New Tool for Students: Storybird

I just found a new tool for students--Storybird.  Students create narrative short stories based on a visual and collaborate on the story with friends.  I have not yet begun to use the tool, but you should check out the cool stories posted by students.  I think the key here is "students" are the creators.  I have not had time to explore, but it appears to cater to K-8.

A new literacy tool for a new generation

"Storybirds are short, art-inspired stories that are curiously fun to make, share, and read. Teachers love them because they inspire their most reluctant writers and readers and reward their most adventurous. Kids adore them because they feel empowered by the tools and supported by the social feedback."

How Finland became an education leader

How Finland became an education leader

The final point of the article really hit home:
"How did Finland manage to elevate the role of teacher in the eyes of the population to something that is not just an honorable profession, but a revered profession, whereas in the United States, teachers are so regularly denigrated?"

"They really think about teachers as scientists and the classrooms are their laboratories. So, as I mentioned -- every teacher has to have a masters degree, and it's a content degree where they're not just taking silly courses on education theory and history. They're taking content courses that enable them to bring a higher level of intellectual preparation into the classroom. That's the first point.

The second point is that they've defined professionalism as working more collaboratively. They give their teachers time in the school day and in the school week to work with each other, to continuously improve their curriculum and their lessons. We have a 19th century level of professionalism here, or worse, it's medieval. A teacher works alone all day, everyday, and isolation is the enemy of improvement and innovation, which is something the Finns figured out a long time ago. Get the teachers out of their isolated circumstances and give them time to work together."

Creating a Wiki

This school year I have grown to love wikispace as a tool.  In  the fall of 2009 when I was first introduced to a wiki, it was used as a forum for an inquiry to action research group.  I will admit I was so busy that I did not take the time to communicate with the members and used email instead.  Wow.  That seems so long ago, and regret not taking the time to use it.  However, I did start several wikis that year.   I now have created wikispaces for each of my classes. I also completed an  Online Professional Development course for Government teachers where we used a wiki for discussion, and an Open Source LMS.  This is where I learned to collaborate.
Through the readings in this class I now understand the purpose and rationale of using a wiki.  I want my students to become wikispace users, but this has been a little bit of a struggle.  Students love to use social media, but I think even online writing assignments are seen as a chore.  As I integrate more collaboration on the wiki, I think it will be more accepted.  Out of 100 teachers at my school, there may be less than 10 that use wikis, and most do not use with the students.  I have even had parents tell me they are confused for their child when the child did not complete the assignment.  I modeled wikispace discussions in class, and we used the media lab twice.  Still there are students who are not motivated to write online. I will work on this factor over the summer.  One problem is that our school has few computers that work, and many students have no technology at home, or have no internet.  I have advised that their phones will work for discussion comments.  
I have begun to join other wikis.  Teachers have created entire courses that include textbooks on wikis.  Many a simply a storage of documents, but several include student to student and student to teacher collaboration. The teacher created sites that are formed around the topics of literacy and differentiation are so helpful.  I have learned a great deal just from reading and linking within these types of wikispaces.   So, the next hurdle will be the collaboration element for both students and teachers.