Now+I+get+it!

The 21st century research moves us educators away from the three R’s (Reading wRiting and aRithmatic), and leads us to the four Cs (Critical thinking and problem solving, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity and  innovation. We have been introduced to many new Web 2.0 tools that can help us transition there. There were times along the way of this journey where things made more sense than others, but even at the best of times, I wasn’t sure how it all came together. Today, when I was officially introduced to Wiki, something clicked. Upon researching and creating my own class wiki, I really got to see how I can try to make this transition happen. A wiki is a web page where anyone who is invited can write, edit, and add elements such as pictures, videos and audio. So here is where it all clicked for me. On the wiki that I created for my class, I set up different pages for each grade and subject. I am now able to post notes, worksheets assignments, review material, and any resources which might be helpful. But here is where the fun begins. I can assign each of those tasks to different groups of students. Being that this is a collaborative sight, there is constant oversight by their peers and especially by me that all the material being posted is current and relevant. There is also a tab already set up for a discussion board, how cool is that? This tool is a blessing from the organizational standpoint, because as we all know, Junior High students already have a slight disadvantage staying organized. With the use of this wiki, everything is in one place. All they have to remember is to check this wiki every night. Being that this is web based, parents too can see what’s really going on. From the teachers’ perspective, this also serves a way to ease the fears of sending young students blindly into the WWW trying to research something. By attaching links that have been preselected, this ensures that the content as well as the validity meet yours, the school administration, and the parent bodies expectations. In case you are a bit curious, I am attaching a link to my class wiki. My plan is to populate the pages with more material to once we get closer to the school year. I can’t wait to get to our final destination in where we all help each other grow and learn. http://learningwithrabbikugielsky.wikispaces.com/