Marzano and Web 2.0

One of the best things my former boss had us do was read professional books. One of her favorite authors was Marzano and his series on "....that Works" in education today. I say that it was one of the best because if you know me, my preferred reading lends towards fictional. Great way to escape.

She was our biggest ally for getting technology in education, but on one occassion she admitted that she wasn't sure that technology actually made a difference in today's classrooms. I wish I had her new email address so I could send her a Wiki like site I found while browsing the Internet today. I started with a website about Educational Technology That Works. Quickly it reminded me of Marzano and so my curiosity got the better of me. Wasn't I surprised when I found out that there was a whole section on Marzano and Web 2.0?

He strongly encourages blogs and wikis to help students take their learning to a higher level. He demonstrates how something as simple as notetaking using a wiki will take the basic summarization skill and push it up to the top level of HOTS and make them analyze their notes before they actually publish them to the Wiki. There are even examples for what is otherwise basic use of the Blooms Taxonomy and how the Web 2.0 actually takes those baby steps screaming to the top of the taxonomy.

What's even more impressive is the list of tools and connections to make this work. I was impressed with the list. You can also participate in the Wiki and share more information from each article.

Do you have a district that believes in Marzano's work and studies and yet won't let you blog or use other web 2.0 tools in your classroom? Well ladies and gentlemen, don't present them the works of the greats like Will Richardson and David Warlick- people they don't even know. Instead, pack this website and it's research in your arsenal. His name might just be what you need.

Or it could end the readings of his books for the next bookstudy. :-)