Wakelet Ambassador Monica Joshi, shares her story of spreading the #WakeletWave amongst teachers, and using the platform for gamifying learning for her students!
So how did I discover Wakelet? I was browsing twitter and found tweets from Wakelet ~ a New Ambassador declaration. I saw Mr Ranjit from India declared as a Wakelet Ambassador. I browsed the website and found it interesting. As I was looking for a curation tool to help me to organize my Tech Talks, I found it to be a great tool for exactly that! I joined the community and soon after joining, I received a direct message from James and he happily provided training on how to use Wakelet! I promised him that in few days my teachers will be making their lessons and creating their resource pool in Wakelet!
The other day my daughter had her flipped teaching on the topic Respiratory System. She was working on Sway. I suggested for her to use Wakelet, thinking it will be the best way to introduce a new tool amongst students and teachers. She was a little apprehensive, but soon she understood my intentions and made her project in Wakelet. “The backgrounds are so amazing and adding resources is so simple!” she exclaimed.
Being an IT Head, I always believe that learning through fun and gamification captures the imagination of students! This encouraged me to go on a quest to find more teachers who were open to using technology in their classrooms, and within days, I had a strong team of 30 teachers. I named them BuddyLearners. I provided them with first hand training, giving them different examples of how it can be used in their classrooms in different subjects.
I could feel the immense power emanating while working with this group of people. The next step was to involve the other subject teachers so that Wakelet can be used as a teaching aid. We principally decided that the wrap-up of each activity and lesson will be done with the help of Wakelet. I announced it as a competition and the top three stories are to be awarded with a certificate. This winning streak involved the educators of other subjects along. The positive atmosphere of peer learning has enabled students to educate their teachers on how to use the platform! To my surprise, the quietest students are the best players.
My BuddyLearners used Wakelet for:
1. Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking Tests.
2. Creating News Letters.
3. Compiling Reflections after each activity
4. Curate resources for students and teachers
5. Making blogs.
6. Compiling Departmental meetings
I introduced WAKELET at KEOS2019 event at Finland, where I showed them live examples by sharing the Minecraft resources in it.
Wakelet has the potential to be an incredibly effective teaching tool. I believe that thirst for knowledge and a strong will can move mountains. If you have a dream, you must gather courage to believe that you can succeed and leave no stone unturned to make it a reality.
Here is a short tutorial on getting started with Wakelet, created by my 13 year old student – Namya Joshi
I am Monica Joshi. My case studies have been published in Teaching and Technology case studies from India by British council in collaboration with Central Square Foundation. As a new age teacher it is my duty to make my students equipped for the future and inculcate the skill of enquiry and knowledge building in my students. Besides this I am an avid traveler and love to convince others to travel. Connect with me on Twitter at @klnamya!