Wikis!

In the simplest terms, Wikis are websites that can be modified by anyone.  According to the Pearson book, “Wikiwiki means quick in Hawaiian, so Wikiwikiweb is a quick Web site” (Anderson, Grant, & Speck, 2008).  Many of the Wikis I discovered were used primarily as a website to store information without the feeling of collaboration. 

 

 This particular wiki was created by a school librarian and has wonderful information.  Although there are discussion boards for students, parents, and teachers they do not seem to be used.  There is also a comment section at the bottom of most of the pages which would allow for others to contribute although, again, they do not appear to be used.  That being said, the school year has just started for many districts and it is possible these features will get used as time progresses.  The other elements, visual appeal, organization, hyperlinks to sources, multi-sensory tools, are evident throughout the Wiki.  Occasionally the Wiki can be overwhelming with the sheer amount of information on the pages, but overall I believe the design works.  The primary way in which this Wiki is being used to promote literacy is by connecting students to new books to read and providing background information.  Reading is the key to this Wiki.  

 

Mrs. Shanahan’s fifth grade classroom has been using a Wiki for at least the last three years.  It appears she creates a new Wiki for each new class, but keeps a link to the past Wikis.  I enjoyed looking through the various projects the students created and reading some of the comments.  From a literacy standpoint, the wiki helps students share their work and find a voice as they comment on other students projects.  Students wrote poems, shared stories, and created multi-media presentations. Parents were encouraged to request access to comment on student work.  Past students also had access to the Wiki site and often commented.  The one big downfall of this particular Wiki is the organization.  It is hard to navigate and clicking on many of the pages causes an additional browser window to pop up.  I ended up having six windows open simply from browsing through the site.  It made it difficult to keep track of where items were located.  The graphic from the front page also took some time to load and there were a few broken links to graphics on some of the older pages.  

 

Finally I came across this Wiki.  When browsing through the site, I was impressed by how organized and clean the site was.  Several of the areas where comments and projects were located are password protected, but it is obvious the site is used for students to collaborate. Upon closer inspection, I realized the site was created by Vicki Davis and the effectiveness of the site made complete sense.  I loved the Hall of Fame section although some of the older links no longer work.  This site helps promote literacy by encouraging the students to share ideas and work together to create projects. 

Using Wikis is fairly new to me.  I have not used them in a classroom, although I have contributed to one for one of my own classrooms.  I am unaware of any of the teachers in my district using one for any type of collaboration, however after reading and reviewing some this week I can see the potential for them.  

 

Free Technology for Teachers highlighted a free Webinar for advanced users of Wikis and now has the archive up.  The archive along with many other videos on creating Wikis can be found here. 

 Enjoy!

Literacy

Over time everything evolves and changes.  Teaching can be no exception.  If I had been asked several years ago what literacy meant I would probably have replied with something about being able to read and write.  Literacy applied to the communication, language, or reading classroom.  What did literacy have to do with math or even science? 

My own definition of literacy has changed.  Literacy is more of being able to absorb information and make sense out of it.  This can apply to both the great novel and the simple pie graph.  Anyone who has ever tried to make sense of an advanced math book can recognize that knowing what a symbol means and being able to understand what is in the book are two entirely different things. 

Literacy also involves being able to analyze information and decode the hidden messages.  Most of us probably have experience with this when trying to decipher the theme of a book or poem, but it goes much farther.  Students need to be able to look at the world around them and look at information critically.  The internet has made finding information a snap.  Type in a simple search and hundreds of pages worth of information are instantly at the fingertips.  Is the information reliable though?  How does one determine what to accept as fact and what to question?  Are the results from an experiment presented in a misleading manner?  One of my favorite websites to show students is this one on the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide.  While the information may be technically correct, it is very misleading. 

On the flip side, students must also be able to write to be literate.  More than simply writing a letter or a research paper, literate students should be able to express data in graphs, tables, and pictures.  Literacy is more than the words in the dictionary. It also involves both knowing how to write, and what NOT to write.  Understanding the purpose behind writing is just as important as the writing itself.  

I hope this new class will help me find ways to expand on the definition of literacy utilizing technology in a responsible manner.