A couple of years ago I decided it was time to get my feet wet with this "digital stuff." My first steps were quite tentative. I set up a blog for my classroom and basically used it to publish homework tasks for my class. The motivation behind this was purely in response to finding a solution to a problem I'd been having with particular students who misplaced their homework diaries within the first week of the school year. I had grown tired of students claiming to be unaware of what their homework was, when it was due etc. Putting it all online was a simple solution - and it worked!
As the year progressed, I realised that uploading students presentations etc to our blog was a great way to stimulate conversations around the learning that had occurred within the classroom, as well as giving students a voice within the wider community. It soon became apparent to me that presenting students work through this medium also enabled parents to interact with their children's learning. Another positive as far as I was concerned.
Roll on 2010 and it was time to ditch the blog and start a wiki for my class. It can be viewed here ... http://sisroom29.wikispaces.com/ If you are unsure about how to set up your own wiki, or would like to know a little bit more about the process, go to ...
http://wheretostartwithwikisandblogs.wikispaces.com/
I think it is great how you are growing yourself through this process. You see a need for something and then you think of a digital equivalent. And all through this it is impacting on your classroom teaching and learning.
ReplyDelete