Wikis

[|http://classjump.com/thelounge] Class Jump is a website for teachers and students to share class information, post pictures and assignments. Teachers can chat and communicate with students via the World Wide Web. Librarians can use Class Jump to promote programs and services offered to students and their parents, as well as to inform kids of databases and new books available. Beverly Burson || North Elementary School uses this wiki in addition to its regular website. The library website itself has a link to the wiki, and the two webspaces overlap somewhat in content. However, the information provided is excellent. The photos from the wiki introduce users to the media center with well-lit, colorful photos of inviting spaces. The left-hand column of the wiki contains a number of links, including one for "Wiki Projects." From this link, it appears that most grades and special classes have wikis to which classes can contribute. The first graders have been learning about vowels and brainstorming words that contain their sounds. The 3rd grade has been working on a wiki of the presidents. Fourth graders at North Elementary have been reading and reviewing Suzy Kline's //Horrible Harry// series. Grade school art students have been discussing and weaving baskets; the children have included pictures of their work and reflections on their favorite parts of the projects. The interactive, collaborative nature of these wikis represents the best that they have to offer educational settings.
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 * http://northlmc.wikispaces.com/**

Wikis would lend themselves well to a library setting. A librarian could begin a wiki to discuss and review books from various genres or subcategories, such as science fiction books, Newberry Winners, or Bluebonnet Nominees. Students could be encouraged to contribute to these wikis. In addition, wikis provide a valuable tool for a school's staff to give feedback and make requests of the librarian. Wikis have the potential to become a forum for the school library to become stronger through the involvement of all staff members and patrons.

Susan Cox

http://stmattlearningcommons.wikispaces.com/ //The St. Matthew School Library is using wikispace as there library website.// Presently, as a high school math teacher I would create a wiki for my classes and their parents that provides a calendar of lessons, math resources, math games, and means to access assignment information.The wiki could be a forum for students to discuss math concepts and collaborate on projects, set-up study tutorials, and share information regarding mathematics and technology. Ryan Zucha
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[] The Penrith School Library uses a wiki as a simpler form of their school library website. If you click on __Kinder’s Core Value Fables__, you will read a description of how the kindergarten class listened to stories about their school’s core values then illustrated the stories, had the school librarian scan the pictures and post them onto the wiki, and share their work with the world. By using a Wiki rather than a standard web page, the students were able to receive comments and feedback about their work from all parts of the world. “ ** Within just twenty minutes of finishing the first page, we had our first online visitor from California in the USA. A few hours later, new visitors came from elsewhere in New South Wales, and even Holland, France and Vienna!” **
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 * In my school library I would possibly use a wiki in a similar fashion as the Penrith School with my youngest students. I have also thought about holding book clubs or book discussions through a wiki and inviting students from other schools (either locally, across the state, across the nation, or from other countries??) to participate to add variety and new perspectives to our discussions. **
 * Amanda Huss **

A group of second graders are using technology to share what they are learning with the world. They had ideas for different subject areas. There were ideas included in the reading section which could be used in the library. The students created a Tag Cloud for their web page. They also discussed using literature circle roles and sharing books. The different roles included: Discussion director, character analyzer, wordsmith, artful artist and summerizer. They use literature circles to discuss chapter books. The reading section also included a book for the day and a word for the day.
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 * http://mrsibrahim.wikispaces.com/**

When I have a school library the Tag Cloud would be a wonderful idea to use for a bulletin board. It would showcase a Author of the Month. I would use the Tag Cloud to showcase different books by that author. The literature circle is a wonderful tool to use to review and summerize books that are read to students in the library. This could be done with all grade levels. They could share their book reviews to share with others using a wiki. This would include the students also discussing their literature circle job. It would be great to have a book for the week so all students could hear the book. I would have a primary book and an older book share with students of different grade levels. The books are included in the library web page. Linda Tyson

Wikis http://dhs.wikispaces.com/ Decatur High School Library has created a wiki to help students find information for specific assignments. The "Pathfinders" section is divided into different subject areas with links posted by various teachers that relate to specific assignments given to their students. The wiki is also another portal for students to conduct research as it has links for finding books and articles as well.

I think as an elementary school librarian, I would set up a wiki with the same goal, but for use by teachers. I would create sections for each grade and encourage teachers to post links/information pertinent to their grade. Within each grade level section there would be subdivisions for the grading periods (1st 9 weeks or Fall Semester) with the focus of each grade level's studies in each subject area so that if teachers come across sites that would be useful to other grade levels they could post the web address. It would be a great resource for teachers and facilitate information sharing without actually having to take the time to set up a face-to-face meeting. Kristy Tarsha

Wikis http://www.grandviewlibrary.org/ThirdGradeWikis.aspx The librarian at Grandview Elementary in Monsey, NY uses the software pbwiki.com for students to work on their writing skills. Third grade students chose a research topic and then wrote a thesis statement answering questions about their thesis. They added each thesis statement to the wiki so that others could view them. They will then add each research project to the wiki when they are complete.

I would most likely use a wiki in the library as a place where students could add book reviews and opinions about books they read. Students can view other reviews and decide if they would like the book as well. Wikis could also be used in a classroom setting by having students post answers to word problems given by the teacher, respond in writing to stories read in class, or editing passages for writing. Lauren Bradford

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Using Wikis in a library setting. Create and maintain library policies, procedures, and best practices. Let your student intern and other librarians have input. Set up a wiki, invite a few teachers and parents to contribute, and send them the password. This would be a great way for you to finally get your library policies and procedures tweaked and made available to your users. Prepare conference notes on your wiki. There was chatter at ALA about paperless presentations. No handouts were provided at many presentations which utilized 2.0 technology. A wiki can be used to deliver a highly organized session. If desired, wiki pages can be created in PDF format for quick and easy handouts. Librarians teaching college courses will love creating a course syllabus and organizing class notes and presentations using a wiki. You can feed your wiki into your RSS aggregator and monitor student input on course assignments. This is especially useful for group projects where both contributors and noncontributors can easily be identified. Wikis are a way to contribute and complete committee work whether it is for a building, district, or a professional organization. The wiki environment allows members to communicate and work on ideas or projects over time and from remote locations.

Using Wikis in an educational setting. Create a subject-specific warehouse. Ask for student response to assignments, class discussions & books. Show off student work. Allow students to create pages. Publish training videos. Create podcast & embed them on the wiki. Share teaching techniques & tips among staff members. Create a forum for students to air relevant issues, such as bullying, drugs, etc…. Teachers can create interactive active sub plans. Create a collaborative dictionary of terms related to class themes. Laura Lee Tucker

http://bruin-research-den.wikispaces.com/
The librarian at our school has put together this wonderful resource for teachers. She manages this wiki for teachers who want to point their students in the right direction for research. If a teacher has assigned a project, he/she can sit down with the librarian and find reliable web resources for the students. Those links and other information can then be added to the wiki for easy access. The is especially useful to the older teachers who want to incorporate new technologies but don't know how to do it themselves.

I am seriously considering creating my own wiki for my classroom activities and assignments. I think this would be a great place to upload notes over content that the students can print and bring to class. It would also be a great way for students who are sick to get their assignments on time. I would want it to do the job of a web page because it seems so incredibly easy to edit as I make my way through the curriculum.

Melanie Pharis

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This website gives you a lot of ideas on how you can use a wiki in the classroom; which can also be used for a school library wiki. It gives you wiki ideas for all subjects, younger students, specific subject areas, how to use a wiki, and much more.

I would set up a library wiki for our school to be used for: collaborative book reviews, to organize school resources, author studies, a virtual library tour, and to improve communication with students/teachers. Wikis are a great way for students to intereact and learn with each other.

Laura Cartier

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The first website basically guided me to the next, so I felt compelled to include it. Mr. Sheehy's article was published in Word Press Tech Trends a few years ago, but it still feels relevant today. He used the wiki as a tool to gather all the knowledge of the language arts staff in his high school into one place. He gave instruction to those who were not as technical savvy as he, applied and received a grant to pay the teachers for their time, and he included templates in the design. He found that wikispaces is the easiest for students and teachers to use and access. Also, he frankly discusses the negative issues that accompany the new technology. The article included his list of possible websites for teachers to use. Wetpaint and PBWorks were the best and easiest to access. Wetpaint has the extra incentive of being free, however, there is a "celebrity gossip" application that could be distracting. PBWorks is not expensive, around $800 for an annual subscription, and would be an excellent tool if the IT department or school district would purchase it. Neither of these requires time or effort in order to begin the wiki. A teacher or librarian can build it themselves.

For use in the classroom, Mr. Sheehy's article gives the best example. A wiki created by the staff would allow for collaborative teaching that enables best practices to be applied by everyone. Some teachers may even use it for lesson plans which others could share. In the library, teachers and students could create and maintain book reviews which students could access when they come to the library. I know that I have not read all the books in the library and do not know what most of them are about. I am daily asked if a book is "good." A list of reviews on wikispaces could easily remedy this lack of knowledge on my part. Wetpaint is as simple to use as wikispaces. The greatest use in the classroom would be posting student's research projects. For example, when I taught sixth graders, I assigned Australia as a research topic. If I had instituted a wiki at the time, students could have accessed instructions on "how tos" on research and posted their own research for other students to see. Then students could comment, ask questions, and rewrite on the site. My tech savvy students would have loved it. Alas, they had a technophobe for a teacher. Using a class wiki on Wetpaint or some other wiki tool enables students to take more control of their own learning. It is a tool they will carry into adulthood and society can only benefit from such a collegial informational environment.

Sharon A. McCorkle

**Wikis** **http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6277799.html** Eric Oatman in his article, "Make Way for Wikis" discusses how wikis work. He also describes how some elementary and high schools use wikis. Grandview Elementary is one of the elementary schools he mentions. Sarah Chauncey is the media specialist at Grandview Elementary and she uses wikis. Ms. Chauncey, using pbwiki.com, has set up password-protected wikis for six classes of third graders. Mr. Oatman writes that Ms. Chauncey, "created the wikis to give students a communal-and-fun-space in which to sharpen their writing skills."

When I become a school librarian, I plan on using wikis. After researching them, I've found that they are beneficial for teachers, parents, students, and administrators. I would use wikis to collaborate with teachers to create class wikis for the various subjects they are teaching. The wiki could be on any subject the teacher would like. The class wiki could be focused on the various topics students are studying in Math, Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies. Students then could add to the class wikis information they have found or learned about the topic they are studying. I find that this a great way for students to take an active part in their learning.

Kristal Dixon

Wikis/Blogs http://bhms-summer-read.wikispaces.com/

This is a blog about students' summer reading. The students add to the wiki with individual responses about the book(s) they have read. They discuss their reading goals and accomplishments. It also gives incentives for completing a three book reading requirement over the course of the summer.

I could set up a Q & A format about book analysis where students could online chat with me about questions they have over an assigned summer book. Also, students can discuss books, their opinions of them or recommend other similar books to students.

Terri McDonald

Wikis []

This is a site used by a 6th grade classroom. The teacher posts exercises for the students to complete on a book they've been working out of. Each exercise has specific instructions. When they finish, there is a place for them to take a comprehension quiz. The teacher grades it and post comments back to the students using the wiki.

This would be a great way to a reading extension project during a holiday. A novel could be assigned, and after every few chapters the students would be required to check in and post comments about what they have read up to that point. The students could also take a short quiz just to make sure they are understanding what they are reading.

Angela Turkett

This wiki is used in a school library in Hong Kong. According to the site, students "work collaboratively on research projects, create information resources, write stories and exchange their ideas through wiki email and discussion pages." The children are in elementary school. The site contains thematic units that the students contribute to. I would like to share this wiki with the teachers at my school so that we our children can learn to use wikis to collaborate and share what they are already doing in their classrooms. I would like to make a wiki similar to this. I especially liked the booktalks students recorded where they talk about the selected book. Rosalinda Ibarra
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 * http://libraryzone.wikispaces.com/**