Writing About California

Abstract of Edit 490 Final Project
http://writingaboutcalifornia.pbwiki.com
I have created a wiki called http://writingaboutcalifornia.pbwiki.com. The goal of this wiki is to give students opportunities to write and share their thoughts and experiences about California. I think that this wiki will motivate students to put their best effort much more so than if they were assigned to write with pencil and paper, as they will share their work with a global audience and their peers.
Writing is often a very frustrating and boring activity for many kids because they are expected to write, in most cases, for the sole purpose of being graded by their teacher. In many cases, teachers are too busy to follow up with their students’ written assignments and kids often feel that they have worked so hard for very little recognition or feedback. When they do get feedback from their teacher, their writing is often covered with corrections, which can be a discouraging experience for students that often lead to further dislike for writing.
The subject area of social studies is labeled by students as a “very boring subject”. The goal of this wiki is integrate the subject areas of language arts and social studies. Students will discover that learning and writing about California is relevant to their lives because they will be sharing their experiences and what they know about California in this wiki. Also, they will be reading stories by their peers and will get to learn something about each other as well as something about California. Hopefully, the content of their writing in this wiki will appear in their social studies textbooks about California. Then, students will be able to make connections between what they will share and exchange in the wiki and what they will be learning during social studies time in their textbooks. I would like students to say something like this after reading about missions: “I heard about missions before because Jennifer had written about she had visited a mission in Santa Barbara.”
This wiki has a very simple organization that is easy to use for fourth graders. The front page is an introduction and has a table that has basic facts about California such as the capital city, the state flag, and the name of the governor. Students can be assigned to enter the correct information on each of the categories.
The all of the pages have links on the sidebar. These linked pages consist of student writings. The link “Writing about California” is the introductory page that guides students to choose a topic to write about. The topics are very easy and students can write a few sentences to a few paragraphs on a topic that they choose. These topics are:
1. Coming to California
2. Things that I like about California and Reasons Why
3. My favorite place in California
4. I Bet You Didn't Know This About California!
5. Famous Californians
Students can comment on each other’s work and help each other edit their writing. They can also suggest topics that they would like to write about and create a page to display their writing. Initially, students can write personal narratives that deal with their own experiences. But gradually, as the class progresses though the year, covering different time periods of California history, students can write expository essays on a given topic that is important to its history such as Gold Rush and Transcontinental Railroad. As these topics will require learning of facts and extensive research, students can pair up or work in small groups. A visually-inclined student can upload and insert pictures and a verbally-gifted student can create a short podcast to narrate what they know about a given topic. Everyone can use their strengths to create this project. Students who are good at internet search can find useful links and display on the wiki. Creating this wiki can become an experience that students can feel proud of.
I would like this wiki to develop and evolve with the students. Students can expand this wiki by creating a blog and making a link to the wiki. In their blog, students can keep a journal of their learning. They can write how they feel about what they have learned. For example, students can write about their opinion and feelings about the Spanish mission and how horribly the Native Americans were treated.
I think that this kind of technology use will make learning come alive. It will make learning more relevant to the times that we are living and more exciting.

Proposal for Final Seminar Project

I have always wanted to create a list of websites that are helpful to teachers. I would like to explore bookmarking websites and find out how they can help teachers. I would like to use a website like "furl" to bookmark websites and integrate the information with other web 2.0 tools like blogs or wikis to create a useful resource for teachers.

Book Review for W. Richardson's Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts

W. Richardson wrote a very easy to read book called Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (2006) which serves as an excellent guide for educators to learn about Web 2.0 tools. The book helps to demystify some of the terms that are associated with Web 2.0 and illustrates with numerous examples on how it is utilized in the classroom in various age groups. The book works with a premise that the wave of technological innovations are bringing changes in many aspects of our lives and these innovations would and should evolve how education is delivered to our students. We need to change our education because the students who are learning today are shaped by the use of technology.

The author is well aware of problems and limitations that both educators and school districts face in terms of the need for training that is necessary and the availability of computer equipments. He puts himself in teacher’s shoes as he writes from the heart of a teacher.
At the end of each chapter of this book, it is very clearly written so that every reader would know a few things about each given topic. It is written sequentially with detailed descriptions and examples of each tool and thereafter, providing a guide to using that tool. For example, chapter 2 explains what blogs are and how they are used in education and Chapter 3 teaches step by step how to start a blog for the classroom.

Richardson explains that web blogs are different from web pages in that “they are comprised of reflections and conversations that are updated everyday. They engage in ideas and questions and link” (W.R., pg. 18). Unlike web pages, it is a tool for communication where teachers and students can use it as a forum for discussion, sharing, and learning. He illustrates Tim’s weblog as an excellent example of a weblog which is complex in that it has all of the features of a webpage and as well as those of a weblog where readers/participants can given contribute their ideas. Richardson convinces that weblog can be a valuable tool for teachers as it has many benefits for learning such as “Promoting critical and analytical thinking skills” and a social interaction that allows for people to exchange “quality information” (W.R., pg. 20).

Chapter 3 is a step-by-step guide to creating a weblog and using it as a publishing tool. He tells the readers to start by reading other weblogs (W.R., pg. 46). Kids need to be taught that weblogs can be a powerful tool and training them by assigning them to read a few can help them feel more accustomed to reading from a computer. Another important point is that teachers need to be using a weblog and feel enthusiastic about it in order to motivate the kids to use it. He says to start out small at first in order to make it manageable for the teacher and the kids to use and enjoy it. He talks about how one can start a weblog for a class by having the students post their homework assignments and encouraging them to write more by posting their writings.

I enjoyed reading this book because it really takes the fear out of Web 2.0. I feel excited about having a clear idea about weblogs and would like to use it to enhance teaching. As a kindergarten teacher, it is challenging to use blogs because the kids are not big enough to have the skills to type or read. I would like to start out small and post some good examples of student work to make parents and kids feel proud of their accomplishments. I would like to have the parents participate by having them share their family stories in both Spanish and English. I think that weblogs will be a great forum to tighten our classroom community.

Bibliography
Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, Wikis, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.
Corwin Press. Thousand Oaks, California. ISBN: 1412927676

Introduction of Myself

I am a kindergarten teacher working for Inglewood Unified School District. I am also a graduate student majoring in Computer Education and Technology Leadership at Cal State Los Angeles.