I discovered an article in Educational Leadership Feb. 2009 titled “Learning with blogs and wikis”. The author, Bill Ferriter, began by discussing how schools are hostile to learning and how blogs and wikis can be used to get educators to find learning opportunities where they normally would not. This article reminded me about a story a friend told me about her son. She was having some trouble with him because in Standard One, he had begun to hate school and did not want to go because there was too much work and it was too difficult. And it was not that he did not understand the work for he is a good reader who loves to read. Both of these led me to wonder if at times we as teachers encourage students to be hostile to learning because we have become hostile. I have often heard fellow teachers complain about the amount of papers to correct, the lessons to plan and teach and all the added paperwork. And added to that there is the rush to prepare students for the national tests and the exams. And then there are the workshops that have to be attended and assimilated.
Ferriter suggested that blogs and wikis can encourage educators and their students to “create, communicate, and collaborate”, all necessary skills for our times. Teachers can begin by reflecting and sharing the many educational blogs available on any topic possible. Later they can graduate to writing blogs. And they can also work in teams to create wikis.
Before we help our students find their voice we must find our own.
What do you look forward to about teaching or on a school day?
Suggested sites from the article
Wiki - www.wetpaint.com sample http://anatowiki.wetpaint.com
Blog on education: www.edublogs.com
Really Simple Syndication: www.pageflakes.com for teachers http://teacher.pageflakes.com
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