Jennifer Barnett's Blog: Reflect to Redirect » wiki

Serving Others Online

Jennifer Barnett — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:33:51 +0000

Hundreds of help sites exist for teachers trying to integrate technology into their practice and their students’ experiences. With a grateful heart to the many who have allowed me to lurk and learn, I am offering my help site to others. As with all learning experiences, it is a work in progress. I am trying to put together the things that have helped me as well as presentations I’ve put together that I wished someone had done for me.

Should you like to see my efforts, visit my wiki.

Picking Wiki: Would you chose such a name?

Jennifer Barnett — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:36:34 +0000

Like most expectant moms, I put a lot of thought into naming my two boys. Names are very important labels, offering insight and credibility to a child if carefully chosen. And, in my line of thinking, the name is important because my child’s name would be something I would say every day for the rest of my life. So, I really need to like it. Luckily, I like saying Jackson and John David. And even if I tire of the names, I shouldn’t mind saying them since they are two pretty cool kids.

When I first heard the word wiki I laughed. It rhymes with icky, sticky, picky, tricky, and Vicky (my sister). I laugh when I say most of those words. And wiki is the silliest of the group. When I learned more about wikis by creating one and exploring on my own, I was still laughing. I wasn’t laughing at the word, now I was laughing at how much fun this would be. I was raising an adopted Wiki! I didn’t name him or really give birth to him, but Wiki was mine and if he was going to grow up, I had to feed him, clothe him, and make him do his homework. God knows if I was passing out names, I would choose anything but Wiki.

Since I take parenting seriously, I decided to help Wiki adjust to life as a school teacher’s child. Of course, I filled him full of important information. And if his little brain couldn’t hold all of the lessons I had for him, I made a note for him of where to find it. I taught him to make friends easily and initiate conversations with his new friends. We spent lots of late nights looking around the world for the most stylish clothes and popular possessions. (It’s important for kids to feel like they fit in. They need to know that others think they are cool. Wiki’s friends think he is pretty cool.) Somehow, Wiki and I have successfully made it through adolescence. He was completely unorganized, lacked focus and direction, and seemed to be in a permanent state of rebellion. Miraculously, he has grown into a fairly mature young man. Don’t get me wrong, Wiki looks like a strapping young lad on the outside, but has lots of growing up left to do!

Wiki is growing up so fast and has changed so much since I adopted him. He’s so popular with his friends that I’m seeing some changes in him. He doesn’t stick so close to mom anymore; he wants to go out on his own. Wiki is always bugging me to get him the most flashy videos, the newest music, and the coolest gadgets (he calls them widgets…kids!) He tells me that his friends have actually started expecting him to have the best stuff. I guess Wiki doesn’t want to disappoint his friends. And I don’t want to see Wiki fail to realize his potential. Just like with Jackson and John David, I am willing to make some sacrifices to make sure Wiki is raised with plenty of attention, genuine affection, and thoughtful guidance.

This parenting adventure has been such an unexpected pleasure. It’s a real rush that my husband and I are parents to two great kids and that I’m a single parent to a precious adopted child. I have a serious desire to raise my actual children with a desire to impact this world. I hope I am raising my virtual child with the same hopes. When I agreed to adopt Wiki I didn’t think I could get used to his name. Since he’s a pretty cool kid, it turns out that I don’t mind saying his name every day at all!

Visit my adopted child at FHS Wolves Den

Does Anyone Really Notice?

Jennifer Barnett — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 00:35:19 +0000

A few days ago I was searching for some additional resources to help teachers at my school develop their wikis. My principal has decided that all teachers in our K-12 school should have a wiki for their class. We have done some basic training on creating wikis last year and will be working toward the principal’s goal this school year. But, just as in the classroom, some wonderfully eager educators are ready to jump in. They just need someone to push them. So, I guess I’m the pusher.

Even though I created a wiki last year on how to create a wiki, I thought I’d look around and see if anyone had one better than mine. As I expected, most were better than mine. I found lots of different things that will help the teachers at my school and I added the links and descriptions to my wikihelp page. But what I found in the process made my day!

A wonderful little wiki called walthamhigh on wikispaces caught my eye. It is an attractive, easy to follow help page for teachers at a school, evidently Waltham High School. I read the author’s list of reasons for creating wikis, directions on how to go about it, and the list of resources for helping teachers along the way. Then, I saw it. She listed my class wiki as an example of a good class wiki! WOW! How cool that the same author that I was busy admiring, admired me!

This web 2.0 thing never ceases to amaze me. We tell our students that people are always watching us, always judging our work. “Always, do your best. You never know who might notice.” I wonder if we teachers realize the power of our words. Many of us who have jumped at the opportunity to use web tools in the classroom must be mindful of our example. Our unconvinced colleagues are constantly evaluating our methods, messages, and effectiveness. We can’t be sloppy. Since this happened, I have been busy cleaning up the messy spots I hope my admirer missed. We all know that you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

This time, I was lucky enough to stumble upon someone who noticed something good about my work. Next time, who knows?
http://walthamhigh.wikispaces.com/