I usually walk away from a teacher conference with 4 things: new knowledge, a host of ink pens, brochures, and sticky notepads. Attending just one conference a year can result in enough sticky notes to entirely cover a whiteboard, two or three times. Needless to say, I help out my school budget by not spending money on sticky notepads. There are so many activities that I incorporate in a brick and mortar school setting to use the sticky notes that I can actually justify picking up more note pads each time I attend a conference. Now that I am teaching in a cyber setting, the need for sticky notes has changed. I can’t use the notes for exit quizzes, diagramming, and labeling anymore, yet I still yearn for the learning benefits of being able to move around these colorful tabs of paper based on a particular topic. I think I have met my virtual sticky note match at www.wallwisher.com.
Wallwisher is an online notice board maker. Once a wall is created with a topic users can double click to generate a virtual post and use up to 160 characters to type their message. Using this in the classroom would force students to be concise with words and not spare meaning. They can even post an online video or website link on the sticky note. The creator of the wall can move any sticky note around, while the creator of the sticky note can move its own note. The wall owner gets to choose the extension for the URL, background, and whether the wall is public or private. The creator also has the option of approving posts before they are seen on the wall.
In studying ecosystems, students must distinguish producers from consumers. With food chains, organisms are given a ranking to determine where they fit in. This is called a trophic level. A wallwisher board could help students identify producers, consumers, decomposers, and scavengers along with trophic levels for each. During class, students can post names of organisms under each sticky heading. This would actually create a chart that students can reference in future lessons.
To assess learning, I can move around the heading sticky notes or ones generated by students. Once I have moved some out of order, I can display the page and have students find what is out of place and explain where it belongs.
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http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/trophiclevels
Using sticky notes on the whiteboard during parent night has always helped me focus on questions and ideas that perhaps were not explained in detail. Not only is wallwisher a great tool to use to organize concepts, but it can be used to post questions from students or learning coaches. I would accept general questions only rather than questions specific to a student. I can envision setting up a wall at the beginning of the school year to collect questions. Parents and students can bookmark the page so they can refer back to it for answers or to post new questions. Sometimes it may be easier to open a bookmarked page instead of logging into the school based email system.
I smile when I think about being able to implement sticky notes in a virtual world. This idea saves my back from hurting when lugging around tons of note pads, and I’m a bit greener!
Link to comment on Sharon's blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://blossjones.blogspot.com/2010/02/bp62010022web20tools2.html
Link to Jodi's blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://jzeigler101.blogspot.com/2010/02/bp6201002web20.html
Erica, This is such a cool tool! Plus the sticky notes won't get lost this way and you can access your notes from any location. I really like the idea of having students post the notes in the appropriate places. There are all sorts of pyramids for students to learn in my Health curriculum, such as the food pyramid and the hierarchy of needs. This is a way for students to visually practice placing the correct sticky notes in their appropriate places.
ReplyDeleteErica, this is one of those interactive tools that an educator just can't pass up. I like that you don't have to jump through all of the hoops of having to register for using the tool. I also like that it gives you the opportunity to approve the post. I can see myself using this tool with the teachers at my school. It seems that I can give them the URL to the teachers and ask them post any comments or concerns they have with using certain equipment and or tech lessons.
ReplyDeleteLove it... thank you for sharing.
Erica- I like that you also look at Web 2.0 tools and relate them to science. I am already getting many ideas from my research, and yours just doubles it. I like how you have incorporated Wallwisher to study ecosystems. I finished ecosystems with my 6th grade students a couple of weeks ago, and this would have been fun to try with them. Not trying to be to selfish, but I hope you continue to show how Web 2.0 tools can be used for science. I like your creative ideas.
ReplyDeleteErica- I love this tool. I too used it at a professional development conference and filed it away in my mental keep file. Thanks for suggesting ways to use it beyond a personal teacher tool. The possibilities are endless.
ReplyDeleteErica - That is so cool. I like the sticky note idea. I can see me using this tool with my Promeathean Board at school with my math students. I could post geometric figures and have the students move appropriate formulas to the objects where it would work.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the video that posted. That is wicked.