educational sites are ad-free. Check out the PBwiki tour!