Wicked Wikis (Thing 7)

Posted on March 20, 2008 by kristipi.
Categories: Uncategorized.

Wikis are wicked (if you are from the Northeast, you know that “wicked” is meant to imply totally cool and awesome, at least that’s what we used to say growing up!) It was fun and informative to explore some of the wiki links provided. Since I’m a Kindergarten teacher, most of the wikis I visited were from primary classrooms, although the Online Clinic was really neat. You can click on any system or body part to get info. It was easy to explore this wiki.

I liked the Kindergarten Counting Book so much, that my math group contributed to this wiki today! We had so much fun! I gathered the kids around my computer, showed them the wiki, and then we scrolled down the list to find out what numbers were still available. We paid attention to the objects that had been used so that we could try to come up with different materials to photograph and upload. I was amazed how quickly the kids caught on and just went for it! The only thing that would be a bit more helpful on this wiki is maybe an introduction that explains what to do and that lists the numbers that still need to be done, however, we figured this out fairly quickly!

The Primary Math wiki is a great resource for teachers. The sign of a really good teacher is one who is willing to share their great ideas with others in the hopes that they will use them too. I am always looking for innovative ways to teach math. This wiki is one that I will be using to see how other teachers teach kids math, and my goal will be to contribute to it before the school year ends. I’ll think of it as my own personal stretch task!

The Schools in the Past wiki is a great example of simplicity. You don’t have to have bells and whistles to put a good wiki together. This wiki reminded me of Jose and Sarah’s class, where they have their kids interview their grandparents in anticipation of Grandparent’s Day at school. What a neat way to share that info and make it a global project.

As I think about how I might use a wiki, sharing classroom activities and teaching ideas immediately comes to mind, although I’m not quite sure of the format. I think that I’d probably want to separate wikis, one primarily for teachers, and one for kids and parents. I also imagine setting up a wiki for a creative writing space. I’m going to spend some time exploring what’s out there and contributing to existing wikis. As I begin to learn more by “doing”, I will uncover what wikis want to be created by me!

3 comments.

Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)

Comment on March 21st, 2008.

Kristi,

I’m glad you enjoyed some of those wikis on our platform (Wetpaint). I’m actually a big fan of the counting wiki too!

Using wikis to teach young kids math seems to work for those kids other methods cannot reach. Growing up in a home run by elementary school teachers has shown me some of the…. difficulties with teaching certain topics!

There are many great creative writing wikis out there. Feel free to email me and I can give you a list of some of the best.

Enjoy!

Troy Morris
Community Evangelist for Wetpaint

  pilibrarian
Comment on March 21st, 2008.

How very cool that you have already gotten your kids contributing to a public wiki project! What numbers can you make with a hamster :-)

  Sarah
Comment on March 21st, 2008.

I agree that wikis are wicked! And it’s super-exciting to use them. There’s immediate gratification - one minute, no wiki, the next minute - wiki! It’s great that you are getting right into it.

Leave a comment

Names and email addresses are required (email addresses aren't displayed), url's are optional.

Comments may contain the following xhtml tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>




*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.
Anti-Spam Image