The best part about this tool is that it provides a central communication hub, that is accessible from any computer and any location! As a special area teacher, we see every single student in the school (which I love!). However, communication can be very difficult because letters to parents don't always make it home. I'm looking forward to linking my PBworks page to the school website for parents and students have easy access to. I can post videos, assignments, star student information, concert information, and pictures from concerts for all to see. Of course, with everything that we do, parents and guardians will sign a media release form. One downside to technology is that students who are not allowed to be photographed or videotaped for safety reasons are often exposed without the permission of their parents and guardians.
The cool thing with PBworks is that students can create user names, and their identities are not completely exposed. It is such an organized website that teachers can monitor all student activity to prevent any information sharing that is either inappropriate.
In order to implement these tools into my classroom, I already signed up for the free account or trial. Once my PBworks page is set up the way I want it to be, I plan to share the website and include a user-friendly informational guide on how and why we will be using this tool. I plan to sit with the intermediate teacher teams and discuss the many options PBworks offers the teachers and students.
The biggest challenge I anticipate facing implementing this tool into the classroom is getting students and teachers on board to use it! Sometimes an idea looks great, sounds great, and makes sense, but actually doing it is a challenge. I have noticed that whenever teachers share great ideas and conduct "in house" professional development opportunities for exciting software, methods, and so forth, not everyone is ecstatic. I hear a lot of, "is this something we have to do?", or "I have too much on my plate to fuss with this. Things are fine as they are."
I will need to make my PBworks page such a success that teachers will want to learn how to get on board! I will need to provide data and examples of how students are gaining knowledge, skills, and productivity with this tool.
This week's Technology Explorations consisted of a very wide range of tools, websites, and information. The thing that surprised me the most is that I had not heard of any of these cool sites! I truly enjoy learning about fun and interactive educational sites, so this is right up my alley. Although I may not use the podcast idea, I think it was very interesting having some insight into a high school classroom website where technology is very important. I enjoyed listening to one of the podcasts produced by the teacher himself, discussing how people were using twitter to share their thoughts in "real time" regarding the State of the Union Address. I think it would make for a very cool project for students to do a research assignment and create their own podcast! The possibilities are endless it seems.
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