Questions from the fourth chapter

Please respond to two of the three questions from chapter four.

1. In our previous discussions, there has been an exchange of ideas about blogs and wikis having limited appeal in the educational setting. After reading chapter four, do you see any possibilities for integrating wikis into your classroom activities? How could you introduce a wiki into your classroom that would generate a collegial atmosphere between students and teacher?

2. Richardson said in chapter four that, “using Wikipedia as another opportunity for our students to contribute what they learn and know to a larger audience”, would give writers and researchers more purpose for their work. We teach our writers to think about their audience when writing, knowing that, how might a wiki effect the way you teach reading and writing and reading based on what you’ve learned in chapter four?

3. Every new technology comes with fears and concerns. Working with wikis may be opening a new can of worms. What are some of your fears and concerns that you think could materialize after reading this chapter?

Questions from the third chapter

Please choose two of the three choices from below

1. Middlebury College professor Barbara Ganley asks,How can a teacher expect her students to blog if she doesn't do it herself? Guiding students by demonstrating appropriate ways of blogging offers one of the best ways of introducing students to a safer and more rewarding internet experience. Finding good examples to work off of is more difficult for us non-natives. Chapter three offers a number of sites to visit for interesting educational blogs. Visit one of those sites and write a response about what you found that would be relevant to any classroom. (List of sites on page 58)

2. Blogging with students and parents (or some form of interaction) will be part of our everyday lives as teachers sometime in the near future. From what you've read so far, how is this going to impact your classroom, your prep time, and your time at home? How could this be a better time management tool you?

3. Getting everyone involved in blogging seems pretty daunting, perhaps using a computer lab time to investigate how that might go would be an interesting activity. A class could go through the blogging process with you and once the blog site was established you could ask one thought provoking question per cycle and have each child respond. This is easier with 3rd and up but might be the start of an upward spiral for future years. Perhaps in the lower grades you could invite two or three students to respond, with the help of a teacher if necessary. This might be a good extension activity for some students (and parents if you invited them to participate). Seeing their names by their responses might be a good incentive to participate again.

Questions for 2nd week

Please respond to two of the three questions from below.

1. The author, Will Richardson, writes that, "blogging is a genre that engages students and adults in a process of thinking in words, not simply an accounting of the day’s events or feelings." Can you predict how this new genre will impact your classroom five years from now?

2. With everyone going "green", creating a classroom portal may be the beginning of a paperless existence for teachers. How might this be a positive or negative prospect for your classroom?

3. If reading starts the path to writing, then beginning bloggers may learn to read more critically, creating an upward spiral of proficiencies in both reading and writing. Describe how you would integrate one of the examples from the second chapter into your classroom instruction to accelerate the reading and writing process.

Questions for 1st week

Please respond to two of the three questions.


1. The first chapter focused on the potential of technology in the classroom. Now that you have an overview of some those choices, which of the technologies described would you be interested in introducing into your classroom and why?


2. What changes will you make in your classroom instruction to accommodate a shift from basal work to a more constructionist approach?


3. The “digital natives” entering Aurora Heights over the last few years may be acquiring information in ways we’ve never experienced. In what new ways can you (as a digital immigrant) assess knowledge that has been acquired in a different format then you are use to?

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts Folk

Could we get together after school in the computer lab and discuss how much of the book we would like to cover over time. If you would like to practice blogging we could do that also. Jack