Thing #8

Holocaust Wiki Project

The AP World History class used the wiki for a final review.  They will then use it for a review guide for the final AP exam.  Each group gets a topic and they have to research and write an article or outline on their specific World History topic.  

There was also another class on this wiki that researched families in the Holocaust.  It is a branching simulation where you can choose your own adventure.  It reflects their research on a family in the Holocaust and the decision points, and pros and cons/consequences of their decisions.  It is very interesting and I am not real sure how it all works.  It really gets the students thinking about how hard it was to make a decision because you were not sure if it was going to be the correct one.  They used many links to different student groups to help with the branching simulation.

I would have liked for this sight to be set up a little different, maybe more inviting to catch my attention.  

Grazing for Digital Natives

This wiki contained professional resources for teachers, administration, and staff development. The content will help to integrate technology into the schools.  The very first thing that you see is a woman that speaks to you about the wiki.  This is called Voki.  Way cool!

She has some amazing information on this site. There are many resource such as: informational technology blogs, sites used frequently on the network,  professional resources, and class resources.  This wiki is very friendly and easy to get around.  She has the main menu on the right, so you can get to anything quickly on her front page.  Everything to the left of her page deals with staff development and life long learning.

Schools in the Past

Cute and simple wiki that had 1st graders interview their parents and grandparents to discuss how schools have changed.  The class compiled a list of their findings on the wiki.  It was really interesting to read what they discovered from their family members.  There was also a spot for parents/grandparents to post comments if they would like.

Ideas

I would like to have a wiki at my school where teachers could collaborate on different ways that they use technology in their classroom.  Have it set up by subjects, they can then comment about what lesson that they taught and the technology tools that they used with that lesson. Maybe what worked and what did not, set up links to different sites that they have used.  Then other teachers could read the wiki, and get ideas and add on.

We are getting Promethean Slates and if we could have a wiki that kind of relates to my first idea, where the teachers add on to new ideas and ways to use the Promethean Slates.  Even collaborate with other schools.