Using wallwisher to organize your class

Wallwisher is a tool usable on a personal level or on a school level for numerous tasks.   I use it in my classroom as a way for students to ask questions, collaborate and offer input into things. It is a simple program to use and it works well for various things.  We use it sometimes in my district for professional development.

It starts with creating a free account.  Once you are in, you make a wall. You set permissions to be personal or public. When you are ready for students to use the wall, you send them the link (I post my links into edmodo.) When it's time for class to use, they double click anywhere on the wall and type a post.  Voila, it's as simple as that.  A few neat things about it, is the capability to embed onto a website and also the capability of an RSS feed of the discussion.

I have found that wallwisher is easy to use and the kids don't mind using it. I have used it for several things in my class.

1.  Review of materials:  I have posted a question on the board in French and the kids use wallwisher to respond.  It can be anonymous as a way to survey what the kids know or have them input a name to answer questions for participation points.  The kids can also insert video or audio clips.

2. Exit slips: Have students do a quick question about things you covered in class to see comprehension.

3. Class collaboration:  I have the kids write about things they have been doing in the target language.  We chat about all sorts of things: family, reflexive verbs and daily routine, clothes, food.  It works as well to discuss books and art.

4. Book review/ chat:  If you run a school library, you could create a wall for a specific book and have patrons use the site to chat about it.  It could be an anonymous book club, per se.

5. Staff Development/ PD:  We used wallwisher in a PD. The teachers used it to ask questions of the presenter anonymously.  It was a great way to get the teachers involved and solve several concerns and questions they had.

6.  Personal level:  You can use wallwisher to organize your week, do lesson plans, write notes to yourself about things that need to be done, etc. 

Wallwisher is a really great tool to use in the classroom and on a personal level. It's worth looking at.