Article #4: Wallwisher: A Geeky Teacher’s Dream Tool

I was really excited to read this article, written by Keith Ferrell, which speaks about the program Wallwisher. Keith explains, “Wallwisher, is an online bulletin board where students place virtual post-its with textual information, photos, video, and audio” (p. 30). I also enjoyed reading about the different ideas that Keith gave about creating classroom walls. He gave an example from a fourth grade classroom that was studying cold and hot desert environments. The class was asked to collaborate together and find an interesting fact about a cold or hot desert along with a picture and post it on Wallwisher. The students were motivated to be part of a collaborative effort to gather information and to see everyone working together respectfully.

Keith also showed how Wallwisher could work with vocabulary assignments. Students would be given a word and they would look for a definition of it and a picture then post it on the classroom wall. I think this a great idea for homework because it gives children a different type of motivation. In addition if they see that their classmates are participating as well that will get them interested in what others are posting. Not to mention this saves trees, or post-its, and organizes assignments without the use of loose leaf paper. As an educator I would definitely consider using this site for vocabulary or different homework assignments. I don’t think I would use it frequently but rather on a monthly basis just to switch assignments up for my students.

After reading the article I looked for the website and came across different walls for different purposes. I looked at the vocabulary wall for the fifth grade class that was mentioned in the article and I really liked how it looked. Each student would post a different vocabulary word with a definition and a picture to their own classroom wall. Looking at the ISTE standards for teachers I could relate this article to designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessments. A students learning experience could be customized by the use of this website because they would be able to provide collaborative effort with personalized thoughts. This would also be a great opportunity for teachers to model and then monitor digital citizenship outside of the classroom setting.

Ferrell, K. (2011). Wallwisher: A Geeky Teacher’s Dream Tool. Learning and Leading with Technology (38) 7. 30-31. Retrieved from: http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learningandleading.