Z-Jim

 //Jim Doucette's Not Quite Sure What a Wiki Page is Page! // Franklin High School





[|50% Assignment]

http://fhshistorydoucette.wikispaces.com/

__Web 2.0 Tools__ The first Web 2.0 tool, which I have already begun to create, is a wiki page for my 2 U.S. History courses (http://fhshistorydoucette.wikispaces.com/). I have created pages on this wiki for both students and parents alike. They will be able to see, and hopefully download, assignments and projects, find learned websites for research and test preparation, and class announcements. This, combined with our web based grade program, will help students and parents stay up to date on class activities. I will have to be careful to secure the wiki to only allow parents and students to visit it and not edit, as that could be dangerous. As a part of my class wiki page, I am including a link to my Delicious account (http://delicious.com/doucettj), which is another Web 2.0 tool that can be used to help students.

The second Web 2.0 tool that I will use this year is a Voice thread, which is something that I just learned about today (http://voicethread.com/#home). This will be a fun way to appeal to the visual and auditory learners in my classroom, and to help vary the way I present material. I could create a Voice Thread about a controversial event in history and ask students to comment on the feelings they get when they view the pictures and hear the the commentary. Perhaps if they saw pictures from the Vietnam War and heard commentary from the news, they will learn about the power that the media had on swaying public opinion during the war. What I will be most cautious of when using this tool is managing the length of the Voice Thread as they will be more powerful if they are shorter and used judiciously.

__Reflection__ This class has helped me to feel more comfortable with a topic that I have been rather phobic about. I was hesitant, to say the least, about using technology in my class as I knew so little about it. However, now I feel comfortable using a wiki and, in fact, see it/them as a valuable tool in the teaching and learning process. There are a couple of things things that I have learned about during this class that I will use in this coming year, which I think will help students be more successful in my classroom.

First of all, I am going to have students take a learning style inventory (posted on my wiki) so that they may better understand the way in which they learn best. I do a couple of performance assessments in my classes in which students choose the way in which they will show mastery of the subject. This will help them to be more focused in their study and in the presentation of what they studied.

Secondly, I am going to use the social bookmarking site, Delicious, for my AP US History students. Students often times have trouble with the historical chronology of history as well as studying for the AP test given in May. In fact, students have asked in the past how they should start their study of the history in preparation for the test. Now I will be able to do more than just say, "There are some great sites out there for you to use. Go find'em" I have already started putting together some websites that will help students with this process and am rather excited to share them with my students.