Best+Practices

There are many creative ways to utilize the wiki within the classroom. Below I have two education wiki examples, one is a teacher that used the wiki as the lesson through creating a list of 1,000 real life names and the second was used for a 6th grade classroom to show current events, what they were learning and even gave their homework.

Grade: 1st Grade Location: Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada Target Population: Other grade school children around the world URL: http://1000names.wikispaces.com/

Kathy Cassidy, a first grade teacher from Moose Jaw, Canada found an innovative way to show her students what the number, “1,000” looks like by seeing 1,000 real life names. She did this by hosting a worldwide wiki for other students to add their names onto the wiki list. Currently the list is up to 1,790 real life names, thus this the lesson is continuing even further than they expected! What is even more interesting about this wiki is that without even being prompted, some students wrote their names, their age and even where they are from. I believe this brought on a new dimension to the wiki because although the wiki itself does not discuss in detail where the students are from, knowing their location can bridge new conversations in the classroom about other parts of the country and world.

Home Page

End Page – Currently at 1,790! Notice the second to last person Henry who is from China!

School Name: Wilson Elementary School Grade: 6th grade class Location: Cincinnati, OH – Forest Hill’s School District Target Population: The 6th grade class and family, other 6th grade classrooms around the world. URL: http://wilson6.wikispaces.com/

A 6th grade class at Wilson Elementary School in Cincinnati, OH created a wiki to, “read, write and share information”, with others around the world. All the students are admin’s on the page and able to edit and add anything that they choose. The page discussed what the students were currently doing (when it was active) as well as provided information on the different subject areas and even gave their homework! This wiki is a great example of a way a classroom can use a wiki for the students and parents as well as to share and gain knowledge from others.

Home Page

Homework Page

Example of subject Page - Writing