K12 Online Conference 2008

Under the 2008 Kicking it up a Notch workshop, there is a session called Monsters Bloom in Our Wiki. I listened to this session because I have just learned what a wiki is and all of the ways that they can be integrated into teaching and learning in a classroom.
Monsters Bloom in Our Wiki is a project that is completed with two separate classes that integrate technology with the reading and writing standards. Also, this project included all the steps of Bloom's Taxonomy.
The students in the classes are introduced to adjectives and the importance of descriptive words. Then, by using a wiki, the students create a monster and then have to write out descriptive words so another student in another class can try to create the same monster. After both classes have recreated a monster, the original and the new ones are compared. The students then review how well they described their monster and what they could have done better. Both of the monsters and the descriptions of the monsters are then posted on a wiki so both of the students can compare their drawings.
The wiki is a great tool to use when collaborating with another class that may be across the state, country, or world. Three wikis that the workshop suggested using for this project are Wikispaces, PBWiki, and WetPaint. In my class, I have used the PBWiki and feel that it offers endless posibilities of how it can be used in a classroom. For example, I have used it to organize lessons, create a teacher web page, an online portfolio, and a webquest.

If you want to listen to the podcast you can click here
If you want to see the wiki site that the class created for their monster project, you can click here

Teachers Using Blogs for Professional Development

Blogs are great tools that teachers can use for their own professional development. When it comes to new teaching techniques, blogs are a great way to read about a technique and how it worked out in other teacher’s classes. Let’s say that a teacher just learned about a wiki and wants to find out how well it works in a classroom. Before teachers use it in their own room, they can go to different blogs and read about other teacher’s experiences using a wiki. So, blogs can be used as resources when it comes to debating whether or not to try something new in a classroom. Blogs are a great way for teachers to glean new ideas to use in their classrooms.
Teachers can also use blogs for support. A teacher is able to write about their feeling, frustrations, and joys that come with teaching. When blogs are used for this reason, many people can read about a teacher’s personal experience and respond to it. There are other teachers, professionals, or people who can give suggestions or just relate to that teacher.
Lastly, teachers can use blogs as a journal of what they are doing in the classroom. This can be a tool that they use for professional development because other people can respond to what they have written. They are able to get feedback and suggestions about teaching.
In conclusion, these are only three ways that blogs can be used for a teacher’s professional development. There are endless ways that teachers can use blogs. If anyone has any other ideas, I would love to hear them. One of the blogs that I read and find to be helpful is The Fischbowl and can be accessed at http://www.thefischbowl.blogspot.com/. Make sure to check it out. It is a great blog and I find many of the posts interesting.