Cell Phone Lesson Plan

I can’t help but wonder if we are spending too much time designing lesson around computers. The truth is that many more of our students have and use cell phones than computers. Perhaps we should begin thinking about how we can design lessons around student's cell phones. One quick, simple, and easy way to create a cell phone assignment is with Polleverywhere.com. It allows a teacher to create and take a quick poll of students using their cell phones. For example, a government teacher could give a homework assignment to watch the President give an address before Congress then have the students send a text to poll everywhere whether they liked the President response or not. The next day in class the class could look at their poll compare it to other opinion polls or use the poll as a discussion starter. The service is free for up to 30 students. This idea may not be the ultimate cell phone assignment, but it might be a start.

What do you think?

Citizendium or Wikipedia

Wikipedia has is the big dog for online encyclopedia. It not only has millions of articles, but is ranked #8 on most visited websites. Is bigger always better? Larry Sanger, one of the cofounders of Wikipedia, does not necessarily think so. He believes that better is better. So he began an new online encyclopedia, Citizendium. These are the three differences between Citizendium and Wikipedia (according to Citizendium)

• All contributors must apply for membership in the project under their real names
• All articles are reviewed by experts in their particular fields, offering suggestions and criticism as the articles evolve with the goal for each article to be "approved"
• That vandals, trolls, and disruptive editors are quickly and permanently banned from further work on the project.

While I applaud Citizendium approach and philosophy, I don’t know how much the average internet user understands or cares about such issues. Wikipedia has already corrected some of the problems that have plagued them, and I am confident they will continue to make Wikipedia more reliable. Regardless of how you feel about such issues, none of us should be relying on either Citizendium or Wikipedia alone. Any issues worth researching are worth checking more than one site.

Citizendium http://en.citizendium.org
Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org/

What Good Are Wikis In The Classroom?

Like many of my peers, I find these new technology tools like wikis very exciting. But really now, what use are they in the classroom? It is not like they come with lesson plans attached. It takes a lot of work and time that I don’t have. First, I have to figure out how to use these new tech tools. Then I have to find the time to figure out what to do with them in the classroom. Oh, woe is me.


Fortunately we don’t have to figure this out all by ourselves. We are not alone. Other teachers are already way ahead of us. Their classroom wikis are already online. In addition, there are a growing number of resources on the internet that will provide us ideas, suggestions, and activities. A quick Goodgle search of “Wikis in the Classroom” yield 2, 200, 000 hits in 0.31 seconds. At the end of these comments, I have posted a quick and dirty list of several such sites, several of which will lead you to even more sites. Of course, I cannot speak specifically or authoritatively about each and every of these sites. Many of their content is outside my narrow field of interest. My goal was to provide you with a starting point and give some fodder to feed your own creativity.


As developing leaders and experts in the fields of integrating technology in schools, we have the responsibility to be not only good consumers and users of existing knowledge. We have a responsibility to contribute to the growing body of knowledge.


To those who much has been given, much is required.

How Can I Use a Wiki in the Classroom?
Wikis in the Classroom (Good PowerPoint Presentation)
Sites to See: Get Wild About Wikis!
Teaching Tips: Wikis in the Classroom (Particularly Good)
Link to Classroom 2.0 Social Network Discussions

Letter to Parents and Adminstration

In order to provide my students with an opportunity to have their voices heard beyond the four walls of their classrooms and introduce them to another form of communicating, I have created a blog for my students’ work. Room 184 will display some of the work of my juniors and seniors. Because I think a little paranoia is a good thing, especially when dealing with students and the internet, my profile has been left incomplete and only students’ initials will appear on their postings.

Purpose of Room 184

• Provide my students with an opportunity to use technology to communicate their thoughts and ideas
• Provide my students an opportunity to receive feedback from individuals who may or may not be a part of their peer group, a teacher, or a member of their local community
• Encourage my students to put more time and effort into their writing
• Expose my students to the wonderful world of blogging
  Provide my students with an opportunity to brag that their work is on the internet
• Experiment with various Web 2.0 tools

Commenting Rules

I encourage you to make comments on any or all of my students’ postings. When you do comment, please follow these few simple rules.

• If you recognize or think you recognize me, the student’s initials or writing, do not use the student’s name.
• All comments must be appropriate in language and tone.
  

Let the Blogging Begin
Room 184 - http://room184.blogspot.com

P.S.: You may want to check out some of my other blogs on education.
Teacher Leaders - http://foster-teacherleader.blogspot.com
Webucation 2.0 - http://webucation20.blogspot.com