Tool #6

Searching through the suggested sites, I was still not sure how I would use the wiki with my 2nd graders! Then I found a second grade wiki site and thought what this teacher said is a great way to begin:

"All the students in our class will be able to add content so they can show off what they know any time they want. They can do it any time they have access to a computer, either at school or at home. This is a new way of using computers for us, and our wiki can grow and change as our needs change."

Looking further into this site, I saw many unique and interesting things that children have posted including animoto videos with children's artwork, a variety of dinosaur stories using glogster, google videos of students reading letters to President elect Obama, students performing poetry, and the list continues. I think allowing students the freedom to explore the wiki and posting new creations is perfect. In addition to the childrens' posts, the teacher has posted links to beneficial websites as well as other info about her class. Other suggestions I have found about using wikis in class are allowing kids to type stories or poems and then other children can go in and edit or make suggestions. I am not quite sure how this would look in second grade, but it is a possibility.

As far as my use of a wiki, I have already started putting together a classroom wiki in which I can post assignments and classroom information. Our team could possibly use the wiki for team planning. We could set up a page for each subject and type ideas that pop in to our heads as they always do at different times. Using the wiki, we can all post ideas and collaborate from our own homes and then compile our ideas and lessons together.

I will continue to work on my classroom wiki page and search for additional ways to use a wiki to aid in my students' learning.