Here's a video on states and capitals:

Wikis

Well, I found it interesting to watch the video and learn more about Wikis. After watching, I know that we could use a Wiki to organize our family camping trips, although I would want change the format so that we knew who was going to bring what. That thought led me to think of one way that I could use a Wiki in my third grade classroom. It might be helpful to use a Wiki when organizing a party during the holidays. I have room parents who take a list of what I want, and then call parents to coordinate what each parent should contribute. A Wiki would make that much easier, but you would have to go with the understanding that all the parents have computers and know how to edit and save things on the Wiki. My guess is that many would not know how to do it.
After reading the articles, I had more ideas about how a Wiki could be used with the students. However, I get nervous thinking about giving students free reign to edit other student's writing. I think that it could create a problem letting students write things without anyone knowing who wrote them. What if a student writes something mean or hurtful. There would be know way to follow through with consequences. I liked the idea of a continuing story, but again was worried about a student writing something in appropriate. I guess elementary teachers like to have a bit more control.
One other way that I think would be fun to use a Wiki, would be to create a class recipe book during the holidays, such as Thanksgiving. Each parent could add a recipe that they like to make at Thanksgiving, and then you could publish it for the whole class. I assume that it is possible to print what's on a Wiki. Is that right?

http://adifference.blogspot.com/

Please remember to bring snacks on March 25.

Before I start commenting on the articles I want to say that I think it's funny that I have been blogging for a long time and I just didn't know what it was called. Years ago I had a friend with cancer and her family set up a web site where we could write comments to let the patient know we were thinking about her. You could read all the comments that everyone wrote to the patient, and her family said she loved getting the messages. That was my first experience with blogging and I think it was great for the patient and all of us who were concerned about her. Now, back to the articles. I thought the articles were helpful in showing ways that blogs can be used in classrooms. I still think that the they are easier to use in classrooms with older students. I liked the idea that the teacher viewed the entries before they were posted so that if anything wasn't appropriate it wouldn't be put on the web site. I also like knowing that the students have a larger audience for their writing, but I still think that some parents are going to be very nervous about this. The safety issues are still a concern. Another concern that I thought about with younger students is that they are not very proficient with typing yet.
February 4, 2009 8:58 AM

Here is a new blog. Let's see if I can post it.