Thing 21

I was really impressed with the use of the wiki for literature (specifically the book Turn Homeward, Hannalee by Patricia Beatty) done by Woodward Academy. They had included Chapter summaries, a vocabulary dictionary, a timeline of American history contemporary to the story (Civil War Era in this case), a list of expressions common to the time and area, and even a Reader's Theater in which 2 or 3 students "act" out a short scene by speaking lines like the characters would . The teacher provided the narration. This wiki definitley covered all the bases!

I would also like to try a classroom wiki to communicate with parents. I could place the daily work plan and handouts on there for students who are absent - or have just lost their paperwork. Study guides and links to online support in core subjects could also be included along with classroom news reported by the students. What a great way to hone writing and editing skills!!

I am a little put off by the idea that a class wiki could be edited by anyone and wonder if I would have Jr. High wiki saboteurs. I would have to monitor the contents very closely. After experimenting with Wikipedia, I found there is definitely more to editing a wiki than I realized. I had visions of people planting their cursor into text and editing away. It seems that with Wikipedia at least, they do ask folks to cite a resource for their edited information and try to head off misinformation.

Another problem I might encounter is parents being skeptical of allowing their children to contribute to a website viewed by the public. Even if the faces are not shown, and last names not used, some parents may not want to allow students to participate in an unsecured space. I'm also wondering if our net nanny will allow students onto wikis? I know they can use wikipedia, but will have to experiment and see. They definitely can't blog, and I'm finding that many of my students have trouble getting their parents off the computer so they can blog to me once a week! As a result, I will have to remember that having a computer at home doesn't mean the student necessarily has unlimited use.

Is it worth the aggravation? Absolutely! In a perfect world, there would be an unlimited budget for technology and every student in my class would have their own laptop to use. But this isn't a perfect world, and we need to learn to accept the fact that there will be problems with technology. However solving those problems together sure provides a great educational experience! :-)