Thing #9

I already explained in Thing #8 that I was first exposed to Wikis when my department head used them to share information with all of the English teachers. My department head and I are actually partner teachers. We are the only two teachers that teach both English II and English II Pre AP, so our lesson plans looks very similar. Since she had a lot of experience with Wikis, we integrated them in our Pre AP classrooms when teaching Philosophy at the beginning of the year. We each had two class periods of Pre AP classes so we each assigned a philosopher/philosophy to a group in our class. So I had a Socrates group and she had a Socrates group. Then we set up a wiki for them (you can access it HERE)to combine research. During the class period, students would search for information and add what they found and the website to the Wiki. This made the process a collaborative one across class periods and teachers. It was really cool to see them sift through information with students that they couldn't actually see and talk to.

I was thinking about how else I could use a wiki and came up with an idea on a personal level. My mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law every so often have what we like to call "family meetings." Basically what happens is whenever someone has a day where they don't have much to do (like testing days) we send emails to everyone just to catch up. The result is a full mailbox and crazy conversations. If we had a family wiki set up though, we could have family meetings there instead. I'm definitely bringing up the idea next time we are all in the same room. 

As I said before, I think wikis are a great way for educators to share ideas. I love the Poppers wiki that Dr. Wilson set up. It has a plethora of quick ideas that I can realistically use in my classroom because they are from other teachers. Below is my contribution:

Sarah: I have so many ideas. It's hard to just share one. Recently I've become addicted to Ted Talks. They are inspirational and engage the students. I have used them to get my students to think about thinking. It's amazing to see light bulbs flash on as kids realize the importance of education and how to make the most of the time they spend here. Similarly, the TEASes that we created for Educational Applications have turned out to be great "Poppers." My kids have never been so enthusiastic about poetry than they were when I showed them my TEASe.