Joan O’Mara Module 5 #3 Wikispace

I decided to use Wikispace to create a wiki page as a teaching tool / resource for students and parents of all second graders at Laurel Hill Elementary.  The pages guide students and parents through the different math strategies being taught this year using Eureka Math. This is the first FULL implementation of the program in my district. Most of the teachers in my building chose to be early implementers last year. Because I had the experience with the new strategies last year, I am finding teaching and explaining it all a lot easier now. I feel empathetic towards their frustrations with this new program. It can be confusing. But it the end, it is worth it because the students learn more and feel confident about math.

Each page of the wiki is dedicated to an algebraic operation strategy. Each strategy has an illustration and a video to explain the terminology. Because we are a dual language building, the pages are in English and Spanish. This accommodates our Spanish speaking families. Our English-speaking children live in predominantly Spanish-speaking households. So it is important for my students to have access to Spanish resources to practice class works at home.

Since I have been using the wiki for the National-Lewis Workshop, I found the new wiki pages easy to use. I DID finally learn how to embed. I knew how, but on wiki pages, a grey space holds the place of the video. Because I was unaware of this fact, I thought that nothing was embedding. After publishing a page, I realized my mistake as I observed the videos clear as could be!

I have invited my teammates to join the Wikispace with editing capabilities. We are used to collaborating electronically using the Google Apps in Chrome. So I know that with a little coaching, they too will manage the wiki pages.

Take a look! laurelhill2ndgrade