Blog Post#2

One of the topics I am interested in exploring is how to transform an elementary school library into a learning commons; what this entails, what it looks like, how it changes the learning opportunities for the students.

I found TE Scott Elementary's Learning Commons blog to be a great resource on this topic. The blog is tescott.org-curiosity+creativity. The blog highlights the schools new learning commons and has several pictures. There is also a link to a fun short video called “Transforming Learning Designs” showing how four teachers at the school have embraced new technology into their teaching. This is a great resource to see what a school in Surrey has created as a Learning Commons.

Another useful blog is coyotecreeklibrary.blogspot.ca What I liked about this learning commons blog was the presentation and interactive possibilities of the blog. The teacher-librarian has posted weekly blog entries such as; Today is Canada Book Day What is your favourite book? Tell us in the comments...etc. There is also a authors tab in this blog where students can access a alphabetized directory of authors book trailing and readings through utube. The teacher-librarian also included links to other websites that she uses when teaching with her smart board. The polar bear video links through safesharetv looked very interesting for younger students.

The website bctf.ca/bctla/pub/documents/conference/zubke.pdf includes a great book bibliography on learning commons as well as websites of examples of learning commons.

At commonsconnections.edublogs.org-commonsconnetions, Anna Crosland- Teacher Librarian shares great ideas about learning commons, including Grade 2's tweeting about their learning with the ipads.

A slide show about Anna Croslands learning commons at George Vanier Elementary in Surrey can be viewed at www.slideshare “Developing an Elementary School Learning Commons Physical Space” This website is a great resource to understand the designing involved in the physical space of a learning commons area.

I am also interested in learning more about the flipped classroom style of teaching, as I just accepted a .4 grade 6/7 assignment for the remainder of the school year and I am interested in learning more about this style of teaching for teaching Math. One of the websites I looked at was www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom. This website provides good visuals for understanding the difference between a traditional classroom and a flipped classroom. I also found Jon Bergmann's website useful, jonbergmann.com He is a pioneer of flipped classrooms in Florida. He speaks at conferences and his website provides lots of useful links and information about flipping your classroom. If you go to iteachwithit.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/explain-everything there is helpful information on using the app Explain Everything as a great teaching tool in a flipped classroom.

The other topic I am exploring is using Wikis in the classroom. I found www. techforteachers.net/wikis-in-the-classroom.html very helpful as it provided background information of what a wiki is, how to get one, obstacles with them, and links to other elementary classroom wikis. If you go to www. educatorstechnology.com/2012/07/teachers-guide-on-use-of-wikis-in.html there is more great information and links to other classroom wikis. The resource I found most helpful with setting up a classroom wiki was http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/ Examples of educational Wikis. I liked this website as a resource because it had an enormous collection of links to classroom wiki ranging from Grade1-12 in alphabetical order. Most of the Wikis were from the U.S. But

there were many from Canada and a few from around the world. This was a great resource for ideas on how to use a class wiki and what it would look like. And lastly, www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikiideas2.cfm provides great information on the how, what, when and why of having a classroom wiki.

Blog Post 1-Cont.

Some key terms and interests at this point in my career that I would like to explore and learn more about are:
-Learning commons
-better understanding of how to use Dropbox
-better understanding of using Explain Everything
-more about 'the reverse classroom'
-using podcasts
-Internet safety for students
-teaching students ethical online behavior

Blogpost 1

My topic for this post has to do with the use of Wikipedia in the classroom and creating a class Wiki.
I wanted to explore this topic further after being a new teacher-librarian and after talking to several grade 6/7 teachers. I found some of them were getting tired of their students only doing research using Wikipedia and wanted them to be using something different for research. Coming from a primary background, and not having much technology or Internet experience, I did not know much about Wikipedia and only understood it to be an online encyclopedia. So why were some teachers getting tired of their students using only Wikipedia for research? I wanted to find out  more about Wikipedia and how it works and why some teachers may not love it.
What I learned is that Wikipedia is written by millions of authors who are constantly adding, deleting and revising the information in it. Most of the time the information is 100% accurate but occasionally errors are made intentionally or unintentionally. Usually these errors are corrected quickly but if you don't cross-reference your research with another website other than Wikipedia then it is possible for some of the information to be incorrect. Secondly, most of the authors writing Wikipedia entries are adults that are not necessarily using language or vocabulary that is easy for younger students to understand. In otherwords sometimes it's not a good choice to use for research for elementary students because it's written far above the grade level of comprehension.
I also wanted to learn more about Wikis. I hear the expression all the time, but until now have not really understood what the term meant.
I learned that the word Wiki is a short form of the Hawaiian word "wiki-wiki", which means quick (Will Richardson, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts.) So a Wiki is like a quick reference to information. The concept behind Wikis according to Will Richardson is that everyone together is smarter than anyone alone, so any entries made in a Wiki are collaborated, edited, and written by an online group interested in that topic. I didn't realize that there are Wikis for everything from recipes to travel spots to classroom wikis. I wanted to learn more about classroom Wikis. With classroom wikis, the students have a real opportunity to collaborate together. I wondered how teachers deal with a student going in and writing profanities or sabatoging the groups information but I read that the more the teacher hands over to the class the more ownership the students take over their Wiki and this is far less likely to happen. I am thinking of trying a class book report wiki after learning more about Wikis.