Wikis and Blogs as Schoolwide Tools

2010 Technology and Deaf Education Symposium
Wikis and Blogs as Schoolwide Tools (T10B)
Kathy Tarello, Rochester School for the Deaf

Available Symposium Resources: Slideshow, photo, verbatim caption

Take Aways:
I met Kathy after my own presentation when she came up front to ask a question about my project. We shared delightful lunches on Tuesday and Wednesday, talking about technology and deaf education. Meeting this multitalented dynamo was one of the highpoints of the symposium for me.

Kathy described how she, as the technology teacher at Rochester School for the Deaf, has implemented the use of wikis and blogs for classroom projects and discussions, as well as for sharing staff information, professional development, and resources. She gave an excellent description of wikis and blogs and how they are used in the public sector. Reference that in the verbatim caption of her presentation (pp. 2-4).

The highlight of her presentation were the demonstrations of classroom wiki and blog use.

2nd, 3rd, 4th grade students (all reading on a 3rd grade level) worked collaboratively to create wiki author studies on Patricia Polacco and Tomie dePaola. Kathy structured the wiki for the students by setting up categories and designated resources ahead of time. Students posted unique facts about their assigned authors, using initials to identify themselves.

1st and 2nd graders worked on an Internet penpal project with the Lexington School for the Deaf in New York City. Students used digital cameras to take photos. Kathy uploaded the photos which students then used to create video introductions of themselves within a PowerPoint presentation. Slideshows were uploaded to the wiki for sharing. I think that the videos were still photos and text, not live action with ASL. Either possibility would work.

Middle School Math students created a virtual Math term dictionary with ASL videos. The teacher reported that students who did not study before are using the student-produced videos to study and that math grades have improved as a direct result.

4th and 5th grade English/Language Arts students used a vlog (video Web log) for an ASL/academic English project. They posted their own video responses in ASL to a teacher posed ASL question that had been posted on the vlog earlier (It's important to have good behavior in the computer lab. But what does that mean? What does "good behavior" mean?). The students then translated the ASL to written English, creating “good behavior” posters to display in the computer lab. This project tidily addressed ASL, written academic English, persuasive writing, and the NETS standards. Students used the desktop computers, equipped with Webcams, in the computer lab to create, edit, and upload the videos. Kathy reported that they learned to do this in about 5 minutes!

Access more blog postings.of more symposium sessions (scroll to bottom of linked blog posting).