Collaborative Geography/History for Grade 5/6 class

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Permalink Reply by Kim Trefz on July 15, 2009 at 6:01am

Greetings from Memphis, TN. I am a 5th grade English teacher and am managing a class blog and wiki as a means for the students to learn as well as collaborate with others around the world. I am interested in knowing exactly what your project entails to see if it somehow fits into our curriculum. I am all about my students making global connections and learning about different parts of the world. I have attempted to collaborate with a teacher from Australia in the past but the time difference was a challenge. Just let me know if you are interested.

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Permalink Reply by Scot Laudenbach on July 15, 2009 at 8:18am

You can use Diigo.com to set up a blog for just your class or allow others to sign in and participate as well. Unfortunately I am not currently teaching otherwise I would be interested. However, on that site you will be able to connect with others who are. I have known of 2 different teachers using this with great sucess. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Chris Hebbard on July 16, 2009 at 5:38am

Thanks Scot. I have signed up with Diigo but I am a little confused with how to use it. Any suggestions, (besides watch the tut vid, it makes it all seem ridiculously easy!) would be great!

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Permalink Reply by Jamie Winfield on July 15, 2009 at 10:51am

Hi Chris and Kim,
I teach 6th grade Social Studies (US History) in Goochland, VA. I am interested in starting a class blog this year for my students to post about what they are studying. I haven't really worked out the details yet, I'm talking with our technology staff to work it out.

We plan on using a WordPress blog. There will be 1 class log in - students will either share the responsibility of posting weekly on our progress and other students will comment OR I will post a prompt/question and all students must comment. Again, still working out the details.

Maybe we could have students visit/comment on each others blogs? And possibly extend to researching each other's curriculum?

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Permalink Reply by Kim Trefz on July 15, 2009 at 2:56pm

That sounds like a great idea! We would love to collaborate with you in the future, even if it is just having the students to occasionally comment or give feedback on each other's work. My blogging and wiki experience began at the first of the year, so a lot of what I have done is trial and error. Sometimes we learn best that way, and that's when the details actually get worked out:) Please keep me in mind when you get all of this underway!

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Permalink Reply by Chris Hebbard on July 15, 2009 at 8:17pm

Wow! What a great response. OK, I have a class wiki. I did have a blog but I found it far too restrictive in terms of the content I could access and post. The idea I am thinking of (as you guys are all in completely different time zones to me) is email contact between students and the sharing of a combined Australia/US wiki. We could add pages as new people may come on board but the focus would be on presenting historical content and geographical research and comparing the "home" country to others around the world. So far it seems like Kim and Jamie are interested in working with me so thanks heaps guys. Also thankyou Scott for your advice.
I am a fan of wikispaces so check that out. Also have a look at my class wiki and student wikis linked to it. We are part of a 1-1 laptop program so our new found resources are helping a lot with this sort of stuff. My wiki site address is www.4chwiki.wikispaces.com.
Thanks again for your wonderful response and I look forward to working with you all. Cheers!

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Permalink Reply by Kim Trefz on July 15, 2009 at 8:37pm

I love the idea of using our wiki to collaborate and that does take care of the time zone issue. We are completely flexible in terms of curriculum and could probably make our collaboration work with our "perspectives" theme. I will take a look at your wiki first thing tomorrow as I am headed off to get some sleep (I guess that you are just waking up:) Looking forward to working with you and Jamie and hopefully anyone else who wants to join us!

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Permalink Reply by Kim Trefz on July 15, 2009 at 8:46pm

BTW, I use Diigo if you are interested in getting set up.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Hebbard on July 16, 2009 at 4:58am

Awesome. I thought about a single wiki for both classes which we could co-manage and have say, a USA page, Australia page, and pages of other classes we could gather from around the world.
I have just signed up with a user account in Diigo and am trying to find the educator upgrade. I am a little confused with it all actually.

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Permalink Reply by Suzie Nestico on July 15, 2009 at 8:54pm

Chris,

Have you considered using a Ning in conjunction with the wiki? Have you checked out Flat Classroom Project Ning and/or Digiteen and its corresponding Ning for organizational ideas and collaborative wiki development? There is a lot of information there but it is very organized.

Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Chris Hebbard on July 16, 2009 at 5:09am

Thanks Suzie! Can you tell me what the advantages of having both are. I am a little daunted by the whole collaborative thing and all of this information is somewhat confusing.

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Permalink Reply by Scot Laudenbach on July 16, 2009 at 6:32am

There is a tutorial that will walk you through it. That is the only way that I have found to learn it other than trial and error.

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