Thing 7 (Reflections on Wikis)
After viewing several of the wiki spaces listed on our k12Learning page, I have come to the conclusion that I LOVE the idea of wikis! Apparently I have been living under a rock (perhaps in good company), but before this I never really even realized what a wiki was or how I could use it in my classroom. At first glance, here are several things that I noticed about these wiki spaces:
- most wikis are organized much more clearly than most of the blogs I have visited;
- they include more relevant information (or information that I would care to use);
- because most are edited by more than one student, they are less likely to contain grammatical and spelling errors.
I was thoroughly impressed by three wikis in particular. I enjoyed reading the class summaries on the Turn Homeward Hannalee wiki and was so proud to discover that such amazing work was being done with 5th graders on Patricia Beatty’s novel RIGHT IN MY OWN BACKYARD! The class newsletters and the book reviews on the Room 15 wiki were refreshing, and I was totally blown away by the work that Vicki Davis’ students did on their wiki pages, Westwood wikilinks . I’m not so sure that adults would have created such comprehensive study guides.
As for wikis in my future, I see that I can easily create that class newsletter that I have been putting off and post information about upcoming projects or events. Already another teacher and I are brainstorming ways to incorporate the class wiki into our summer reading projects.
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April 13th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I am excited about wikis too! My students are working on our first wiki right now. The third grade classes/teachers and our school technology gurus are collaborating on a Titanic wiki. My students are so excited about it! They each “become” a Titanic passenger and write about their experiences on a blog linked to the wiki. On the wiki, they will share information they have learned. The best part is that the children can choose from a variety of topics for their research, so each child is able to work on something that interests him/her in particular. We have children interested in everything from Edwardian fashion to ship building.
I think your idea of using wikis to enhance your summer reading projects is a great one.