Using Wikis to Read, Write, Think & Collaborate

What might a collaborative reading and writing poetry lesson using Web 2.0 tools look like? You will wiki while you work through a middle, high school humanities lesson. See how Google collaboration tools are integrated into a sample classroom lesson on a wiki. Featured in this workshop series will be the use of Wikis, Blogs, Google Tools for Educators, and Podcasting.

The purpose of this workshop is to:

• gain technology skills to use a wiki
• learn how utilizing collaborative web based writing and collaboration tools meets a number of English language arts standards for reading, writing, listening, and speaking
• examine an example poetry lesson, Race In Me, that integrates several technology resources that culminates in the creation of a poetry podcast. Click here to view the entire poetry lesson for students.

Workshop Activities for Teachers

Pre-Workshop Activity

1. Infinite Thinkiing Machine ...read, listen, watch and view the archived materials too. This is a blog that talks about new ways to teach with a variety of technologies.
2. Learn what a wiki can do. Watch this video: Wikis in Plain English

Materials

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Activity - Background Ideas and Classroom Uses of Wikis

1. Welcome and overview
2. Speed Dating - group connecting activity
3. View this presentation. (Link to slide presentation)
   This presentation is background information about classroom uses of wikis

Materials
File: Link to slide presentation

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Activity - Race In Me Poetry Activity

1. Hands-on introduction to the Race In Me Poetry Wiki
2. Formulate teams - working as students will, complete the following:
   • Locate the wiki
   • Learn to navigate
   • Read/preview the task together
   • Log in with a password to the team page put your name(s), school, position.
   • Save and view a couple of pages
3. Debrief with the whole group the power of this experience of digital collaboration online as a teacher and as a student. Ease of use? Set up? etc
4. Teams complete the first activity and post their work to the team page.

Materials

Directions to complete Race In Me

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Activity - Promoting Deep Thinking and Big Ideas

1. Using your teacher persona, review activity 2 on the wiki called Compare Census Data and Other Ideas with the lense as digital educator. Use these questions to focus your conversation with your partner:

• How does this activity promote deep thinking?
• What are the advantages of using digital tools such as a wiki for this activity? for the teacher and for the students?
• How might this kind of activity be a more motivating way to learn for students?
• How does using this sort of digital collaboration tool (wiki) make it easier for teachers to track the thinking, progress, and learning of students?
• What happens with the thinking of everyone in class when their work is visible to others?
• How does this make students accountable for doing their own work

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Activity - Make a Wiki

1. Tour Make Your Wiki on pb wiki
2. Specially for librarians: The Wiki Way: Building Better Collaborative Library Projects

Materials

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Learn more about wikis

Get Help From PBWiki

• Education Wiki Examples
• Classroom Wiki - Clif's "unofficial" pbwiki tips

Video Links

• PB WIKI - WHAT'S A WIKI
• Is a Wiki Secure?
• Helping Educators Educate
• What's your favorite PB Wiki Feature?
• Is PB Wiki Easy?
• What is your favorite feature of PB Wiki?