Sara Manchak 6/24/14

LITR 630: 21
st
Century Literacies and Technology
Connection to the Standards and Research: Wiki
International Reading Standards (IRA)
1.2 Candidates understand the historically shared knowledge of the profession and changes over time in
the perceptions of reading and writing development, processes, and components.
The use of the wiki advances student research into the 21
st
century. The lesson utilizes the wiki to help
students research, organize their facts and see other students ideas and work in one place. Seeing other
students examples allows for the furtherance of individual students writing development and process
skills.
2.2 Candidates use appropriate and varied instructional approaches, including those that develop word
recognition, language comprehension, strategic knowledge, and reading-writing connections.
Students must be capable of reading and analyzing search results as well as the information that they
gain from those results. The wiki provides a novel way for students to write about information they
gather and to share it with their classmates in a new way.
2.3 Candidates use a wide range of texts (e.g., narrative, expository, and poetry) from traditional print,
digital, and online resources.
Students are able to use a variety of digital texts and images in the lesson in order to fulfill the
requirements of the research.
4.2 Candidates use a literacy curriculum and engage in instructional practices that positively impact
students' knowledge, beliefs, and engagement with the features of diversity.
The lesson is connected to the Common Core ELA standards W.2.2; W.2.5; W.2.6: write
informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop
points, and provide a concluding statement or section; with guidance and support from adults and
peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing; and use a variety of
digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers
5.1 Candidates design the physical environment to optimize students' use of traditional print, digital, and
online resources in reading and writing instruction.
The fact that the student research is all in one place and organized in a chart, I feel, optimizes students
understanding and learning about a variety of animals researched by the students in the class. The
optional addition of images heightens the experience and adds to students comprehension and ability
to add to their writing.
International Society for Technology in Education Student Standards (ISTE)
2. Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a
distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
Through use of the wiki, students communicate their ideas with one another and the teacher. This
assignment boosts not only reading and reading comprehension, but also writing process skills use of a
graphic organizer to collect facts/ideas.
3. Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
The wiki is the digital tool through which the students gather, evaluate and use information to
ultimately create a written informational piece.
4. Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and
make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.
Through the wiki, students are expected to research their animal using the kid-friendly search engine.
They must solve technological problems that arise in their research and data entry, aided by either the
teacher or classmates.

Kentucky Teacher Standard 6 (KTS)
6.1 Uses available technology to design and plan instruction.
6.2 Uses available technology to implement instruction that facilitates student learning.
6.5 Demonstrates ethical and legal use of technology.

The lesson utilizes the SmartBoard, projector, and the teacher wiki to deliver deliberate writing
instruction. The lesson is safe and ethical because it is based on standards for learning and the lesson
was intentionally constructed and planned to meet common core and technological standards.


Research-based Connections
The lesson presented here provides an authentic use of technology where students can work
collaboratively and gain almost instant feedback from other students, the teacher, other professionals and/or
parents who are aware of and connected to the wiki. It allows them to interact in written form and hone their
communication skills through responses to and from others.
In an article by Andes & Claggett (2011), second grade students were involved in reading and writing
practice using a wiki to communicate ideas and projects with other individuals both at home and overseas. Their
interactions were authentic opportunities to share their learning and reading and writing practice through
technology. The implementation of the program showed a boost in lower achieving students achievement by at
least 50% at the end of the program.
In another article by Sanden & Darragh (2011), they described what using a wiki accomplishes for
students:
Once a teacher sets up the site and communicates expectations for its use, students can begin to add
evidence of their own growing understanding in interactive and collaborative ways. A few potential
strengths of the wiki as an educational tool include its interactive nature as well as its unique format.
Students can contribute not only text, but also original or downloaded images, hyperlinks, videos, or any
other forms of communication that can be digitally accessed or created. Some other features inherent in
wikis that set it apart from basic word processing include the ways in which documents, images, and
presentations can be stored, retrieved, and searched for; the ways changes to the pages are managed;
and the opportunities provided for online discussions. (Sanden & Darragh, 2011)

Relation to the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Framework (TPACK)
As the teacher in the classroom, it is important to know the content and standards that students are
expected to know and learn. Students in second grade are required to write informative/explanatory
texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a
concluding statement or section; with guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and
strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing; and use a variety of digital tools to produce and
publish writing, including in collaboration with peers (W.2.2, W.2.5, W.2.6). They are also expected by
the ISTE and IRA standards to be able to utilize digital tools independently and collaboratively to
research, solve problems and create representations of their reading and writing ideas. Students in
second grade are very engaged when it comes to wanting to learn and use technology whether it is on a
computer, laptop, iPad, etc. The lesson engages them in learning a new technology and how to
manipulate that technology to create an end product from their online research. Since the wiki is
teacher created, the teacher has knowledge of how to use and instruct in the technology. This
knowledge, coupled with the content knowledge allows the teacher to create a lesson that is engaging
and effectively uses the technology to meet the standards and enhance student learning.


References
Andes, L. & Claggett, E. (2011). Wiki Writers: Students and Teachers Making Connections Across
Communities. The Reading Teacher, 64(5), pp. 345350.
Kereluik, K., Mishra, P. & Koehler, M. (2011). On Learning to Subvert Signs: Literacy, Technology and the
TPACK Framework. The California Reader, 44(2), p. 12-18.
Read Oregon. International Reading Associations 2010 Standards for Reading Professionals. Read
Oregon. The Teaching Research Institute. 2011. http://readoregon.org. June 22, 2014.
Sanden, S., & Darragh, J. (2011). Wiki use in the 21st-century literacy classroom: A framework for
evaluation. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 11(1), 6-20.