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=Web 2.0 Tools and the Classroom=

Literature Circles are the perfect assignment to begin using blogs and wikis in the classroom. Students are able to post their thoughts and comment on the postings of others, giving them a new and additional venue for discussing what they read. Where to begin? Should we start with blogs or wikis? My first thoughts are that blogs might be easier to manage and use initially and are visually more interesting. I believe wikis are easier to edit, but let's experiment for ourselves in order to get this started.

New user edited this section of the wiki - as far as I can tell, any approved "member" of the space can edit the space - interesting.

Blogs are the place to start.

//PWeaver here -- I'm editing. And what I have to say is that I agree that BLOGS are the way to go. HOORAY FOR BLOGS and let's postpone the wiki idea for the next level. The anonymous posting and editing gives me pause for an initial project.//
 * //Samples has joined the space, but I'm not sure I want him to use it.//**

WHEN can we get this started???? Geitner

Begin Theda's part: I have added some thoughts in the discussion area. I think our interest in using the discussion feature instead of this wiki page itself points to some of the issues with wikis. Here are my thoughts: I may be wrong about all of this. These are just my impressions at the moment.
 * It's my understanding that wikis are most often used to publish factual information about topics of study. All who have access to the wiki should have the truthfulness of the wiki as the prime consideration. Wikis seem like online research papers that all can work on together.
 * I think blogs are used to self-publish personal writing of a more conversational, not-quite-final-draft quality. The blogger hopes for feedback from readers, but the conversation is somewhat one-sided. Because the blog quickly archives older posts, it doesn't appear to be a great forum for a lengthy discussion over several weeks. Blogs are creative, visual, and self-expressive.
 * I like discussion forums because they allow for several different conversations among peers over long periods of time. BUT discussion forums are text-only, linear, "owned" by the moderator or network administrator, and quite business-like, I fear.

It looks like Burke County is going to be using Wikispaces. I linked to their school system's home page for wikis [|http://www.wiki.burke.k12.nc.us/.] We might review their support materials and their guidelines for web content.

= = = = =Here's a very rough draft of how I might use a wiki for lit circles:= In a three-week unit, my students will study Emily Dickinson and her poetry in their American Lit. class (English II/III). Students are going to prepare a wiki on Emily Dickinson and some of her poetry for use as a study guide. The wiki is called "SILSA's Study Guide for Emily Dickinson" or something better. I teach four sections of this class, each with about 17 students. In each period, I will have two students who are contributing to a particular section of the wiki, so there may be as many as eight students total who are working on that section. I will differentiate assignments for the groups based on their unique learning interests and needs.

Novice students might be asked to contribute to sections that describe America during Dickinson's life, a biography of Emily Dickinson, an examination of how women's and men's opportunities and lives differed, a timeline of important events in Dickinson's life, an exploration of religious movements of the day, or an explanation of the educational system then. Each of these sections requires research beyond the textbook. Students are expected to produce good academic writing. Students should cite all sources correctly. They will be authoring important sections of the wiki, the first sections of the wiki, and they will be practicing the necessary 21st Century and research and communication skills, but they will be doing so with material that is manageable at a self-directed learning level.

On-target students might create sections that explicate individual poems by Dickinson. They will be encouraged to research literary criticism and other study guides for their poem. We hope that they will find conflicting information that causes them to address issues of bias within various types of literary criticism. Across time and space, relying on their written communication with one another, the students responsible for each section will create consensus and present it to a larger audience. They, too, must be responsibile researchers and writers.

Advanced students will contribute to sections that ask them to think more deeply about Dickinson's life and work or to make connections between Dickinson's poetry and the world beyond. These students might read several poems and present an analysis of Dickinson's poetic style. These students might read several spiritually-themed poems and draw some conclusions about Dickinson's religious beliefs. These students might place Dickinson's poetry within the development of American literature and search for poets who seem to have been influenced by Dickinson. These students will author wiki sections that are based less on factual, irrefutable information about Dickinson and her poems and based more on their own individual interpretations and their prior knowledge as students of poetry.

While students are researching, reading, collaborating, and writing, they will use the discussion area to share their ideas informally with their section colleagues in other class periods. I hope I can create different discussion threads, one for each different section. Students will need to use less formal, quicker writing (but clear and powerful) for communication. They will practice the art of persuation as they try to convince other students of what their section should include. I will use the discussion area to provide feedback to the groups. I will ask questions and provide texts or links to consider. (How nice it will be to have time outside of class to think about their work and comment on it without having to take papers home!)

At some point the wiki is finished and we study Dickinson together for a time using the wiki as our study guide. I will assign all students to read individually the first sections about Dickinson's life and times. This information is important to our general knowledge, but we don't need to study it together. Then, I will group students HETEROGENEOUSLY (for a change) and students will read and study a poem together and evaluate the information in the wiki based on what they understand about the poem. (Thought: wikis must, then, be a great way to teach students to doubt the veracity of text. Students know their classmates; they are skeptical of their understanding and the completeness of their work. From there, it's a short leap to teaching students to read all texts critically.) Sometimes we will read a poem and the wiki section for that poem as a whole class. Remember that there are two students in each class period who helped author each section. I will assess their understanding of their section as the other students and I rely on them for additional information about what they have studied and researched.

I will probably not ask all of the students to study the wiki sections that the advanced students have written. I will trust, though, that those who are interested in learning more about Dickinson will read them. I will also trust that the research these students have done on this topic will infuse our study and our discussions of Dickinson and her poetry.

Next year we will use the wiki as a resource tool when we study Dickinson. We will not pretend it doesn't exist, and we will not re-do it. We might add to it, though, with new sections. We might read a new article about Dickinson and determine if we need to edit the wiki based on the new research. Maybe because the 2008 students spent three weeks completing the Dickinson wiki, we can study it in a week and then begin creating a Langston Hughes wiki. I can't wait!


 * End of Theda's part.

WOW, Theda! I see that you are an insomniac! This is really very exciting, and although I do not have a classroom or students of my own, I believe that these Web 2.0 tools have the potential of upending the paradigm, AT LAST!!!! One thing I am a teeny bit concerned about is the management end of all this. Sorry to be a total kill-joy. But we need to think about the old username and password amnesia syndrome. MUST MAKE THIS EASY so the emphasis is on the interactive participation and not on the irritating techno and management side of things. Great ideas! How cool. I will now attempt to insert an image into this here wiki. See you all later! Pweaver (that's my username; don't forget it!)



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