Reflection of Wikis and Blogs
I have no solid background of using wikis and blogs, educationally or personally. I have looked at both before now, but I have never actually used or created either one myself. The first time I had the opportunity to do this was for our grad classes. Our school, more specifically each grade level and some individual specials teachers, use wikis to communicate to students, parents, and other staff members. I have found that I can navigate the wikis fairly easily because I simply had to click on links or read the information written.
Wikis
I have learned that wikis are great for collaboration among people. All people can contribute to “the conversation” and keep others informed on a topic...lessons, resources, assignments, etc. I think it’s great that things like videos, images, and links can be included rather than simply having text. Very few people enjoy looking at pages overloaded with text. We get bored easily and then tune out quickly. Not only do wikis work for adults, but they also work for students. They may actually be better for students because they are in a format familiar to what they like and prefer.
Wikis, as long as they are visually appealing, could be a great and valuable tool for my ELL students. I’m just not sure how valuable one would be for the parents of my students. After surveying my students, I have found that many of their parents do not typically use computers for keeping up with school news. They find it confusing, inconvenient, or too impersonal. I’ve also had some parents tell me their children won’t help them navigate the various school “tools,” making the “tools” uncomfortable and difficult for them to use. As for a wiki for my students, I would like to create one with the various resources, such as websites of educational games and activities. Not only would the websites be listed, but I could also visually show them how to access information within specific websites through the use of youtube video clips. Too often, students (not only ELL) are overloaded with words. The students would also be able to share other sites they find useful. I like that I wold then be able to remove any I think aren’t really appropriate. Because students love being on a computer, a visually appealing wiki seems to make sense for supporting my ELL students.
Blogs
I have learned that blogs can also be a great tool for my students. At first, I was hesitant thinking they were simply a way for people to “talk” online about their personal lives. It was just a way to vent. After viewing some of the educational blogs, I discovered I was very wrong. I found one blog I really liked. It was http://targetenglish.wordpress.com. This blog happened to be more professional than just the average personal blogging, but I found the format to be something I really found useful. The whole blog site was in a “how to...” format. It was quite clear by the title of the blog what was going to be explained. Within the blog, the information was given in clear steps. I immediately thought of how great this would be for my ELL students. So often I break explanations down into steps when I work with my students. I also like how the students would be able to comment and ask questions or say whether or not the explanation made sense to them. I saw the light! Blogging has really come to the top of my list of what I would like to try with my students.
Blogging hasn’t been used in my classroom yet, but I think it will be soon. I would really like to start using it as a way to have that extra resource available to students. Since I supplement most of the classes my students have, this would be a way for me to give more explanation to the concepts learned in their other classes. Since I don’t get to see all of my ELL students daily or even every other day on a regular basis, they could still benefit from my help through my blog. Not only would the students be able to get the help, but the staff members in my school building would also be able to see how I am helping the students. They could contribute to the conversation or borrow and use ideas in their own classrooms. Blogging, you’ve become a new goal of mine!
I have no solid background of using wikis and blogs, educationally or personally. I have looked at both before now, but I have never actually used or created either one myself. The first time I had the opportunity to do this was for our grad classes. Our school, more specifically each grade level and some individual specials teachers, use wikis to communicate to students, parents, and other staff members. I have found that I can navigate the wikis fairly easily because I simply had to click on links or read the information written.
Wikis
I have learned that wikis are great for collaboration among people. All people can contribute to “the conversation” and keep others informed on a topic...lessons, resources, assignments, etc. I think it’s great that things like videos, images, and links can be included rather than simply having text. Very few people enjoy looking at pages overloaded with text. We get bored easily and then tune out quickly. Not only do wikis work for adults, but they also work for students. They may actually be better for students because they are in a format familiar to what they like and prefer.
Wikis, as long as they are visually appealing, could be a great and valuable tool for my ELL students. I’m just not sure how valuable one would be for the parents of my students. After surveying my students, I have found that many of their parents do not typically use computers for keeping up with school news. They find it confusing, inconvenient, or too impersonal. I’ve also had some parents tell me their children won’t help them navigate the various school “tools,” making the “tools” uncomfortable and difficult for them to use. As for a wiki for my students, I would like to create one with the various resources, such as websites of educational games and activities. Not only would the websites be listed, but I could also visually show them how to access information within specific websites through the use of youtube video clips. Too often, students (not only ELL) are overloaded with words. The students would also be able to share other sites they find useful. I like that I wold then be able to remove any I think aren’t really appropriate. Because students love being on a computer, a visually appealing wiki seems to make sense for supporting my ELL students.
Blogs
I have learned that blogs can also be a great tool for my students. At first, I was hesitant thinking they were simply a way for people to “talk” online about their personal lives. It was just a way to vent. After viewing some of the educational blogs, I discovered I was very wrong. I found one blog I really liked. It was http://targetenglish.wordpress.com. This blog happened to be more professional than just the average personal blogging, but I found the format to be something I really found useful. The whole blog site was in a “how to...” format. It was quite clear by the title of the blog what was going to be explained. Within the blog, the information was given in clear steps. I immediately thought of how great this would be for my ELL students. So often I break explanations down into steps when I work with my students. I also like how the students would be able to comment and ask questions or say whether or not the explanation made sense to them. I saw the light! Blogging has really come to the top of my list of what I would like to try with my students.
Blogging hasn’t been used in my classroom yet, but I think it will be soon. I would really like to start using it as a way to have that extra resource available to students. Since I supplement most of the classes my students have, this would be a way for me to give more explanation to the concepts learned in their other classes. Since I don’t get to see all of my ELL students daily or even every other day on a regular basis, they could still benefit from my help through my blog. Not only would the students be able to get the help, but the staff members in my school building would also be able to see how I am helping the students. They could contribute to the conversation or borrow and use ideas in their own classrooms. Blogging, you’ve become a new goal of mine!
