Wolverine Weblog

This blog will be a resource linked to the West Middle School website. It will provide an easy access to announcements, news articles, photos, and websites for teachers and students. It will be a collaborative vehicle for sharing by teachers, students, and parents.

Using streamline videos or podcasts in the classroom engages students and motivates them to learn and share new material. Once a school district subscribes to united streaming through Discovery Education, teachers have access to a great variety of videos to use in their classroom which align to the state curriculum. This digital video-on-demand helps improve student retention of information. Teachers need an Internet connected computer and if available, a digital projector or a Averkey/TViewer converter and TV to display the video for the students.

To use a podcast, the teacher only needs the Internet connected computer and a microphone. It may take time to locate appropriate podcasts which go along with the curriculum being studied. The teacher may find it more beneficial for the class to produce their own podcast to share researched material, creative writing or school news stories. I loved the Radio Willow Web. I will use the Webcast #28 titled “Fabulous Fish” in my lesson plan. This site helped me see that even young students can create useful podcasts.

When useing podcasting, the teacher must make sure students only identify themselves by first name and are careful about using copyrighted material. Parent permission should be solicited for student participation in podcasts.

These new technolgies provide a exciting and economical means of extending the learning in the classroom. Today’s students need engaging and motivating learning tools which give them access to the global community in a safe environment.

I have taken a long time this week trying to make a wiki. I never got the hang of it and will try when I have more time. After reading the articles and reviewing many examples, I think the best use of a wiki at my school would have the students begin by contributing to http://en.wikibooks.org/   There are books in all core subject areas that the students could read and add to with their researched information. They might also enjoy writing  books in the Wikijunior section.  Once they are familiar with the wiki format, they could contribute to other articles of interest or to other wiki sites. I prefer the blog over the wiki because of the security. However, students could be trained to contribute to either in an ethical manner.

Wgyates Says:
January 31st, 2008 at 4:18 pm e

I have learned a lot about blogging by trial and error. I have been commenting on other blogs with some problems-losing comments, having to change my password, loading one blog over 40 times on my computer and having to correct that. Reading the other blogs has given me more ideas on the usefulness of blogs. Some of the blogs are more user friendly and I didn’t have any problem adding comments. Some I couldn’t figure how to comment. I showed this blog to my principal and he loved the concept and can’t wait until it is added to the school website. I can really see the educational benefits of the blog as a component of our Professional Learning COmmunity initiative. It will allow for easy communicaiton and collaboration.

West Middle School, Mt. Gilead, NC

This blog is dedicated to creating a learning community for teachers, students and parents through sharing websites and resources connected to the standard course of study, posting pictures and news stories concerning school activities and events. We encourage contributions from the West Middle community of news stories, creative writing and responding to posts.

Geraldine Yates, Curriculum Facilitator

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