Using Google and Wiki in the classroom

Technology can be incredibly intimidating and coming into this class I was very overwhelmed as I am not the best at technology. I am on a few social media sites but beyond that, I am not much of a tech person and honestly do not know where to start. This morning truly opened my eyes to show that there is much more to technology that can benefit us in the education world than many people know about.

                Google is the primary search engine on my computer and I use it for EVERYTHING. I learned so many things about how to navigate through google and be able to put different time lines in so that the information was relevant. This will be an incredible tool to use in the classroom when we talk about researching specific topics and current topics in society. Teaching fifth grade, I believe that this tool can be an incredible help in the classroom. I loved the suggestion about using perspectives of different countries to help students understand different topics. Searching using site.gov with the countries initials will be beneficial in achieving this.

                Growing up in school, Wikipedia was never okay to use or reference. At first I was a bit apprehensive to even look at Wikipedia because there is such a negative connotation associated with it. After poking around and seeing the three tips to determine what the authenticity of the article is, I think that using Wikipedia in the classroom can be incredibly helpful. Being in 5^th grade, students have such a prominent student voice that I believe allowing the class as a whole or even small groups to build and edit their own Wikipedia page is such an incredible idea! This idea goes much deeper than just simply the content area, it allows students to express their voice and build confidence while doing it. I also think that wiki junior can be a very beneficial page to use in the future.