Taking It All In

Even though I've been working within a wiki this academic year, I still considered myself a novice and tonight's class reminded me that I still have a lot to learn! As I created, added and embedded onto my wiki I still felt like I was on an island. I have always been aware of the other educational wikis that exist out there but still somehow I felt alone. Seeing other elementary classroom teachers and school districts using wikis, moodles, discussion boards and blogs; many of whom have Smartboards in their classrooms has made me realize how much our school district likes to talk about being progressive when in fact, we are barely on the verge.

I am thrilled to see that 21 of my closest (at least in proximity) colleagues are taking on the task of creating some sort of web-based communication platform. I am excited to discuss the endless possibilities as well as the trials and tribulations of moving forward with technology in our classrooms as well as on a district level.

Lori and I are hoping to use Earth Day as a unit from which to start. We intend to set up a wiki for our team and have students create Glogs, a sort of virtual poster, via glogster. I also hope to use voicethread, a tool that I have plenty of experience but with which Lori has no experience.
I haven't yet embedded video onto my wiki so I'd like to try my hand at that this spring. I'd like to find more ways that my students can interact with technology-- as independently as possible! With one very slow-working computer in my classroom this might be tough...