Wikis

Wikis:

A classroom wiki would allow kids to post their research on a class topic, ancient civilizations, for example. Wiki could be accessed by all parents and students. Dawn December 2009

I love the idea from St Joseph County Public Library of creating a wiki for the library which lists subject areas. The students could help with this and lists books and websites that they have found for different subject areas or topics. Dawn C. 2009

Create Wikis for specific class projects. You could collaborate with teachers and determine what resources and book lists will be needed by students. These could be posted to the wiki. Maureen C. 2009

= Please add your idea and sign with your first name and last initial and the month/year =

media type="custom" key="883689" WIkis in Plain English from TeacherTube. Ann M. June 2008


 * Create a professional resources wiki for your staff.** A suggested wiki format for this is our own Raven About Web 2.0 wiki. It would be necessary to tailor this to your own school by including what collections are in the library and what they contain that could help with meeting teaching and learning standards, what library services are available and when (i.e -- laminating only on Thursdays), special events happening in the library (reading incentives or checker's tournament), procedures to follow (i.e. -- scheduling of classes), and anything else pertinent to your own school library. A list of new materials could be posted here instead of in emails. It would be necessary to encourage teachers/staff to check it regularly. Deborah M. June 2008


 * Collaborative professional resources for staff.** I think this Raven About Web 2.0 wiki is the ideal example, as mentioned above, to create a school-wide, or district wide collaboration tool for our staff. When we meet to review curriculum each year, we could have all staff put their two cents in, share what they are currently covering each year, list resources used and then work on filling gaps and finding areas of weakness. We have a small district of one elementary, on middle and one high school, and yet we don't see each other often and rarely meet as an entire staff. I would like to see this wiki become a sort of bonding source. I think the hardest part would be getting the staff to regularly check it and contribute to it. Maybe offering a weekly drawing for a plate of brownies, with each person who contributed to the wiki getting entered into the drawing...hmmm. With the wellness policy, maybe we should offer a plate of carrot sticks?! Mary A. November 2009


 * Post Book Reviews.** Students can write reviews about books they've read. Instead of the linear, one reader format of a report turned in to a teacher, a wiki can have comments, makes room for varying opinions, encourages discussion and provides a format for interaction by students. Suzanne M. July 2008.


 * Create a lesson plan share wiki for Alaskan librarians**. The wiki could have various categories: search strategies, Digital Pipeline tutorials, bibliography & plagiarism instruction, booktalks, orientation activities, etc. Librarians throughout the state could upload their ideas/lessons and prevent us from all reinventing the wheel! Staci C. July 2008


 * YRC title tracker**. Students can keep track of the Young Reader's Choice titles that they have read. A short review (no spoilers allowed) could be posted along with a rating so that when it's time to vote, the student can refresh their memory about what they liked or didn't like. Sharon H. July 2008

Idea #2: History. Students can compile a wiki of famous artists, architects, writers, and other key historical figures from a city, state, or country: Every year the 4th grade students at my school do the wax museum where they pretend to be a famous person from history. They dress up like this person and give a little speech about them. It would be a good idea to create a wiki of famous people and each student can add their own information about their famous person. Some students might do the same person and will just have to add details that aren't already stated. Kristen A July 2008


 * Pathfinders** Post pathfinders that you creat on a wiki. You can teach how to use wikis during library, teachers can use it to teach from, and students can use it from home. Sharon H. July 2008


 * Group work notes and sharing**: not a new idea- I learned from David Loertcher at the AASL 2007 conference. The trick is to have at least one computer per group. Set up a page for the project with directions etc and insert a table for each group. Label each cell and link to a new page. Then each group has their own page to record notes and it is easy to share. Suddenly being the note taker takes on a new meaning! Robin T July 2008

Wiki school library site. Due to lack of staff/time, I am one of the few school libraries without a web site. I have planned on paper (months ago) a wiki site and would like to make it a reality as soon as I return to school. Wikis are both easier and more dynamic than a developing a library page using Dreamweaver (for example). Primarily it will assist students in linking to their research/information needs and it will be modeled on the East Anchorage High School library wiki. I would like my library aides to have both "opportunities" and "assignments" to contribute to this wiki and gradually expand it to include other teacher/student contributions. Carol H. July 08

I'd like to start a book review (ala Reading Rainbow style) site for the kids. I wonder if the kids could create their book review in Voice Thread or Pod Cast or Video Cast, upload it to a wiki and let others comment on the book. Educators pbwiki http://educators.pbwiki.com/ had some great educational examples. Elaine D July 08

I've been trying to plan some type of an online book club outside of Battle of the Books or Young Reader's Choice for my students/families to participate. This might be one way to do it and it could be linked to my library webpage. I also love Elaine's idea for a book review for kids. I've been wanting to do something like that for a long time and this might be the perfect opportunity. Maybe we could work on it together? Susan K. July 2008

Teacher posts selected story starter on Wiki. Students build continuing story over course of a week or two. Remember completing oral stories by going around the circle and each person adding to the story? Eventually editing comes in to play and the progression of ideas is visible. Teacher can comment along the way, give guidance. Could be done in small groups or whole class as a side bar to other writing activities taking place. Leslie M. July 2008

I am always trying to think of new ways to teach internet safety. Students could post thoughts and ideas on a Wiki about a topic that we covered that week about internet safety. I think that a lot of students that don't normally participate in class discussion might see the Wiki as not as quite threatening and be able to share more. Audrey J. July 2008

A wiki for book reviews could be created for a library where students, staff, parents, etc. contribute to the wiki by reviewing books they have read. The reviews would be placed under various categories such as level (primary, intermediate, YA, adult) and genre. Comments could be made by others for the various reviews. –Lydia H. July 2008.

Older students can use a wiki to post poetry, book reviews or a top ten column for the Library which can then be added to the library site students could use images and write about them or to have a discussion about a review. Judy C. July 2008

A wiki for elementary librarians to share lesson ideas would be a great way for us to collaborate. There seems to be so much out there for secondary librarians and I think we need to jump on board. At one point there were classes where we shared ideas and a notebook of lesson ideas was going to be distributed to all librarians. It's been a few years and maybe this way it will get out to us more quickly. Susan K. July 2008

I believe that wikis could be an important collaboration and communication tool.A school librarians wiki could serve as a training tool, collaboration tool, and enhanced communication device. RSS feeds could be included to share library news and content concerned with school libraries, links to cataloging resources, book reviews, and best practices in school libraries. Laurie August, 2009

Wikis are a great place to keep volunteers informed. They are always asking for lists of books I would like to add to the library, and if they can do special projects. Put out a call for someone who likes to repair books, do a small quilting projet, make a paper mache animal, organize a tea. Volunteer calendars are great if you have folks in on a regular basis. Karen November, 2009.

After looking at the sample wikis, my favorite "new" use for a wiki is as a presentation tool for students. I was blown away by the Virtual Communication (Flat Classroom) Project on the sample school wiki. In this example the students were from opposite sides of the planet! I had not even considered using a wiki this way. I'll definitely share this possibility with our teachers. Lisa S. Nov. 2009

In the same vein as Lisa S., use the wiki format for group assignments. They need to synthesize what they want to create as the project/assignment, they need task assignments, once tasks are completed they go on to the wiki where other group members look at what work was done and what still needs to be done, corrected, verified, deleted, etc. The wiki may be where the assignment ends up; not always, so be prepared for this! The process works well with most 7th and 8th graders; for the group that can't create the wiki in the first place, a teacher template should be handy for them to get started. FAIbookworm 2010