Wiki What?

After learning more about the ways in which I can utilize technology, I am getting even more excited to get into the classroom! As a millennial, I have grown up with technology and cannot recall life before the Internet. Although I do remember the days of dial-up, the Internet has become a modern-day necessity that I rely on in my day-to-day life.

Having worked as an emergency substitute teacher in grades K-12, the use of phones in the classroom was probably one of the biggest dilemmas that I ran into while working with middle school and high school students. In general, the school rule is that phones should be put away in lockers. However, very few teachers were able to successfully implement this policy. The most effective classroom procedure that I came across in terms of using phones in class was allowing students to use their phones to listen to music. This seemed to be a happy compromise for most students. In the classrooms I subbed in that followed this procedure, I had WAY fewer students using their phones to text or to get on social media than in the classes where phones were supposed to be put away at all times.

In class today, Jeff had us put our phones on vibrate, face-down on our desks as the start of class. For me, being able to hear my phone vibrate if I received a text from my husband was enough for me to resist the urge to constantly check my phone. This simple direction was powerful and I think that it would work well with middle school and high school students. I think with parameters, this procedure would demonstrate that we trust students with their devices but also expect them to be using them sparingly.

In addition, we had the opportunity to explore Wikipedia in class today. In the past, I have tried to stay away from Wikipedia for all academic purposes. Every teacher that I have ever had has always steered students away from Wikipedia, and eluded to the fact that it is not a scholarly source. I loved that we were able to learn how to check the credibility of a Wikipedia article! I also thought that there are many fun applications that could be used with students in the classroom. The suggestion about finding a starter page and allowing students to conduct research to publish on Wikipedia was very exciting to me. I am now viewing Wikipedia in a whole new light and viewing it as a learning opportunity for kids (and likely most adults).