Wikipedia's Credibility and First-Year Teaching Advice

Who's editing Wikipedia?

Read article here!

This article on Wikipedia is interesting because it shows the dark side to the online encyclopedia. Virgil Griffith, a graduate student, created a searchable database that ties anonymous changes to Wikipedia entries to organizations and locations the edits originated. This database also keeps up with all of the changes made to each document. Companies as big as Walmart to politicians are revealed to have edited their entries. I think it is important to consider this site as a general source of information, but not always the most unbiased, credited resource possible. As with any source, it is important to look at the facts and consider where the information originates. Wikipedia seems to be more of the "drive-thru" resource for information online.

First Year Teaching Advice

Read Mr. McClung's Blog Entry

Mr. McClung wrote this blog entry to give teachers, especially those with little experience, suggestions about teaching. He spoke on centering lessons around the audience--our students. Making lessons student-centered, rather than teacher-centered is the most successful way to teach. McClung also wrote about having reasonable expectations and having someone to confide in. He also had a list of "don't s" as well. His first don't was not to be afraid of using technology. Another one of his suggestions was not loosing touch with the fact that we're dealing with children.

What I took away from Mr. McClung's entry was that one, it is important to be flexible. I expect to make a lot of mistakes my first year, but in order to learn from them, having an open mind is important. I also learned that listening to you're students is important too because that is how we know what we are doing is or isn't working. The focus of the classroom needs to be on the students' learning, not the teacher's delivery of the lesson. The teacher should NEVER STOP LEARNING. It doesn't matter what area of teaching, whether it be technology, a subject-area, or lesson plan modification, teachers should change and learn new ways to reach their students.