So I tested out my scavenger hunt on my fifth grade guinea pigs (I mean, students) yesterday. Success! They seemed to have a lot of fun doing it. The one small problem I noticed is their reliance on me and others for help. They don't take the time to read. I had to repeatedly tell them that the information is all right there and that they must search for it! This was not only an activity of how well do they read for comprehension, but also their search skills.
I hope to get the wiki they are going to be the authors of up and running this week. If all goes well, they will be adding to it on Friday. Now, I'm just worried about them saying, "I don't know what else to write" or "I'm done" (when really there's more that can be added). I'll be meeting with the SBTS at my school on Monday to create the wiki and I hope to plan ahead for that by writing detailed prompts in there. Our ITSopedia wiki is my guide in terms of how I plan to get them started. If they write in bulleted form I think it'll be easier and then these bullets can be formed into sentences and eventually paragraphs.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Working Out the Wiki Kinks...Help, Anyone?
THANKS!
Thanks for your posts, Jenna, Ian, and Brad! I agree that this is pretty ambitious. I guess my goal is to just get one up and running and give my students experience with it. If it isn't completely compiled as a resource for them to do research, I'm fine with that. By next year, it may be. At least this could be a starting point for getting them into the whole "read-write web." It's good to get your feedback on an idea and even suggestions, so thanks again! Okay, that's what I need now...suggestions...
Wikiis without Email?
Does anyone know of a free (or cheap) wiki site that does not require an email address for the authors of the page? I'm working out the kinks to try and get my wiki up and running with my kids. Problem is, they don't all have email addresses. My SBTS is going to be helping me, too, and we may just do it in blackboard. I'm not exactly sure how to do that, but I'm sure will figure it out with a little exploring. Just thought I'd see if anyone had an alternative.
Wiki Introduction Activity for Students
If anyone is interested, I made an age-appropriate (fifth grade) Wiki Scavenger Hunt. I will use that first to introduce wikis to my students. It has 25 steps and/or questions that the students will follow and fill in, going from www.wikiforkids.com to www.wikipedia.com to http://metawikimedia.org/wiki/WikiKids I'm hoping it will get them familiar with what a wiki is, what it looks like, and the searching/sorting involved. I tried to gear my questions around those goals, at least. Shoot me an email if you're interested and I will send you the attachment since I don't think I can include the attachment in a blog post--or can I?
Thanks for your posts, Jenna, Ian, and Brad! I agree that this is pretty ambitious. I guess my goal is to just get one up and running and give my students experience with it. If it isn't completely compiled as a resource for them to do research, I'm fine with that. By next year, it may be. At least this could be a starting point for getting them into the whole "read-write web." It's good to get your feedback on an idea and even suggestions, so thanks again! Okay, that's what I need now...suggestions...
Wikiis without Email?
Does anyone know of a free (or cheap) wiki site that does not require an email address for the authors of the page? I'm working out the kinks to try and get my wiki up and running with my kids. Problem is, they don't all have email addresses. My SBTS is going to be helping me, too, and we may just do it in blackboard. I'm not exactly sure how to do that, but I'm sure will figure it out with a little exploring. Just thought I'd see if anyone had an alternative.
Wiki Introduction Activity for Students
If anyone is interested, I made an age-appropriate (fifth grade) Wiki Scavenger Hunt. I will use that first to introduce wikis to my students. It has 25 steps and/or questions that the students will follow and fill in, going from www.wikiforkids.com to www.wikipedia.com to http://metawikimedia.org/wiki/WikiKids I'm hoping it will get them familiar with what a wiki is, what it looks like, and the searching/sorting involved. I tried to gear my questions around those goals, at least. Shoot me an email if you're interested and I will send you the attachment since I don't think I can include the attachment in a blog post--or can I?
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Is My Wiki Idea Too Ambitious?
Global Awareness...a new FCPS Initiative (Some background, first.)
There is this big Global Awareness project for fifth graders in Fairfax County that started this year. It involves them selecting one of eight questions to answer, such as "What is the impact over time of geography on a culture’s involvement in global exchange of ideas, goods, and services?" Pretty deep thinking, right? In groups of 3-4 students, they will do research to answer this question. Then, they will display their answer using a technology tool, such as PowerPoint, Inspiration, PhotoStory, etc.
My Brilliant/Ambitious(?) Idea
So, what if I was to start a Wiki with my class where they could add content about the various ancient civilizations they've learned about this year for an additional research tool that all of fifth grade could use when they start their global awareness projects? (Their research for these projects will probably start in mid-March, so we have about a month.) I could do it a couple ways...either put them in groups where they take turns each week adding content about a specific civilization (Mesopotamia, Ancient China, Ancient Rome, etc., etc.) or put them in groups to add content about all the cultures for four different topics related to the four questions the teachers selected for them to choose from: Geography, Government, Leaders, Art. The groups could rotate each week to a different topic or civilization to give them a chance to add more information and/or edit or revise what another group already put in. They have interactive notebooks that they could use to gather the info. they add to this wiki. We could set this up with the free wikispaces site and make it password protected.
My Excitement about Wikis
I couldn't help but get excited about this idea while reading Richardson's book. I especially like how he noted, "the concept that everyone together is smarter than anyone else alone" (p.57). That is so true! I think that's what makes this Wiki tool so great--everyone must be a critical reader to get it right; true collaborative work! Richardson's book has opened my eyes to the positive aspects of this tool. In going to Wikipedia for various purposes since I first found out about it years ago, I have to admit that I was skeptical about the accuracy of the information (with the understanding that anyone can add to or edit it). However, the CEO of Apple has called the most famous Wiki (Wikipedia) "one of the most accurate encyclopedias in the world" (p.59), so it has great potential in adding to our wealth of knowledge. What a cool experiement that was conducted to see how fast thirteen errors would be changed on Wikipedia. Corrected in a matter of hours--truly amazing! More people really do want to get it right than those who want to corrupt this information outlet.
There is this big Global Awareness project for fifth graders in Fairfax County that started this year. It involves them selecting one of eight questions to answer, such as "What is the impact over time of geography on a culture’s involvement in global exchange of ideas, goods, and services?" Pretty deep thinking, right? In groups of 3-4 students, they will do research to answer this question. Then, they will display their answer using a technology tool, such as PowerPoint, Inspiration, PhotoStory, etc.
My Brilliant/Ambitious(?) Idea
So, what if I was to start a Wiki with my class where they could add content about the various ancient civilizations they've learned about this year for an additional research tool that all of fifth grade could use when they start their global awareness projects? (Their research for these projects will probably start in mid-March, so we have about a month.) I could do it a couple ways...either put them in groups where they take turns each week adding content about a specific civilization (Mesopotamia, Ancient China, Ancient Rome, etc., etc.) or put them in groups to add content about all the cultures for four different topics related to the four questions the teachers selected for them to choose from: Geography, Government, Leaders, Art. The groups could rotate each week to a different topic or civilization to give them a chance to add more information and/or edit or revise what another group already put in. They have interactive notebooks that they could use to gather the info. they add to this wiki. We could set this up with the free wikispaces site and make it password protected.
My Excitement about Wikis
I couldn't help but get excited about this idea while reading Richardson's book. I especially like how he noted, "the concept that everyone together is smarter than anyone else alone" (p.57). That is so true! I think that's what makes this Wiki tool so great--everyone must be a critical reader to get it right; true collaborative work! Richardson's book has opened my eyes to the positive aspects of this tool. In going to Wikipedia for various purposes since I first found out about it years ago, I have to admit that I was skeptical about the accuracy of the information (with the understanding that anyone can add to or edit it). However, the CEO of Apple has called the most famous Wiki (Wikipedia) "one of the most accurate encyclopedias in the world" (p.59), so it has great potential in adding to our wealth of knowledge. What a cool experiement that was conducted to see how fast thirteen errors would be changed on Wikipedia. Corrected in a matter of hours--truly amazing! More people really do want to get it right than those who want to corrupt this information outlet.
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