Wikis are something that I was a little unclear about in my understanding until researching a little more during this unit. Most teachers would create a class website and label that a 'wiki' because they post links or interactive sites on there so students are engaged on some level. However, this does not satisfy the true requirements of what a wiki really is or what its role in the classroom should be. It is only when the teacher incorporates great tools into the site and the students work collaboratively to make it an online learning environment where they engage with one another does it truly become a wiki.
I visited 2 different elementary level wiki pages to compare and contrast their effectiveness in enhancing literacy instruction in their grade level. The first http://mrsanderson10.pbworks.com/w/page/33263525/FrontPage is by Mrs. Anderson's Elementary Class in California. The site is bright and attractive, with tons to do...almost to a fault (I am a minimalist is a lot of cases, yes we need color and navigation but sometimes it can be a little difficult to navigate). If you scroll past all the tools embedded on the page, there are student sample works that she has uploaded (I think one of the neatest ones is the students word descriptions of themselves). At this age/grade I would find it difficult for students to do a lot of direct interaction on the site itself, but it remains a collaborative effort, without the student work and room for comments the wiki wouldn't exist, which makes it the focus.
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| Newmilfordschools.org |
The second site I visited was http://wikiwonderful.wikispaces.com/ made by Mrs. Hopkin's 2nd graders. This site is very organized, everything is available on the side bar and there are lots of tools and links for students to use. One thing I loved about this site was the high level of student interaction...my favorite part being their book club. It as a place for them to show a picture of the book they are reading and tell a little about it (definitely literacy related). I think having a place to post something like that is wonderful (in fact inspiring, I had a student today SO involved in her book I let her stand in front of the room and give a 'commercial' to the rest of my class so they might be persuaded to read it next! A wiki site would be a wonderful place to post such lasting thoughts!). There are even links to student created wiki sites, imagine how engaged and invested those students are in posting on the site! Overall I think this was a great site to serve as an example of what a wiki should be.
I love the idea of having your student create a commercial for the book she was reading. Think of the digital literacy skills you could have incorporated if she were to post that commercial on a wiki. The feedback from her peers would push her to improve on her weaknesses and perhaps even allow her refections to take her to a higher level.
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