In an effort to build a culture of reading, listening, speaking, and sharing I have been looking for that perfect web2.0 feature that will do it all.

First I looked to wikis.  I found that a wiki would be good for is group projects where students can collaborate and put all the information they found onto their wiki page.  The finished project would have each student’s contribution.  I used the wiki to publish information for my parents, but the no so good part of this was I alone was responsible for managing putting new information on the wiki.  Since I am moving toward more parental involvement and tapping into parent and community resources, I am not sure if a wiki is the best fit for my idea. Besides its not very eye catching. I need something that is eyecatching or is easy to make it so.

Then I considered blogging. At first 4thgradetech seemed to fit all my needs: sharing, reading, etc.  I or even the students made posts and commented on them. But, to keep it current meant I had to make post or I had to instruct the children on making post. Even when they learned how, they never got really excited about it. The other teacher blogs I saw that were active were all teacher posted or if the students posted, it seemed restricted to a few students. I assumed these were the students that were most motivated to do so. Another thing is you can’t see all the blog posts with out scrolling down and clicking to see older posts. Its like you have 3 seconds to catch people’s attention or they change the channel. I am not saying its the blog or the teacher’s  fault. I know I have to keep it going and stay excited about it before anybody else will.

I needed something that was a joy to do, keeps going even if I don’t post an activity or blog post, and met all the criteria I outlined. 

I think a ning is the answer.  I discovered ning when my the high school I graduated from started one.  When you signed up, you got your own little web page. You can upload pictures and video, start discussions, and blog if you like. If you choose to make you posts private only you can see them. Public posts are for everyone with access to the site.  I really got hooked on it and visited just to see what everybody else was doing. Then I found a ning that was dedicated to a hobby of mine. Ohh how the floodgates opened. I found myself finding videos and posting them, starting discussions, and posting updates on my blog.  With an ning there is a lot to choose from right there at the start up page. You can view someone’s video and or pictures they posted, check out who’s on at that time, see what discussions are going on, chat, see recent blog posts (I think I said everything. There may be more.) I started to think I had found the answer!

Get a ning going for your class. Right away I foresee a number of benefits:

1. Parents and students can build their own websites where they can blog about their families and personal celebrations.

2. The ning is not completely dependent on me posting or giving my students assignments on it.

3. The ning is right in line with the direction I am going this year- facilitating the students as they broaden their knowledge in things they are interested it.  If a child is interested in gymnastics they can blog about gymnastics, upload gymnastics videos,  upload pictures of famous gymnasts, and start discussions about gymnastics for others to share. Of course the ning will not be just self interests. There will be assignments and class info.

4. Even when my students move on to 5th grade they can keep their nings up by continuing to post. I can keep in touch with them and they can still contribute.

Just like blogs and wikis comments and posting are moderated. I plan on designating as many parents as I can get to be moderators. They will help me preview and approve posts.  There are drawbacks unfortunately. One is my school district blocks my ning site. So this means I cannot allow the class time I hoped for my students to use the ning. Another drawback is getting parents to participate as fully as I am counting on. I’d plan on using it with the kids everyday. One benefit of this would be for them to go home and tell their parents about how great it is. Then they would be more compelled to help with moderating. So I am still in limbo. Until I can find a way for the district to allow my site, I am going to have to do something else. So for now, I will link to the ning from the class blog and talk about it everyday to generate excitement. By parent night I hope the parents will have caught the fever and flood me with my request for them to help moderate.

Anybody else out there had experience with a ning? Got any tips?

Well I finally got the invitation to use Google voice. I’ve got big plans for it. With it you can  consolidate all your phones, home, business, and cell, into one number. I plan on putting the number on magnetized business cards for my parents. The Google Voice number rings my cell phone. If I can’t get to it they can leave a message. When a message is left a transcript is made.  I will receive it as an email or I can just check my messages. I like it because I want to best and most efficiently communicate with my parents. . Cool ehh?

We do have phones in the classroom that the parents leave messages on, but if I can get them to call me on the Google Voice number I can get all my calls in one place and view all my messages in one place too. I will be posting on how it all pans out.