Having some experience with the Wiki, I can see it being used several ways. As far as class projects go, I see it used to create picture dictionaries, newspapers, brochures, research projects, and to tell our understanding of different math skills.
Picture Dictionaries – Some of my students have made these already in our class. Basically, they find pictures and words from a magazine or newspaper that match their word study skill for the week (i.e. short vowels, long vowels, digraphs, prefixes, suffixes, etc.). In a Wiki, they could do something similar. We could have different pages for different skills (my students do not all have the same skill at the same time). Then students can add to the different pages, pasting a picture and writing a word below it so that we can have a nice compiled list of words for each skill.
Newspapers – I am lucky enough to have the help of a literacy coach in my district. She has been coming into my room two days a week during my literacy block. During that time, she helps my lowest students. While working with them, she helped them to create a newspaper. It was a big hit. I could see taking the same idea but expanding on it by using a wiki. Each student, or pair of students, could be assigned a “story”, or subject, in school. Then, on their subject’s Wiki page, they would update pictures and write stories and captions for what they are working on in that subject. You could even include art, music, Spanish, PE, or whatever subjects your school has. This would serve as practice writing, typing and inform parents of what they are doing. I would say this would be a project that is done monthly or bi-weekly.
Book Reports – Every year we do a book report with our students. This would be a creative way to do it. Each student would have to create his/her own Wiki. Each page would represent a different part of the book report. In our reports now, the students discuss main character, setting, problem, one event, and the solution. They could create different pages for each section and include pictures and explanations.
Brochures – In social studies, we study Michigan. Last year, I had my students create a brochure for one of Michigan’s major cities. They were to include the location, major attractions, products from the city, etc. A Wiki would be nice in that they could include a real map to show location. Plus, they could include links to pictures from the city and to some of the major attractions. It would be nice for some of my students who do not travel much to have a chance to “experience” a place they’ve never been, even if it is only virtually.
Research Projects – One of our science units includes an animal report. Our students must create a poster and write an essay that includes the animal’s physical characteristics, habitat, and behavioral characteristics. Again, this could be done with a Wiki. They would have four pages on their wiki. One page would be an introduction, and then one for each section; physical characteristics, habitat, and behavioral characteristics. On each of those pages, the students could include links to pictures, which they could then use to explain the animal’s physical and behavioral characteristics as well as their habitat in their class presentation.
Math – I could see a class Wiki for math. Students could help create pages for each new concept we learn. Each page would contain a description of the concept using key terms (which would be links to definitions of the terms). Images would be included if necessary to help with explanations. Plus, we would put links to helpful websites that they can then refer to at home.
I also see it useful for parent-teacher communications. I can put up calendars, newsletters, useful websites, etc. We could use it to plan class parties. As parents decide what they would like to send, they can update the list so that it can be a working document. It can also be useful for teacher-teacher communication. We all have different planning and lunch times, so we can’t always communicate when we want to. At my school we are currently trying to plan a literacy night for March. We have no more scheduled meeting times before then, so we tried to delegate roles at our last meeting. However, I recently spoke with another member of the groups putting this night on and was informed we may not have assigned all of our duties. A Wiki would come in quite useful here. Like the camping trip example on the youtube video, we could list the tasks that still need to be done and teachers can claim them. This way we can be sure to be prepared.
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