I love throwing out the word "wiki" and hearing, "A what?" It is not a tool that most educators I know have embraced because no one has heard of it.
I love the idea of using a wiki as a collaborative tool to encourage writing and the writing process. Assigning students roles (like writer, editor, word choice expert & visual designer) is a good idea so they have a specific goal in mind and don't try to "do it all." We all have type A students who would try to take it over.
In a wiki, "anyone who knows where your page is can come in and add, edit or delete notes" (Richardson.) I think this is a very powerful tool to encourage students to work as a team and learn from one another and from members of their community who you may invite to comment/collaborate. I have invited a local journalist to collaborate with my students on this project, to give us tips and also to teach them about the rules/expectations - the journalist's professional code of conduct.
As I mentioned, my students are using a wiki space to publish a class on-line newspaper. We will share this wiki with a Romanian journalist living in Loudoun County (also an ELL mom.) She will also advise us on how to write a good headline & newspaper article formatting tips.
Mrs. Mona Botezan talked to my class last Friday about writing for a newspaper. She will help us make this an authentic project with an authentic purpose.
See the template/wiki link to our class newspaper: http://belmontstationtimes.pbworks.com/w/page/36448857/FrontPage
As a type A student, I agree that the roles are a great idea to use with students. I am finding in the ITSopedia entries that I don't have to obsess over every detail because I know that others will be working on it this week and even more will look at it in future weeks. It forces me to collaborate, which is definitely a good thing for me to learn how to do. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I LOVE your wiki lesson! How cool for the kids! Are they eating it up??
Just checked out the link to your newspaper too. SO FUN :)
ReplyDeleteWow, Lisa, this is great! I can't wait to see how your Wiki unfolds. I also love that you are including a "real live" journalist to add to the authenticity and excitement of this project. You rock!!! :)
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