Thing #8 - Wiki

I like that name, Wiki. I also like Wikis and plan to incorporate one into my class this year. If I'm going to teach Tech Ed, I should teach 21st Century tools. By the way, its no longer Technology Education. It is now named Principles of Information Technology, PIT. This has nothing to do with this Thing, just information I thought I'd pass on.

I went to the Thousands Project and I was amazed at the participation. This wiki is created by a 5th grade class. It's very organized and simple to navigate and read. This class asks a question each month and their goal is to get 1,000 answers. They give easy directions for editing the page and ask students as well as adults to answer the question. For the summer they want everyone to list 10 things they plan to do this summer. I added my 10, you should add your 10.

Another wiki I visited is Schools in the Past. Another elementary class, 1st grade, tackled this wiki. They interviewed parents and grandparents to find out how schools today differ from the ones the adults attended. information is divided into categories like playground, rules, and libraries. The information is listed under the appropriate category and its obvious kids made the list. The spelling is not always accurate, but it's cute...1st grade cute.

A different wiki I checked out is Grazing for Digital Natives. In fact, I subscribed to her blog. I don't understand how this is a wiki and not a blog?? She has a voki that welcomes you to her wiki. I'm going to get me one. Its like a talking avatar. Her wiki is long, a little harder to navigate because there are many aspects and pages. It links to her blog, her vita, and other information. I think this will be a great site to learn about Google tools.

How am I going to use these new tools in my classroom? I haven't decided and I'm hoping to get some good ideas from this class and the other blogs. I'll keep you posted.