Wiki's

This was great. First let me begin my saying that I loved reading about what Vikki Davis did with her middle school students and how far they took the basic knowledge she gave them. This basically sums up what we read about in the first articles about the importance of Web 2.0. Making the kids active participants in their learning.

I also enjoyed the educational wiki's Kathy included in our assignment. I looked at the 1st grade and 4th grade wiki. I loved how parents, grandparents, etc. could add information about when they went to school. In the past I have taught my 2nd grade FOCUS students about schools of the past and I have had parents write letters (something unheard of these days). However, I love the wiki idea even better. I really enjoyed the educational wiki relating to the 4th grade class and their use of the wiki for Tuck Everlasting. I could definitely see how this could be used in my focus classroom with the book study we will be doing next year.

Google Reader

This morning I just finished lesson 3: RSS Feeds. Though it took me some time, mostly because I had to slow down and pay attention (the same things we tell our students and our own children), I learned a lot. I added Kathy's blog suggestions into my Google Reader as well as many blogs related to gifted education. Now that I have added blogs related to my field of teacher, I can stay updated on current events as well as issues relating to gifted education. Since I will be teaching RTI this year, I plan on adding blogs that will help me professionally in that area. It's been a long time since I have documenting growth in that area.

Blogs

I loved looking at the blogs Kathy attached to our course. I think Blogging will be a great way for me to keep parents posted on what is happening in my FOCUS classroom. I loved the idea of having a student post the event for the day as well as posting pictures from different events happening in the class. Next school year, I will definitely be posting on my blog. Last year Kathy posted my classes PowerPoints to her blog and my parents loved seeing as well as hearing our presentations to other students in the school

Why Web 2.0?

As I sit here this evening, knowing that I am totally behind, I think back to the wonderful experiences not only my students had this year with the help of Mrs. Schmidt, our school's media specialist but the experience I also had. I have to say that I am not much of a risk taker especially when it comes to technology. Seeing Kathy at ease with the computer and applying some of the topics discussed in the articles and in the video, I want to be able to be confident and do the same. I do not limit my thoughts to just my FOCUS students so I am going to say that all kids need these experience with technology. We need to really dig deep and look at what skills our students bring to the table. I think we sometimes get caught up in the fact that we have so much to cover in our classes and do not make the time to have our students truly share in the learning. Reading the two articles on Web 2.0 and working with Kathy, I definitely know why I am taking this class and getting caught up at this hour. After reading the two articles on Why Web 2.0, I do feel a little overwhelmed